T-TAP: Training

How could an employment specialist work with an employer to identify the employment needs within the business?
- Go and speak to the employer and just let him relax.
- Don't ask him to hire anybody right now.
- Present him an option in his employment resource pool.
- Ask to take a walk through his business. Point out that you have people who can do the work.
- Make the employer aware that a person with a disability can do the job.
- Continue to build relationships and develop trust with employers.

Transcript

Interviewer: Could you give us an example of how an employment specialist or an employment consultant could work with an employer to identify the needs within the business that you could meet?

John Luna: Going into the business, what we do is go and speak to the employer and just let him relax at that time. Tell him that we are not going to ask him to hire anybody right now. We just want to present him an option that he may not have thought of in his employment resource pool. Then, we sometimes ask to take a walk through his business and say, "You know we have some people who can do this. We can match with this [job]. It will not cost you any extra amount for this person who could do the job. It would be the same amount."

You build that relationship and trust as you are walking through. As you are pointing these things out at the same time you are making him more aware of a person with a disability who can do the job. And you educate him about the factors of "Here is another pool of employees that I have never thought of before."

Interviewer: You hear some people saying, "Now, there is a current economic slow down and that is going to impact the employment of people with disabilities." Has that impacted your community, John? How do you see that?

John Luna: It has off and on. Mainly I would say yes. We have to work a little harder but it does not stop the individuals from becoming employed. You know I was reading some studies that say between now and 2010 there will be more jobs than there are workers. With that in mind, we go out to the employer and bring him reliable employees. We have to work a little harder and maybe sometimes they do not want to hire as quickly. Maybe we go from 5 placements a month to 3, still that is good, because we are focusing in on the job span and at the same time we are making sure we are retaining the individuals in employment.

It is a double edge with that. You have to maintain the folks that you have working out there plus place the new ones. What you really have to do is, you cannot settle with "Oh, no one is hiring this week". You have to continue to build those relationships. Develop that trust; because when they do start hiring you want to be ready.

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