Lifelong Career Development For Individuals With Disabilities

Volume numbers determined from Scope of the guidelines, p. 12-13.

All businesses have needs. People with disabilities have the skills and desire to work. As employment specialists work to match employers with job seekers, they need to do more than understand the job seeker's personal and professional goals--they also need to know exactly what the employers are looking for. That's what Working Relationships is about: securing satisfying jobs for people with disabilities by fostering partnerships between employment specialists and businesses. A must-read for all employment service providers and for anyone interested in employment of people with disabilities, this book helps readers understand the theoretical framework for improving career development practices through relationship building understand what employers want and expect from employment service providers learn about the building blocks of strong partnerships with employers: beliefs and values, communication skills, multicultural competence, ethics, and self-efficacy find practical guidelines for getting to know both job seekers and employers, marketing proactively to businesses, matching job seeker characteristics with employer needs, and using the tenets of quality customer service when working with employers consider the possibility of non-traditional employment through customized job consultation discover strategies for improving job retention and promoting career advancement for people with disabilities explore specific ways to make employment service programs more customer-oriented, convenient, and understandable to employers Filled with helpful case studies and examples, this valuable resource will help employment specialists develop strong, respectful partnerships with businesses--partnerships that will lead to rewarding careers for people with disabilities.

The Handbook of Career and Workforce Development provides educators, researchers, and policy makers with information on evidence-based programs and activities. Chapters describe ways that current research can be used to promote the design of more effective career development programs and services at local, state, and national levels. Promising career development practices applicable to a range of settings and special populations are identified, as are strategies for communicating evidence in ways that influence career and workforce development public policy. The Handbook of Career and Workforce Development can be used by policy makers and grant program officers to identify key career development ingredients that should be considered in proposals; researchers seeking to make their career development research relevant and practical; and practitioners implementing or advocating for career development programs and services.

A valuable resource for career teachers and counsellors working in schools and private practice, university counselling departments, human resource departments and students in university career courses.