Career Opportunities for Students With Disabilities (COSD)
Nonprofit - Scholastic & Mentoring Organizations

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Website: www.cosdonline.org

Phone: 865-974-7148

COSD builds partnerships between higher education, employers and Government agencies focusing on the career employment of college graduates with disabilities. COSD is unique in that it identifies the intersection between university disability services and career services offices as well as private/public sector employers. The common thread is facilitating the career success of students with disabilities. COSD meets annually sharing best practices and brainstorming new ideas to integrate college graduates with disabilities into career employment.

In 1999, COSD conducted research finding most disability services offices had little knowledg of basic career search skills. Concurrently, most career services offices were unaware of critical specific career issues for students with disabilities seeking employment. As a result, most students with disabilities graduated without the necessary specialized training to overcome the career search barriers. Many employers recognize the "untapped market" of this population, but have difficulty in identifying them. COSD is helping a growing number of innovative universities establish formal links between their disability services and career services offices while linking with national employers recruiting at those institutions.

COSD trains universities to encourage collaboration between Disability Services and Career Services. Training is also provided to employers to help them become aware of the fundamental issues college students with disabilities face in their career search. Employers recognize the power of COSD to connect them to students with disabilities. As a result, a growing number of leading companies, including Merck, IBM, SunTrust, Medtronic, Motorola, Microsoft, NASA, ExxonMobil and P&G are supporting the COSD Annual Conference and ongoing activities.