34 DIVERSEability Magazine www.diverseabilitymagazine.com
CAREERS
F
or many Americans with disabilities- even prior to these unusual times-find- ing and keeping a job comes with unique challenges: commuting to a workplace, job lexibility to allow for doctor's visits and treatments, and needed accommodations to complete a job. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has upended traditional businesses nationwide, resulting in many companies sending employees home while at the same time, seeing a huge increase in the demand for customer support. Call and contact centers in particular have become the frontline for branding and customer experience. Compa- nies are increasingly seeing an urgent need to create and staff virtual call centers to meet the increasing demand. This shift in the typical office dynamic has increased the availability of flexible, work-at-home jobs with compet- itive pay, and has opened doors for new job opportunities for the disability community. Before mid-March, only 1.3 percent of job
NTI@Home Aids in Finding Work-at-Home Opportunities
By Kate Brouse, Business Development Lead at NTI
postings on ZipRecruiter explicitly offered the opportunity to work from home. Now, 11.3 percent of jobs on the site offer at-home flex- ibility. As unfortunate as the pandemic is, one silver lining it that is has forced companies to allow people to work at home-an accom- modation those within the disability commu- nity have been requesting for years that has suddenly become the norm due to COVID-19. A person with a disability who may be at a disadvantage in the workplace may now find it easier to secure an at-home job for which accommodations are not even required; their homes are already set up for their needs. National nonprofit NTI@Home has been providing work-at-home opportunities for people with disabilities and their caretakers for over 25 years. NTI@Home provides free training and job placement services to disabled Americans and veterans, providing many with the first step on the path to a new career-all from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Over 4,300 Americans have found roles in government organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and other national organizations after completing NTI@Homes free training program. Andrea Thomas founded NTI@Home after a debilitating illness kept her out of the workforce for more than six years. Following a two-decade career and early, unplanned retirement, Thomas always had a desire to go back to work. After working with NTI and completing a self-paced training program, Thomas found a role at Celgene, a global pharmaceutical company that develops cancer and inflammatory disease therapies. As a cus- tomer survey agent, she works with patients to log prescription information, medical history, and more. My job has given me the opportunity to be a part of the workforce again and I love it, said Thomas, a California resident. This is a great opportunity for people to work from
Previous Page