Grand Strand organization puts job seekers on billboards for month-long hiring campaign

CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) - October is “Hire Me Month” for SOS Care, an organization that works with people with special needs.

This year, SOS Care has several job seekers ready to enter the workforce.

Cleaning in maintenance, dietary and housekeeping are several areas where Ezra Tribble has been able to build some experience as part of the Hire Me campaign with SOS Care.

“I go into it to do the mop, spraying the tables, that kind of stuff," said Tribble.

Tribble has spent the past few months interning at C3 coffee bar in Conway.

Prior to that, he interned at Conway Medical Center, where he helped clean in several different departments.

Now, he feels like he’s ready for a job, and so does his SOS Care Employment Coach Kristin Schlichting.

“They really enjoy going to work, and I think that’s the most important thing with our participants is that they really, really benefit by pleasing others," said Schlichting.

SOS Care dedicates October to raising awareness for its job seekers with its Hire Me campaign. According to a statistic from SOS Care, only a third of people with disabilities in South Carolina worked last year, and 2,900 of those people made less than a dollar an hour.

Tribble has become one of the faces of this year’s Hire Me month. Coastal Outdoor has posted him on several of its billboards.

“I like to do a smiling face," said Tribble. "The smiling face would be for the hire me.”

Tribble’s best friend Larry Lane graduated from CCU last year and has his own billboard.

Through the CCU program, Lane got experience at Outback and Walk-Ons.

“I sweep the floors, set up the tables and cleaning," said Lane.

Tribble and Lane are hoping all of that experience, and the billboard ads will help to land them a job during Hire Me month.

“Just because people have a disability does not mean that they are not able and capable," said SOS Care Marketing Director Stacey Lyon. "They have the skills to be successful, and it’s important for us as a community to incorporate them into our neighborhoods.”

Tribble and Lane have completed the Hire Me training with SOS Care and are ready to enter the workforce.

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