PART II THE JOB SEEKING PROCESS After getting the consumer thinking and functioning as a confident, competent blind person, you will proceed to Part II. This is all about the second most important service: job seeking skills. That is, to assist the consumer to be the best job seeker that he or she has the potential to be. Part of achieving this is to establish a counselor-consumer relationship where the consumer takes ownership of the job search. The consumer should expend more time and energy than the counselor. Additionally, when first working with any consumer, he or she may know how to look state: “I for a they may say: know how to take that at face value. job.” And/or “I interview.” Never, never Always have them explain and demonstrate. Run them through the below programmed text. Never assume that the approach cannot be improved. consumer’s The below programmed text is a modified version of a two-day workshop. The author wrote and conducted this while working for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NCBVI). The exercises are what the NCBVI team felt are the basic job seeking skills necessary for a successful job search. Note that the counselor would need to use his or her judgment concerning the unique circumstances to decide whether to apply these exercises consumer’s verbatim or in a modified form. STEP 1: IS YOUR LIFE IN ORDER? Exercise 1. The Elevator Speech During all stages of finding employment, there will come times when the consumer will need to speak about who you are and what you want. This works best if you are prepared, and the best way to be ready is to write out and practice what you should say. When you first meet an employer, it is your opportunity to take advantage of it and make a good first impression. This short speech, often referred to as The Elevator Speech, should last no longer than thirty to five seconds (the length of an average elevator ride). Given below are several examples. First Example, the wrong way Employer: can I do for “What you?” Job seeker: looking for work. And you know, I do have a visual impairment. And “Well, I’m it’s caused by a combination of glaucoma, which started first, but about a year ago I was trying to read the newspaper and noticed the line of words I was looking at was bending
PART II THE JOB SEEKING PROCESS After getting the consumer thinking and functioning as a confident, competent blind person, you will proceed to Part II. This is all about the second most important service: job seeking skills. That is, to assist the consumer to be the best job seeker that he or she has the potential to be. Part of achieving this is to establish a counselor-consumer relationship where the consumer takes ownership of the job search. The consumer should expend more time and energy than the counselor. Additionally, when first working with any consumer, he or she may state: “I know how to look for a job.” And/or they may say: “I know how to interview.” Never, never take that at face value. Always have them explain and demonstrate. Run them through the below programmed text. Never assume that the consumer’s approach cannot be improved. The below programmed text is a modified version of a two-day workshop. The author wrote and conducted this while working for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NCBVI). The exercises are what the NCBVI team felt are the basic job seeking skills necessary for a successful job search. Note that the counselor would need to use his or her judgment concerning the consumer’s unique circumstances to decide whether to apply these exercises verbatim or in a modified form. STEP 1: IS YOUR LIFE IN ORDER? Exercise 1. The Elevator Speech During all stages of finding employment, there will come times when the consumer will need to speak about who you are and what you want. This works best if you are prepared, and the best way to be ready is to write out and practice what you should say. When you first meet an employer, it is your opportunity to take advantage of it and make a good first impression. This short speech, often referred to as The Elevator Speech, should last no longer than thirty to seconds (the length of an average elevator ride). Given below are several examples. First Example, the wrong way Employer: “What can I do for you?” Job seeker: “Well, I’m looking for work. And you know, I do have a visual impairment. And it’s caused by a combination of glaucoma, which started first, but about a year ago I was trying to read the newspaper and noticed the line of words I was looking at was bending five
Stressing%20the%20Employment%20Outcome.docx