 All businesses have needs. People with disabilities have the skills and desire to work. As employment specialists work to match employers with job seekers, they need to do more than understand the job seekers' personal and professional goals -- they also need to know exactly what the employers are looking for. That's what Working Relationships is about: securing satisfying jobs for people with disabilities by fostering partnerships between employment specialists and businesses. A must-read for all employment service providers and for anyone interested in employment of people with disabilities, this book helps readers
• understand the theoretical framework for improving career development practices through relationship building
• understand what employers want and expect from employment service providers
• learn about the building blocks of strong partnerships with employers: beliefs and values, communication skills, multicultural competence, ethics, and self-efficacy
• find practical guidelines for getting to know both job seekers and employers, marketing proactively to businesses, matching job seeker characteristics with employer needs, and using the tenets of quality customer service when working with employers
• consider the possibility of non-traditional employment through customized job consultation
• discover strategies for improving job retention and promoting career advancement for people with disabilities
• explore specific ways to make employment service programs more customer-oriented, convenient, and understandable to employers
Filled with helpful case studies and examples, this valuable resource will help employment specialists develop strong, respectful partnerships with businesses -- partnerships that will lead to rewarding careers for people with disabilities.
A good resource for professionals assisting people with disabilities in finding employment. Practitioners will find the practical approach and frequent use of examples most helpful. --Edna Mora Szymanski, PhD, Professor and Dean, University of Maryland, College of EducationThe relationship-building approach ably described by the authors [moves] the job development and placement process away from a focus on deficits and toward the role of supports to ensure that all people can achieve meaningful employment. --Michael L. Wehmeyer, PhD, Director, Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities and Associate Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Kansas An outstanding, cutting edge book [that] is a must for every job developer. These authors have once again innovatively presented numerous ways to find meaningful jobs which lead to careers for people with special needs.--Paul Wehman, PhD, Professor of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation & Special Education, Virginia Commonwealth University Table of Contents
Forword by Richard E. Marriott
Introduction
I. Foundations for Partnership
1. Job Development and Placement: Toward a New Emphasis on Outcomes
2. The Employment Process: A Conceptual Framework
3. Setting the Stage: Career Development Strategies
Jo Ann Hutchinson
4. Employer Perceptions of Disability and Disability Employment Programs
5. Developing Relationships for Effective Business Partnerships
6. Partnerships at Work: Illustrative Case Studies
Richard G. Luecking, J. Erin Riehle, and Mark Donovan
7. Fundamental Skills for Employment Specialists II. Job Development and Placement: A Customer Focused Framework
8. Knowing the Job Seeker Customer
Appendix: Case Studies
9. Knowing the Employer Customer
10. Marketing to Prospective Employer Customers
11. Customer-Driven, Customized Job Matches: Meshing Job Seeker Characteristics with Employer Needs
12. Quality Service and Customer Satisfaction in Job Development and Business Partnerships III. New Directions for Employment Partnerships
13. Nontraditional Employment Through Customized Consultation
Richard G. Luecking and Sara Murphy
14. Organization Change: Building Employer-Friendly Services
Debra Martin Luecking and Richard G. Luecking
15. Job Retention and Career Growth
16. Into the Future: Challenges and Issues Affecting Job and Partnership Development 304 pages. 2004 |
