Employee’s disabled mother enjoys fulfilling career

Part 1 of 2

I’ve been in the recruiting industry for over a decade, helping business owners find the right people to fill their positions. Overall it is a very satisfying job because I’m assisting business owners and job seekers. I work with business owners to navigate various HR issues, and help job seekers find meaningful work to collect the ever-needed paycheck.

Regardless of their disability, we want to help people find the right job for them – one that suits their skills and abilities.

I am co-chair of the Treasure Coast Business Leadership Network. This is a chapter of the USBLN and the driving force behind the promotion of hiring people with disabilities. We put on three educational events a year teaching people about working with the disabled, and working to take the stigma out of hiring them. Unfortunately, many employers are hesitant to hire the disabled, and we try to remove the fear factor through education.

This cause is near and dear to my heart, as my mom was disabled for most of her adult life. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and as the years progressed, the disease became more debilitating.

For many years, mom showed no outward signs of the disease, but she was in pain every day. When she was diagnosed in the ‘70s, pain management options were limited to Prednisone and aspirin. As the years progressed, new medicines were introduced, but the side effects were worse than the remedy. Despite her illness, she still had a fulfilling career helping my father run an engine remanufacturing company – doing sales, marketing, and finance.

She later left the business and worked as an outside sales rep, eventually transferring to an inside sales position when getting around proved too difficult. After “retiring” to Florida, she did volunteer work and took a part-time job on the weekend as a security guard after my stepfather passed away. She willingly worked third shift and rarely took time off, for which her boss was very grateful.

In part two I’ll share some statistics about people with disabilities who are currently employed.

About The Author – Ellen Contreras is a new business development manager at Pearl Interactive Network. She has worked in the staffing and recruiting industry for over 10 years. Working with business owners and job seekers, Ellen has had the advantage of seeing both sides of the coin. This is why she feels the need to share what she has seen and heard with others so that she can help people navigate the hiring process, either as the candidate or manager.