4 Entry-Level Jobs (and Careers) for Young Adults With Disabilities
The above picture is of a woman with a disability sitting in a wheelchair at a desk working. Source of picture: Career Employer
4 Entry-Level Jobs (and Careers) for Young Adults With Disabilities
Over a quarter of adults in the United States live with some form of disability. Many of these people are young adults, just starting out their lives in the working world.
Unfortunately, the job market can be tough to navigate for people with disabilities. Not only is the competition for many jobs tough, but employment is the most common area of discrimination against those with disabilities.
However, this doesn't mean it's impossible to get a job if you have a disability. There are a lot of great entry-level jobs out there for young people with disabilities. We'll discuss a few of them in this article.
1. Accountant
Accountants are responsible for keeping track of a client's money and helping them make financial decisions based on that information. Though personal accountants do exist, they're more likely to work for a company.
Accounting is a great field for those with disabilities given its professionalism and access to many individuals in the disability community.
It's also a job that can, in many cases, be done from home. As long as you have a laptop and some Excel spreadsheets, accounting should be no trouble.
Keep in mind, this job does require a bachelor's degree in accounting. For those with an associate's degree, there is something called a bookkeeper.
A bookkeeper is also involved in managing money, but their job is only to record it.
2. Sales
Sales is another field where young adults with disabilities can thrive. Much like accounting, sales can be an optimal position for individuals with mobility issues because it doesn't usually require physical exertion. However, while accountants work in numbers, salespeople work in words.
Salespeople can work from home or in the business itself. However, sales is a very different experience depending on where and how you work. For instance, trying to sell things over the phone will result in many people hanging up almost immediately.
Society has been conditioned to not trust telemarketers, so the deck is a bit stacked against you. However, the customers who do stay on the line might be more likely to buy the product.
For those who work on the floor, interaction might be a little easier, but getting the sale is harder. The approach used in stores is a lot subtler than on the phone. Instead of interrupting their lives with a phone call, it's a matter of walking up to people and asking if they need any help.
Many of the people who do need help have already committed to buying something, but by helping them find the right product, you get the commission for it.
3. Writing
Many people dream of writing, captivating readers, and even becoming a best-selling author. However, that takes a lot of work, and most people need a day job to make ends meet in the meantime.
There are writing jobs that allow you to use your writing skills in other ways, and give you the opportunity to learn a few things along the way. One such job is as a technical writer.
Technical writers are responsible for taking complex information associated with a product or service and breaking it down into simpler terms for consumers. This often comes in the form of instruction manuals and other guides
There are also copywriters, who write the day-to-day communication and information for a company. This can include everything from writing emails to customers or coworkers to creating social media posts, to writing up research papers.
Whenever a company needs something written, they often entrust it to a copywriter. A company may have different kinds of copywriters, such as advertising copywriters and SEO copywriters, and social media copywriters.
Bloggers and freelancers don't work for a single company. Instead, they do projects for anybody who's willing to pay for it.
Freelancing and blogging offer a much higher level of creative freedom than other fields, but that comes with a drop in job security. If there's been a dip in available work, you will likely have a tough time.
4. Customer Service
Customer service, as the name implies, is about dealing with customers and attempting to solve any issues they might be having. These types of jobs have gotten a bad reputation over the years, but they can be quite pleasant.
Customer service jobs are easy compared to many other types of jobs. You just have to talk to customers.
Those with social anxiety may struggle in these types of jobs, but there are ways to manage social anxiety. There's not much to be afraid of, either.
We often hear horror stories of people working in customer service and the rude customers they encounter, but that isn't the usual experience. Most people are very aware of those types of customers and would rather not be one of them.
To work in a customer service job, it's important to know about the industry you're working in and the products you're working with. Depending on the industry, you may also need to know a bit about science or technology. For instance, if you work in the tech industry, you'll need to learn a little bit about computers.