Employment specialists are always looking to improve their ability to help job seekers. When it comes to the Discovery process, we offer three tools you’ll want to know how to use.
Situational Assessments, Work Experiences, and Informational Interviews are three components of Discovery. With these three, the job seeker can engage, observe, and question places, activities, or people about what they do, why and how they do it, and much more. Employment staff use these tools after listening to their job seeker discuss their interests, skills, and talents. Talking with a client about what they would like to do helps them explore different types of work through words or actions.
Situational Assessments
Situational Assessments are ways the staff can take the job seeker into the community to identify local partners and business contacts. Situational Assessments also allow the job seeker to search for a person or a company in a field to explore that type of work. Employment staff identify and contact the business, informing them that they have someone interested in coming out to try different tasks. The job seeker is present for this service and paired one-on-one with either a worker at that location or a trained employment staff liaison.
Next, the employer trains the job seeker to complete the tasks with safety in mind. The job seeker experiences firsthand what it takes to do the job they have interest in—physically, mentally, emotionally. The best part is being able to ask their paired co-worker questions such as, “why do you like your job,” or “why do you do this kind of work?”
If they are working in a field with quotas, they can see the pace of work and can begin to think of accommodations that may help them to meet their quota. The key here is to do the work with the employment staff observing, working alongside, or helping to answer questions about how the individual is doing the tasks. In a Situational Assessment, the employment specialist can evaluate both hard and soft skills and identify needs or potential accommodations.
Work Experiences
Just like Situational Assessments, Work Experiences are all about the work and observation; you can think of them as longer-term Situational Assessments. Situational Assessments may be a few times, or over a shortened period, whereas Work Experiences are typically two to 12 weeks of trying out the job. The participant typically has previous work experience in this field and has had some time away; you are evaluating if the person is ready to return and at what capacity, or if there are concerns to consider.
The other referral type occurs when the job seeker has never worked in this field but has selected it as their top choice. In this scenario, you are looking to see if this is really the right choice and give them more time in this field to explore and determine if this is what they want to do. Often, they are paired with another coworker or supervisor at that company and an employment staff member observes or receives feedback to assist with any needs, concerns, accommodations, or recommendations.
The Work Experience tool provides the job seeker an authentic impression of what working in that field in a part-time or full-time status is like. It allows an assessment of stamina, transportation routines, and the physical or mental demands of the job on a consistent, extended schedule.
Informational Interviews
Informational Interviews are different than the previous two because they can be done without the job seeker present on the job site. Once you know the individual’s interests, you can connect them with a professional in that field or industry to speak with them. In some cases, the employment staff can speak on behalf of the job seeker.
Informational Interviews are not doing the work, but, instead, speaking with someone about the job. Prepared questions can include what it is like to work in that field/job, what is their favorite or least favorite part about the job, the kind of education or certification required, what a typical day is like in that job, and more. Typically, these interviews gather information in a 20–30-minute session with a professional in that field. Next, the employment specialist will discuss that information with the job seeker to determine if they still want to pursue that interest or move on to something else instead.
If the job seeker remains interested, then you could schedule a Situational Assessment and let them gain hands-on experience in that field, which will help them make a better decision if this area is the right fit.
Situational Assessments, Work Experiences, and Informational Interviews are indispensable tools for employment professionals. For more information on Discovery and Supported and Customized Employment, look at these resources:
Supported and Customized Employment