Breaking Barriers to Employment
Increasing Employability
Tab Ahmad
Founder and Managing Director, EmployAbility
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Agenda
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EmployAbility – Who We Are and What We Do
Services to Universities
Barriers to Employment for Disabled Students
Student Pre-conceptions
Employer Expectations
Support to Students
Employer Services
Next Steps…
www.employ-ability.org.uk
EmployAbility
• Dedicated to assisting people with all disabilities into
employment
• Support disabled university students and graduates in
easing the transition from education to employment
• Work in close partnership with universities
• Offer a range of tailored solutions to employers, aimed
at creating a more diverse and inclusive working
environment
• Employers we work with include: Google, Goldman
Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan,
The FCA, Reed Smith, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith,
Shell, The British Council, and others
www.employ-ability.org.uk
EmployAbility
Services to universities:
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Student EmployAbility Skills Workshops
One-to-one student advisory sessions
Specialist events and projects
Attend careers fairs
Disability Awareness Training for Careers
Services and other staff
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Barriers to Employment
• Student and Employer misconceptions
• Lack of knowledge of:
– Definition of Disability and what this includes
– Employer Duties regarding ‘Reasonable Adjustments’
– Impact of different types of disabilities in education,
through the recruitment process and in the workplace
– How to identify and implement disability related
adjustments
• Fear of the unknown and ‘getting it wrong’
• Screening out difference
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Student/ Graduate Preconceptions
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Will get discriminated against
Obligation to disclose details of disability
Cynicism due to own or others’ bad experiences
Idealism
Will be inconveniencing the Employer by asking
for adjustments
• Employer knowledgeable to make adjustments
• Employer’s duty to make adjustments
• Soap box opportunity
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Employer Attitudes
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Disabled candidates should disclose
Disabled candidates will disclose
Candidates will know their adjustment requirements
May be different for different disabilities
Equal Opportunities Employers
Two Ticks Employers
Disability Inclusive Employers
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Support to Students
• One-to-one tailored guidance, advice and support
• EmployAbility Skills Workshops - Provide advice, tips and
coaching on how to succeed with applications, at
interviews and assessment centre exercises
• Provide information on and promote ‘disability inclusive’
employers and their programmes
• Enable students to apply to Internship, Graduate,
Mentoring and other employer programmes and events
• Advise on disability related adjustments for the
recruitment process and in the workplace
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Employer Services
• Attracting, supporting and integrating talented disabled
students/grads into internship and graduate programmes
• Creating Pipe-lines of talent through specialist events, mentoring
programmes
• Disability Scholarships
• Disability Awareness Training – UK, Dublin, Zurich, India, China,
Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Korea
• Specialist advisory and consultancy services – including disability
related adjustments advice for recruitment and selection processes
and workplace, audit of recruitment processes; advice on
appropriate wording for recruitment websites, job advertisements etc
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Next steps…
Use EmployAbility – here to support you and disabled students
• Refer disabled students/ graduates to EmployAbility
• Contact us for advice on adjustments for disabled students
• Promote opportunities that EmployAbility are working on, including:
– Internships, Graduate Programmes, First Year Programmes,
Scholarships with ‘Disability Inclusive’ Employers
– Specialist Employer/ Industry Insight Events for Students
– Student EmployAbility Skills Workshops
www.employ-ability.org.uk
Tab Ahmad
EmployAbility
Tel: + 44 7710 070063
Email: tab.ahmad@employ-ability.org.uk
Website: www.employ-ability.org.uk
www.employ-ability.org.uk