Disability charity holds annual ‘life-changing’ job fair in Birmingham
A disability charity recently held its annual job fair, where attendees were able to meet disabled jobseekers and discover new talent.
The national disability charity Sense held its Pan Disability Job Fair, where employers with live vacancies can meet disabled jobhunters and career switchers in Selly Oak in Birmingham recently.
An impressive list of organisations took part, including West Brom Building Society, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), hospitality and food services group Compass, and West Midlands Combined Authority.
Alongside hosting a stall, National Lottery operator Allwyn delivered a special workshop on interview preparation and mock interviews, while recruiter JAR Solutions held a session on CV writing.
The aim of the annual job fair is to help disabled jobseekers overcome the barriers to work that cause a shocking 29 percentage point employment gap between disabled people and the overall population.
The event, which is free for both recruiters and jobseekers and has been held annually since 2022, also enables employers to build more diverse and inclusive workforces. Previous job fairs have led to many attendees landing interviews, paid employment and work placements.
Robyn Dawes, employment coach at Sense, said: “Disabled people face huge additional barriers when they are job hunting – many struggle because there’s no specialist technology in job centres to help them look for work or they don’t get adequate advice elsewhere – but we’re here to offer individualised support.
“Our Pan Disability Job Fair in Birmingham has become an annual event and we are proud that previous fairs as well as this recent one have helped attendees secure interviews, paid work and work placements.
“Employers who want a diverse and inclusive workforce have so much to gain by coming along each year and meeting disabled jobseekers.”
Pictured: Jobseekers and employers at a previous Pan Disability Job Fair at Sense TouchBase Pears in Birmingham. Credit: Sense