"The DisAbility Talent Program connects employers and prospective employees with disabilities"

Mr. Schörghofer, how does the DisAbility Talent Program plan to connect students with disabilities and companies in Germany?

Daniel Schörghofer: The DisAbility Talent Program creates touchpoints and connects employers and prospective employees with disabilities. Companies meet highly qualified students with disabilities and get to know them better thanks to so-called job shadowing. The students acquire self-presentation skills in group and individual coaching sessions and learn to view their disability as a trait for career success.

The DisAbility Talent Program offers several events aimed at helping individuals to make an effective career plan, learn to present themselves better, and practice for job interviews:

In group coaching, an external coach works with the students to learn how to use their voice and body language to be more persuasive.

We discuss the respective career strategy and the contents of a job interview in individual coaching sessions. We also rework and tailor resumes and cover letters.

In career coaching, we jointly define career boosters and career stallers and share tips on "how to network".

Match Day marks the highlight of the DisAbility Talent Program. This is the day when the students meet and get to know the human resource managers of the partner companies during a speed dating event. The students put their acquired knowledge and skills into action and implement their learning.

Job shadowing allows the students to gain comprehensive knowledge about the company and understand the company culture.

What valuable experiences and insights were you able to gain with this program in your previous years in Austria?

Schörghofer: The DisAbility Talent Program has been successfully completed three times already. The first round took place in 2015 with five companies (UniCredit Bank Austria, IBM, REWE, PwC & Austrian Economic Chambers), the second round featured seven partner companies (UniCredit Bank Austria, Caritas, Austrian Lotteries, PwC, REWE, Takeda, Oesterreichische Nationalbank) and the third round partnered up with nine top companies (Caritas, Austrian Lotteries, PwC, REWE, Takeda, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Mondi, Air Liquide and Raiffeisen Bank International). The current DisAbility Talent Program has ten partner companies (Caritas, Austrian Lotteries, PwC, REWE, Takeda, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Mondi, Air Liquide, Raiffeisen Bank International, and Premiqamed) on board.

The fact that the DisAbility Talent Program had an increasing number of partner companies each year proves the increased interest of the business community in this career program.

The program participants also benefited from the DisAbility Talent Program. Many students don’t have any experience with the job application process and have many questions that need to be answered. The DisAbility Talent Program is a marvelous opportunity to practice job interviews and get answers to questions in a safe environment.

One participant wrote to us and said, "What I used to consider my weakness is now my strength."

That being said, participants are not just benefitting from the individual and group coaching sessions. Nearly 25 percent of the participants also become permanent employees at one of our partner companies thanks to the DisAbility Talent Program.

How do the participating companies, as well as our society as a whole benefit from this program?

Schörghofer: Statistics indicate that over eleven percent of students in Germany state that they have a disability. Meanwhile, the percentage of employees with disabilities in companies is far lower by comparison, revealing a major discrepancy. The DisAbility Talent Program gives our partner companies broader access to highly qualified students with disabilities, thus allowing them to counteract talent shortages.

Close contact and communication between job candidates with disabilities and companies allows the latter to identify how they can improve their hiring and recruiting framework to become more open and inclusive organizations.

The DisAbility Talent Program gives students with disabilities better tools to successfully enter the labor market and simultaneously allows companies to meet and get to know the right talent of tomorrow.

What does inclusion mean to you?

Schörghofer: For me, inclusion means making everything possible for every individual.