Customized Employment: It Works!. Marketing Maxim: It is more effective to find out what customers need and want and match it to what you have to offer…

Customized Employment:

It Works!

Marketing Maxim:

It is more effective to find out what customers need and want and match

it to what you have to offer…

…than it is to get them to buy what you are selling.

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Main Message should be about:

• CONTRIBUTION!

• COMPETENCE!

• QUALITY!

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Effective Messages

“We are here to serve you.”

“Meeting company human resource needs since____.”

“We would like to learn more about your business

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Effective Messages

“Innovative staffing resource.”

“We believe in our product.”(that is, the job seekers we represent and the way

we link these individuals with employers)

People become unemployed for a number of reasons.

Different reasons require different approaches and services.

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People with significant barriers to employment can’t take a job

“off the rack”.

We must tailor the process

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Job developers must:

• Find employment opportunities that match a job seeker’s interests, skills and personality

• Develop positions that will maximize abilities and minimize disabilities

• Have an in-depth understanding of both the job seeker and how a business works

• Offer employers something they value

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Rule 1 Everyone is “Job Ready”

• Believe in your job seeker

• No prerequisites

• Work with current skills

• Look for positions based on interests and hobbies

• Find a position that maximizes abilities and minimizes disabilities

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Rule 2

The glass is

always

half FULL

Rule 3

No “Job Stuffing”

Getting Started

The first step of job development

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Help Wanted

Company looking for individual with a history of mental illness and drug use. Extensive history of hospitalization required. Aggressive behaviors preferred. Delusional behavior OK. Supportive co-workers.

Call today for an application.

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Step 1: Get to Know Your Job Seeker

• Develop a Positive Profile Remember: You can’t sell what a person can’t do

• The 3-p’s– Personality– Preferences– Previous experiences

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Job seeker: KIP

What the file said:• Institutionalized for

15 years• Aggressive behavior• No functional

academic skills

What we said:• Physical guy• Great smile• Hard worker, good

coordination• Sorting and matching• Loves the outdoors

Customized Employment is a two-way street.

Step 2: Get to Know Employers

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Establish Relationships

• Spend time with employers, what makes them unique?– How do they operate?– Who does what?– What’s not getting done?– What’s the culture/mission?

• Can you help?

• Sustain relationship/Pitch

Third Step: The Pitch

Sell applicant’s skills and throw from the employer’s perspective

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Employers Want to Know:

• Why do you want to work here?– Employee’s interest, motivation

• What can you do for my company?The business benefits are:

• Spend less money• Make more money • Improve efficiency/productivity• Improve customer relations

The Selling Toolkit

• Coverletter

• Resume

• Potential task lists

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Potential Tasklists

• Get the employer thinking

• Based on employer’s needs and job seeker’s skills

• Use employer’s jargon and organizational terms

• Put most important tasks (dept.) first– Who are you meeting with?

• Be specific-no general terms

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Developing Task Lists

To develop a task list:

• Tour the company (or a similar business)

• Read current job descriptions

• Look at how the company is organized

• Find someone in the industry to provide information and proof list

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Negotiating Tips

• Show interest in employer issues/concerns

• Present potential solution(s) and benefit (something the employer will value)

• Present candidate

CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT

Case Studies

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Sarah’s Profile

What her file said:• “Chatters”

constantly• Poor coordination

and motor skills• Lazy and slow• Poor functional use

of language

What we said:• Very social, initiates

interactions• Likes desk jobs• Able to answer clearly

worded questions• Reads• Loves music and

magazines

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Borders Books and Music

Staffing issues and concerns:

Must pull staff off sales floor to:

1) strip magazines and pulp fiction

2) process CD’s

3) sticker bargain books and new releases

4) “Top 10”changes weekly, sells quickly

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Processing Clerk, Borders

Works for Borders: • stripping magazines • putting CD’s in

sensors• Stickering and

restocking “Top 10”

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Tryn’s ProfileWhat her file said:• Just completed high

school• Limited retail and

clerical experience while in school

• 4th grade reading level

• 3rd grade math skills

What we said:• Loves theater, takes

voice lessons • Participated in Youth

Theater • Dreams of being a

actress• Uses computer to e-

mail friends and surf the internet

American Conservatory Theater

Staffing issues and concerns:• Seasonal fluctuations• Nonprofit (perpetually broke)• Small departments• Used temps for admin. needs• No ushers for matinees• Costume shop getting busier

– no system in place to monitor rental

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Administrative Assistant, ACT

• Floats between departments seasonally

• Collates new hire info packets and files employee information

• Processes marketing mailings and enters new subscriber donor information into databases

• Photocopies and binds scripts for Conservatory

• Enters customer satisfaction survey results

• Processes costume rental invoices

• Ushers for matinee shows

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Robert’s Profile

What his file said:• Has Cerebral Palsy• Uses a wheelchair,

limited use of left side

• No paid employment limited work history

• Trouble with visual tracking

• Possible LD

What we say:• Degree in Journalism• Some computer skills,

knows MS office• Loves music and

comic books, literature, the internet,

• Summer jobs doing “data entry” and answering phones

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Viz CommunicationsStaffing issues and concerns:

No one to routinely handle contest entries

High turn-over in Reviewers and Copy Editors positions

Subscriptions and Circulation departments need additional hands after new releases

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Robert works for Viz Communications

• Opens and “judges” contests entries

• Supports Circulations and Subscription sending out pre-release information, post-release data entry

• Writes and copy edits reviews

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Benefits of Negotiations

Employers• Save money• Make money• Work faster/more

efficiently

Employees• Skills and

characteristics matched to career goal

• Competence on display

• Wages• Peers with like

interests

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Things to Remember

• Even if an ad isn’t posted there may be opportunities

• Employers are always looking for enthusiastic, motivated employees who are willing to learn.

• Change is constant and job descriptions are wishlists - they are not written in stone.

• Employers are looking for value/a bang for their buck/solutions to staffing issues

Be Creative

To find employment opportunitieslook outside of the box

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Customized Employment Works!

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Other resources:

• www.onestopinfo.com

• Luecking, Fabian & Tilson (2004). Working Relationships: Creating Career Opportunities for Job Seekers

with Disabilities through Employer Partnerships. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.

• www.transcen.org

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For more information, contact:Richard LueckingTransCen,Inc.451 Hungerford Ave.Suite 700Rockville, MD 20850(301)[email protected]

Sara MurphyWorkLink Program 785 Market Street, Suite 670San Francisco, CA 94103(415)[email protected]/worklink