Graduate Careers Fair, in the RDS, tomorrow, 21st October

Myself and John Paul from WAM will be at the Graduate Careers Fair in the RDS all day tomorrow. It starts at 11 and runs till 5 and you can check out their site here

More importantly, at 3:30 I’ll be giving a short seminar which will cover all the extra aspects of jobseeking that are useful for graduates and students with disabilities to know: disclosure, grants and funding, legislation and the availability of other projects and supports. It’s the ideal time to get an overview of things that you should consider if you are a graduate with a disability, or for that matter, someone who is supporting/ advising a graduate with a disability. All the matierial is taken from Get Ready for Work, so it really is an overview of the extra stuff – I won’t be going near CVs, interview skills, what job you should do, or anything like that, because that’s all covered by others whose speciality it is. For more information about the timetable of seminars you can check here.

Obviously, we’ll be at the stand all day to answer any questions and would be very happy to see you, but I would encourage you to drop along to the seminar, it’s just a half an hour and could answer many of your questions in a more useful way.

As I’ve said before, events like this are what you make of them, and I’ve outlined some suggestions here, and so have GradIreland, here.

If you’re there tomorrow, do drop by, and do enjoy the day. Opportunities can be exciting and challenging, and that can be something to relish and enjoy!

 

Interesting fact

In an AHEAD/TNS MRBI survey 2 years ago 73% of employers said that graduates with disabilities should disclose.

Disclosure comes up frequently for graduates with disabilities when we’re talking to them and is a session in the Get Ready for Work seminars, especially in relation to invisible disabilities.

BUT

Irish legislation* makes no reference to disclosure of disability*. Nothing says you do or don’t have to disclose your disability.

I find this rather frustrating but also rather interesting.

____________________________________________________________

*I am referring to the Disability Act 2005, the Equality Act 2004, the Equal Status Act 2000, the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Health, Safety & Welfare at Work Act 2005

*The Employement Equality Act and the Equal Status Act both refer to the disclosure of information in the context of the equality tribunal or the labour court, but make no reference to disability

 

…

It appears I can’t multitask and general busyness means I ignored the blog. Apologies, I’ll try to make up for it. So here’s a run down of the last month:

Running the Get Ready for Work Seminars was exhuasting, but I think successful. Over 40 people recieved training, with more than 12 careers advisors involved, and 10 employers. Feedback overall has been excellent, and reviews of the seminars are ongoing. If there’s demand, we’ll look at another one by the end of 2009. If you, or anyone you know are interested, please get in touch.

Apart from Get Ready for Work, I’ve been hatching some new plans with my colleagues so, watch this space sometime in September

The Facebook Page is now at www.facebook.com/getaheadforum. Much easier to direct people to, so please do

I was also down at the Union Organisation Seminar run by USI (the Union of Students in Ireland) for all students union officers in Ireland. I go to talk to them every year about the issues facing students with disabilities on campus, and to talk about what they can do/ should do. It’s always interesting to get their take on what’s happening and to discuss plans and ideas they have for the upcoming year. This year looks set to be excellent too, so keep an eye on USI Equality

AHEAD has put together a response to the proposed model for the Fund for students with disabilities in 2009/2010. I’ve linked to the response here, just for your information. If you’ve any questions, shout.

We’re also currently looking for your comments and suggestions for a charter for inclusive teaching and learning. There’s more information here, and after you’ve read this, if you’ve any thoughts, please feel free to comment or to email my colleague Lorraine at lorraine.gallagher AT ahead DOT ie

On Friday, I’m off to deliver some training for WAM in the ESB, so I’m getting to keep in touch with what WAM is up to and how its going.

Next week, I’m on holidays, but there’ll be scheduled posts to make it as if I’m still here!

 

Get Ready for Work

Right now I’m at the second of 3 Get Ready for Work seminars we’re running this year (in UL, DIT & NUIG – huge thanks to all the staff in those colleges and all the members of GCI/ Graduate Careers Ireland) and I thought it might be good to explain a little more about the background and the point of these workshops.

The first Get Ready for Work seminar was run 2 years ago in NCI over 4 days and the point was to try and ensure that students with disabilities were as well prepared as possible for interview and the labour market. It had been and still is our experience that students with disabilities often encounter difficulties in getting work. Not always, but often. The work GET AHEAD does has a couple of strands to it and this is just one element. Right now Get Ready for Work is a 2 day session focussed on giving people extra preparation, and yes, extra advantage. It’s a way of counteracting some of the disadvantages (lack of work experience, bias or prejudice in interview, lack of specific information or support) that disabled people still incur (not the only way, but one. And no, I’m not accepting that disadvantage as a given, rather, I’m trying to challenge it in several different ways and this is one) In short, the better prepared a person is, the better an interview will go, the better an interview goes, the less impact any bias or prejudice can have. Preparation is key.

Extra careers support when you’re finished college can be expensive, although there are some opportunities available to access free support – this is another! So what we do is a day of careers skills training – career planning, career management, career development offered by members of the GCI (Graduate Careers Ireland) And on day 2 I talk about all the rights disabled people have in law, in terms of supports, grants, entitlements. I also talk about the issue of disclosure. In the afternoon, there’s a chance to talk to a careers advisor about your CV and to have a mock interview, with an employer and get feedback on your performance on that interview. It’s rare that people spend 2 whole days on their career development, even though work, careers, are a huge part of our lives. I continuously evaluate this program and every bit of feedback counts. Whether it will always be a program that people want or need is debatable but for now, it will continue to be a part of our work.