For the past few years Eye Association Netherlands has developed several programs to increase the employment rate of visually impaired people. One of the programmes, titled: ‘Working together to find work', is a yearly project that started in 2015. In this program visually impaired people who have a job help visually impaired job seekers to find work. Participating working VIPS hold a great variety of jobs: lawyer, policy officer, technician, call centre agent, etc.
At the start of every year, working VIPS are trained on building and/or improving their coaching skills. Then, a working VIP and a job seeker are matched. For a year, they have a consultation fortnightly. The working VIP helps the jobseeker to find out what sort of job he or she wants, how to build a social network, how to apply for a job, how to communicate about their visual impairment during job interviews, etc.
During the year there are four meetings where all participants of the programme, working VIPs and jobseekers, can share experiences. Participants can enjoy workshops, e.g. about finding assistive (technology) tools that suit your needs in the working environment, what subsidies and tax benefits do employers get when hiring you.
Over the last three years the projects was very successful. Per year, 25 job seekers participated in the programme, 80% of which found a job. All working VIPS said they learned much from the programme.