ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT
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tasks performed must be associated with those performed by human service staff
such as finance, supervision, counseling and administration. The work tasks
should not include any of the contract work performed by “clients” or students of
the organization as this is inconsistent with the definition of competitive
integrated employment.
E. CE facilitates mutually beneficial voluntary employment relationships. In
traditional demand-side employment, employment seekers, or their
representatives seek businesses with job openings and try to convince employers
that they can meet the demands of the existing job descriptions based on the
employment seeker’s resume, education and past experiences. In CE,
representatives seek to find a successful it between specific areas of benefit and
need for employers in the form of job tasks aligned to the employment seeker’s
strengths, needs, and interests. In addition, because CE seeks to bypass typical
personnel processes, employment seekers and their representatives are
encouraged to seek voluntary, negotiated relationships with employers.
F. Job development “agents” are used as necessary to represent the
employment seeker. Historically, employment seekers were often encouraged to
prepare for competitive personnel interactions with employers by practicing
interview responses, developing standard resumes, and through other
techniques. CE is enhanced by having skilled representatives approach potential
employers and explain CE. The representatives describe the unique features of
the employment seeker and identify tasks that fit the individual and benefit the
employer. They then negotiate a customized job description and employment
expectations. Whenever possible, the employment seeker should be included in
tandem with the agent when approaching the employer, and in some instances,
the employment seeker may take the lead to represent themselves when
approaching the employer.
G. A qualitative “no fail” process that presumes that all individuals can work
and includes discovery of the employment seeker to determine the employment
seeker’s strengths needs and interests. Traditionally, employment services for
individuals with disabilities used comparative assessments to determine the
likelihood that the employment seeker might become employed. This resulted in
many individuals with more significant disabilities being excluded from
employment services. For CE, it is therefore necessary to begin employment
services by using a process that presumes benefit by the employment seeker
and that cannot be “failed.”