The completion of 4 years of successful operation for the pioneering, possibly even globally, Jobslink platform was celebrated Thursday with an event-mini conference.
Jobslink undertakes, completely free of charge, to include people who have been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome or, more generally, are classified in the so-called "autism spectrum". The methodology applied by Jobslink is entirely original, as there is no precise match to any similar initiative developed, so far at least, in Europe and the USA.
In epigrammatically, Jobslink accepts applications for employment from people with Asperger, composing a detailed profile of the skills and specificities of each and every interested person and then assigns each case to a " mentor".
The mentor - scientists psychologists - prepare the candidate worker for the stages that will follow, i.e. interviewing the potential employer, adapting to the working environment if and when there is recruitment, as well as supporting the course of employment.
As stated in their presentations by the platform managers - Mrs. Maria Iliopoulou, president of El.s.A. (Greek Association for Asperger Syndrome) and Mr. George Nathanael, in charge of the platform - in 4 years of operation until today, the Jobslink programme has more than 500 registered employees and has contributed to the restoration of 50 of them, to jobs friendly to autism.
One of the most impressive elements about Jobslink, is that the educational profile of registered candidates for employment, by 73% (or over 7 out of 10) are AEI graduates. And, also, 69% knows at least one foreign language.
As it would have been expected, businesses, in the real professional arena themselves, were not necessarily prepared, at least in their majority, to join their potential persons outside the neurotypical psycho-spiritual class – otherwise the average of people, those who have not been formally diagnosed, with a disorder such as High Function Autism Syndrome, as described by Asperger.
So the duty Jobslink undertakes to fulfill is profound: On the one hand, it prepares and supports the candidate worker, on the other hand it ensures that the representatives of the undertakings are informed of what it means, what it requires and what cooperation with a person in the autism spectrum entails. In this way, Jobslink operates as a bridge between two sides, which discover each other, they find that, apart from interdependence, there can also be mutual benefits and, ultimately, they both tear down the known stereotypes. Not only about autism, Asperger syndrome, etc., but also about the embodiment of diversity in Greek society in general.
The 4th birthday event of Jobslink was hosted on the afternoon of Thursday, June 18, in an event room, at the neoclassical mansion of Kefalonia where the great sponsor of the platform, the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation is based. The participants had the opportunity to be informed - and, those who had no prior knowledge of this action - to be surprised, both by the scientific integrity of the approach, and by the extremely high level of those who have already joined the labour market thanks to Jobslink.
In addition to those responsible, experts, mentors, etc. at the event for the 4 years of Jobslink they spoke employers and, above all, the beneficiaries of the program. The testimonies of all, except touching, were truly shocking. Because, by testifying to personal history, how they left behind isolation, hesitation and passed the crucial threshold of the true labour market, they are irrefutable confirmation that things can change in Greece, that there are passages of inclusion—that people who believe that they differ too much from the mainstream have not only the choice of margin. But that they are entitled to expect, on the basis of initiatives such as Jobslink, that the surrounding is beginning to adapt to their own particularities, rather than requiring only the opposite.