A new internship for blind and partially sighted jobseekers has been launched at the Beacon Centre.

The Black Country based charity is collaborating with RNIB and Thomas Pocklington Trust to create a new opportunity for a blind and partially sighted person as part of its sight loss advisor team.

The post at Beacon is one of 21 paid internships that are available for blind and partially sighted people across the UK through TPT’s flagship internship scheme. The successful applicant will learn the skills needed to provide people with information, advice and guidance and help them access support.

Applications for the post will remain open until 5pm on Monday, October 31st. Beacon Centre’s Health and Wellbeing Director, Jan Burns MBE, said:

“We are delighted to be able to offer this opportunity for a blind and partially sighted person who wants to take the next step in their career.

“As a disability-confident employer, we already have blind and partially sighted people working across all levels of our charity and we’re proud to be able to expand on this through the internship scheme.”

Emma Hughes, TPT’s Director of Services, added: “One of our core aims is to create opportunities for blind and partially sighted people seeking employment. 

“Our internships scheme helps blind and partially sighted people to get that first rung on the career ladder.  And we know it works.  85% of interns have gone on to secure employment within six months.”

The scheme contributes 75% of the funding for the posts and TPT supports the interns and partner organisations including Beacon throughout the nine-month placements. Martin O’ Kane, Head of Employment at RNIB, said:

“This is such a great opportunity to enable more blind and partially sighted people to get into work and we are delighted to work alongside TPT on this fantastic programme.

“Internships are a great way of enabling people to try out different roles and also to educate employers around how to support staff with sight loss. We are urging people to apply for these roles.”

This post has a Genuine Occupational Requirement that the successful applicants be a blind or partially sighted person in line with The Equality Act 2010.

Anyone interested in applying for the role at Beacon can find out more at the charity’s website, beaconvision.org/jobs.