A U.S. Customs and Border Protection employee will be highlighted in a Cornell University-produced video as an excellent example of a federal recruitment program for people with disabilities.

Video producers from Cornell's Employment and Disability Institute interviewed Disability Program Manager Ann Kaufmann and her supervisor Tara Dunlop from the CBP Office of Diversity and Civil Rights last week for a video to promote the Workplace Recruitment Program, a federal recruitment clearinghouse co-sponsored by the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy and the U.S. Department of Defense.

"Studies have shown that the most successful employers are the most diverse," said Kaufmann during the interview. A workforce of employees from different backgrounds and experiences is "able to relate to more markets," she added.

CBP's programs to support employees with disabilities assume that agency supervisors seek to hire the best employees for each job. "We want to educate hiring managers about the different ways they can recruit individuals with disabilities, the different hiring authorities," Kaufmann continued. "Programs like telework and flexible work schedules allow our employees with disabilities to be highly productive."

Kaufmann understands the hiring difficulties from both sides of the recruitment process. She has coped with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder most of her life and was hired through the Workplace Recruitment Program that she now helps to promote and implement.

CBP will be observing National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October with a series of programs to foster understanding and employment opportunities for people with disabilities.