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25 July 2007
Do you employ a person on what you see, or what he or she knows Abacus Recruitment, an IT-focused recruitment company which launched a division focusing on placing disabled candidates during February, has reported that its new division is “picking up steam”, but said that it is still appalled at the level of disinterest and apathy coming from the corporate sector, which appears to eschew the concept of employing skilled disabled personnel. Heloise Conradie, who heads up the special disabled recruitment division for Abacus confirmed the “division was starting to gain momentum”, but said it now had a deluge of potential candidates who are seeking gainful employment. “We have only placed a fraction of our disabled candidates since February. While we remain bullish about the division, what we have realized is that there is a huge pool of skilled people out there who are simply being ignored due to the fact that they are disabled. Since we started successfully placing candidates we have had an increasing number of disabled candidates approaching us for assistance. But right now, we are only successfully placing a fraction of them. What I find rather amazing – and disappointing – is that many of them have skills that can be of real benefit to companies, even though they are disabled. “One point in case, said Conradie, is Cival Mills, one of the candidates on our books. Civall is a qualified medical doctor and yet he cannot find gainful employment. I find this to be ironic; there are hundreds of disabled people who are qualified, skilled, and who bring with them expert knowledge that can be harnessed. Companies overcome many stumbling blocks if they know that, at the end of the day, they can make money. They know skilled personnel will make them money – so why can’t a skilled disabled person make them money? All they have to do is ensure that certain things are in place, like ensuring that the disabled employee can gain access to the premises and to things like washroom amenities. Other then that, there is no reason why a skilled disabled person cannot add just as much value as a so-called normal worker. It is rather ironic that we are facing a skills shortage, certainly in the IT sector, and yet on our books, here at Abacus, we have a wealth of skills to offer via our disabled recruitment sector.” She said there are so many employment options for someone like Cival Mills, such as research, being a medical writer, and evaluating claims. Commenting further, she suggested: “It might be a very good idea for the human resources departments to become more involved in the hiring process. After al,l the have the knowledge and the skills – that is why they are there. But companies do not leverage off their knowledge enough when it comes to the overall employment process, and making employment decisions.” Caption: Why can’t this man get a job? Pictured here with Heloise Conradie from Abacus Recruitment is Dr Cival Mills, who became a quadriplegic after a motor car accident in December 2000. Dr Mills was fell asleep at the wheel in the early hours of the morning while on his way to the hospital where he was working as an intern. |