Unison holds the first job fair for people with disabilities

2008-11-25

Today, Unison organized an unprecedented event – a Job Fair at the Marriott Armenia Hotel for employable individuals with disabilities. The Fair was not only aimed at connecting disabled job seekers and their potential employers, but also at challenging disability stereotypes, which portray people with disabilities as “passive”, “sick”, and “unable” to work.

The Job Fair was part of a project supported through a grant from the Armenian Branch of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation (OSIAF) and the Dutch Government. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Armenia and the State Employment Agency of Armenia contributed to the organization of the event.

28 companies participated in the fair, including VivaCell-MTS, Coca-Cola Bottlers Armenia, HSBC Armenia, Converse Bank, Unicomp, and others. Hundreds of job seekers with various disabilities attended the event. Participants approached potential employers both discussing their qualifications and submitting their resumes. To facilitate this process, 20 volunteers from Unison were present to distribute relevant information. When appropriate, they helped the participants compile and/or rework their resumes. Unison’s information center distributed dozens of books and other publications related to searching for jobs, legal mechanisms encouraging employers to hire people with disabilities, resume writing and job interview skills, etc.

Realize Your Right to Work
Job Fair for Persons with Disabilities

For Immediate Release

Yerevan, Armenia, 25 November 2008.  Currently, 8% of employable people with disabilities have jobs in Armenia. With the goal of changing this situation, the Unison NGO held a first-ever Job Fair for persons with disabilities. The Job Fair was a key event of a 3-year project supported by the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation Armenia (OSIAFA) and the Netherlands Government.
For a month prior to the event, the Unison staff had provided free of charge consultation to dozens of disabled job seekers on resume (CV) writing, job interview skills and other relevant support.
The Job Fair under a slogan Realize Your Right to Work was conducted at Armenia Marriott Hotel. 30 companies including VivaCell-MTS, HSBC Armenia Bank, Converse Bank, Coca Cola Armenia, Unicomp and several other leading firms participated in the event as employers.

At the opening ceremony, Armen Alaverdyan (Unison), Ralph Yirikian (VivaCell-MTS), Elvina Aghajanian (HSBC Armenia), Sona Harutyunyan (Armenia's State Employment Agency), Vahagn Hovhannisyan (Armenia's Chamber of Commerce) and David Amiryan (OSIAFA) stressed the importance of creating job opportunities for employable individuals with disabilities.
The Job Fair was attended by hundreds of people with disabilities. In addition to their direct contacts with the employers, the disabled job seekers were registered in the Unison database to allow for future contact. When appropriate, the Unison staff will be providing job training and placement service to these and other job seekers with disabilities.
The event was covered by 4 TV Channels, a dozen of print and on-line media outlets and radio companies.

Contact Person:
Armen Alaverdyan, Unison NGO Executive Director
email: unison@netsys.am
tel.: (+37477) 774277