Bay Area Disability Network

Archived Employment Advice

(also see Employment Reviews and Recommendations)

Employment agency

I’m sure I would have heard of one by now, but does anyone know an employment agency that works with disabled folks? I know that most of the agencies will let you leave your resume and they’ll go through the motions but is there anyplace that really tries to place people? Thanks, Francis

Hi Francis, Yes, the main employment agency specifically for those with disabilities in the Bay Area that I know of is: ProjectHIRED - http://aces.projecthired.org/public/index.php There are a lot online sites too: REcruitability: http://www.disabledperson.com/recruitability.asp iCAN: http://icanonline.net/channels/employment/index.cfm usajobs (for Schedule A) http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/ Then of course there is the WorkAbility programs here in the East Bay - at the College of Alameda, Cal State East Bay, Ohlone College, and Berkeley Adult School. Just do a google on any one of them for the web addresses... These are great programs for receiving assistance for the job search. They are DOR funded, so you do need to be a client of DOR to work with them. IF you are a current UC Berkeley student or recent UC Berkeley graduate (and that does not mean the extension), you can join UC Berkeley's WorkAbility IV program, Cal Transitions: http://career.berkeley.edu/CalTransitions/CT.stm Depending on your disability, there should also be assistance within the disability-specific community. For blind/low-vision, there is Sensory Access; us deaf/hard of hearing have DCARA. Both of these organizations have job developers and resources. There are a LOT of agencies here in the Bay Area that work with different populations of people with disabilities, so my advice is to commit yourself to a lot of online research and you will find something. Good luck. mhudson
If you have access to the Internet, go to the website for the Berkeley Public Library. Choose BIN, or the Berkeley Information Network. Then search by keywords DISABILITIES EMPLOYMENT. That retrieves 11 hits.