Paul Cheetham was glad to get a chance thanks to NOVA Employment.
The disability employment service, with offices in Springwood and Katoomba, gave the 43-year-old Katoomba man a job opportunity after he struggled to find work for 12 months because of a back injury and dyslexia.
Now working anywhere between three and five days a week in customer service at Katoomba RSL, he's the "club's eyes and ears" according to their CEO and keeps busy clearing used glasses from tables as he chats to members and their guests. He is working towards gaining a Certificate 3 in Hospitality through TAFE and has all his certificates for responsible service of alcohol and gaming.
Mr Cheetham, who had worked in a supermarket from age 15, said the 12 months without a job in 2012-13 left him "always down".
"If it wasn't for NOVA and Niko [Katoomba RSL CEO Nick Darias] I don't know what I'd be doing."
The Blue Mountains Gazette has teamed up with NOVA Employment for the Focus on Ability campaign which aims to create 100 jobs in 100 days. The campaign is focused on creating awareness and developing careers for Blue Mountains residents with a disability.
NOVA CEO Martin Wren said the 100 jobs campaign "engages at a local level with more employers to get people with disabilities into sustainable employment".
Mr Wren, of Leura, said his job was about "creating new taxpapers" and making those links between employers and employees. NOVA has been operating in the Mountains since 1989.
"We are really looking for employers who are prepared to give people with a disability a fair go, in the same way you would for a person without a disability.
"Unemployed people cost $300 a second to this country, but what is more important is the loss of that individual's contribution."
Katoomba RSL CEO Mr Darias said they had been supporting NOVA for six years and had taken on eight NOVA clients. The RSL hosted the official Blue Mountains launch on Monday.
"It's a way we can give back to the community, helping organisations like NOVA and in turn they help us. And our members know we are giving these clients a new lease of life."
Mr Wren said he was thrilled to launch the program at the popular Katoomba business.
"I can't tell you how much we appreciate the RSL ... it's a fabulous business and he [Mr Darias] is a man with the right mindset, he doesn't see disabilities, he sees what can be achieved."
The Nepean, Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury 100 jobs campaign is well underway with more than 30 jobs on the board since it started last month.
"I tell you what we'll give it a good go," Mr Wren said. "We're running at about 10 [jobs] a week. If we get less than 90 [by the first week of December] I'll be surprised."
Over the years workers have been placed in a wide range of jobs from forklift drivers and receptionists to positions in the personal service and clubs industry, even at a spectacle frame manufacturers.
"Finding the right jobs requires an environment where employers say 'I'll take a minute'," he said.
"The thing that breaks down barriers is contact, experience and education."
NOVA is a disability employment service, with most of the funding coming through the federal government's Department of Social Services. NOVA helps employers find motivated and keen employees and helps people with disabilities find and develop their careers. It find job-seekers work in the general community with the same working conditions as people who do not have a disability.
NOVA has a Katoomba and Springwood office and can be reached at 4780 6600 and 4752 3000. Sometimes financial incentives apply to employers.