This image shows the Inclusively logo at the top, followed by a greeting that says, “Hello, Max!” Below the greeting is a circular profile picture of Max, who is wearing glasses, a black beanie, and an orange shirt, smiling with a festive background of blurred green lights.

If you’ve been reading me for a while, you already know I’m currently in the midst of a trying-to-not-be-frantic job hunt. Because I’m some kind of over-sharer or glutton for self-punishment, I’ll be blogging my job search. Welcome to my new blog tag: Job Search. 

Today I signed up with Inclusively, a job board specifically designed for people with disabilities, including mental health conditions, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergence.

I filled out all the sections about experiences and skills, and poked around the platform to see if they had a job listing for me. Nope (although there was a lingering half-match dated 2023 that hadn’t been removed for whatever reason, so I clicked “connect” anyway, because I wanted to Click All the Things.)

It remains to be seen whether I will connect with anything on this platform or not, but I think it could be a valuable resource for many people.

What is Inclusively?

Inclusively is a job platform designed to connect disabled job seekers with inclusive employers. Their mission is to open doors to untapped talent by working with companies to create a more accessible and accommodating hiring process.

How Inclusively Works

Signing up for Inclusively is fairly straightforward. You create a profile where you can:

• Choose whether to self-identify as disabled and disclose if you receive SSI/SSDI. (They said this information is anonymous and protected, but, honestly, I am not sure what they means or how it works.)

• List your skills, experience, and job preferences to help match with employers.

• Select Success Enablers—specific accommodations you might need at work.

When you see a job that looks like a fit, you click “Connect” to express interest. I have no idea what happens after that point, because I only clicked the one, ancient and forgotten listing so nothing special happened.

Employers can also search for candidates based on their skills, experience, and Success Enablers.

Job Categories and Success Enablers

Inclusively has a wide range of job categories, including:

• Writing/Editing

• Administrative/Clerical

• Customer Service/Support

• Computer/Engineering/IT

• Education

• Medical/Health

• Retail, Sales, and more.

One feature I’ve never seen elsewhere is the Success Enablers badges. These badges represent common workplace accommodations that job seekers can select to indicate their needs. There are 110 Success Enablers across 14 categories, covering a range of accommodations including communication support, mental health accommodations, and workplace modifications.

When I searched for “autism,” Inclusively offered 11 specific accommodations, including:

• Designated Quiet Zones

• Noise-Canceling Headphones

• Alternate Interview Format

• Uninterrupted Work Time

• Remote Work

Users aren’t required to take all the badges that come up on a search and they aren’t limited to badges from just one search category. This platform clearly recognizes that many people have more than one disability or need a wide range of accommodations, and Inclusively allows them to reflect that in their profile.

The Success Enabler badges are also useful because they allow potential workers to tell potential employers what they need to be successful without ever disclosing a diagnosis or any other protected medical information.

What I’ve Seen on Inclusively So Far

So far, I’ve browsed the platform and noticed a strong presence of higher-tech jobs, particularly in computer science, engineering, and IT. These roles look like great opportunities for people with technical skills, but they’re beyond my expertise (which tops out somewhere around tweaking HTML by hand).

That doesn’t mean there aren’t other job types available. I signed up in the Writing/editing category, of course, and remote work is both a Success Enabler and a main search toggle, so this appears to be a job board that views remote work as the extremely important success enabler it is for so many of us disabled workers. Job offers that fit my skills should come through at some point. I just haven’t seen one yet.

I’m Checking Inclusively Daily

Checking the Inclusively job board daily is now part of my job search routine. The site says new listings go live every day, so the right job might pop up any day. Tomorrow I’ll add something else to my daily routine. Build it up, keep looking, keep asking around, keep writing. 

If you’re Disabled and have technical skills, Inclusively could be a goldmine of opportunities right now. If, like me, you’re looking for something a little different, it might take more patience. Either way, I hope I’ve shared information helpful in your own job search.

You can check it out here: www.inclusively.com.

If you’ve used Inclusively, I’d love to hear about your experience. Have you found it helpful? Let me know in the comments here on the blog or wherever I’ve posted it.