Customized Employment Tools

There are many tools that can be useful in planning for, creating, and supporting customized employment opportunities for individuals with significant disabilities or other barriers to employment. Click on the highlighted phrases below to view sample forms and tools created by the Maryland Customized Employment Partnership.

Tools to assist the Job Seeker

Creating a positive personal profile through a process of discovery (the process of gathering information about a person for the purpose of job development) is one way to capture a job candidate's skills and potential contributions for employment. Profiles can be created by spending time with the jobseeker, talking with the people who know him/her best, and collecting information from other sources familiar with the individual.

A functional resume is a document that can be used when an individual has limited work experience. Its purpose is to highlight potential contributions into categorical skills so that the individual can be represented to prospective employers. The positive personal profile will help to target and highlight the job candidate¹s skills that are featured in the functional resume.

The individual job development plan is a means to bring the employment team together to review, clarify, and highlight the information gathered through discovery. It is from this plan that job development efforts will begin.

In addition to the jobseeker, an employment planning team may include, but not be limited to, representatives from any of the following categories:

  • Participant's family and friends
  • Vocational rehabilitation
  • Employment services staff
  • Job training staff
  • One-Stop personnel
  • One-Stop partners
  • Public assistance staff
  • Local Workforce Board staff/members
  • Community Rehabilitation Providers
  • Local/regional DD services
  • Local/regional MH services
  • Chamber/employer representatives
  • SSA Ticket to Work and BPAO
  • Local Schools
  • Assistive technology centers/ILC's

Tools for linking and negotiating with employers

The Informational Interview is an effective way for career specialists to get to know employers, how they operate, and what challenges they face - without the pressure of trying to convince them to hire somebody. It's also a way to begin building successful business relationships that are necessary in order to create customized employment opportunities.

The task list is a tool that identifies the job tasks in a particular company that can be performed by a specific applicant. Creating a task list is also a way of identifying negotiation points for a potential employer to consider.

An employment proposal is often the first point of negotiation with a prospective employer The employment proposal can both acknowledge the employer¹s time AND offer a solution to a business need.