Customized Employment 101 Webinar Series

Interested in learning more about customized employment? Running into limited time to train new staff? Join us for this Customized Employment 101 webinar series. This webinar series is designed to advance the belief that competitive integrated employment for people with significant disabilities is achievable. Work is a central part of adult life, often consuming as much as half of one’s waking hours. Having a job contributes to meaningful, productive lives, especially for people with disabilities. Customized employment is a strategy that provides job seekers with disabilities options for employment beyond “off the shelf” jobs. This approach to employment offers individuals previously thought to be unemployable, opportunities to obtain integrated employment. Learn strategies to effectively discover a job seeker’s skills and talents, how to engage employers to develop employment opportunities.

The webinar series will provide an overview of the essential components of CE: Discovery/Assessment; Job Development/Employer Relationships/ and Job Coaching/Post-Employment Support).

Please click on the hyperlinks below to register for the webinar(s).

Webinar 1: Discovery and Assessment
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 – 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET

Customized Employment (CE) became a part of federal law with the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) in 2014 and the discovery process is the foundation of CE. The discovery process is a person-centered approach to learning about a job seeker’s passions, likes, dislikes, skills, ideal work environment, and support needs, to identify job and career possibilities.  The discovery process is a strengths-based alternative to traditional assessment allowing them to find a job that is a good fit with an employer who values and needs the unique skills and contributions the job seeker has to offer a potential employer.

Webinar 2: Job Development and Employer Engagement
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 – 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET

This second webinar in the Customized Employment series will provide participants with information and strategies on reframing how to market their candidates and partner with employers. Case studies will be used to illustrate ways to identify employers, open doors, and more importantly, how to identify job opportunities and negotiate customized jobs with employers. Participants will leave with field-tested approaches and tools for successfully presenting candidates and negotiating jobs with employers.

Webinar 3: Job Coaching and Workplace Supports
Tuesday, June 1, 2021 – 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET

This final webinar in the Customized Employment Series focuses on post-placement support services, including job task analysis and skill instruction. This webinar will give participants the tools they need to structure “customized jobs” and teach more complex tasks. Participants will learn about positive instructional strategies, error-free learning, and systematic instruction. Participants will learn ways to collect performance data and document progress using a task analysis and other methods. Examples of customized jobs and job coaching methods will be discussed.