ReadyTech gave eight Disability Employment Services (DES) participants a day of insight into working in a technology company as part of this year’s Job Access event AccessAbility Day 2019.

AccessAbility Day is an Australian Government initiative that allows employers to connect with current active DES participants to see their potential in the workplace.

It provides employers with a chance to explore the value of employing a job seeker with a disability while allowing DES participants an insight and exposure to work they are interested in.

JobReady hosted job seeker participants over two days in partnership with DES providers atWork Australia and MatchWorks to give them a practical overview of life in a software company.

They were given exposure to everything from software product design, engineering and quality assurance, to business development, the creative and marketing function and client support.

General Manager Tony Jones said AccessAbility Day 2019 was a special day in the annual calendar for JobReady with the whole team involved in providing insights to DES job seeker participants.

“We’ve been involved in the DES market as a software provider for 20 years, and we are well aware from our own experience of the value that employing people with a disability can bring.”

 “AccessAbility Day gives us a chance to open our doors to DES participants who are actively looking for work to help give them exposure and insight into our workplace as they seek work.”

“One of our participants mentioned at the end of the day that they now felt inspired to work; this was so good to hear and makes it a very rewarding experience for all of us to be involved with.”

MatchWorks employment consultant Grant Carney said AccessAbility Day was a great way for DES clients to get exposure to a job that they had actually nominated as their employment goal.

“One of our participants for example said she would like to work in an office environment but had had no previous experience – so it was great for her to come in to see a modern workplace and see what it’s like to work in that environment. By seeing some of the great – and even the not so glamorous aspects of it – she can then make a more informed decision if that’s the type of role she would like to pursue, or if not we can go back to the drawing board and try something else.”

Carney said he was “super-impressed” with the involvement of multiple departments and people from across JobReady which contributed to the depth of insight participants got from the day.

“It was absolutely brilliant. What I hope our participants take away is that there is some jobs out there that they have a great skills set for that do match their abilities and their experience, and that there are also employers out there who are willing to recognise that and give them a go.”

CEO of ReadyTech, Marc Washbourne, said participation in AccessAbility Day was an important part of ReadyTech’s commitment to giving back to the communities in which we live and work.

“The DES community puts so much energy into helping participants find work and we’re happy to support DES providers and their clients by contributing to positive journeys into paid work.

“Our team also gains a lot from sharing their daily work with others who can benefit from that. They had such a great response from our participants this year and that leads to a lot of fulfilment.”

ReadyTech has participated in AccessAbility Day in both 2018 and 2019. ReadyTech was pleased to hear that last year’s participants went on to secure work in a variety of fields.