Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2016 7:27:07 GMT
Welcome to the WISE Employment conversation!
JOIN THE CONVERSATION! We invite you to join the conversation RE: The Business Case for hiring people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In your experience, what is the value to a business' bottom line (making more profit and/or saving money)? As a conversation starter, check out this short video of WA State employers speaking to this topic: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUCYjxMO_e8
On February 26, 2016, we hosted a conversation with a great panel of five job developers around OR addressing this question. Please feel free to respond or ask further questions on this Discussion Board...
Discussion Kick-off Panel:
Glenn Bishop, Senior Employment Specialist, Dirkes Counseling and Consulting
Jacque Gerdes, Assistant Executive Director, Alternative Work Concepts, Alternative Work Concepts
Baylee LaVoie, Business Relations Manager, Living Opportunities
Darlene Valente, Career Consultant, Abilitree
Nicholas Von Pless, Supported Employment Manager, Community Access Services[/b]
Recording of CoP: gowise.webex.com/gowise/lsr.php?RCID=67a7f568c80cc90ec964ea5152d380a8
How do you as a job developer make the case for hiring people with employers?
Glenn - We set up a database using MS 365 and Outlook, add businesses, by zip code so it is searchable, business type, jobs they need to fill, etc. It helps take out the need to cold call. Can use contacts down the road to contact and use business supports to do outreach later on. Belong to Chambers, go to business network events - many contacts in our database have come from that. FB and social media – post stories, work with local publications, partner with local papers, tell success stories. We are changing the culture. Example of a carved job: From Discovery process, there is a huge Portland Timbers fan, connected him to the team, broke through the channels, carved a job cleaning the locker rooms a couple times a week. A crew cleans stadium, and they carved just that piece off, not deeper cleaning, he does vacuuming mostly.
Jacque – We have gone to Chambers of Commerce meetings, employer networks, and get awesome waiting lists of employers, but return to our small waiting lists of job seekers. Because of this, we get very individualized and customized per job seeker, who might only be able to do one step of a task, then look in the area they live in, who they know and see, and do job development constantly, everywhere. If I hear, “Oh I don’t have time to do that, I’m too busy," that's a clue. I am always listening to what people need, and what can our people do to help. Afterwards businesses say, “How did I do without them! We go in and talk to people, ask them if they've ever thought about hiring people with disabilities, bring in profile books, talk about their skills, why it would be great to work together,current resumes, and pictures of them working - worth a thousand words - to find matches. We ask them what they need, and carve out a job if that’s what’s needed. Who preps your mail? Employers want to know they have someone in that job, every day, and they don’t have to worry about hiring a new person, firing, etc. Many times they have a support worker with them, who can assist with communication throughout the process. Some represent themselves. We help the employer consider how the person can help their business.
Baylee – Get out in community. The more out you are, the more impact there is. Be supportive of that for JDs, join Rotary, Chamber, go to events, forums, fundraisers, see where business owners are, learn what their passions are, that's the most successful way to contact them. Networking key. Always have an elevator speech ready. It’s a lifestyle. Looking for opportunities for conversation. Ask a lot of questions and if a need exists for them, how can we partner with them. Have free monthly informational lunches at our office, come in, families come in too, individuals who want to be involved, pr for three next lunches, 1 hour informational only, then take people on tour if they are interested, and meet and show them what Living Opps do. Have presented at schools, what we do, what impacts our work has. Also have spoken at business clubs like Kiwanis. Try to help in the business orgs and social workers to speak in business language which everyone understands and avoid social work language based on the audience. Individualized presentations, topic, approach, they need. O go into businesses, new partners, if have concerns, how will impact them, answer all their questions
Darlene – We work very hard on networking, have weekly mandatory meetings, put everything into master list, track who’s going where, what the outcome was, and have a database so we can go back and see what the employer needs are. Make sure I have business cards and handout to introduce ourselves. Always follow up with people, send thank you notes and calls. Let everyone know everyone has the right to work, find those things they need done, and follow up, often they didn’t know they needed that help.
Nicholas – Like people have said, it's a way of life. Keep talking and networking with people, to a large extent selling yourself. When talking to businesses, I say, "I help businesses diversify their workforce" rather than "I find jobs for people." One of the best cases: if it's a right fit, you have a good employee who you can develop, expand their skills, take pride in, find they are more accurate with better attendance. It also helps to note the effect on the rest of the workforce. When you go to networking events, invite partner employers. Also explore personal networks, knowing one or a few people in a business is key. Carving – more companies doing food delivery, people can order by subscription for food to be ordered and delivered. One person’s available hours were only 11 am-5 pm, so this really worked for them. One example of online work: an online publication (self employment project) - wrote practice scripts to make ad sales, get in-kind donations. Other small businesses: a flower business, found supports, including assisted living staff helping. Other: dog treats, get into stores and coffee shops, research licensing and production rules. Always be curious...
