Government recruitment can be very text-heavy.
Job ads. Role descriptions. Targeted questions. Online forms. Written assessments. Timed tests. Interview instructions.
If you have dyslexia or another reading or writing difficulty, the barrier may not be the job. The barrier may be the format of the assessment.
That matters because recruitment should assess whether you can meet the role requirements, not whether you can decode a dense document under pressure without support.
Adjustments that may help
Useful adjustments may include:
- accessible documents
- extra time for reading or written tasks
- text-to-speech or screen reader-compatible materials
- use of your own laptop or software
- written instructions in plain language
- oral response instead of written response where writing is not an inherent requirement
- a scribe where appropriate
- alternative assessment format
- breaks during longer written assessments.
Why extra time can help
Extra time is not about making the answer better than everyone else’s.
It gives you time to process the information, check the task requirements and express the answer you are capable of giving.
That is especially important when the assessment is not supposed to be testing spelling speed or reading speed.
What to ask for
> I am requesting a recruitment adjustment for the written assessment stage. Because of a reading/writing difficulty, I would like extra time and permission to use my usual assistive software. If the assessment format cannot support that, I would like to discuss an alternative format that still assesses the same capability.
Keep the request tied to the capability being tested.
That is what makes it practical.
Useful next steps
If this topic is relevant to your application, these related Team 3Thirty guides are the best places to go next:
- psychometric test adjustments
- reasonable adjustment examples
- email template for asking for adjustments
Useful resources
These official resources are worth checking if you need the source guidance behind the adjustment examples: