Job seeking support:
We provide information, advice and guidance on all aspect of job seeking to blind or partially sighted people. This can be either face to face, remotely over the telephone or in online group settings.
At the first client meeting, we conduct an assessment, which is called an Enabler, which was developed by the University of Birmingham, Action for Blind People and RNIB. This is a research-based assessment and it allows us to provide person-centred support.
In most cases we conduct sessions on the following topics with clients: CV, Cover letter, Application form, Access to Work, Equality Act 2010, job searching, disclosing Vision Impairment, interview skills and mock interviews to name a few. But if someone needs IT advice, mobility or counselling or another type of support, such as referral to Guide dogs, it will be all looked at and be dealt with in the appropriate way for that individual.
There is no time limit to how long we work with clients, nor any limit on how often we speak/interact with them. This is all agreed with the client, taking into account their individual needs.
We also help blind or partially sighted who are looking to find voluntary work first in order to be more suitable in the employment word after a period of time.
Retention:
We can provide information advice and guidance to blind or partially sighted who are in employment but due to their sight loss, they are experiencing some sort of difficulties.
The difficulties could be due to the lack of assistive technology or lack of understanding of sight loss. We provide advice to our clients first but if they wish Support 4 Employment to communicate with their employers, we are more than happy to do that too.
We can provide information and guidance on Access to Work and will support clients until their needs are meet and they are working as independently as possible with the support.
We also provide information and guidance on the Equality Act 2010, both for clients and for employers, for the latter, outlining their duty of care towards their disabled employee.
Self-employment:
We can provide information and guidance on self-employment in relations to self-assessment, UTR number, expenses and any other general self-employment enquiries.
We do not offer financial advice, business plan support or any advice in relation to whether the business is viable.
We can offer Access to Work advice regarding self-employment.
In partnership with the Macular Society
Colin Daniels of the Macular Society and Zsuzsi Szabo of Support 4 Sight talk about areas of employment for those with sight loss. A YouTube playlist of the videos can be found here: Youtube.com/EmploymentPlaylist
The playlist includes the following videos:
- 1 – Employment
- 2 – Keeping your job
- 3 – The Access To Work scheme
- 4 – CV writing
- 5 – Writing a cover letter
- 6 – Interview techniques
- 7 – Disclosing sight loss at interviews
- 8 – Disclosing sight loss at work
- 9 – Job seeking advice
- 10 – Job application forms
