Disability Friendly Employers are Looking for You to Fill Their Openings!



Employers are searching for you,
are you ready for them?

by Megan Elliott, Social Media Developer

Slowly but surely, we’re starting to see national chains pick up on the fact that there are plenty of people out there who are willing and want to work, and have a skill set that makes them perfect for their businesses. These people are our clients, our Ticket Holders, the people with disabilities (PWD), and the value is showing every time one of you gets employed!

Walgreens was one of the earliest businesses who recognized the value of hiring PWD, and has launched an educational initiative to help other businesses recognize opportunities to hire PWD. Walgreens launched a pilot program in Anderson, S.C., which just so happens to be in the same state that ERS operates in, that hired PWD to sort bulk shipments from their suppliers into the stock shipment orders from their stores.

Now, Lowe’s home improvement stores are jumping on board and learning from Walgreens on how to launch their own program for hiring PWD, and they’re not the only ones. OfficeMax, an office supply retail store chain, has won awards for their inclusion efforts from a national association of state vocational rehabilitation agencies. And more can be found here, on DisabilityInc’s list of top 50 companies for diversity.

So what does this mean for Ticket Holders, people who want to work and want to find the jobs out there? Well, make sure that you add your resume to the databases of www.jobaccess.org or www.gettinghired.com. We can help you with that if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself. Bookmark the career pages of the companies you want to work for, and check those postings regularly for positions you think you are qualified to apply for, and then submit your resume!

Alternatively, you can send a prospecting letter to the human resources department head. Here’s a great guide for writing a prospecting letter that will get you noticed. Don’t know the name of the human resources head? Well, here’s how to find that name! Your letter will get noticed more readily if you use a name, rather than a generic “Dear Sir or Madam,” in your cover letter anyway. Just make sure to keep it professional and on-point as to how you’re the perfect person for a job that they don’t have open right now, but may in the future.

Don’t you feel better knowing that companies are searching for you to fill that position that they know only you can fill? Now it’s up to you to let them know that you’re ready to go to work! Make sure to call or e-mail us and let us know if there’s any way we can help you prepare your cover letter, resume, or fill out an application. That’s what we’re here for!

Marathons and Job Searches Have a Lot in Common!

Running shoes are kind of like resumes -
they adapt to the person wearing them, so they're a customized fit!

by Megan Elliott, Social Media Developer

Running a marathon is hard work – it requires dedication to a goal, sacrifice of one’s time and energy, and a payout that is not guaranteed. Sounds a lot like a job search, come to think of it! Compare the two…

Making the decision to run a marathon for the first time is just like making the decision to do something about your present job situation. First, you have to figure out how to change what you’re currently doing – are you watching TV shows instead of walking around the block? Are you eating a bag of potato chips rather than half a baked potato and steamed broccoli? The right shoes make all the difference to your new routine too – there’s a reason why basketball players don’t wear flip flops on the court!

The first steps to your job search are similar; you need to make time to figure out what you’re interested in applying for before you start writing your resume. You need to make time to go to the public library or a career center to search for jobs, or buy a newspaper and search the classifieds for job descriptions that interest you. Filling out an interest survey can point you in the right direction too!

Once you start walking around the block, don’t stop there! You’re going to run the marathon, so you’ve got to start jogging. Slowly at first, like jogging a quarter mile and then walking a quarter mile, and working it up to a half mile, then a mile, building up to the 5K and the 10K, the half-marathon. But wait – a marathon is 26.2 miles! How are you ever going to get to that point? Look up other marathoners for inspiration, and all of a sudden you’re inspired again.

Your interest is flagging and you’re possibly feeling a little discouraged about your job search around this time too. You keep finding all these jobs that you can do, and that you want to do, but you keep getting rejection letters, or even worse, no response at all. So call those hiring managers and ask what it was that caused them to reject you! Was it the wording on your resume or cover letter? Easily fixed for the next application, all you have to do is rewrite it. Call your career coach for pointers and encouragement, and you'll start feeling better about your own abilities.

One day you’re in your groove, and all of a sudden, you realize that you’ve run further than you’ve ever run before, and you feel great about your progress, so you sign up for that marathon. This is your goal, this is the result of all your hard work! You run in the marathon, not caring that people are passing you, because this is your moment for you; you changed yourself and the result is a wonderful sense of pride as you cross that finish line. Now… celebrate, turn around, and start training for that next marathon, and beat your personal best!

You’ve finally gotten through the interview, which went so well you went home with a broad smile on your face and patting yourself on the back, and it showed in your thank-you note. They call and give you an offer, and after considering and perhaps a little negotiation and a discussion of benefits – you’ve accepted! Now you’re working, and you keep showing your boss just how good of a worker you are, which is nothing that can be adequately put on a resume. This is what all those hours spent sending applications were for, and now you have to keep proving yourself. Take on those work challenges with a smile on your face, because you did it! Who knows what you can accomplish next?

