Blind and Visually Impaired job seekers often must play a guessing game when it comes to the determination if a possible employment avenue will fit within their specific needs for access. That is why J.J. was eager to sit down with Roy Baladi, Founder at Jobs for Humanity, to explore how his organization is looking to build healthy bridges between employers and those interested in employment. Tune in, or read the transcript below, to learn where the drive to assist others came from and where the trajectory may lead to in the future. To know more about Jobs For Humanity, or to browse their postings, visit the Blind.Jobs website
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Transcript
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Hide transcriptTranscribed by Grecia Ramirez
Direct from Orlando, Florida; St. Louis; Las Vegas; Dallas; Sparks, Nevada – everywhere – it’s Blindbargains.com virtual Exhibit Hall coverage brought to you by AFB AccessWorld.
For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings; access technology; book reviews; and mobile apps and how they can enhance entertainment, education, and employment, log onto AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free monthly online technology magazine. www.AFB.org/AW.
Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh.
J.J. Meddaugh: Blind Bargains virtual Exhibit Hall coverage continues with a brand new website, blind.jobs. This comes to us from a new company called Jobs for Humanity. Roy Baladi is the founder of Jobs for Humanity. He joins us on the podcast. Welcome.
ROY BALADI: Thank you for having me.
JM: So why don’t we just start right out with that? What exactly a is Jobs for Humanity, and then we can kind of roll into what the website is.
RB: Jobs for Humanity is a global movement of job creation for candidates that have been historically underrepresented in the workplace. It starts with creating jobs for pockets of people. So, for sure, we started with blind.jobs, and then five other communities that were – we’ve rolled out refugees, creating jobs for them, and upcoming are jobs for the new or divergent, for single moms, for black leaders, for returning citizens from incarceration, and that’s it. These are the six we’re starting with.
JM: So how did you arrive on those particular categories to start with?
RB: Because I have friends, and – it’s a combination of having contacts, friends, and knowing, understand, the pain of realizing that there’s so many people who could be employed, and there’s such a big gap right now because employers don’t know how to hire them. And really, it just comes down to, if you educate employers and you give them a program that they can easily subscribe to, it makes it easy for them to hire them and get up-skilled in what’s needed in order to hire them, and that creates a safe space for them. Once they’re in, then you’ve cracked something that can really change the trajectory of entire communities and employers themselves.
JM: Very cool. So if you go to the website now, you can see a listing. I see quite a few different jobs up there on the site, and you also have services for employees. So let’s talk about both sides of that, starting with the job seeker. What would be the advantage – why would someone who is blind go to, say, a site like blind.jobs as opposed to one of the big sites like, you know, Indeed, or one of the big job boards?
RB: Every job that’s published on blind.jobs is published with an explicit agreement from the employer that they would interview the top three candidates who’ve applied. And, provided that they pass a certain match for -- they’re, like, well-fit for the role, and have agreed to get coached by our experts in order to create an inclusive space. So understand the difference between when someone is blind or has low vision, understand what are the challenges that they face and how to address each, for us to open up the challenges that employers face and how to address them, help them through the interview process; understand the assistive technologies, and know what would be needed in order to create a safe – to make their company accessible, and then how to create a safe space once they do join.
JM: Got you. So the idea is you’re going to this site, and these jobs have been – I wouldn’t say vetted because you’re not limiting the types of jobs, really, that can be posted; right? It’s more that the employer has somehow designated this job, or it’s ended up on the website for a particular reason or –
RB: Yeah. We vetted the employers, not the jobs. So we allow an employer to post any jobs at their company because we don’t want to limit the types of jobs that a person with low vision can do, or a person who’s blind can do. We actually don’t know. And so – and employers don’t know. So we tell them, just post all your jobs. We’ll present – we’ll want to reach blind job seekers or candidates – or job seekers with low vision, have them apply internally, and the system will get a sense of who are the best-fit candidates for these jobs, and we’ll introduce them to the employers and support them as they go along.
JM: Let’s talk about that support. I noticed as you’re going along, your business model – you’re a non-profit, and the goal is to support by some various packages that you would offer employees; right?
RB: Yeah. So for now, all the jobs – we – the most important thing is you want to make sure this works, that we’re able to build a healthy bridge between employers and job seekers, and present job seekers with a dedicated program and resource that really welcomes them.
JM: So we have blind.jobs, and you have other communities that either are launched or are going to be launched. Are the same jobs posted across all of these different sites?
RB: Employers choose. So some employers say, hey. I’d like to hire anyone who’s blind or new or divergent. Or others might say all six. I’ll be coached and trained on all six communities. So in some cases, they do span multiple job sites; in other cases, they’d be there for, you know, an individual site.
And there’s also the opportunity – so what we do when you work with a large company is we import their jobs and synchronize them on a daily basis and check in with them and let them know, these are the candidates that have applied. Can you interview them? Can we set up the interview? But we also have space for an employer to come in and sign up themselves and post the job directly on this job site, in which case it’ll be only there for that job site, for blind.jobs.
