Leading British bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, has joined technology giants Google as joint headline sponsor of the 2012 European Diversity Awards.

Now in their second year, the EDA celebrate and reward those organizations and individuals who have shown outstanding commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. RBS themselves celebrated a double win at the 2011 event, winning the Boutique Marketing – Marketing Campaign of the Year Award, while CEO Chris Sullivan accepted the accolade for the Abercrombie & Fitch Diversity Champion of the Year.

Other 2011 winners included Lord Alli, the BBC’s Frank Gardner, French bank Société Générale and the Vodafone Group.

Organised by diversity specialists Square Peg Media, the 2012 European Diversity Awards are due to take place on 20th September and will once again be presented by the BBC’s Jane Hill.

The EDA are media partnered by The Guardian, giving the awards huge pre and post-event publicity throughout 2012.

For more information, click  www.europeandiversityawards.com

On Wednesday 9 November, in partnership with Google, EmployAbility inaugurated the Google TechAbility programme – this is the first programme dedicated to hiring disabled engineers in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and marks a significant milestone for Google’s disability strategy.

43 disabled computer scientists (of which 30% were women) from universities across Europe attended an exciting interactive and fun day of events.  This insight day was designed to give the students the opportunity to learn about Google’s products and services, meet Googlers and take part in fun technical challenges aimed at giving the students the opportunity to shine and for Google the chance to assess their potential as future employees.

Following the event the most talented students were selected for a structured mentoring programme with a Google Software Engineer which is aimed at improving their technical skills as well as helping to prepare them for the Google recruitment process.

Some snapshots of the day:

Welcome to Google

Google Toolbox Tech Talk - showcasing Google’s amazing products and services

Google Innovation Workshop - getting the students to come up with technical solutions to global problems

Grill a Googler - speed networking with SWEs, PMs and Staffing!

Google+ Technical Challenge - teams of students worked through a technical challenge with coaching from London Software Engineers

TechAbility Israel launches 7 December in Tel Aviv!

EmployAbility will be presenting a workshop at the forthcoming AGCAS Conference.  The workshop will focus on how EmployAbility can provide knowledge and information to Careers Advisers on disability and employment; providing the tools needed to build and expand on the advice they already give to disabled students, and by working together as the careers advisers’ disability specialists. The workshop will also cover advising disabled students on the disclosure of disability and reasonable adjustments during the graduate recruitment process.

When? Tuesday 14 September 2011 @ 3.15pm

Where? Nottingham University, Jubilee Campus

As experts in the field of disabilty and employment, we deliver free workshops to disabled students on campus, provide one-to-one advice sessions and deliver specialist training to careers advisers, amongst other services for recruiting disabled graduates.

If you are a HE careers practitioner with a remit or interest within the disability field, come along to the workshop to learn more!

Tom credits his dyslexia as a contributing factor in his amazing win, calling it a “massive positive.”  He believes that his dyslexia endowed him with specific skills and talents that allowed him to excel in his field and gain a competitive edge on the popular TV series: namely, the ability to visualize objects in his brain and “spin them around.” His struggle with English and languages at school led him to become intensely interested in science and engineering – fields in which he felt he could excel – and to invest himself in creative pursuits.  He gained a 1st Class Honours degree with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering with Innovation and Design.

The first European Diversity Awards will be announced this September, recognising and celebrating those organisations and individuals that have shown innovation, creativity and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion during 2011.

The independent awards recognise excellence in the areas of gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, race, culture and religion, and the efforts of those individuals and organisations to improve the life of the diverse communities of people that live in Europe.

We are delighted to announce that EmployAbility have been shortlisted in the Société Générale “Charity of the Year” category of the European Diversity Awards 2011.  Watch this space…..!

By Jane Bird

Published: June 7 2011 16:51 | Last updated: June 7 2011 16:51

A job applicant with Asperger’s syndrome might avoid eye contact with the interviewer, choose to look at the floor or out of the window, not smile and even appear bored. A candidate who gets through to the next stage could then fail an assessment involving group activities, because Asperger’s affects social interaction.

Such applicants might be well able to do the job in question, because Asperger’s does not affect intellect and some people with it are very bright, says Tab Ahmad, managing director and founder of EmployAbility, an organisation that helps disabled graduates find jobs.

