IT”S A platform like no other, and a first in the Philippines.
The website daretohiremenow.com is a skills-based job platform that matches PWDs with an employer for free.
And a month after its launch, around 200 persons with disabilities (PWDs) have already signed up.
“Given the right conditions, they (PWDs) can be exceptional,” said Rhodora Palomar-Fresnedi, executive director of Unilab Foundation (ULF), which initiated the project made public last July 15.
She added even the technical team that created the website is composed of persons with disabilities.
To encourage companies to hire PWD applicants, the website features six testimonials of PWDs successfully hired by the ULF through initiative “Project Inclusion,” which aims to provide a more inclusive society for PWDs.
Information systems student Franklin Chong is blind, but he is now an intern at the Unilab Corporate Information Technology where he works as a back-end developer, creating modules that allow users to manage, edit and upload contents on Unilab’s websites.
Chong had difficulty with other internship applications. His professor Martin Manalansan said in the testimonial, “When Franklin got rejected, I felt bad. Because each and every student should be given equal opportunity, regardless of their disability.”
Randy Motoomull, a computer science graduate, also had problems landing a job.
Interviews would usually end with, “We will call you,” he said. “It is probably just a nice way of saying that I’m not the guy for their company.”
Now hired by the Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Company, he works as a general clerk, filing payment proposals at the accounting department.
Both found opportunities through Project Inclusion after being rejected by companies despite having the skills for the job.
Hiring PWDs
Palomar-Fresnedi said the ULF has been reaching out to several companies that could offer positions to PWDs.
“We’re closing some agreements with other companies who don’t want to be public about it yet,” she said, adding these companies have yet to fully commit to hiring PWDs.
Promoting the inclusion of PWDs in workplaces has strengthened since the passage of Republic Act No. 10524, which encourages private corporations with more than 100 employees to reserve at least one percent of all positions for PWDs.
The signing of the law in April 2013 comes after the study of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, which found that roughly half of working PWDs were underemployed.
Majority of the employed respondents were either self-employed or unpaid family workers.
With the ULF project, at least three employers have already formally signed a memorandum of agreement to accept 55 job coach positions and 192 PWD applicants.
A job coach ensures co-workers and supervisors are aware of the special needs of employees with disabilities.
“The goal,” said ULF project officer Jim Nemeño, “is to hopefully carve out a new position for job coaching here in the Philippines.”
Job coaches must first undergo a training program under the ULF.
“It’s running mainly through ‘bayanihan,’” said Palomar-Fresnedi, grateful for the rising number of volunteers.
A Filipino expert abroad, whose advocacy is on PWDs, even helped design the curriculum for job coaches.
Better platform
For now, the foundation is doing manual matchmaking, until the number of employers signing up would be enough for “automatic” online matchmaking.
Nemeño said the website is still in its “beta version.”
For instance, the website’s current account setup allows employers to put only one skill for a job, which lessens opportunities for PWD applicants, as a job position would probably require more than one, he said.
The website also only covers PWD applicants in Metro Manila and cities in provinces.
Some of the site’s enabling features are not yet functional. These features, such as text-to-speech for the blind, would supposedly help PWDs navigate the site with ease.
The website daretohiremenow.com is a skills-based job platform that matches PWDs with an employer for free.
And a month after its launch, around 200 persons with disabilities (PWDs) have already signed up.
“Given the right conditions, they (PWDs) can be exceptional,” said Rhodora Palomar-Fresnedi, executive director of Unilab Foundation (ULF), which initiated the project made public last July 15.
She added even the technical team that created the website is composed of persons with disabilities.
To encourage companies to hire PWD applicants, the website features six testimonials of PWDs successfully hired by the ULF through initiative “Project Inclusion,” which aims to provide a more inclusive society for PWDs.
Information systems student Franklin Chong is blind, but he is now an intern at the Unilab Corporate Information Technology where he works as a back-end developer, creating modules that allow users to manage, edit and upload contents on Unilab’s websites.
Chong had difficulty with other internship applications. His professor Martin Manalansan said in the testimonial, “When Franklin got rejected, I felt bad. Because each and every student should be given equal opportunity, regardless of their disability.”
Randy Motoomull, a computer science graduate, also had problems landing a job.
Interviews would usually end with, “We will call you,” he said. “It is probably just a nice way of saying that I’m not the guy for their company.”
Now hired by the Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Company, he works as a general clerk, filing payment proposals at the accounting department.
Both found opportunities through Project Inclusion after being rejected by companies despite having the skills for the job.
Hiring PWDs
Palomar-Fresnedi said the ULF has been reaching out to several companies that could offer positions to PWDs.
“We’re closing some agreements with other companies who don’t want to be public about it yet,” she said, adding these companies have yet to fully commit to hiring PWDs.
Promoting the inclusion of PWDs in workplaces has strengthened since the passage of Republic Act No. 10524, which encourages private corporations with more than 100 employees to reserve at least one percent of all positions for PWDs.
The signing of the law in April 2013 comes after the study of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, which found that roughly half of working PWDs were underemployed.
Majority of the employed respondents were either self-employed or unpaid family workers.
With the ULF project, at least three employers have already formally signed a memorandum of agreement to accept 55 job coach positions and 192 PWD applicants.
A job coach ensures co-workers and supervisors are aware of the special needs of employees with disabilities.
“The goal,” said ULF project officer Jim Nemeño, “is to hopefully carve out a new position for job coaching here in the Philippines.”
Job coaches must first undergo a training program under the ULF.
“It’s running mainly through ‘bayanihan,’” said Palomar-Fresnedi, grateful for the rising number of volunteers.
A Filipino expert abroad, whose advocacy is on PWDs, even helped design the curriculum for job coaches.
Better platform
For now, the foundation is doing manual matchmaking, until the number of employers signing up would be enough for “automatic” online matchmaking.
Nemeño said the website is still in its “beta version.”
For instance, the website’s current account setup allows employers to put only one skill for a job, which lessens opportunities for PWD applicants, as a job position would probably require more than one, he said.
The website also only covers PWD applicants in Metro Manila and cities in provinces.
Some of the site’s enabling features are not yet functional. These features, such as text-to-speech for the blind, would supposedly help PWDs navigate the site with ease.
