The trainee will gain knowledge of:

Career Development

• the importance of and the techniques to use in supporting each job seeker to self-determine his or her career planning
• the critical aspects of an individual’s life that relate to the development of a successful career
• the basic process of personal futures planning, the discovery process, and their relationship to career planning
• the importance of self-presentation in interviewing and job seeking
• the techniques of developing a personal career profile, a desired personal career future statement, and a functional career plan for an individual
• establishing meaningful employment goals and objectives

Job Coaching & Consulting

• the elements of a comprehensive job analysis
• the use of job carving as a work design strategy
• key social components of job design
• how to develop on-the-job training strategies
• strategies for developing natural supports on the job
• ways of analyzing work cultures to better understand social relationships at the worksite
• the features of job design and support related to accommodations for workers with disabilities
• techniques of facilitating coworker-supported training
• the use of systematic training, including task analysis, natural cues and reinforcers, error correction procedures, and self-instruction techniques
• how to build support so human service support is minimized through fading
• developing strategies to help workers fit in socially and behaviorally at work

Marketing and Job Development

• how to design a basic marketing plan for job development services to employers
• the ways to develop effective working relationships with employers including social media, publications, research, and other tools
• how to develop jobs through personal relationships and targeted networking
• how to be comfortable with face-to-face interactions with an employer and act as a resource for competent, reliable labor while representing individuals with disabilities
• how to help job seekers make informed choices about disclosing their disability to an employer
• how to act as a facilitator of matching workers with career goals to employers with labor needs
• the work incentive provisions available to employers for hiring employees with disabilities

Providing Quality Training

• how to develop key training principles and priorities for selecting training goals that will impact quality of life.
• use task analysis strategies to focus on functional skills, and teachable steps.
• how to strategize within learning environments and using effective tools and support.
• how to apply instructional plans through shaping, selecting prompts, chaining, and other means.
• demonstrate effective use of prompting, cue delivery, reinforcement, and error correction.
• demonstrate use of reinforcement and error correction effectively
• be able to provide effective fading assistance while supporting generalization of newly learned skills.
• how to implement self-management and self-monitored learning strategies.

Employment of People with Disabilities: An Orientation

• demonstrate understanding of the critical role work plays in the lives of youth and adults with disabilities
• articulate the obstacles people with disabilities face in the workplace, why they occur, and how to solve them
• how the process of supported employment works
• what regulations and funding govern supported employment
• the roles of some key players in making supported employment happen, including the job seeker, his or her family, and the employment specialist
• the job seekers rights to services and non-discrimination.

Social Security Work Incentives

• understand federal and state eligibility programs
• state the advantages to earning wages, work incentives, and community resources to professionals and others
• demonstrate innovative ways of using the systems
• understand the use and value of work incentives to increase individuals' income and assets
• recognize the opportunities for changes in implementation of public policy that support the employment of people with disabilities