There are good business reasons for considering the disabled for jobs, along with other long-term unemployed people, she says. “If you are looking for the best, it makes sense to look at the widest pool of talent.”

With 2.5m unemployed in the UK, of whom 34 per cent have been so for more than a year, there is a big choice. Many have already been trained and are keen to work.

It also makes sense to reflect the diversity of your customer base. “It has been proven that more diverse teams come up with more innovative solutions,” says Ms Ahmad.

One problem is that although employers may know this in theory, they are often unaware of the barriers facing job applicants.

Online psychometric tests are widely used as a first filter in recruitment. For people with dyslexia or dyspraxia, this is a significant disadvantage because they rely on the ability to repeat processes in short-term memory, says Ms Ahmad.

For those with a visual impairment who use software to increase the size of characters on screen, tables and graphs in tests can become distorted. “Often the reason applicants don’t get to the next stage is not because they don’t have the right abilities, but that the test may be unsuitable,” Ms Ahmad says.

There tends to be a belief that there is only one way of testing, she says. “Employers may think giving such applicants 25 per cent extra time, as with university exams, overcomes the problem, but this is not necessarily appropriate.” EmployAbility works with companies such as Google and Goldman Sachs that use other type of tests and interviews to assess candidates. These, it says, work much better.

Contrary to perception, the long-term unemployed or homeless are often desperate for a job and enthusiastic about working, says Tim Jones, managing partner at Freshfields, a London law firm that offers a “buddying” scheme to help such people find jobs.

In many cases they have an underlying skill and were trained but something has gone wrong in their lives, he says. For Freshfields staff, being a buddy develops their coaching and mentoring skills, and improves morale.

“In the slightly rarefied atmosphere of high finance where we sometimes operate, which can seem remote, it’s reassuring for our people to do something in the real world,” Mr Jones says.

It is also a salutary reminder of how one or two bad things happening in quick succession, such as illness, family break-up or losing a job, can quickly cause someone who was living a perfectly normal life to lose direction or find themselves in a hostel.

People who have become detached from the labour market and are on the margins of society mostly just want a chance to show that they are reliable, trustworthy and competent, says Stephen Bevan, director of The Work Foundation.

The fact that they lack job search skills and confidence deprives them of huge social and financial benefits, he says.

“Many are prepared to take full advantage of being given a step up,” he says.

And helping such people get jobs gives staff a positive feeling about the workplace and enables self- development.

This unintended benefit was highlighted in a study done by The Work Foundation in partnership with Marks and Spencer. The project involved employing homeless people – often ex-offenders and those with bipolar disorder – to work alongside experienced staff on the shopfloor.

Initially, staff had concerns that customers might not take kindly to being served by people who had been brought in off the streets, because of the stereotype that such people have drug and dependency problems, Mr Bevan says.

These stereotypes were quickly challenged, and the cynicism disappeared. “It was an amazing experience for the M&S people involved, creating a huge feeling of pride and commitment towards the company.” A large proportion of the participants ended up with jobs at M&S.

Under the government’s Work Programme, companies such as A4e and Ingeus are being incentivised to target these so-called “hard to reach” groups.

But the incentives have not been matched with support to help employers understand how to reintegrate people into the workforce once they have been taken on.

What is not wanted with these incentive structures is “revolving doors”, says Mr Bevan.

They have to be based on sustained employment and employers should not be ignored.

“Employers should be provided with support and counselling to help them tackle early warnings that somebody might not stick at a job, perhaps because of confidence or personal issues, to ensure they are resolved swiftly.”

Evidence from the US suggests that supporting employers in this more continuous way can make a big difference in keeping the targeted groups in work for longer.

…………………………………………..

CASE STUDY: Norse Commercial

Ten years ago Norse Commercial Services, a facilities management company, was struggling to fill its jobs in refuse collection, transport, building maintenance, recycling and catering. So it turned to non-traditional recruitment pools including the long-term unemployed, the homeless, ex-offenders, and those with alcohol or drug dependency problems.

Norse knew employing such people would boost its corporate social responsibility credentials. But its motive was genuine business need rather than an altruistic charitable gesture, says Patricia Fuller, the company’s HR director.

“We wanted to improve recruitment for hard-to-fill posts, and to increase the number of employees from the local community.”

