Transcript

Interviewer: Are there any particular strategies for approaching employers when using a customized employment approach?

Michael Callahan: Yes, I think first it starts in the planning meeting. By bringing identification of employers into the planning meeting, we can at the meeting, identify and try to access any connections that may exist between the individual and then among the players in the meeting and the employers and the community. So it's very important not to miss that opportunity to get the kinds of connections and referrals and relationships that exist with employers. And, I think it's important not to just presume that's the job developer’s job, and we put that on the job developer's shoulders. That form of job development feels very isolating, I think, and you feel very exposed as a job developer feeling like "you know I've got this job to do and I really don't have all the support I need." Job development and connected job development aught to be job one within any organization during employment, supported employment, customized employment of any form.

Another particular approach I'd like to talk about that I referenced in the previous question, is the use of a visual representational strategy. We've been finding a great deal of success with a presentation portfolio approach that uses images and narrative pages in a free standing form, in the trade and sales it's called a pitch book. Sales people have used it for years. We have not brought that concept into our field. This is an image thing, primarily for employers to get a clear picture in their heads about what we mean by customized employment. Using imagery and to the point sound-byte narrative that makes sense, really can help an employer understand a concept. That if we just kind of turn it over to the employer, they're not going to get to where we need them to be, simply by saying, what could work for you? You know we have to actually take the opportunity to make a presentation, and we need the tools necessary to make an effective presentation in a way that at the end, the employer says: "I think I see where you're going with this and here's how I feel about it; or here's what I would need from this. Or, you know that really doesn't work for me." And that's fine too, because we've made a true business presentation and offered a proposal. We can now feel confident to go to the next employer, hoping we'll be successful.

Interviewer: A question comes to my mind right there. How would an employment proposal be different from your portfolio, or are they similar?

Michael Callahan: In a sense, the portfolio presents the proposal. It's the structure for presenting a proposal and when I say a proposal here, it's a verbal conceptual proposal, not necessarily a written proposal that I'd like for you to look over. But more, "here's this presentation" and within it, this portfolio helps assists you in making your proposal to the employer. And what you're proposing is, first the concept of customization and the rationale for it. Your organization’s credentials as it were, what you've done in the past. How you go about the process, which by the way comes right back into building natural supports and supported employment as part of the proposal. And then finally, the final part of the proposal is "here's the individual I'm representing and what they can offer you." And with that, the employer then has an understanding, "I see, I see who you are. I see what you're background is. I see how you do it, and I see whom you're representing. Now, I can think about this person and the value to my organization given these things that they offer." That's the proposal.