ConnectHear, the Karachi-based social enterprise working on sign language accessibility and deaf inclusion, will hold the next edition of Access.Ability.Careers on Wednesday, 14 October, at Hall No. 1 of Expo Centre Karachi. The event is an initiative that brings talent and opportunity together, built on the idea that inclusive hiring starts with showing up. Job seekers, employers and supporters have been invited to attend in person, and the organisers have urged the public to mark their calendars and take part in what is shaping up to be one of the more significant inclusive employment gatherings in the city this year.
Founded in Karachi in 2017 by Azima Dhanjee and Arhum Ishtiaq, ConnectHear began with a mobile application that lets deaf persons connect remotely with a sign language interpreter. The work earned the enterprise a Young Innovators Award at the World Summit Awards in 2020 and has since grown into training, interpretation services and accessibility consulting for organisations across the country. The career fair format has been part of that journey for several years. The 2024 edition was hosted jointly with the Institute of Business Administration Karachi at its main campus, while Standard Chartered backed the initiative as a sponsor in its early stage.
The most recent edition took place in Islamabad in April and offers a useful indication of what Karachi can expect. More than 600 persons with disabilities met over 15 companies from the financial, telecommunications and textile sectors at that event, which was organised in collaboration with Serena Hotels. Participants spoke directly with recruiters at employer booths, joined networking sessions and applied for roles on the spot, with experienced professionals, recent graduates and first-time job seekers all in the room. Across its editions so far, the platform has engaged more than 50 corporates nationwide and facilitated over 500 job placements.
For Karachi’s employers, the event offers a direct route to a pool of candidates that conventional hiring drives often miss, and for job seekers it removes much of the guesswork by placing recruiters and applicants in the same hall on the same day. ConnectHear has also been widening its work beyond employment. In March last year, it used its Access.Ability.Tech event in Karachi to launch an AI for Inclusive Disaster Response project aimed at giving the deaf community access to life saving information during emergencies. Access.Ability.Careers takes place on 14 October at Hall No. 1, Expo Centre Karachi, and further details are available through ConnectHear’s official channels.
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