Rani Shack shares her story of seeing an opportunity to put her passion for being an ally for the disability community to work by helping to make Indeed’s mobile app more accessible.
Rani started with Indeed in August 2019 and is a Team Lead in the Client Success department in New York City. She is currently the AMER Co-Chair of our Access Indeed Inclusion Business Resource Group (iBRG).
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As a Client Success Specialist at Indeed, I work closely with Account Executives to help Employers with their hiring needs by providing strategic advice to help them make their next hire. I help answer questions about Indeed’s products and services, troubleshoot technical issues, and provide suggestions for optimizing job advertisements.
My passion for supporting the disability community started at my previous job. I moved through many different roles but always was involved with accessibility. My accessibility journey began when I was introduced to a customer who is Deaf-Blind and worked for the Helen Keller National Center. She was coming to us for guidance on using the accessibility feature called VoiceOver on her smartphone. I worked with that client for the better part of 6 years, teaching her VoiceOver. I am entirely self-taught when it comes to VoiceOver – It was important to me to take the time to understand it myself to teach the functionality best, so I sought out resources online and practiced in my spare time.
Throughout my tenure at my previous job, I made sure to leave time to do accessibility work regardless of my role. I took an American Sign Language class to better support any Deaf customers who came into our store. Throughout my time, I became significantly more familiar with VoiceOver and saw the challenges the Deaf-Blind, Deaf, and Blind communities face daily and in the workforce.
Shortly before joining Indeed, I made another Deaf-Blind friend, a technology whiz with his own tech blog. When I told him I was starting to work for Indeed, he shared that he had challenges using our app while searching for jobs using VoiceOver.
This feedback from my friend inspired me to seek accessibility opportunities here at Indeed and join Access Indeed, our Inclusion Business Resource Group (iBRG). I am not okay with things being “just accessible enough” to pass compliance, so I sought to find like-minded people to help Indeed progress in this endeavor. Access Indeed’s mission is to drive education and awareness around inclusion for visible and invisible disabilities in the workplace and to support an environment where Indeedians of all abilities can thrive. I believe it is our responsibility to remove as many obstacles as possible so we really can help all people get jobs.
An Opportunity to Help
One day in 2020, an Indeed Accessibility Lead Design Technologist asked if Access iBRG members use assistive technologies regularly, such as screen readers, Zoom capabilities or dedicated software, Braille devices, speech input software, etc. She was working to make indeed.com compliant with new web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1). I hesitated before replying because I am not a Blind user, but I have experience using VoiceOver on iOS. After a few days passed with no response, I replied, and we began working together consistently ever since!
Today, I continue this work as part of a cross-functional accessibility group to help troubleshoot accessibility functionality throughout the site and give feedback when things aren’t quite right. When a question arises, I enable VoiceOver on my iPhone and go through the Indeed app as if I were a job seeker looking for a job. I can then report things that are not announced correctly or other unusual behavior that may occur. For example, the back button should simply say “Back Button,” but at one time, it incorrectly announced “Blue Chevron, maybe, back button.”
Little announcement errors can be extremely frustrating for a screen reader user. If the announcements are wrong, too long, or just plain confusing, it makes for a poor experience using our app. I take the time to do this alongside my regular Client Success responsibilities. I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to this ongoing effort.
My hope for the future of hiring is to see more awareness of accessibility-related bias in the interview and hiring process. After working with individuals from Helen Keller National Center, I witnessed how difficult it is to be a Deaf-Blind individual looking for work. We must be aware of these challenges and do everything we can to improve this experience.
This work helps Indeed stay true to its mission to be the best place to find a job for all people by creating access for anyone using assistive technology or needing accessibility accommodations to connect with future employers meaningfully. This work is just a small part of the larger accessibility project here at Indeed!
Find out more about Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Indeed.
