Transcript Best” Practices in Job Development

“Best” Practices in Job
Development
Prepared for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration
Project
by
Gary Shaheen, Managing Director for Program
Development
Syracuse University Burton Blatt Institute
[email protected]
Today’s Topics
“Supply Side” Tips and Tools
 :“Work fast”- Using outreach tools to explore
employment
 Customizing the job development process
 Support for job development
“Demand Side Tips and Tools
 Understanding employers’ needs
 Tips and Tools for employer marketing
 Checklist - Key steps in improving job development
When should job development
start?
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Old paradigm: Wait until people are
permanently housed, clean and sober,
symptom-free, etc, etc before you provide
help getting a job
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New paradigm: Include conversations about
work at outreach, early engagement in jobs
to build trust, hope and motivation to
change, customize to address job-seeker
and employer’s’needs
What we know………………
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Job development is more than just job placement
The best ‘work readiness’ services are those that
get people into jobs quickly
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Jobs that they choose and want
Jobs in real work settings for real pay
Jobs with pre-and post employment supports
Employment services should address both:
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The ‘supply’ side (our customers’ interests, needs, barriers
and opportunities) and
The ‘demand side’ (what employers want or need)
Employment Services At Outreach/Engagement
Information and conversations about work
Link access to housing with access to work
“Standing offer of Work in or out of house”
Peer support for employment
Purpose:
Develop Trust, Awareness & Motivation
Provide Employment Services
Assessment and goal development
Establish employment team
Awareness of job market
Job development or self-employment
‘Supply Side’
‘Demand Side’
Understand job qualifications
Job development planning
ID triggers/challenges
Independent or facilitated job search
Self-employment training
Asset development /financial literacy
Benefits advisement
Retention/advancement plan
Employment team
Ongoing support
Business Advisory Councils
Labor market identification
Job site accommodations
Hiring incentives
Exploratory interviews
Job testing
Link to education/skills training
Involve in training program
development
Jobs that meet job-seeker
and employer needs
Purpose: Meet Employers needs
Purpose: Meet job-seeker need
Ongoing Support to Employee & Employer for Retention, Advancement
Customized Planning for Job-Seekers who
are Homeless Should Address:
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“Concrete” barriers, i.e., access to laundry, showers,
clothing
Lack of fixed address for mail or telephone to
receive and return messages
Personal humiliation and lack of self-esteem
Criminal histories
Poor employment histories
Lack of Transportation
Focus on immediate needs vs. longer term goals
Impact of lifestyle change
Managing housing stability/recovery and work
Unclear expectations/inadequate information
Physical health
Some principles of job
development for homeless Vets
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Job development starts at outreach
Job retention planning starts early
Operationalize choice
Capitalize on strengths gained through survival
Address unique needs and issues faced by Vets
Job development means addressing fundamental issues of
poverty through employment and asset accumulation
Job development is best done with employers as partners
Rapid job search rather than extensive ‘pre-vocational’
requirements equals better outcomes
Provide comprehensive, wrap-around and continuous
supports
Use evidence based and promising practices with fidelity to
ensure better outcomes
Job development starts at outreach
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James A. Parcell – The Washington Post
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Make work part of the
conversation about engaging
in services
Prompt and listen to people’s
stories about jobs they had
and jobs they may want
Encourage stories that help
the individual to see
unidentified yet transferable
skills
Provide information
Assess the value of an offer of
work as a ‘hook’ to influence
positive change
Understand the ‘stages of
change’
“Tell-Show-Do”
Job retention planning starts
early
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Create a retention plan
Help to identify ‘triggers’
Be clear with employees and employers
about your role
Participate in the Integrated Services
Team to troubleshoot retention
Meet with employees in comfortable,
non-stigmatizing places off the job
Encourage (or require) meetings on a
consistent, regular basis
“Debrief” after work
Help to “problem-solve” through
counseling, role playing, reviewing
assessments and employment plans
Re-Entry Issues affecting job
development and retention
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When to disclose a criminal record?
How to advise on disclosing a criminal record?
What about resources for expungment?
 Clean Slate Program, San Francisco Public
Defender’s Office, 555 Seventh St., San
Francisco 415-553-9337
More resources on the Web:
 www.reentrypolicy.org
 www.etcny.org –Exodus Transitional Community
 www.dol.gov/cfbci/ready4work.html
Operationalizing “Choice”
Job Preferences
 Type of job
 Location &
business type
 Size of employer
 Self-employment?
