Effective Community Based Employment Strategies

Macey Chovaz, MA, CRC, CESP, CWIC

National APSEDirector of Programsmacey@apse.org301-279-0060 (office)517-896-8076 (cell)

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Overview • Job Development Techniques

• Role of Social Media

• Job Coaching Techniques

• Q+A Discussion

• Employment Support Professional

• Staff

• Client vs Job Seeker vs candidate vs?

• Benefits Counselor

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development

• Some of the strategies & techniques we will discuss today include:The Network

Person Centered Planning

Internships

Creative Conversations

Getting to know your job seekers

Employer relationships

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development

• Job Development is an artNot cookie cutter

Take Self out of the equation

Be the facilitator not the expert

• ExpectationsHire because of skills and abilities

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • Discovering your client’s network

Need to build trust with candidate and their family

Meet in the home or at a place in the

community where they feel comfortable

Explain why and how you will use their networks

and contacts and keep them informed and updated

It might be appropriate for candidate and/or family to

make the initial contact: coach them on how to do so

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• Discovering your client’s network: Networking (documentation) tool

This is a helpful visual for some people. It’s a good idea to review this when you first start working with someone and again periodically as you foster a relationship.

Leave with the job seeker and/or family

Tool should include:

Friends, relatives, friends of parents/relatives, neighbors, former employer and/or co-workers, (former) teachers, individuals from social /interest groups (library, church, volunteer, etc) businesses the client patronizes,

Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • Activity in the community

• Ask the candidate to bring you with them into their community!

• Use the ideas generated on the networking sheet to help guide where to go at first

• Advantages of Approach:

Businesses already know the individual

Modeling

Business Education

Demonstrates progress and activity

Learn more about candidates skills and abilities

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • Person-Centered Planning

In-home and community meetings to identify stakeholders and networks

One way to bring the network together

Meeting to identify goals and action steps

Literally person centered

Exploratory (biographical)

Action-oriented (future planning)

Pragmatic and Creative

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • Internship

Universal term and experience

Test Drive

• Important to define

Hours/days/tasks

• Set expectations

Roles of intern, supervisor, co-worker

• Agreement, Identifying intern, Job Analysis and Site Assessment, Intern criteria/job descriptions, evaluations/letters of reference & recommendation

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • Creative Conversations: [Leveraging] Employer Relationships

Employer to Employer JD: #1 JD tool

Employers you already have a successful relationship with can be your most powerful and influential networkers!

Maintain Communication: So simple, yet it often falls through the cracks

Database, constant contact, calls, etc.

Providing an award/acknowledgement, press releases

Presenting at all staff meetings & getting introduction to other locations

Assist with planning their community activity: take them to JD with you!

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • World Café Conversations

http://www.theworldcafe.com/

• Networking Opportunities

• Gathering groups together to discuss specific and pointed questions that lead to action by participants

• Design Principles: Set the Context

Create hospitable Space

Explore Questions that Matter

Encourage participation from ALL

Connect Diverse Perspectives

Listen for Patterns and Insights

Share Collective Discoveries

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Development • Community Conversations: Unique and under utilized job

development tool

• Inviting employers who you have a successful partnership/relationship with and those employers who you would like to connect with

• In between questions/discussion: employees with disabilities and their manager present

• Focus conversations on employers

Allows for more natural flow of ideas, i.e., business to business

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Your

networkCandidate’s

network

Successful

placement

Exploration

Business

MatchMaintain

relationship

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesSocial Media

What is it?

Regular media: one way street, you are being talked at

Social media: gives people the opportunity to interact; it becomes a two way street

89% of 18-29 year olds use social media

What does this mean for businesses? For the future?

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesSocial Media: So what?

• Need to become active or increase activity on social media within your employment service organization

• Your clients on it, your teams/staff are on it, your business partners (and future business partners are on it!)

• Cost: time, but great return on investment

• Timely

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesHow can your employment service organization use Facebook?

• Pictures and videos often perform the best

Success Stories

• Hashtag #

Often viewed as something you would use on Twitter only

• Events

Facebook events: allows you to invite, rsvp, post updates, make “open” or “private”, etc

Company Announcements

Highlighting business partners

Shop <insert company here>’s big sale today! <insert company here> is a leader in hiring diversity #Employmentfirst

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesHow can your employment service organization use Facebook?

• You can give administrative access to multiple people(post, share, etc)

• Schedule Feature

• Ideas:

Post, share, comment: 1/day

Like current and future business partners

Tag businesses you are mentioning in your post (@Boston Store)

Share from partner businesses/organizations

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesHow can your employment service organization use Twitter?

Hashtag #

Your company can use hashtags that are already established (ie: #employmentfirst)

Your company can make your own hashtag #VTAPSE2015

Tagging (@)-you do not need to follow a company/individual to tag them in a tweet

Tag Tag Tag! Important to tag people and businesses

Success stories, sharing pictures, videos

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesHow can your employment service organization use Twitter? (continued)

Links to stories

Favorite, retweet, share

Search for specific hashtags, then follow

Highlighting business partnerships and outreach to new businesses

Change your trends in your newsfeed

Businesses:

Specials, hiring needs (often smaller), events

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesHow can your employment service organization use LinkedIn?

