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Blind in Business is a London-based charity that is making an impact on Wales. It encourages blind and partially sighted young people to identify and achieve their ambitions. Welsh Recruitment asks them to outline their objectives and describe what they can do for those thousands of people with sight impairments in the UK.
(Picture: Photo of the Blind in Business team)
Blind in Business was set up 15 years ago by three visually impaired graduates. They found that no-one would employ them. In the end they secured powerful positions and now run three powerful companies in the City, including Eversheds – the International law firm.
They decided that nobody should have to go through what they had. And so, we exist to remove these traditional barriers to employment. But that’s not all…
The graduates and undergraduates we work with often need certain areas of their job-seeking practice to be honed. It might be that their CV is not up to scratch, or that they haven’t got the hang of competency based questions on their application form. They may need a lot of interview practice, or a shot at some assessment centre tests in accessible formats. Whatever they need, we jump in and work with them so that weaknesses become strengths.
We do this in a number of ways.
Firstly, we might meet a graduate at one our events. We run lots of events throughout the year. The first is Speed Recruitment – like speed dating, but with employers instead of potential love interests. We also run technology exhibitions with the latest hi-tech gadgets. We might also run breakfast meetings at top City firms where our graduates can learn about the fabulous opportunities out there for them.
After making initial contact with a graduate, we usually badger them to come to our office where the real work begins. They get used to working 9-5 with us, and the intensity of this work allows them to progress pretty quickly.
Linn Martinussen, a current graduate working with us, commented that “In order to get a job, one should have a good CV reflecting what one has achieved so far. Having only just graduated from university, I don’t have that much experience in the workplace, so Blind in Business offered me the chance to do volunteer work with them. This is something they offer to many of their graduates. The time spent with them has given me confidence and more of the skills to find a great job.”
The key to all that we do is the development of confidence; we encourage our graduates to have belief in their own abilities to succeed, to stand up for themselves and to go out there and secure a really fantastic job.
Another key to what we do is that we have great contacts with top firms from all over the country. Many of the businesses growing in Cardiff at the moment have contacts with us at some level. And so it immediately gives us a foot in the door.
As you can see, we do indeed provide a bridge between the world of the visually impaired graduate and that of graduate employers.
What we do works so well that we consistently get 70-80 graduates into work every year. And 90% of those that come to us find some kind of employment within a year. Compare that to the nationwide statistic of 75% of VI people out of work. So, you can see that what we do is no small feat.
find us at:
www.blindinbusiness.org.uk
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