What Is the Workforce Recruitment Program?
The Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with
Disabilities (WRP) is a resource to connect public and private sector employers
nationwide with highly motivated postsecondary students and recent graduates
with disabilities who are eager to prove their abilities in the workforce.
Employers seek to fill both temporary and permanent positions in a variety of
fields.
Myths, stereotypes, and misconceptions about people with
disabilities often stand in the way when people with disabilities look for
jobs, resulting in a high rate of unemployment. Statistics show that people
with disabilities from minority backgrounds encounter even greater difficulty
in obtaining work. The WRP aims to eliminate this workplace discrimination one
student, one employer, and one job at a time.
Who Is Eligible to Participate in the WRP?
An applicant for the program must
- have a substantial disability
- be a United States citizen
- be enrolled in an accredited institution of higher learning on
a substantially full-time bsis (unless the severity of the disablity precludes
the student from taking a substantially full-time load) to seek a degree OR
- be enrolled in such an institution as a degree-seeking student
taking less than a substantially full-time load in the enrollment period
immediately prior to graduation OR
- have graduated from such an institution within the past
year
What Does the WRP Offer to Colleges and
Universities?
The WRP provides a unique opportunity for colleges and
universities to
- tap into a system that has been successfully placing students
with disabilities in summer and permanent jobs in the public and private
sectors for several years, at no cost to the school, the student, or the
employer
- bring together the resources of their disability services and
career services offices to promote more effectively the job seeking skills and
career readiness of their students with disabilities
- provide their students with disabilities a chance to grow
personally and professionally through participation in this nationwide
program
What Does the WRP Offer to Eligible Students?
The WRP is an excellent way for students with disabilities in all
fields of study to
- market their abilities to a wide variety of potential employers
across the United States
- sharpen their interviewing skills during a required one-on-one
meeting with a WRP recruiter
- gain valuable skills, experience, and contacts on the job
- prove that people with disabilities can be excellent
employees
How Does the Program Work?
The WRP operates on the following timeline:
- By mid-September, the schedule of recruitment visits to schools
is confirmed.
- From late January through the end of February, recruitment
visits, which include 30-minute personal interviews with individual students,
are conducted.
- By late March, a data base composed of student information
gathered during recruitment visits is made available to employers in the public
and private sectors.
- Once the data base is released, interested employers make
direct contact with students about temporary and permanent job offers. The data
base is active for one year.
The WRP is co-sponsored by the Office of Disability Employment
Policy and the Department of Defense, with support from other federal
agencies.
How Can You Participate?
- If you are a college coordinator for disability services or
career services, contact the WRP Coordinator at the Office of Disability
Employment Policy at 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room S-1303, Washington, DC
20210; (202) 693-7880 Voice; (202) 693-7881 TTY; (202) 693-7888 Fax;
Betsy Kravitz E-mail.
- If you are an eligible student, share this information with
your school's disability services or career services coordinator, and ask him
or her to contact the WRP Coordinator. Please understand that we work directly
with college coordinators, and cannot respond to inquiries from individual
students.
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