More on carved jobs:
Jacque: "What do you have that people being paid higher wages would rather not do?" Small jobs, take those tasks and make that an entire part time job.
Glenn: Looking for manufacturing jobs, got a tour, listened to employer and what they had to say. Going through documents department, I heard there was a backlog of documents to be microfiche'd, documents filling cabinets, they had a scanner, and we were able to carve a job from that. Found the right person, then a second job, 18 hrs per week scanning their microfiche. Listen and figure out.
Nicholas: Ambulance job: Knew EMT who complained about after doing emergency runs that the emergency kits needed to be refilled, and they had to search for kits even during crises. I had a tour, a lot of the products were brightly colored and high contrast. The person we knew had art skills, color and spatial abilities/strengths, made mosaics and collages that LOOKED LIKE the store room. Carved a job to fill the kits. Had highest accuracy.
Baylee: Further ask questions, see through to the end, find out if there is a need. ask those questions, plant those seeds. Where is work being overloaded, understaffed, and things piling up? How can we be of service? Sometimes they don’t know. Explore that with them. Take employers on a mental tour of what’s going on there, find out what exists. Conversations, questions, listening, can they hire? Are they ready to? Understand the business process you follow – explain to them in advance.
Darlene: I worked with a young man experiencing deafness. Found job listing and pursued, working at a pet resort with lots of dogs, and the owners were a husband and wife. The husband was not on board. The wife was. We set up a assessment, showed features and benefits. They absolutely loved the man who came in, became more of a carved position. Looking for a dog walker, but needed a dog washer, so he started doing that. He’s never late, always on time, and doing a fantastic job – best employee they’ve ever had!
What are some tricks for people YOU’VE really been challenged with e.g. not much experience, don’t use typical communication, medical issues. Examples and key elements?
Jacque – One woman had many physical and other issues, had a wheelchair, needed to be transferred in and out of chair, and use of only two fingers. She did not use many words to speak – hard to understand. A lot of people laughed, home providers said, “What are you doing?” We never said no, that there is a job for everyone and went for it, worked around the issues. She helped run a copy center, put together packets and stapling, she used two fingers to staple – the stapling queen (!), would do 1000 per day through adaptation and helping coworkers. What kind of adaptations are needed? Got this from a posted ad. Offered support while learning. Hired someone to be her coworker, with experience doing stapling. Provided good support and history, had history of long term success too.
Glenn – On the relationship piece with employer: Help them work through those fears, get support from coworkers too.
Nicholas – When you have that relationship and already sold yourself, it’s much easier jump for employer to be willing to get help to figure it out.
How do sell the concept of paying someone when they have historically had free help from schools. Etc.
Baylee: education. Present the model, this is what it is. Last segregated populations that I sout there. Who else would you look at? We’re giving supports, ongoing training, etc., to me it’s a no brainer, approach it this way. Min wage – a business call, something to address.
Jacque – very few have had transition students.
Other comment: Help employers understand new changes. No one is segregated. Everyone I s in the communities.
Professionalism with difficulty:
Nicholas: Supported person to bring healthy lunch, spoke with coworkers, re: what’s going on, wrote email re: what we’ve done to prep the person, saw the results on the job, and let him come in. Once had to request accommodation, immediate meeting, figured it out.
Baylee: have lots of conversation, is a fear, show track record of success, if there’s a real reason, to be worried, ask lots of questions, get the buisness to the point of understanding.
Jacque – talk about accommodations in advance, often don’t want us back, then come back later not as job coach, but as a visit, having lunch with employee to check in/
Glenn: professionalism = communication, keeping that open. How is it going, what’s needed, communicate with employee we are seeing this. Communication key…
What are EF Teams doing to help:
Jacque: Started running ads in the local paper, how they are employed, why they like their jobs, etc.
Darlene – Every year have a luncheon and an awards ceremony – two big things. Rotary too.
Nicholas: A couple exciting things. Washington county joined local Chamber of Commerce, have gotten leads. Mid Columbia team is talking about moving more customers through the process, but also saw statistics re: people not interested. Looking at approach of helping people understand features and benefits of working.
Baylee – Jackson Josephine – annual employer luncheon, talking about doing an EF education piece for the community. At end of meeting share success stories 3-60 each,. Positive thoughts, leave it on that notes.
Glenn – The I WORK WE SUCCEED promotion from Oregon DHS/EF is great - billboards, buses, I WORK WE SUCCEED has made a great impact.
More on Internet jobs: Delivery business, meeting reminder service special software, for doctor and lawyer offices, contacts.