*Dedicated to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Dressing for an Interview on a Budget



Can you believe how many results this search returned?

by Megan Elliott, Social Media Developer

There are well over 35 million articles on the internet giving you advice on how to dress for a job interview. They are written by job coaches, by hiring managers, by professionals, by hired freelance bloggers, and by people who just have no clue. It’s a really popular topic!

Chances are, you’ve read at least a good dozen of them.  Most suggest a basic black or charcoal grey suit, with a neutral colored shirt, with low heels and the barest of jewelry. If you’re going for professionalism, to carry a portfolio with you with copies of your resume in hand. Some go so far as to advise that you get your suit professionally tailored to make sure that it fits properly.

Now, this blogger states that at the very least you should wear neat, clean, and pressed clothing for an interview. She’s as upset as I am at the inordinate number of articles suggesting that you should wear a tailored suit to an interview with a fast food chain manager, which I find a ridiculous suggestion. Of course, if you have a suit, wear it. If you have a friend or relative who will let you borrow one of theirs, wear it. But please, don’t go running out and spending money you don’t have on a suit!

One method is to do your research on the company (have I mentioned before how much you need to research the company?) and figure out what their dress code is for their employees, and then step it up a couple of notches. For instance, let’s say that you’ve been called in for an interview at the McDonald’s around the corner. Every employee is wearing chinos and the company uniform polo shirt and hat. What’s two steps up from chinos and a polo?

The other method is to actually call the person who called you in for the interview and ask. Saying something along the lines of “I want to make sure that I understand the dress code,” indicates before your interview that you’ve been doing your homework on the company. Just be sure to err on the side of caution, as the advisers in that article suggest.

If you have nice things in your closet that fit well and don’t show threadbare spots, by all means, make sure they’re well-pressed (if you can’t iron or don’t own the equipment, like me, take your outfit to a dry cleaner at least a couple of days in advance).  If you feel that a suit or even business separates are essential, I’ll let you in on one of my secrets. I have had great success in finding gently-used to tags-still-on clothes from consignment shops, and even in thrift shops like Goodwill and Salvation Army. You might also want to ask around and see if there are any consignment shops that provide outfits to lower income individuals, like Career Closet.

Ultimately, the decision on what to wear to your interview is up to you. This is your chance to show who that person is behind that smashing resume, and we want you to shine! Good luck, and happy interviewing!

Interview Nervousness is Normal!

Does this image make your palms start to sweat?

by Megan Elliott, Social Media Developer

It can be absolutely nerve-wracking to get called in for an interview with a company - and if you don't know what kind of preparations you're expected to make, the more nervous you get! So, we're going to provide you with five little tips to get you started.

1) Do research on the company.
Figure out how large the company is, what its culture is like, ask friends of friends what the company is like (if they work there), and so on. If the company is pretty large and has been around for a while, it will probably have a lot of reviews online from current and former employees, and even customers. Read those to get a good feel for the company. Don't just rely on their website to tell you what you need.

2) Along the same lines, do research on how well they treat their employees.
Usually, if you applied to a position online, you were introduced to some of the benefits that the company you're interested in offers employees. What sorts of benefits are you interested in - medical, dental, 401(k) matching? Some companies list an ability to provide flexible schedules or occasional working from home opportunities, which is a great opening for a question for YOU to ask in the interview, if that's important to you.

3) Practice interview questions. Practice, practice, practice!
There are practically thousands of different lists of practice interview questions online. Here's one, and another, and another. There are lots of ways to practice as well! My favorite way is to get a friend to pretend that she's my interviewer, and she'll ask me questions from those lists. We then hash out the best way to word a response, if she feels that I haven't done well on that question. Using my research on the company, I also practice asking her questions for the interviewer. This interview is a two-way conversation, and the responses you get from your questions will tell you whether or not you actually want to work for that company.

4) Believe in yourself!
I know this sounds so cliche, but so many people start to wonder if they're truly up to the task of interviewing for the job - or they've been out of the workforce for so long, they don't think they're going to be valuable team members if they do interview and get the job. You are valuable! You are important! And most of all, you bring experiences that no one else has had to the interview and to the job!

5) Relax.
While you're picking out what you're going to wear to the interview (which we'll tackle in another blog post), breathe deeply, and focus on how you're feeling inside. Take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out slowly. Repeat ten times. This will calm those butterflies in the pit of your stomach. Being nervous is normal, and chances are, the interviewer will be as nervous as you!

If you need help practicing your interview, we're here for you. We'll be the friend who pretends to be the interviewer, if you wish, and we'll give you pointers on how to answer those tough questions like a pro!