No one left behind
New job site reaches out to underserved job seekers
WHEN a financial crisis hit Lebanon in the Middle East in December 2019, former East Village resident Roy Baladi felt a personal connection. As a native Lebanese who moved to the US when he was 17, the 37-year-old decided to make a tangible difference. So last March, while working for enterprise recruiting platform company Smart Recruiters, he created an online employment search site, Jobs for Lebanon. As the Lebanese started to successfully find employment through it, Baladi decided he wanted to expand the vision.
The result is Jobs for Humanity, an innovative Website which aims to ignite a global employment movement for six under served communities: black leaders, the blind, single moms, refugees, citizens returning from incarceration, and the neurodivergent [such as those on the spectrum with autism, As per ger’ s syndrome, attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and more ].
Launching on March 22, the worldwide site’s goal is to“create a community of help one another get jobs all around the world,” said Baladi.
“Einstein was on the spectrum, Richard Branson is dyslexic, Barack Obama was raised by a single mom,” said Baladi. “The people who have known pain are the ones who transformed the world. If we’re able to create access to them, then the world is shifting into a much better place .”
The site is free for companies and job seekers have applied, a team screens candidates, presenting the Top 3 resumes to employers for each role. Current listings include positions for a content writer at Booking.com, paralegal at Nielsen IQ, and data scientist at Spectrum in Stamford, Conn.
Baladi invites people to “apply to jobs, post jobs and to volunteer with us ,” since the operationis currently 90 percent volunteer operated. More than half of their team comes from the causes they support, with the goal of having a company with a core team that gets paid.
Jobs for Humanity’s expert-led team will also conduct sensitivity training for employersto allow them to extend their diversity and inclusion. This training, which is currently free, is “the secret sauce to connect the two,” said Baladi. “A frequently asked question from the employer is, ‘What jobs should I publish for the blind? If I interview a blind candidate, can I send a follow-up e-mail and are they able to read it?’ Blind people have assisted technologies to read screens, but employers don’t know that, so we’re bridging the gap.”
Securing any needed accommodations is also key to ensuring success on the job.
“It’s important for job seekers to know they have access to meaningful jobs ,” said Sally Rumble of Fort Greene, head of community and marketing at Jobs for Humanity .“There’ s been a wall up in the way that we treat those who are‘ different’ because we don’t have the understanding. It’s not going to happen overnight, but change is coming. Employers are having internal conversations about diversity and inclusion and belonging.”
Alicia Roebuck of West Philadelphia, senior manager of North American talent acquisition at Nielsen IQ, said ,“It’ s exciting—diversity and inclusion is part of the fabric of our organization. We have existing employee resources that allow us to tap into various communities, so this is an extension of that. Inclusion is not just a one-off training; it’s an ongoing activity. It’s our privilege to continue to move toward inclusion across all backgrounds.”