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Over the next couple of month’s 1000’s of students will find themselves on the job market for the very first time. The first full-time position most will find themselves in is job hunting itself. After a day of, updating your CV, perfecting your Linkedin profile and searching through job sites, it can feel like you done full day at a 9 to 5. Add to that, the spikey dilemma of whether or not to disclose your dyslexia, job hunting can be a brain bending activity.

So it may come as a huge relief that there is now a recruitment agency dedicated to dyslexic job seekers. ‘Exceptional Individuals’ is the brain child of Matt Boyd, who after volunteering abroad, realised that he also wanted to make a difference back at home. Matt told me, “A lot of my friends that I did dyslexic sessions with at Uni were really struggling and that’s why I wanted to help.”

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Matt initially thought he would be working with individuals seeking employment in the creative industries, but it soon became clear that people working in all corners of the job market were in need of his help, Matt recalls, “after we got our first 100 candidates I looked at a graph and it was completely different. There was environmental sciences, I had people that wanted to be barristers, and that made me realise, in the creative industries its OK sometimes, because you can show your portfolio and work. Spellings, processing times aren’t as detrimental to your application. With being a barrister any spelling mistake can lead to you not getting anywhere.”

If Matt finds a suitable role for one of his candidates, Exceptional Individuals will approach the employer on the candidate’s behalf. The will then go through a process where they inform and educate the potential employer, busting many Dyslexia myths, explaining the government assistance there is to help with workplace adjustments and to making them aware of successful dyslexics doing a great job in their particular field.

Matt has found this approach is effective in most cases, but some still hold on to old fashion views, “with these companies the most common thing we get is an email back saying ‘we don’t think a dyslexic can do this job.’”

A major concern for many dyslexic job seekers is whether or not to disclose at interview stage. Even though Exceptional Individuals does so much ground work in normalising Dyslexia, some job seekers may still be apprehensive about applying for jobs through an agency that brings its candidates Dyslexia to the forefront. Matt says this should not be of concern, “If the application is not successful through us, they can still apply on their own because we don’t disclose their name until a client wants to work with us.”

You can find out more about Exceptional Individuals or submit your CV at: www.exceptionalindividuals.com




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The Codpast is a multimedia production from www.extraordinaire.tv