The PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. Grant will Bridge the Gap Between Corporations and Jobseekers with Disabilities-
(Bethel, CT) – September 17, 2018 – For more than three decades, Ability Beyond has forged new roads of opportunities for people with disabilities. Now, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the PwC Foundation, the nonprofit organization is striving to bridge the gap between jobseekers with disabilities and companies that are looking to hire.
“In this era of record-low unemployment, nearly 40% of employers are having challenges hiring qualified employees, while at the same time one in five people in our country have some type of disability and are facing challenges in getting hired,” explained Tracy Conte, Vice President of Development and Community Engagement at Ability Beyond. “Utilizing our expertise, we will produce free webinars for each group to give them the skills and knowledge to meet each other’s needs.”
The webinars will be designed by Disability Solutions, a national disability employment initiative developed by Ability Beyond five years ago in conjunction with PepsiCo. Since then, the team of disability inclusion experts has improved the hiring rates and best practices in attracting, hiring and retaining talent with disabilities at major companies, including Aramark, Aon Global and Synchrony. Their partner companies have hired over 400 employees with disabilities since 2015.
The webinars for jobseekers with disabilities, including veterans, will prepare them for the workplace. Topics include resume and interview preparation, communication, and developing post-hiring skills and experience. The trainees will learn how to connect with participating employers through Disability Solutions’ Career Center that offers free jobseeker profiles and participation in an anonymous talent database.
Webinars aimed at prospective employers and talent recruiters will improve their understanding of disability talent, hiring, accommodations and retention. The webinars will be targeted at Fortune 500 companies and released through existing networks, including the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
“Many of our resources are already in place as we have cultivated partnerships with a national network of nonprofits, veteran’s groups and workforce agencies,” said Conte. “The PwC Charitable Foundation’s contribution will allow us to continue fostering more inclusive workplace environments, while decreasing barriers to employment for people with disabilities.”
The talent pool of job seekers with disabilities, which currently consists of more than 20% of the population, has historically been at a disadvantage when seeking employment, and continues to be disproportionately underrepresented within the American workforce. Today, the unemployment rate among people with disabilities sits at double the same figure among the overall population.
While this figure can partially be attributed to a lack of resources, including transportation and accommodations, the social misperceptions concerning disabilities contribute greatly to this discrepancy. “Soft skills”, including interviewing and answering behavioral-based questions on online applications, can prove to be hindrances for job seekers with disabilities.
“The technology that businesses all over the country have integrated into their online applications has improved their hiring efficiency, however, it oftentimes eliminates talented people with disabilities,” said Conte “We are committed to helping companies re-think their hiring process to help them fill crucial positions with top talent who happen to have a disability.”
Ability Beyond outlines the following positive outcomes that will result from the grant:
1) Talent acquisition professionals will feel better prepared to source, attract and hire talent with disabilities across their companies
2) Talent acquisition professionals will have a greater understanding of the business value people with disabilities bring to the table, best practices and data-driven outcomes / case studies
3) Jobseekers will be better prepared for navigating the online application process, communicating their skills and interviewing with success
4) Participants will be hired to meaningful, gainful jobs after they’ve completed the organization’s webinars and set-up an online job-seeking profile
“At PwC we know it is critical that organizations that attract a diverse workforce with a wide range of experiences can harness different approaches to problem solving and power innovation,” said Sigal Zarmi, Chief Information Officer at PwC. “We are thrilled the PwC Charitable Foundation is providing this grant to Ability Beyond to help them increase employment opportunities for talent with disabilities.”
Success will be quantified through the number of talent acquisition professionals trained, administration and analysis of pre- and post-webinar surveys, number of jobseekers instructed and prepared for employment, as well as hiring outcomes as reported by either participants or by leveraging the Disability Solutions Career Center.
Ability Beyond is a 501{c} (3) organization headquartered in Bethel, CT and Chappaqua, NY. It provides a wide range of services for over 3,000 people with disabilities that inhibit their activities of daily living — including numerous residential alternatives, employment training, career counseling, job placement services, cognitive and life skills instruction, clinical and therapeutic support and volunteer and recreational activities. Today, its services extend far beyond the Danbury community into much of Connecticut and Hudson Valley, New York. For more information about Ability Beyond visit www.abilitybeyond.org.
About The PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. The PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc., is a section 501(c)(3) organization that makes contributions to the people of PwC in times of financial hardship, and to nonprofit organizations that support and promote education and humanitarianism.
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