Rural Minnesota CEP (Concentrated Employment Program) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people find jobs that match their skills and helping employers find quality workers to fill their open positions. HireAble is a program of RMCEP that focuses on helping Minnesotans with disabilities get the tools and support they need to find employment.
“HireAble’s primary mission is to help persons with disabilities on Social Security Disability benefits achieve a more engaged life while working their way off of public assistance and out of poverty,” said Greg Kaiser, disability resource coordinator for HireAble. “Every client comes to us fearful about losing their benefits and unsure about how much work they can perform without making their disability worse. To address these two very real concerns, HireAble takes a three-tiered approach to overcome these obstacles.”
Kaiser says the first step is providing certified benefits counseling so every HireAble client understands how earned income will affect their public benefits and what incentives are available to improve the client’s financial well being if they work. “Once the client understands the options available and makes a determination to move forward, our workforce center staff provides creative job search training and guidance necessary to help the client find work. In many cases, the first two strategies are not enough,” Kaiser said.
“In almost all cases, those who come to HireAble have been out of the workforce for months or, more likely, years,” Kaiser said. “That gap in employment is difficult to overcome. Applicants with long gaps in employment raise red flags for employers. It also makes our job seekers ineligible for many of the employment and training programs made available through state and federal dollars.”
The RMCEP received a grant to get the HireAble program off the ground. Now that it’s up and running, Kaiser says HireAble is seeking donations to fund and sustain the program. “Ninety percent of charitable contributions will be used to provide a tryout work experience for HireAble clients,” Kaiser said. During this tryout work period, HireAble will pay the employee’s wages and handle all HR concerns. The tryout work period also makes it easy for employers to use the program with no risk.
Absolute Marketing Group has recently been working with HireAble to develop their brand. We created their logo, brochures and website. Sharing the story of Bill, a HireAble client, was one of the main projects Absolute worked on. HireAble helped Bill find work and change his life for the better. We shot a testimonial video featuring Bill and his story, and it quickly became clear that Bill was the perfect person to be the “face” of HireAble. You can check out that video here.
“Absolute Marketing Group has provided us with detailed marketing information, research and consultation. They have created a brand design that conveys our message. The concept captures the feeling our HireAble clients feel when they have achieved their financial and employment goals. That feeling is a sense of freedom from the shackles of poverty and public assistance,” Kaiser said. “Absolute created brochures that educate employers, employees and philanthropic interests. They created and will host a brand new website. They created testimonial videos that will be used in our paid media campaign. They even created a beautiful expo display that highlights Bill, the face of HireAble. In addition to all of this, they sat down with us time and time again, going through painstaking detail to ensure every product was perfect,” said Kaiser.
“Our satisfaction level is through the roof. We believe that Absolute Marketing Group was worth every penny. We could not have selected a more professional and competent team to ensure our organization is set up for success,” said Kaiser.
If your business needs help with video services, or any other aspect of marketing, give us a call at 701-478-1111 or visit absolutemg.com/contact. We would love to help.