• Focused more on business overall

• Top 5

• Engage in conversations

• A GREAT job development tool (individual and company page) Job search

Connections (see how and who, you might know someone)

Post/share employment articles

Be seen as the resource

Join interest groups

Look at who has viewed certain business pages and profiles

Don’t be afraid to connect with someone who you might know as a 2nd or 3rd connection

Post/share your company articles/newsletters

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Effective Community Based Employment StrategiesHootsuite

• Tool that will allow you to schedule your Twitter and Facebook posts

• Not LinkedIn

• Free

• Saves time!

You can still post directly onto your Twitter and Facebook even if you have posts pending

• Some evidence that Facebook posts do not perform as well when posting through hootsuite

• https://hootsuite.com/login

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Who to follow & When to post• Have at least, a rough outline/calendar: Twitter/Facebook:

Monday: client success story, Tuesday: business highlight, Wednesday: share a business partner story/highlight, Thursday: employment fact, Friday: comment on a post

• LinkedIn: focus on employers

• Set your google alerts: Disability Employment, Employment First, Employment Policy (state international)

• Do you or your staff attend after hours, chamber meetings, networking events etc? Take pictures, do a post, thank the host (company), tag, tag, tag

• Follow National Disability organizations: APSE, NOD, ASAN, etc Participate and interact with them over social media

• Use the social share link on your company newsletter and partners newsletters

• Post at different times day/week and view weekly and monthly report-what performs best? When?

• http://www.theurldr.com/about-us/ M. C

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & Support• Systematic Instruction

Marc Gold

Way to systematically explain where and how coach should be positioned

Way to systematically explain how to use least intrusive communication methods first

Ultimately: It’s the Way to systematically explain that a job coach should only be supporting employees with disabilities as much as the individual needs it: no more and no less!

• Career Advancement

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Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & Support• Systematic Instruction: The Natural Way

• Opposing forces of Workplace Supports:

Features of Naturalness Features of Employee needs

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Adopted from

Marc Gold

Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & SupportFinding the balance between the forces

• Done through Systematic Instruction

• This strategy suggests that all training decisions be referenced in relation to the natural features of each work place: the natural ways, natural means and natural people which comprise the culture of the setting

• Site Assessment and Job Analysis

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Adopted from

Marc Gold

Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & Support• Natural Way

Methods of performance for targeted job tasks, step-by-step procedures, the culture of workplace, the manner in which workers interact, the managerial style of the setting, etc.

• Natural Means

Requires Employment Consultants to examine the natural means used by employers to communicate the natural ways desired for employee performance and behavior: Concentrates primarily on the teaching strategies

• Natural People

• Identify and enlist the natural people who typically support new employees to perform their jobs.

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Adopted from

Marc Gold

Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & Support• Decision Time: Are the Natural Ways, Means and People

working?

Yes: then are you are really needed for this task? Probably not!

Move onto the next task and/or you do not need to be there!

NO: Then start by substituting for the natural people, means and ways

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Adopted from

Marc Gold

Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & SupportWhen the Natural Ways, Means and People aren’t working:

Natural People:

Support the natural person first-don’t just step in to support employee with disability

Natural Means:

Most often: breaking steps down into smaller pieces

Employers most often have hodgepodge of techniques-try another way!

Natural Ways:

Need to adopt or modify

Picture list

Least Intrusive first-don’t just step in! Need to blend in, do not do-teach!

Demonstration vs Using Verbal instructions vs Hand over Hand

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Adopted from

Marc Gold

1. Determine Natural Ways

2. Determine Natural Means

3. Identify Natural People

4. Facilitate Successful Performance

Yes? Proceed to new task(s)

No?

5. Support/Substitute for

Natural People

6. Suggest more effective

Natural Means

No?

No?

7. Adapt/Modify

Natural Ways

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Adopted from

Marc Gold

Effective Community Based Employment Strategies: Job Coaching & Support• Career Advancement

Job Support does not end when the employee is working independently-be aware and encourage career advancement!

Checking in with employer/spot checks to ensure that Performance is still satisfactory Adding tasks Might need to facilitate career change or

return to job search Always look for additional tasks and/or

advancement even when still providing support

Need to ensure that you are supporting a valued employee

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So WHAT? • Increase job seeker’s visibility in the community

• Maintain good business relationships

• Internships

• Most natural way=the best way (obtaining & maintaining a job & career)

• Employment Consultants, staff, candidates/clients/job seekers, benefits counseling

• Approach the services you provide:

Facilitate job seekers obtain their own employment opportunities

Facilitate employees with disabilities maintain employment by supporting the “natural way on the job so that you are supporting the least amount of support possible

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Contact Information

Macey Chovaz, MA CRC CESP CWIC517-896-8076 (cell)

301-279-0060 (office) macey@apse.orgwww.apse.org

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