The Job Developer's Handbook: Practical Tactics for Customized Employment - Softcover

Excerpted from Chapter 8 of The Job Developer's Handbook: Practical Tactics for Customized Employment, by Cary Griffin, David Hammis, & Tammara Geary

Copyright © 2007 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

"Susanna is a 28–year–old woman with severe mental retardation and a full–scale IQ of 38. She is referred for vocational evaluation, with the referral noting concerns about her ability to work in the community. She recently lost a supported employment (SE) job after 2 years. Records indicate ongoing performance issues at the job and ongoing support visits required every other day. The SE staff at Carter Vocational Options have been trying to determine if there are any good jobs or industries for her. Her history demonstrates a significant lack of success in both school and work. She left school without completing her special education certificate. Records indicate she was challenging in the classroom, often refusing to participate. There were several serious behavioral outbursts in school. Behavioral management plans were only mildly successful. She attended the Carter Vocational Training Center (CVTC) for 6 years, working on various contracts. Records indicate that she was often unwilling to work. Her production rate was 15%. She was frequently off task and would not remain in her work area.

She presents well, has good hygiene, and is neatly dressed. She is pleasant and talkative but has been unable to adequately describe past work experiences. She admits that she did not like school, the CVTC, or her job. Susanna says she wants a job but cannot identify a job she wants. She indicates that she likes to go outside. She appears confused by many questions, is unable to sequence events, and frequently responds in ways that seemed irrelevant to the question. Her mother and sister have been providing support. Evaluation and testing revealed good matching skills, simple counting skills, basic letter recognition, minimal word recognition, and absent reading. She is frequently off task but is generally cooperative. She frequently asks to go outside or just gets up to go. She is unable to follow even simple directions and her attention span does not allow completion of all tests. In general, Susanna appears to need constant redirection. In this evaluator's opinion, she has a limited potential for success in the community workforce without regular supervision. This evaluator would recommend some sort of arrangement where there is constant supervision and direction. Perhaps one of CVTC's lawn crews would be appropriate, given her demonstrated desire to go outside. "

Susanna's report and history are not all that unusual. In working with over 200 employment sites across the country, and through years of direct experience serving people with disabilities, we have encountered numerous job seekers who, though unique individuals, have had experiences with similar issues and recommendations. Needless to say, community employment providers are not lining up to serve people with such limited recommendations and perceived ability and whose work skills and potential are not readily apparent. It is likely that readers are at least somewhat familiar with this concept.

We have often been asked to help providers figure out how to serve many individuals who present real or perceived work challenges. In the words of one site director, "We just can't figure out how to serve him, and we haven't done a good job of it." For many people, the solution lies in job carving, with its foundation in the discovery, planning, and job development processes.

Job carving is not new; the concept has been around for many years. It is probably safe to say, however, that it is underutilized as a strategy for creating well–fitting jobs for people with disabilities while providing benefit to the workplace.

Job carving is a process of analyzing the duties performed in a given job, or the duties of several different jobs, to identify discrete tasks that could be combined to create a job that meets the specific aspirations and support needs of an individual (Griffin & Sherron, 2006) while meeting the needs of the business. Job carving seeks to maximize an individual's gifts, skills, interests, and contributions to a workplace and is therefore distinctly different from traditional approaches to developing jobs for individuals, in which the focus is on the labor market (Griffin & Hammis, 2003a). Here the approach has been to look at the local job market, determine what businesses and jobs exist, and provide training and other strategies with the goal of making the individual fit the job. Based on the continuing high unemployment rates of people with disabilities, it is clear this approach has not been successful. Furthermore, years of using a labor market–driven approach to job development has not produced much variety in the types of jobs secured by people with disabilities, particularly those with developmental disabilities. There is a high incidence of placement in stereotypical jobs, such as janitorial, food service, retail, stocking, greeting, grocery bagging, laundry, and hotel housekeeping. These jobs are in industries with which providers are familiar and are not necessarily ones that represent the best fit for an individual.

Carving jobs expands opportunity through true customization, selecting essential tasks performed in a workplace to create a job that contributes critical functions to the workplace and at the same time is highly focused on the individual's abilities, interests, skills, preferences, and general support needs. With skillful carving, the jobs that are created also create profit for the business.

THE UTILITY OF JOB CARVING

Job carving is useful in a variety of situations. Its ultimate utility, however, is in creating the right employment situation for people with disabilities. Some people receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and others considered hard to serve, will likely find it very difficult to find a form–fitting job in the community. Carving allows a person who wants to work, but who is unlikely to find an existing job and description of duties that he or she can successfully perform, to create a job in which he or she can be successful.

While it is perfectly appropriate to carve a full–time job, carving can be an ideal strategy for people who may be seeking part–time employment. Although the provider should always strive to meet the individual's goals for hours of work per week, there are many reasons a person may need to limit hours to part time. Physical disability, psychiatric illness, intellectual capacity, medical fragility, available supports, and choice represent some of those reasons (Griffin & Winter, 1988).

Further, job carving allows an individual to maximize contribution, something that should be at the heart of any job search or creation effort, as well as integral to small business development. Contribution refers to any individual's specific sets of skills (existing and potential), personality traits, and potential assets that are exploitable Resources for an employer (Callahan & Garner, 1997; Griffin & Hammis, 2003b). In this case, the term exploitable refers to usable or profitable resources and should not be mistaken to refer to the more negative connotations of the word, that is, gullible or easy to take advantage of. The more exploitable resources a person has, the more marketable they are. Commonly, existing or off–the–shelf jobs do not include a set of tasks that take advantage of an individual's contributions. They just don't fit an individual very well. Job carving...