 Proximity to
specific services,
public
transportation
 Income
expectations
 Effect on benefits?
Support
 Self-represent or
represented
 Accommodations
 Access to training
 Budgeting
 Preparatory skills
 Ongoing counseling and
support
 Transportation
 Clothes
Capitalize on strengths gained
through survival
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What are the skills I gained and used to survive on
the streets and in shelters?
Do employers need these types of skills?
Are they skills that are relevant to self-employment?
Who helps me in my recovery and what do they
provide?
Do I need similar help as part of my employment
team?
From your knowledge of your community-where are
the jobs?
Rapid job search rather than extensive ‘prevocational’ requirements equals better
outcomes (Excerpted from Supported Employment Evidence Based Practices Kit)
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Beginning the job search early
demonstrates that you take their desire for
work seriously
Looking for jobs early can help to confront
fears about work
Rapid job development takes advantage of
consumer’s current motivation
By exploring job options and learning more
about real work requirements and settings,
consumers learn more about their
preferences
Address unique needs and issues
faced by Vets
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Service-related trauma
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Service related skills
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Integrated treatment, job development and
supportive services
Identify skills that are present, transferable,
applicable to the job goal and include in job
development plan
Service related benefits
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Integrate Vets benefits, SSI/DI advisement on an
ongoing basis in job development and retention
planning
Job development means addressing
fundamental issues of poverty through
employment and asset accumulation
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Assets (owning a home or business, investments, savings,
property) provide greater financial security and independence.
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Assets improve community participation and quality of life.
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Saving money and developing assets will produce choices
about where one lives and impact:
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mental and physical health;
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positive self-concept
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expectations and status with other community
stakeholders
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Enduring poverty singularly diminishes freedom, opportunity
and self-determination
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Provide info and assistance to access Federal tax credits (like
EITC), financial literacy, individual development accounts
Job development is best done with
employers as partners (adapted from PWI)
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Establish a Business Advisory Council (BAC), comprised of
representatives of private industry, business concerns, One
Stop, organized labor, and job-seekers that will:
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Help identify job and career availability within the community,
consistent with the current and projected local employment
opportunities
Help identify opportunities for self-employment
Identify the skills necessary to perform those jobs and careers;
Help develop training programs designed to develop appropriate
job, career and self-employment skills;
Help arrange or provide:
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Training in realistic work settings to prepare people for employment
and career advancement in the competitive labor market or in selfemployment; and
Understand and implement job accommodations and worksite
modifications
Provide comprehensive, wraparound and continuous supports
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Professional, peer natural supports
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Understand triggers that can lead to job loss
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Develop a job loss prevention plan
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Develop a career growth plan
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Manage benefits all along the way
SAMHSA’S MODEL FOR EBPs
SAMHSA National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices
(NREPP) http://modelprograms.samhsa.gov
Evidence-Based Programs
•Conceptually sound and internally consistent
•Program activities related to conceptualization
•Reasonably well implemented and evaluated
Promising
•Some positive outcomes
Effective
•Consistently positive outcomes
•Strongly implemented and evaluated
Model
•Availability for dissemination
•Technical assistance available from program developers
Why Use Evidence Based
Approaches?
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Evidence based practices yield better outcomes
Evidence based programs have fidelity measures
SAMHSA acknowledges that the evidence base is
limited in some areas
SAMHSA supports promising practices where
evidence of effectiveness is based on:
 Formal consensus among recognized experts
 Evaluation studies not yet published
What evidence-based Supported
Employment is NOT
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Work crews
Sheltered workshops
Referral out
Extensive preassessment and
testing
Work
preparation/skills
development
Transitional
employment
positions
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One-time
placement
On-site job
coaching
Rehabilitative day
treatment
Generic
psychosocial
rehabilitation
Clinical services
alone
Some Tips for Job Development
and Placement
Typical Challenges
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Force-fitting placements to meet
program outcomes
‘Passive job development’
Not following up on a regular basis
with active and potential employers
Focusing on the disability rather
than the ability
Starting with tax incentives
Promising “two for one”
Guaranteeing 100% productivity or
attendance
Offering to do all the training and
supervision
Failing to plan for the next step
(advancement, transition)
Suggested Responses
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Define features and benefits
Offer examples to employers of
ways part time, negotiated or
carved jobs has helped an
employer in the past
Understand employer training
needs, growth jobs
Help the job seeker break down
the job development process
into attainable steps
Use peer support and mentors
Use testimonials and referrals