Work Skills Competition/Desire for jobs

This morning I listened to high school students with disabilities go through 10-minute mock job interviews. What I heard was a real desire from these kids to have a job, to participate in life like a lot of others.

I hadn't thought about jobs in this context for a while. News headlines are dominated by how many jobs are lost, and we invariably see the faces and hear the voices of embittered people who've lost their job, through no fault of their own, in many cases.

I was a volunteer interview "judge" for the Work Skills Competition, a program put together by various community organizations and businesses that offers kids with disabilities, many of them very minor, to learn how to interview for a job, how to get a job.

Many were very good, for example, about explaining they know they have ADHD but have fashioned strategies to overcome it in certain jobs situations. And they were very poised and convincing telling you this.

Many explained their lack of experience but said with complete conviction that they "will absolutely give 100 percent to learn the job;" that in their current job, the boss calls them first when someone calls in sick.

They were applying for jobs as retail store stockers, restaurant workers, auto mechanics and skiing instructors. Some want to be corrections officers and video game designers.

You could hear over and over again the passion these kids had for what we all want but sometimes take for granted: a job, a place to feel needed, a way to contribute.

I was humbled.