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Forthcoming Events
Please remember to check back frequently for new event listings.
Gap Year Event
On the 18th December 2006 Blind in Business held a session for candidates interested in taking a gap year before entering employment.
Listen to a recording of the event.
Press Release
Climbing Mountains towards Success.
On 23rd and 24th August, twenty visually impaired graduates and undergraduates took part in Blind in Business’ annual training event at the SHL Management Centre in Long Ditton, Surrey.
Confidences were built through team games, seminars and employment discussions: all with the aim of beginning the process of coaching these young people into a position where they can compete with their sighted peers for the very best internships and graduate jobs in the City and around the country.
Michael Kenny, Director of Blind in Business said that
‘The Chairman of Blind in Business came to dinner and spoke of his career as a Director of Lloyds TSB. He is blind. He told them that when he lost his sight, it was thought that he lost in all ways. He pointed out he kept a brain, and the brain raised him to be a Director of the bank. If he could do it, he said, they can.’
On the second day of the event, candidates completed graduate assessment centre tests – in 20 different formats. Some needed Braille, some used large fonts, and some used laptops with text-speech software (the greatest leap forward in history for visually impaired people). Many had readers and also scribes. This showed them and their potential employers that talented visually impaired people can compete equally and in fact outperform more stereotypically ‘able’ people. It was a stark reminder of how easy it actually is to enable the disabled.
Finally, we were joined by representatives from 20 graduate recruiters including Cadbury Schweppes, Ernst and Young, Transport for London and Standard Chartered Bank.
Caroline Lindner from Allan and Overy commented that
‘The Blind in Business Training Day was excellent and I would recommend it to employers and students alike. The programme included helpful, practical advice about how employers can make reasonable adjustments and adapt selection processes as required. Including mock interviews with the students was undoubtedly the most useful part of the day. The students gave us feedback about how we dealt with their visual impairment during an interview scenario, which certainly helped to develop my understanding further. I hope the students I met now have more confidence about how to approach interviews and how to sell their skills effectively.’
But perhaps one of the most inspiring parts of the event was a session of indoor climbing where a number of completely blind graduates put the staff of Blind in Business to shame as they scaled the walls of the climbing centre.
Majid Khan, a current Blind in Business candidate said that
‘climbing is something that I have never done before, or believed that I could do. It was difficult, but I did it. And now I can go on to find a great job, despite the barriers that might face me’.
This year’s candidates indeed began the process, literally and metaphorically, of climbing mountains.
Published by the Blind in Business Charitable Trust 31st August 2007
Further Employment Service Events
- Diversity Speed Recruitment - An annual event bringing together graduate employers from some of the largest recruiting organisations with penultimate, final year and recent graduates for introductory interviews. The event is a way of matching employers and candidates who may otherwise never meet.
- Mock Assessment Centre Workshops - An opportunity to understand what will be required at graduate assessment centres and a chance to practice tests in an appropriate format. Blind in Business works in conjunction with the main graduate test publishers.
- Industry-focused workshops - Specialist sector-based workshops for undergraduates and graduates keen to explore various career options with leading organisations. Recent workshops include a law day at CMS Cameron McKenna, a business breakfast at Lehman Brothers and an introduction to IT careers at Acumen Solutions.
- Peer group networking events - Opportunities to develop a peer network with other visually impaired graduates and undergraduates to discuss some of the pertinent issues of looking for work as a blind or partially sighted student.
