HeadHunter has announced the launch of an initiative to support inclusive hiring

HeadHunter launches an "Equal Opportunity Platform". The initiative is aimed at developing inclusive hiring and increasing access to the labor market for people with disabilities, the company said.

According to experts, "the current and potential employment cycle of people with disabilities of working age may be about 2.2 million people." According to HeadHunter, 48% of companies are willing to hire applicants with disabilities in excess of the established quota. At the same time, the share of vacancies for people with special needs is less than 4%.

The company noted that "the initiative eliminates one of the key barriers to employment — the lack of information about the accessibility of working conditions for people with disabilities." In this regard, as part of the project, a more detailed system for marking vacancies by availability categories was created on the platform. When publishing an ad marked "People with special needs," employers can now select one or more categories: visual, hearing, or mobility impairments, mental disabilities, and chronic diseases. Additionally, it is now possible to specify parameters that are important to candidates, such as the employment format and work schedule. For applicants to hh.ru We have created a job search filter by the appropriate availability categories. "This allows you to evaluate the conditions of the vacancy in advance and make an informed decision about the response," the experts explained.

"The Russian labor market is in conditions of a structural shortage of personnel — according to our estimates, by 2030 it may reach about 4 million people. At the same time, a significant part of potential employees — people with special needs — actually remain outside the recruitment funnel. Currently, for example, the employment rate among people with disabilities is 27.5%," commented Dmitry Sergienkov, CEO of HeadHunter. In his opinion, the problem is often not that such applicants lack qualifications, but that the market is still not transparent enough for them at the job search stage. The Equal Opportunities Platform will provide employers with a more accurate recruitment tool, and job seekers with special needs with a more understandable job search scenario, Sergienkov is confident.

In hh.ru They added that the attitude of businesses towards inclusive hiring is gradually changing. In 2025, 51% of employers considered candidates with disabilities for open positions.: 12% — for all vacancies, 39% — for individual positions. At the same time, employees with disabilities are still not represented in a third of companies.

Evgeny Slutchevsky, CEO of the Magnit Group of Companies, believes that the Equal Opportunities Platform is an important step towards creating a truly inclusive society. "The appearance of such a technological tool will significantly facilitate the interaction of employers and job seekers, simplify the process of hiring people with disabilities," he said.

HeadHunter stressed that the launch of the Equal Opportunities Platform is part of the company's consistent efforts to develop socially significant employment initiatives. In December 2025 hh.ru joined the National Inclusive Agreement by signing a declaration with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

"For the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, creating conditions for employment of people with disabilities is one of the most important areas of work. The inclusive business community that ASI is currently forming is a powerful engine of change, and we are pleased that HeadHunter has become one of its participants. As part of our cooperation, we conducted surveys and in—depth interviews with employers from various fields - industry, retail, telecommunications and digital services, as well as with representatives of NGOs that create conditions for the full self-realization of people with disabilities. This allowed us to work out in detail the adaptation of the platform to meet market demands," stated ASI CEO Svetlana Chupsheva.

A separate area of HeadHunter's work on the development of socially significant initiatives was the development of the digital accessibility of the platform itself. "hh.ru He considers the development of a barrier-free digital environment and inclusive hiring tools as part of his long-term responsibility. We are convinced that job search should be available to everyone, regardless of their health conditions," the company assured.