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Competency Area 7: Relationships with Employers & Between Employer and Employee

This competency area focuses on the knowledge, skills, and abilities that youth service professionals need to successfully develop and manage relationships with employers to assist youth in obtaining and maintaining employment. Click on individual competencies listed below for learning objectives, professional development activities, and resources for that specific competency or scroll down to read them all. Note: The letter “D” indicates a competency specific to youth with disabilities.

7.1 Ability to develop relationships with employers

7.1 Ability to develop relationships with employers

Learning Objectives

  • 7.1.1 Facilitate and support collaborative relationships with employers

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Describe a plan or program with possibilities to develop relationships with local employers

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.2 Ability to communicate effectively with employers

7.2 Ability to communicate effectively with employers

Learning Objectives

  • 7.1.2 Facilitate and support effective communications with employers using business language

Selected Activities

  • Interview selected employers to find out the top five characteristics they want in an employee
  • Create materials emphasizing how existing programs, activities, and resources develop these characteristics in youth

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Create well prepared communication and correspondence (flyers, brochure, letters) that communicate to employers in their language

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.3 Ability to organize necessary supports for the employer and the youth in ways that meet both the needs of both

7.3 Ability to organize necessary supports for the employer and the youth in ways that meet both the needs of both

Learning Objectives

  • 7.3.1 Model routine, intentional, and effective communication and conflict resolution strategies

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Successful management of an employer-youth placement relationship

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.4 Ability to engage employers in program design and delivery

7.4 Ability to engage employers in program design and delivery

Learning Objectives

  • 7.4.1 Facilitate and support engagement of employers in program design and delivery

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Describe a plan or program possibilities to engage local employers in youth program design and delivery
  • Help your program establish an employer advisory group

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.5 Ability to train employers in how to work with and support young people

7.5 Ability to train employers in how to work with and support young people

Learning Objectives

  • 7.5.1 Provide for and ensure proper training for employers in how to work with and support young people

Selected Activities

  • Develop an employers needs assessment survey
  • Prepare a list of responses to common employer misperceptions related to youth in the workplace

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Develop several program possibilities for local employers in how to work with and support young people based on needs assessment feedback

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.6 Customer service skills

7.6 Customer service skills

Learning Objectives

  • 7.6.1 Model routine, intentional, and effective customer service skills

Selected Activities

  • List and describe customer service strategies that would enhance relationships with employers
  • Identify ways to solicit employer feedback on their satisfaction with your service
  • Ask a colleague to keep an eye on your interactions with customers for a few days, and then provide feedback – strengths and areas to improve

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Analyze customer service in your organization and engage colleagues in developing and implementing and improvement plan

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.7D Ability to identify, recruit, and provide support to employers who hire youth with disabilities

7.7D Ability to identify, recruit, and provide support to employers who hire youth with disabilities

Learning Objectives

  • 7.7.D.1 Facilitate identification and recruitment of employers regarding hiring youth with disabilities
  • 7.7.D.2 List and describe effective support strategies for employers that hire youth with disabilities

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Describe a plan to involve local employers in the preparation process for youth.

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.8D Ability to advocate for youth with disabilities with employers including negotiating job design, job customization, and job carving

7.8D Ability to advocate for youth with disabilities with employers including negotiating job design, job customization, and job carving

Learning Objectives

  • 7.8.D.1 Match youth skills and interests to job tasks
  • 7.8.D.2. Identify necessary accommodations needed by individual youth and help employers implement them

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • List strategies for presenting individual accommodation needs to an employer in ways that demonstrate how the employer would benefit from making the accommodation.

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

7.9D Ability to train employers and their staff in how to work with and support young people, including providing disability awareness training and information about universal access and design, reasonable accommodations, auxiliary aids and services for youth with disabilities

7.9D Ability to train employers and their staff in how to work with and support young people, including providing disability awareness training and information about universal access and design, reasonable accommodations, auxiliary aids and services for youth with disabilities

Learning Objectives

  • 7.9.D.1 Develop, implement, deliver and monitor strategies for training employers and their staff in how to work with and support young people, including providing disability awareness training and information about universal access and design, reasonable accommodations, auxiliary aids and services for youth with disabilities

Selected Activities

  • Explore several area employers’ professional development programs and strategies and then list the advantages/ disadvantages of these programs as they apply to the youth you work with

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Describe a plan or program possibilities to train employers and their staff in how to work with and support young people, including:
    • providing disability awareness training
    • information about universal access and design
    • reasonable accommodations
    • auxiliary aids and services for youth with disabilities
  • Develop a list of resources for your organization on:
    • Disability awareness
    • Information about universal design
    • Reasonable accommodations
    • Auxiliary aids and services

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

  • AskEarn.org, website of the Employer Assistance Resource Network (EARN) [This website is managed by the National Technical Assistance, Policy, and Research Center for Employers on Employment of People with Disabilities at Cornell University.]
  • The Job Accommodation Network (JAN). [Website of JAN, which provides free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues.]
  • Rattray, D. (2011). Conflict Resolution Tutorial.
  • WorkSupport.com. [Website of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, which studies supports for assisting individuals with disabilities maintain employment and advance their careers.]