THANK YOU TO OUR PANEL!
JOIN THE CONVERSATION! We invite you to join the conversation RE: The Business Case for hiring people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In your experience, what is the value to a business' bottom line (making more profit and/or saving money)? As a conversation starter, check out this short video of WA State employers speaking to this topic: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUCYjxMO_e8
On February 26, 2016, we hosted a conversation with a great panel of five job developers around OR addressing this question. Please feel free to respond or ask further questions on this Discussion Board...
Discussion Kick-off Panel:
Glenn Bishop, Senior Employment Specialist, Dirkes Counseling and Consulting
Jacque Gerdes, Assistant Executive Director, Alternative Work Concepts, Alternative Work Concepts
Baylee LaVoie, Business Relations Manager, Living Opportunities
Darlene Valente, Career Consultant, Abilitree
Nicholas Von Pless, Supported Employment Manager, Community Access Services[/b]
Recording of CoP: gowise.webex.com/gowise/lsr.php?RCID=67a7f568c80cc90ec964ea5152d380a8
How do you as a job developer make the case for hiring people with employers?
Glenn - We set up a database using MS 365 and Outlook, add businesses, by zip code so it is searchable, business type, jobs they need to fill, etc. It helps take out the need to cold call. Can use contacts down the road to contact and use business supports to do outreach later on. Belong to Chambers, go to business network events - many contacts in our database have come from that. FB and social media – post stories, work with local publications, partner with local papers, tell success stories. We are changing the culture. Example of a carved job: From Discovery process, there is a huge Portland Timbers fan, connected him to the team, broke through the channels, carved a job cleaning the locker rooms a couple times a week. A crew cleans stadium, and they carved just that piece off, not deeper cleaning, he does vacuuming mostly.
Jacque – We have gone to Chambers of Commerce meetings, employer networks, and get awesome waiting lists of employers, but return to our small waiting lists of job seekers. Because of this, we get very individualized and customized per job seeker, who might only be able to do one step of a task, then look in the area they live in, who they know and see, and do job development constantly, everywhere. If I hear, “Oh I don’t have time to do that, I’m too busy," that's a clue. I am always listening to what people need, and what can our people do to help. Afterwards businesses say, “How did I do without them! We go in and talk to people, ask them if they've ever thought about hiring people with disabilities, bring in profile books, talk about their skills, why it would be great to work together,current resumes, and pictures of them working - worth a thousand words - to find matches. We ask them what they need, and carve out a job if that’s what’s needed. Who preps your mail? Employers want to know they have someone in that job, every day, and they don’t have to worry about hiring a new person, firing, etc. Many times they have a support worker with them, who can assist with communication throughout the process. Some represent themselves. We help the employer consider how the person can help their business.
Baylee – Get out in community. The more out you are, the more impact there is. Be supportive of that for JDs, join Rotary, Chamber, go to events, forums, fundraisers, see where business owners are, learn what their passions are, that's the most successful way to contact them. Networking key. Always have an elevator speech ready. It’s a lifestyle. Looking for opportunities for conversation. Ask a lot of questions and if a need exists for them, how can we partner with them. Have free monthly informational lunches at our office, come in, families come in too, individuals who want to be involved, pr for three next lunches, 1 hour informational only, then take people on tour if they are interested, and meet and show them what Living Opps do. Have presented at schools, what we do, what impacts our work has. Also have spoken at business clubs like Kiwanis. Try to help in the business orgs and social workers to speak in business language which everyone understands and avoid social work language based on the audience. Individualized presentations, topic, approach, they need. O go into businesses, new partners, if have concerns, how will impact them, answer all their questions
Darlene – We work very hard on networking, have weekly mandatory meetings, put everything into master list, track who’s going where, what the outcome was, and have a database so we can go back and see what the employer needs are. Make sure I have business cards and handout to introduce ourselves. Always follow up with people, send thank you notes and calls. Let everyone know everyone has the right to work, find those things they need done, and follow up, often they didn’t know they needed that help.
Nicholas – Like people have said, it's a way of life. Keep talking and networking with people, to a large extent selling yourself. When talking to businesses, I say, "I help businesses diversify their workforce" rather than "I find jobs for people." One of the best cases: if it's a right fit, you have a good employee who you can develop, expand their skills, take pride in, find they are more accurate with better attendance. It also helps to note the effect on the rest of the workforce. When you go to networking events, invite partner employers. Also explore personal networks, knowing one or a few people in a business is key. Carving – more companies doing food delivery, people can order by subscription for food to be ordered and delivered. One person’s available hours were only 11 am-5 pm, so this really worked for them. One example of online work: an online publication (self employment project) - wrote practice scripts to make ad sales, get in-kind donations. Other small businesses: a flower business, found supports, including assisted living staff helping. Other: dog treats, get into stores and coffee shops, research licensing and production rules. Always be curious...
