Think Beyond the Label is partnering with Brazen Careerist to stage a nationwide online job fair for people with disabilities seeking employment during National Disability Employment Awareness month.
The release in Think Beyond the Label’s online press room says the October 16 event will connect participating companies to qualified job seekers with disabilities who are registered members of the site’s online community. The partnering organization, Brazen Careerist, is an online career network that specializes in virtual event technology.
The event information page promises the participation of “dozens of top employers” and cites DirectEmployers as a featured partner. This nonprofit association of employers certainly has an impressive roster of member companies, many whom have previously been active recruiters of individuals with disabilities into their workforce, such as Aetna, Sodexo, and Lowe’s.
This blog post by Barbara Otto, CEO of the nonprofit organization which manages Think Beyond the Label, Health & Disability Advocates, provides details about how the event will work and links to the free sign-up form to become a member of the Think Beyond the Label community. Every user’s session begins with optional questions about their accommodation needs to participate in the virtual job fair; followed by 10-15 minute conversations using a text-based chat tool between employers and job seekers.
On Tuesday, Brazen Life published a blog post by disability marketer Suzanne Robitaille that made the case for online career fairs as the “Best Way For Disabled Workers To Find A New Job.” The first three points Robitaille makes have to do with disclosure of a disability, which might a first seem counter-intuitive when the nature of the event means the employer knows the candidate he or she is talking to has a disability. But she is correct that when each and every candidate has a disability which can’t be readily identified, every candidate is being evaluated based on their ability. Robitaille goes on to point out how this process helps with any eventual disclosure one chooses to make:
Creating a first impression with a recruiter online gives you time to think about how to approach your disability with him or her on both a professional and personal basis. You’ll be able to disclose on your own terms, when you feeling more confident about yourself and your abilities. And we all know that confidence is critical during an interview.
We first encountered Think Beyond the Label back in May, when we wrote about its Hire Gauge tool that helps small business owners identify tax incentives for working with organizations that provide career training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. This looks to be an equally innovative public-private partnership geared toward making life matter for these individuals. Share this event link with employers and people you know who might be interested.
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