VERMONT RECRUITMENT FIRM REVOLUTIONIZES TALENT DEVELOPMENT
WITH A DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR
THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 NEWPORT, VT – October 27th, 2021 — Facing a national shortage of qualified recruiters, privately-held, women-led recruitment startup Orion Global Talent (vermontrecruiters.com) has introduced a visionary solution — the Igniting Power Program (IPP) — fundamentally transforming workforce development for the blind and visually impaired.

Led by a diverse team of passionate professionals across the United States and Ireland, IPP will create new opportunities for visually impaired professionals with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in training. 

In 2016 Bob Richardson, Founder of Orion Global Talent, had the idea to create more talented recruiters while also helping a community that has often lacked promising job opportunities. Richardson set about finding a solution. With the shortage of talented recruiters in the U.S., it made sense to train blind and visually impaired professionals in the field.

They began working with the Vermont Division of the Blind and Visually Impaired to build a recruitment training program, eventually collaborating also with NIB. After several pilot programs, in the fall of 2021 the Igniting Power Program is ready to launch internationally. They have partnerships with leading organizations including NSITE (formerly NIB), Johns Hopkins, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and Ireland-based Social Talent, who are providing a recruitment education platform that is fully accessible for the visually impaired.

The IPP educational program consists of 15 weeks of training offered through Social Talent’s Black Board platform, developed by Johnny Campbell, specifically designed to work with tools that visually impaired and blind individuals can use to navigate the internet. The program also includes instructors, mentors, and a motivational coach, and is set up to produce expert recruiters, ready to work by the end of the training program.

Blind and visually impaired people are often overlooked for opportunities such as these because of little-known advances in technology that allow them to navigate the internet as well, and in many cases better, than those with full sight. This opportunity gives visually impaired workers a potentially lucrative skillset, a meaningful position with companies who are making life-saving products or savings lives directly in the healthcare industry. Graduates of the program will be able to contribute to closing the gap in the current workforce shortage in those industries.

Orion Global Talent is an established startup located in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, focused on manufacturing and engineering recruitment for companies including, The Mack Group, and 20+ other small Vermont manufacturing firms in the medical device and aerospace area. Orion’s focus as a firm is to stand above and apart, with people-first values, working with impactful life-saving products, and treating recruitment as a partnership of connecting people to new lives in these amazing locations and industries.