The result was extremely positive. “We found that people who’ve been excluded from the workplace can become almost model employees, both from the point of view of attendance and of attitude,” Ms Fuller says.

Since then, Norse has set up a placement scheme that annually offers about 120 people one year’s work experience, mentoring, and advice on how to increase their employability credentials. Some 70 per cent typically get taken on by Norse within one month of their placement finishing, and a further 15 per cent within six months.

The placement programme now also includes 12 young disabled people. They, too, have proved a valuable resource, and those who have been through the scheme now have jobs across the business from payroll to carpentry, making ramps and stairs. Employing these young learning disabled students is saving £5,500 ($9,020) a year on recruitment costs and £1,280 on training costs per employee.

There are also benefits in improved staff morale, particularly among those who have worked as “buddies”. They report a 14 per cent higher satisfaction level than those not involved.

Being able to demonstrate involvement with the local community helps win business, and has contributed to more than £6m of public-sector contracts, including a £3.5m contract with Enfield Borough Council.

“In the public sector, we are increasingly required to show added value,” says Ms Fuller. “Our work inclusion differentiates us because we can demonstrate we are giving something back to local communities and so can help our customers meet their obligations and social responsibilities.”

Norse also encourages its supply chain, including retailers and the hospitality industry, to employ from these groups. “I’ve asked hotels we use for meetings and conferences, to consider filling their vacancies with these people,” Ms Fuller says. “They’ve got a supply chain too, so it is possible to get a domino effect.”

Not everyone on the programme succeeds. “But once they’ve been through it you have an employee you’re more secure about,” Ms Fuller says.

Norse is sometimes asked why it is running the programme now when the job market is tight and employers are choosy.

“If we do it when finding jobs is hard, the benefits will be there for us when things pick up,” says Ms Fuller. “Showing our staff we are an ethical employer makes them less likely to leave when the job market picks up.”

We’re always keen to hear from disabled students or graduates who are looking for internship or job opportunities. Please forward this newsletter to anybody you know who should be on our radar. They can send an email to register@employ-ability.org.uk to be added to our mailing list!

Keep in touch with us by joining EmployAbility on Facebook – we’ll let you know when we’re visiting your university, what new internship opportunities are coming up and a lot more.

Inside this issue

1.  EmployAbility News

2.  Our current internship and graduate programmes

3.  Financial Services Authority/EmployAbility Insight Day

4.  EmployAbility Skills Workshops

5.  Graduate Recruitment Fairs

6.  EmployAbility Ambassador Programme

7.  Links to disability employers

8.  Recruitment and disability related websites

Hello

Hope all our student candidates are all coping well with exam stress – good luck everyone!

Spring and Summer Internship Programmes

Thank you to all of you who applied for our Spring and Summer Internship programmes.  Congratulations to those that were successful – competition was fierce, however EmployAbility had a record year in assisting candidates into the internship programmes we ran, which is fantastic considering the current employment conditions.  For those that have gained that all important placement though, you need to attend our forthcoming workshop “How to get the most out of your Internship” to make sure you make the most of this great opportunity – see below for further details.

If you weren’t successful this time round, don’t let this discourage you from re-applying for next year’s internship or graduate roles, most of which will be open for you to apply to in June/July.  Details of all new opportunities will be posted on our website; www.employ-ability.org.uk/internships

We are always around to answer your questions and advise you on general employment and disability issues and are busy organising workshops and attending Graduate Recruitment Fairs, so do give us a call 07852 764684, drop us an email info@employ-ability.org.uk, or have a chat with us at our stand at the forthcoming fairs.

For this year, we are still recruiting interns for Dow Chemical and Bloomberg, while the FSA, Google, and Herbert Smith and are currently looking for graduate recruits.  Have a look at our current Internships and Graduate Programmes section – www.employ-ability.org.uk/internships.

Google EMEA partner

We are very excited to announce we are now partnering with Google to work with them in becoming a top “inclusive” employer, by attracting and retaining disabled talent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  This is a fantastic opportunity to raise Google’s profile as a disability inclusive employer.  We have already run several successful training sessions for their recruiters and have an ever expanding list of internship and graduate opportunities with them – take a look!