More on carved jobs:
Jacque: "What do you have that people being paid higher wages would rather not do?" Small jobs, take those tasks and make that an entire part time job.
Glenn: Looking for manufacturing jobs, got a tour, listened to employer and what they had to say. Going through documents department, I heard there was a backlog of documents to be microfiche'd, documents filling cabinets, they had a scanner, and we were able to carve a job from that. Found the right person, then a second job, 18 hrs per week scanning their microfiche. Listen and figure out.
Nicholas: Ambulance job: Knew EMT who complained about after doing emergency runs that the emergency kits needed to be refilled, and they had to search for kits even during crises. I had a tour, a lot of the products were brightly colored and high contrast. The person we knew had art skills, color and spatial abilities/strengths, made mosaics and collages that LOOKED LIKE the store room. Carved a job to fill the kits. Had highest accuracy.
Baylee: Further ask questions, see through to the end, find out if there is a need. ask those questions, plant those seeds. Where is work being overloaded, understaffed, and things piling up? How can we be of service? Sometimes they don’t know. Explore that with them. Take employers on a mental tour of what’s going on there, find out what exists. Conversations, questions, listening, can they hire? Are they ready to? Understand the business process you follow – explain to them in advance.
Darlene: I worked with a young man experiencing deafness. Found job listing and pursued, working at a pet resort with lots of dogs, and the owners were a husband and wife. The husband was not on board. The wife was. We set up a assessment, showed features and benefits. They absolutely loved the man who came in, became more of a carved position. Looking for a dog walker, but needed a dog washer, so he started doing that. He’s never late, always on time, and doing a fantastic job – best employee they’ve ever had!
What are some tricks for people YOU’VE really been challenged with e.g. not much experience, don’t use typical communication, medical issues. Examples and key elements?
Jacque – One woman had many physical and other issues, had a wheelchair, needed to be transferred in and out of chair, and use of only two fingers. She did not use many words to speak – hard to understand. A lot of people laughed, home providers said, “What are you doing?” We never said no, that there is a job for everyone and went for it, worked around the issues. She helped run a copy center, put together packets and stapling, she used two fingers to staple – the stapling queen (!), would do 1000 per day through adaptation and helping coworkers. What kind of adaptations are needed? Got this from a posted ad. Offered support while learning. Hired someone to be her coworker, with experience doing stapling. Provided good support and history, had history of long term success too.
Glenn – On the relationship piece with employer: Help them work through those fears, get support from coworkers too.
Nicholas – When you have that relationship and already sold yourself, it’s much easier jump for employer to be willing to get help to figure it out.
How do sell the concept of paying someone when they have historically had free help from schools. Etc.
Baylee: education. Present the model, this is what it is. Last segregated populations that I sout there. Who else would you look at? We’re giving supports, ongoing training, etc., to me it’s a no brainer, approach it this way. Min wage – a business call, something to address.
Jacque – very few have had transition students.
Other comment: Help employers understand new changes. No one is segregated. Everyone I s in the communities.
Professionalism with difficulty:
Nicholas: Supported person to bring healthy lunch, spoke with coworkers, re: what’s going on, wrote email re: what we’ve done to prep the person, saw the results on the job, and let him come in. Once had to request accommodation, immediate meeting, figured it out.
Baylee: have lots of conversation, is a fear, show track record of success, if there’s a real reason, to be worried, ask lots of questions, get the buisness to the point of understanding.
Jacque – talk about accommodations in advance, often don’t want us back, then come back later not as job coach, but as a visit, having lunch with employee to check in/
Glenn: professionalism = communication, keeping that open. How is it going, what’s needed, communicate with employee we are seeing this. Communication key…
What are EF Teams doing to help:
Jacque: Started running ads in the local paper, how they are employed, why they like their jobs, etc.
Darlene – Every year have a luncheon and an awards ceremony – two big things. Rotary too.
Nicholas: A couple exciting things. Washington county joined local Chamber of Commerce, have gotten leads. Mid Columbia team is talking about moving more customers through the process, but also saw statistics re: people not interested. Looking at approach of helping people understand features and benefits of working.
Baylee – Jackson Josephine – annual employer luncheon, talking about doing an EF education piece for the community. At end of meeting share success stories 3-60 each,. Positive thoughts, leave it on that notes.
Glenn – The I WORK WE SUCCEED promotion from Oregon DHS/EF is great - billboards, buses, I WORK WE SUCCEED has made a great impact.
More on Internet jobs: Delivery business, meeting reminder service special software, for doctor and lawyer offices, contacts.
THANK YOU TO OUR PANEL!
