Tight job market? What tight job market?

• Author: TITUS, STEPHEN
• Position: HirePotential helps diasabled people find jobs - Brief Article

HIREPOTENTIAL MINES THE UNTAPPED WORKFORCE

One morning in 1991, Lori Akers woke up, stumbled to her bathroom mirror, and didn't see her face. In fact, she didn't see much of anything.

"That's when I knew I had a problem," she recalled.

If it were not for the help of Denver-based employment firm HirePotential, she might still be stumbling around.

Back then, Akers, who is now 38, had a history of diabetes that was slowly taking away her vision. On this particular morning, things had reached a critical point. Her glance into the mirror led to a series of surgeries, eventually leaving Akers with one prosthetic eye and poor vision in the other. Her life fell into a downward spiral stemming from lack of work. Time and again she found employers who were reluctant to hire someone with a disability.

"Employers automatically assume they have to do something extra to adapt (to the disabled person)," she said. "Then there's always another reason (to turn you down) besides the disability."

After years of struggling, Akers -- with the help of the Colorado Department of Vocational Rehabilitation -- earned a bachelor's degree in human resources management in December 1999. Shortly after graduation, her life took a turn for the better. Akers hooked up with Kelly Eagan and Sheridan Walker, who, along with Alison Kaplan and Sara Poticha, had founded HirePotential in 1999. Their company is an employment agency and consulting firm that focuses on matching employers with workers from what it calls "the untapped workforce." Akers now works in an airy, ninth-floor office as the company's human resources administrator.

"There are 54 million people with disabilities and 70 percent are unemployed," Eagan said.

"And," Walker added, "90 percent of those want to work."

The idea for HirePotential came while the four women were working in Colorado for Barrington, Ill.-based Alternative Resources Corporation (ARC). Walker, who was manager of disability and diversity at ARC, spearheaded a program to recruit and place disabled, elderly and other trained but untapped workers.

"We placed 180 people," she said.

"It...