Israel Visit

In March, our Managing Director, Tab, visited Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University, to see how we could collaborate with them in assisting their students and graduates in the transition from education to employment.  We were particularly impressed with the level of support, research and commitment in working with disabled students at Hebrew University and hope to build on the great work they have been doing there.  We are hoping to deliver a skills session there very soon.

Equality in Higher Education

A recent report published by the Equality Challenge Unit, gives an encouraging insight into the progress being made by higher education institutions over recent years with regard to equality legislation and best practice.  The number of staff and students who feel able to declare a disability has continued to increase, testament to the work institutions have been doing to encourage disclosure.

The latest figures from 2008/09 show that 7.5% of all students disclose a disability, a steady increase from 2003/04 when only 5.5% disclosed.  Interestingly, over half of first degree undergraduate students known to have a disability declared that they had a specific learning difficulty e.g. dyslexia.

However, there is still significantly a lower proportion of disabled graduates (45.0%)attaining full-time paid work on leaving university, compared to other leavers not know to have a disability (51.7%), even though the level of degree attainment for those known to have a disability was only marginally less than those not known to have a disability (first class honours or second class honours attainment for first degree undergraduates 59.8% cf. 62.8%).

We are always keen to deepen our relationships with universities and provide a range of services to university careers/ disability officers, such as Campus Visits and Skills Workshops.  During these we can offer 1-to-1 sessions and advice on issues of disclosure, application writing, and other areas.  We can work together to improve these statistics – contact us info@employ-ability.org.uk or call 07852 764 684 to find out more.  Of if you want to create a direct impact think about becoming an EmployAbility Ambassador at your university – for more information see below.

Join our facebook group!

To ensure you hear about our latest internship and graduate opportunities as soon as they go live, make sure you are our friend! Join our facebook group now!

By applying to any of the programmes listed below through EmployAbility we can offer you support and guidance through the recruitment process and beyond.  We currently have the following opportunities with these disability inclusive employers.  If you are interested in any of these exciting programmes, you need to apply now as the deadlines are imminent!

Whilst we are no longer taking applications for the majority of our other internship and graduate programmes, keep an eye out in June/ July when we will be opening the application window again for Internships for Summer 2011 – more details on those will be coming up in the Summer edition of our newsletter…..

Internship Programmes:

• Bloomberg Summer Internship Programmes – 27 May 2011
• Dow Chemical Internship – 15 July 2011

Graduate Programmes:

• Google Technical Graduate Programme – 31 July 2011
• Google Sales Graduate Programme – 31 July 2011
• FSA Graduate Development Programme – 24 June 2011
• Herbert Smith Training Contract – 31 July 2011

Friday 10th June 2011, London

If you are thinking about a career in financial services or if you simply want to find out more about the FSA, the FSA/EmployAbility Insight Day is the right place for you!

This focused one day event will give you the opportunity to engage in the work of the FSA and meet the people at the heart of the business.

The programme will combine a mixture of networking with graduates and business representatives, case studies, to give you an insight into the organisation’s work, and skills sessions delivered jointly by the FSA and EmployAbility, to help you succeed in their assessment processes.

Places are limited, register your interest now!

EmployAbility skills workshops are designed to provide you with the key skills, insights and tools needed to succeed in applications to the top graduate employers.

We are soon to be running our “How To Get The Most Out Of Your Internship” workshop, which is  invaluable to those that have secured an internship for this summer.  This workshop is by invitation only.

Further workshops will be coming up, so please keep checking our Student Workshop section on our website if you want to attend!

EmployAbility will be attending the following fairs – come and meet us face to face to discuss your career options!  Check our website for details of other graduate fairs we will be attending in the coming months….

National Graduate Recruitment Exhibition – Birmingham

Friday 3 June – Saturday 4 June 2010

11am to 5pm

Here you can meet and network with potential graduate employers from disability inclusive companies to get ahead of the competition and help you towards your dream job.  Free features include:

• Writing your CV
• Personal careers advice
• Interview techniques
• How to complete online job applications
• Seminars from the professionals
• Mock assessment centre

…plus, the organisers will give you up to £10* towards your travel expenses if you are a full-time student.

Register now and come and meet us on STAND E70

The University of Manchester Graduate Recruitment Fair

Wednesday 15 – Thursday 16 June 2010

10.30am to 4pm

EmployAbility will be attending on both days – come and visit us in the Foyer!

