This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Abilis, the nonprofit that serves Fairfield County residents with special needs through a wide range of life services programs, including recreational activities, transition and life skills support, job training, competitive and supported employment and a choice of residential options.
From Dec. 6 through Dec. 10, Abilis is hosting a job fair at its Greenwich headquarters, with the goal of filling 50 positions that will assist 800 special needs individuals and their families. The positions cover Abilis”™ focus markets in Darien, Greenwich, Norwalk, Stamford, Ridgefield and Westport.
In this edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall talks with Abilis President and CEO Amy Montimurro on her organization”™s efforts to recruit a large volume of new employees.
The first question might be the most obvious: Why are you devoting an entire week to a job fair?
We have many positions that we are anxious to fill. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve lost employees along the way. The silver lining is the growth that the organization has also had during this time, in both our birth-to-three early intervention programs, our residential programs, our day supports and employment opportunities.
We have many different positions where we believe potential applicants could really enjoy, both in the more clinical services or direct care service. And we’re anxious to really increase our workforce and be fully staffed.
How many people are you expecting to attend the job fair? And what percentage of that attendance do you think will translate into employees?
I’m not sure. Our last job fair was one day and we had 25 applicants ”“ we hired 17, which is really great. And I’m hoping that if we do a week-long and have our different directors available throughout the days to meet different applicants that we can, hopefully, have a high percent of new employees.
There has been so much news lately about employers having difficulty finding workers. Is this something that concerns your organization?
Absolutely, especially in the programs that are 24-hours, such as our residential services where we need to care for individuals in their homes. And we also want to make sure that individuals are able to get their jobs and maintain their employment ”“ they rely on coaches and mentors in our staff to keep things going.
I think we’ve been fortunate that we have such an incredibly dedicated workforce that has been with us throughout this time, and many of our staff have worked overtime and sheltered in place to keep our community members safe. I’m thankful we’re in a good position, but I I’d love to increase our workforce so that the staff that we have aren’t stretched too thin.
Are you able to accommodate training or educational sessions for people who might be considering a career change and would like to get involved in some of the services that Abilis offers?
Absolutely. We have a new employee orientation that covers the basic areas of our organization, and then employees are assigned to different supervisors and mentors that provide the specific training on that job.
Contributed photo.
What are some of the benefits that you offer your employees once they sign up?
We have fantastic medical, dental and ophthalmology coverage. We have tuition reimbursement, and we do career planning with our staff to make sure that we’re providing the opportunities so that our employees will grow with us.
I’ve been with this organization for 25 years and have definitely grown with the organization and had those opportunities. We are always looking to promote from within the organization and help our employees grow and stay with us.
In our industry, the average turnover in our field is probably about 30% right now. And I think our organization tends to be around 11%. So, I think we’re doing something right.
When you started 25 years ago, what was your position?
I was managing one of our residential homes 25 years ago and throughout the years I”™ve expanded by taking on additional responsibilities and programs. I realized it was an organization that cared about not only the people that we support, but very much about the workforce and creating a career and continue to maintain.
I took on the role of CEO in 2018 and was thankfully provided with the support that I needed so I could take on such a role.
Have you been in touch with any of the local schools regarding having their students come into the job fair, or even something separate from the upcoming job fair for employment opportunities?
We do reach out to the local universities and we have staff here on-site that are certified in field instructions. We’ve partnered with Fordham University and Sacred Heart University to bring in staff from both the undergraduate and graduate programs, and it has led to employment when the interns stay with us after they’ve graduated.
Do you plan to do the job fair as an annual event? Or will see what the results are going to be from this one before determining when the next one will take place?
I think we’re going to see how this one goes. If we’re successful, I am hoping that maybe every quarter we can have a job fair, but I don’t know if it will be a week long.
I definitely want to continue to make sure that our community knows who we are and that potential applicants know that there could be a career for them here.
