Jodi Shearer, Caliper, Inc.

Interviewer:  What was your reaction when you were first approached about getting involved 
with our special initiative for hiring people with disabilities?

Jodi: I thought it was a wonderful idea.  It was a great opportunity for my company to assist 
people and get a hold of a workforce that a lot of people do not even think about or realize 
exists.  I knew that this was something that we would be good at and would give my clients an 
opportunity also to work with people that they may not have thought of to hire in the first place.

Interviewer:  Did your company have much experience working with people with disabilities?  If 
yes or no, were you introduced to a wider variety of people with disabilities?

Jodi:  Yes, my company was used to working with people with disabilities.  However, a lot of the 
people with disabilities we were unaware of.   It was a very interesting workforce and interesting 
to acknowledge that some of the people that were already assigned to us were working through 
programs or had job coaches that we were unaware of.  Yes, we were definitely introduced to a 
number of different disabilities and situations that have been successful that we were able to 
work with and get our clients to agree to because we had wonderful applicants for them.  

Interviewer:  What have been the two or three major lessons that you have learned through being 
associated with our project?

Jodi: A lesson that I have learned is not to judge someone just by what they look like or even in 
some cases by what their resume reads because a lot of people have different talents that they 
may not show when you meet them in person.  Judging someone just by appearance is not the 
way to go.  A lot of times, you are pleasantly surprised with the person when you actually take 
the time to talk and get to know them.   

I have learned that with my clients, as I am a staffing agent and I sent my resumes to my clients, 
I get better results than if a person with a disability just walks in the door somewhere and wants 
to apply him/herself.  When my clients listen to me talking about interviewing my employee, they 
do not know if there are any disabilities.  They get what I tell them and they get the resume 
before they even meet the person.  In a lot of cases, I have seen that that has made a huge 
difference. 

Interviewer:  What changes, if any, have you noticed either in yourself or your company that you 
can attribute to the experience you have had in the project?

Jodi:  I know in myself, I am more understanding than I was to begin with.  I see a lot of my 
coworkers are more understanding, have better etiquette with people with disabilities, and have 
learned how to work with someone who possibly cannot open the door and the proper way to 
assist them.  Since we are comfortable with working with our employees with a disability, our 
clients tend to be a lot more comfortable with working with them.  

Interviewer:  Are there two or three things that you might do differently if you were given the 
opportunity?

Jodi:  I would love to get more training to the people who are actually doing the hiring at my 
client sites.  Working with the State of Virginia, the people who are doing the hiring and calling 
me for the jobs and employees are not the hiring department.  I get purchasing agents that are 
calling me to hire people or the supervisor calling to hire people and they are not trained in 
working with people with disabilities or even understanding.  

Better knowledge of job coaches would be a huge plus.  Also, a good system on getting 
equipment would be useful.   As a staffing agency, it is difficult for me to provide equipment to 
people who might need it, such as ZoomText.  My state agencies seem to have a challenge 
finding a way to actually get that equipment.  That has become a frustration for myself, the state 
agency, and my employees who are onsite working and cannot really do their job to the best of 
their ability.  It would be great if there was a website or something that could direct us to what 
our steps are now that we have placed the person.  

Interviewer:  Have you seen changes in agencies or specific managers that seem increasingly more 
open or perhaps more comfortable with working with people with disabilities?

Jodi:  Yes, I have a county that was originally very leery with working with people with 
disabilities unless they were hiring them themselves.  Working through the staffing agency, I 
presented them with the perfect person for the position and their building was not handicapped 
accessible.  She was in a wheelchair.  They were creative a way for her to get in and out of the 
building so she could do the job.  She was an on call administrative assistant for them for over a 
year and they hired her. That was definitely a big change going from no to wow, what can we do 
to have this person?  

I have seen a couple of other state agencies that were very leery of actually hiring people.  In one 
case, they worked with the on the job training where they were willing to have the people coming 
in and train but they were not willing to actually hire them.   I have seen a big change in that 
particular agency.  Now they are hiring people through me and they send people to me so that 
they can hire them.  Or, they know that I can place them so they send them on to us.

Interviewer:  That is great to hear.  Have the webcasts that we have offered served as a useful 
tool for training your staff?  

Jodi: It has definitely helped me.  I know working in the Richmond branch, my coworkers see 
what I do on a daily basis.   Our Newport News and Virginia Beach branch are not as close so 
the webcasts have been very useful in keeping them up to date and training them at a distance.

Interviewer:  Do you have suggestions or recommendations for the future of how to proceed 
with hiring people with disabilities in state agencies?

Jodi:  Just give people a chance.  I know that working, as I said earlier, through the staffing 
agency where people do not have a preconceived notion is wonderful.  However, the state really 
needs to focus more on training everyone on tolerance.  If someone has red hair that does not 
necessarily mean they cannot do the job, just the same as if someone is in a wheelchair.  They can 
do the job just as well.  Having that education and understanding would make a huge difference.  

Interviewer:  Thank you for all of your work that you have done with us over the last months that 
we have had this initiative.  You all have been a wonderful resource to us.  We have provided 
you with training, but you have provided us with a lot of training that has helped us.  We 
appreciate the collaboration and partnership. 

Jodi:  I appreciate being asked.

Interviewer:  Thank you so much.

Jodi: Thank you.