JM: So you know, and I know, and you’ve said it too, that obviously, you know, there’s no real good reason, as far as the scope of the site, to limit jobs that a blind person or people in these other communities can do. But how do you educate an employer on recognizing and not hand-picking – okay. These are the jobs out of all of the ones that we have available that we feel would be good for a blind person, which kind of ends up being discriminatory. How do you coach them on that?
RB: Believe – I mean, I’m sure you believe it. They come to us with this question. They’re like, I’m pro -- I’m very open to hire, but can you tell me which jobs should I put up there? “Should it be customer support?” is what I hear a lot. I’m like, well, you’ve got people who have been, for example, CFO’s whether they’re blind, sighted or not. Or some people were sighted, and then they lost their vision at some point in their lives. They could – and they know the technologies that it takes, and they use them in order to do their jobs perfectly well. So don’t limit it to them is my recommendation.
And so given that – and then, I tell them you have nothing to lose. We’ll pull those jobs in, we’ll let you know when you have high quality – qualified candidates per job, and at that point, it’s an easy yes for them.
JM: I was reading a little bit on the website about your story and how you got to where you’re at now. Tell the listeners that. I think it’s a really good story.
RB: I’m from Lebanon, and a year and a half ago, we had a crisis in Lebanon where all the banks shut down. They literally were bankrupt. They were out of the money that were deposited in. And so all the bank balances were actually fake.
JM: Wow.
RB: So if someone went to the bank, they couldn’t get their money out. And they were stuck with the money they have at home. Imagine trying to – this becoming a reality and trying to live with that, trying to pay groceries, pay for tuition, hire employees, import goods.
So what I did – I used to live in San Francisco. I collaborated with a few friends, and we decided to call on to the global diaspora, Lebanese diaspora around the world to hire Lebanese in Lebanon. We launched last March right before, or right when, Covid hit.
JM: Sure.
RB: Since today – so that’s – we’re at the end of April, so we’re 14 months in. We have 1,880 jobs that were published, 11 thousand candidates applied, more than 200 people got hired, and half way through the year, I realized why not do this for causes that matter around the world? And why don’t we take this to – at a global scape? We have the product, we have the program, and we’ve proven that it works.
And so that’s how it started. And I started to reach out to my friends at Be my Eyes, at Lighthouse for the Blind, arcenciel, and other centers for blind and low-vision. And I’ve done the same for each community.
And then we put our minds together to make sure that we put together a training program that’s – and our team is made up of the communities that we support. And since it’s been nothing but a miracle in the last month, 14 volunteers have reached out and said, hey. I’m so moved by this. I’d like to come and help. And many employers have reached out and said, I am so moved by this. I would love to come and help. How can we participate?
JM: That’s a really great story, and it just kind of shows the power that change can have in, you know -- working across these different communities. In fact, I would wager, you know, you have six different target areas. I would wager some people would actually fit in more than one of these groups.
RB: Yeah. They would. Many do. I mean you have a refugee who’s a single mom.
JM: Yeah. Who could be blind.
RB: Yesterday I was talking to a refugee single mom and blind at the same time.
JM: Right. I mean, just looking at the various ways that, you know, the barriers that can be artificially put up, especially if employers don’t have that education. And I really appreciate the education piece. So you said you’ve partnered with the Lighthouse and Be my Eyes, as far as some of the – getting some of the resources as far as assistive technology and things like that or.
RB: First of all, having their expertise to help us build the training for the blind and low-vision, because I have – I don’t have that expertise.
JM: Right.
RB: And also that center -- Spectrum Center for Accessibility has partnered with us, where my colleague has – manages a team of eight individuals who are blind or have low vision. And so being able to put a training program that’s very mindful, and for us all to be learning from one another, plus accessing and reaching out to the candidates in these communities. And if you want to communicate with employers who have additional questions, then we have experts on the team who are more than happy to deliver those trainings and support them to create a thoughtful and inclusive experience.
JM: So if someone who is blind or in one of these other communities wants to go look for jobs or sign up, what’s the best way to do that?
RB: Someone can go on www.blind.jobs. That’s the site. And then the site is also accessible for anyone with low-vision or anyone who is fully blind. I also fully realize that blind.jobs, by its name – it’s called blind.jobs, not called visually impaired.jobs. But it really encompasses the entire community, and the program is built for the entire community. So it’s www.blind.jobs.
JM: And if there’s any employers that are listening that want to participate or become an employer that’s registered with the site, do they just go to the same website and sign up that way?
RB: Yeah. They can go to jobsforhumanity.com to understand the overall program across communities, and they can always reach us. And this Email is on the site, contact@jobsforhumanity.com, and we’ll walk them through the whole process.
JM: Awesome. Thank you so much, Roy, and thank you for sharing your story.
RB: Thank you for having me, J.J., and thanks for being such a voice for your community. I really appreciate that. I’m sure thousands of people appreciate that, if not more.
JM: Well, we really appreciate you as well. Thanks.
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
