Save The Date: WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15, 2008
Disability Mentoring Day™ is a large-scale, broad-based effort designed to promote career development for students and other job seekers with disabilities (mentees) through hands-on career exploration, job shadowing, and internship or employment opportunities, and matching of mentee/mentor relationships. Disability Mentoring Day: Career Development for the 21st Century, will be commemorated on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 as the official kick-off for a year-round effort.
What Happens on Disability Mentoring Day?
One-On-One Job Shadowing: Mentees with disabilities are matched with workplace mentors according to expressed career interests. This enables mentees to learn more from their assigned mentors about a typical day on the job and how to prepare for that particular career.
Group Visits to Worksites: Mentees with disabilities can tour a workplace, meet with its various employees, and learn firsthand about different types of jobs and related opportunities within that career field.
Diverse Programmatic Events: In addition, many communities also plan kick-off breakfasts, all-day informational seminars, and/or end-of-day receptions for all community participants to attend.
All of these events, plus other scenarios that take place on Disability Mentoring Day, provide an opportunity for the program participants to share their experiences and build a much broader and beneficial network of relationships.
How Do Students and Job-Seekers Benefit?
Disability Mentoring Day provides these mentees with opportunities to:
• Learn firsthand about internship and job opportunities.
• Develop lasting mentor relationships.
• Target career skills for improvement.
• Explore possible career paths.
• Demonstrate skills to potential employers.
• Work closely with someone working in their desired career field.
• Understand the vital connection between school and work.
• Gain greater confidence in their own employability.
How Do Employers Benefit?
Disability Mentoring Day provides potential employers with opportunities to:
• Recruit short- and long-term interns.
• Gain access to a pool of new emerging talent.
• Learn more about the experience of disability.
• Develop lasting relationships with disability community leaders.
• Gain exposure through media coverage of the event.
• Demonstrate positive leadership in their community.
• Promote job satisfaction with and the development of their current workforce.
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