The two–day fair has different exhibitors each day and over 150 exhibitors in total!

• Students and graduates of all universities welcome!
• Hundreds of graduate jobs and postgraduate course places
• Free entry, free careers advice, free coach from Piccadilly train station, free fair guide

Make sure you check the exhibitors on Day One and Day Two carefully to know which exhibitors are attending on which day.

Come and visit us at Stand 102 – we look forward to seeing you!

London Graduate Fair

Wednesday 22 – Thursday 23 June 2011

12pm to 5pm

• 1000’s of jobs
• Over 80 top employers and training providers
• Free CV and Application form feedback
• Comprehensive presentation programme
• Free to attend

Find out more and pre-register at www.londongradfair.co.uk/summer

Come and visit us on STAND G109

At EmployAbility, we are always keen to hear from students/ graduates who have experienced our services and want to spread the word about the work we do and the internship/ graduate programmes we offer.  If you are a natural leader and motivated about helping other disabled students and bringing new opportunities to your peers, a role as an EmployAbility Ambassador will be right for you!

As an EmployAbility Ambassador you will liaise between EmployAbility and your university.  The role as an Ambassador is to provide awareness of EmployAbility and may include:

• Displaying information about our services and promoting our internship and graduate programmes in strategic places, through marketing materials provided by us.
• Attending EmployAbility events as an EmployAbility representative.
• Exhibiting at Fresher’s fairs or facilitate an EmployAbility visit to your university for a specific event.
• Being a point of contact on campus for EmployAbility and build relationships on campus with faculty and student groups.
• Helping EmployAbility understand your university culture.
• Inspiring other disabled students at our Skills Workshop and other events.

To be an EmployAbility Ambassador you must be:

• An undergraduate or postgraduate student at a university in Europe, Middle East or Africa
• Passionate about EmployAbility and the work we do.
• Able to help plan and market EmployAbility effectively
• Actively participate in student life on campus
• Commit to one or two hours per month for a full academic year

Benefits:

• Enhance your professional development, leadership, negotiation and communication skills.
• Include the EmployAbility Ambassador programme on your CV
• Be first to receive EmployAbility programme details and new marketing information.
• Exchange best practices with ambassadors from other universities, schools and disciplines.

How to apply: Please contact Claire Martese on 07825 288 119 or email claire.martese@employ-ability.org.uk

We are delighted to work with the following employers who show a commitment to diversity and disability equality.

If you need additional information or guidance on disability issues and recruitment follow this link

Is there anything you would like to see featured in future editions?  Or perhaps you would like to see yourself featured in the next edition of eAbility?  We would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

Equally, if you are involved in any disability specific or other events, careers fairs, or know of a useful disability or employment website, please tell us about it at: info@employ-ability.org.uk

The latest figures from 2008/09 show that 7.5% of all students disclose a disability, a steady increase from 2003/04 when only 5.5% disclosed.  Interestingly, over half of first degree undergraduate students known to have a disability declared that they had a specific learning difficulty e.g. dyslexia.

However, there is still significantly a lower proportion of disabled graduates (45.0%)attaining full-time paid work on leaving university, compared to other leavers not know to have a disability (51.7%), even though the level of degree attainment for those known to have a disability was only marginally less than those not known to have a disability (first class honours or second class honours attainment for first degree undergraduates 59.8% cf. 62.8%).

We are always keen to deepen our relationships with universities and provide a range of services to university careers/ disability officers, such as Campus Visits and Skills Workshops.  During these we can offer 1-to-1 sessions and advice on issues of disclosure, application writing, and other areas.  We can work together to improve these statistics – contact us info@employ-ability.org.uk or call 07852 764 684 to find out more.  Of if you want to create a direct impact think about becoming an EmployAbility Ambassador at your university

For more information, please visit http://omalleyinterpreters.com/remotecaptions/.

Feedback from an individual who used the service via her iPhone said it was ‘magical’.

Other participants in the awards included; Sainsbury’s, L’Oreal, Pareto Law amongst others.

This award was given to EmployAbility for the successful work we do in helping talented students and graduates obtain roles with top graduate employers, who might otherwise have been overlooked.