Operation ABLE- Creating a Path to Employment - Providing Training & Employment Services for Job Seekers Since 1982. Job Readiness, Skills Training, Empower CREATING A PATH TO EMPLOYMENT via Training & Employment Services to Job Seekers since 1982 The mission of Operation ABLE is to provide employment and training opportunities to job seekers from economically, racially and occupationally diverse backgrounds. ABLE is equally committed to serving Massachusetts and other New England employers by providing well-qualified candidates to meet their employment needs and by training employees to have the updated skills needed to be as productive as possible at their jobs. In 1982, Ezra Merrill, who had recently retired as president of H.P. Hood & Company, founded Careers for Later Years, a non-profit dedicated to recruiting retired executives to help other non-profits better manage their operations. Eventually, Careers for Later Years was renamed Operation ABLE and the program for retired executives became the Executive Service Corps.