Employment Programs

If you are a blind person, we want to help you find the best job you have ever had. If you are an employer, we want to help you find the best employee you have ever had.

At BLIND, Inc., we are working to eliminate the 70% unemployment rate for blind persons through innovative training, job development, and job placement programs. Our goal is competitive employment. A recent study of BLIND, Inc. graduates showed that 84% got jobs within a year of graduation and 13% went on to college or graduate school, for a total of 97%. These placement rates are competitive with those of the best training and placement programs in the country.

Integrated Programming

We start with high expectations. The idea that the persons we serve will get good jobs is integrated into all BLIND, Inc. programs. Students in our orientation to blindness program attend classes in our Career Center twice a week, and have free access to its job listing, job development, and job placement services. Through the Career Center, they explore employment possibilities, do job shadowing on the employer's premises, and learn how to get and keep jobs.

BLIND, Inc. students learn the latest technology for job seeking through our life skills and computer classes. They learn how to access state and national job banks using screen reading software, and how to write standard and electronic resumes. Dressing for success is part of our home management curriculum, as is machine operation in industrial arts. BLIND, Inc.'s travel classes teach students the skills they need to travel independently to and around places of employment. Confidence building is an integral part of all BLIND, Inc. programs.

Career Center

The BLIND, Inc. Career Center works with any blind person who is looking for work. Job matching services are free of charge to all blind job seekers. More intensive services, offered on a fee for service basis, include:

• Job readiness and skill evaluation
• Career counseling
• Job shadowing
• Resume writing (standard and electronic)
• Researching employers
• Understanding the employer's perspective
• Using speech and Braille to get access to job listings
• Job seeking skills training
• Handling blindness in job interviews
• Dressing for success
• Individual job development and coaching
• Internet-based job search
• Job club (subject to demand)
• Using public transit for job search
• Career advancement and job keeping skills