Publications
: ILO Publications :
Placement of Job-Seekers with Disabilities
:
Placement of Job-Seekers with
Disabilities
3. Placement service - key components
3
Placement service - key components
An effective placement service for people with disabilities should include
the following components:
- preparation for jobs
- job placement
- self-employment supports
- publicity
- monitoring and evaluation.
The operational strategy developed at the outset will
guide decisions about the form in which each component service is offered,
and whether the component service is provided by the placement service
itself or by another service provider with which the placement service
will closely link (see Chapter 5). Whatever their format, each of these
components should be linked to form an effective network of services to
promote job placement for disabled job-seekers, rather than operating in
isolation.
A. Preparation for jobs
The main elements of a service that prepares a disabled
job-seeker for placement are:
- vocational assessment
- skills training
- pre-placement guidance
- promotion of job-seeking skills
- work experience in production units
- on-the-job work trials.
Not all disabled job-seekers will need to avail of all
of these services. But each service should be available to ensure that the
various needs of people with different types of disabilities are provided
for, and that the job-seeker has a greater chance of securing and
retaining a job.
Vocational assessment
Where a disabled job-seeker has not previously worked
or when a worker is returning to employment following an accident or the
onset of a disability, the placement officer may require information on
aptitudes, abilities, and working capacity to guide the search for a
suitable job. This information may be obtained through a vocational
assessment, which usually involves:
- standardized tests to assess intelligence, interests, manual
dexterity, mechanical and other aptitudes (such as the ability to
distinguish shapes, colours, and sizes).
- practical tests to assess the individual's performance in a variety
of jobs such as the ability to concentrate, work speed, and ability to
lift weights.
Alternatively, the vocational assessment may be carried
out simply by observing someone's performance on a job over a period of
time - as, for example, during a placement in a production unit or
sheltered workshop. Often, both methods are combined to give a
comprehensive picture. The assessment results are then compared with job
descriptions - contained, for example, in a dictionary of occupational
classifications or compiled through job or work analysis (see pp. 28-29) -
to determine whether the person is suited to the desired job.
Assessment is often carried out in a vocational
assessment unit, located within a special centre or workshop. Sometimes, a
team of rehabilitation professionals is involved; sometimes the assessment
is carried out by a psychologist or occupational therapist; and sometimes
the assessment is carried out by a vocational guidance officer or by a
placement officer within the employment placement service.
Skills training
Acquiring a skill which is relevant to current labour
market openings is of central importance to any job-seeker. It is
particularly important to people with disabilities, since they face
considerable competition with nondisabled people in their search for jobs,
and the additional obstacle of negative employer attitudes to their
working capacity. A placement service can effectively seek jobs for people
whose skills and qualifications match employer requirements.
Skills training has been traditionally provided for
disabled people in special centres. Increasingly, though, there is an
emphasis on opening up opportunities for them in the mainstream training
centres, or on developing on-the-job training opportunities. These
approaches will help to ensure that disabled people have the same
opportunities as non-disabled people.
It will also help overcome the problems faced in many
special centres, which are often constrained by limited resources when it
comes to employing instructors, buying training equipment and tools, and
ensuring that the centre's courses reflect current and emerging labour
market opportunities locally and regionally.
Employment service officers are ideally placed to:
- channel information to training centres about the skills required
for employment
- provide them with feedback on the skills of centre graduates, after
placement
- arrange on-the-job training for centre graduates, so that they can
gradually become accustomed to the pace and procedures of work in the
open labour market
- arrange customized training where the employment service has
sufficient resources.
Promoting job-seeking skills
If the operational strategy includes an emphasis on
enabling job-seekers to find jobs for themselves - on self-service, in
addition to direct service - then it is useful to provide training in
job-seeking skills for those who need it. This is often done in the form
of 'job clubs' where disabled people learn how to write their CV, seek
jobs in the newspapers, fill in an application form, develop their
telephone skills, and perform well at a job interview. The job clubs may
be run by the employment service, or by other service providers contracted
to do so. Organizations of people with disabilities may be involved in
running these clubs, with the advantage that this provides the opportunity
to develop peer support networks.
If possible, job-seekers should have access to the
facilities which they need to carry out their own job search - newspapers,
a computer, a telephone - and to advice and support where necessary. These
facilities could be provided in a 'one-stop shop', where job-seekers can
avail themselves of a range of different services related to placement.
Production units
Many people with disabilities benefit from a period of
working or training in a special production unit, before they seek jobs in
the open labour market. This enables them to get into the habit of working
and to develop their working capacity. It can also be useful to placement
officers and vocational assessment personnel, enabling them to see how the
person performs on different jobs over a longer period, thus complementing
the information obtained through vocational assessment.
It is desirable, however, that placement officers do
everything possible to ensure that disabled persons are given the
opportunity and encouragement to move from a 'sheltered' environment to
supported employment or open employment.
Work trials
Work trials in companies are another way of testing the
capacity of disabled job-seekers to hold down jobs in the open labour
market, and of introducing them gradually to employers who may be
reluctant to offer a more permanent job. The placement service may arrange
work trials for people who approach the service directly, or for trainees
attending skills training centres. The work trial is useful in
demonstrating the disabled person's ability and working capacity to
employers, who may offer them a job after the trial period. In other
cases, it provides the opportunity for the person to obtain a reference
which they can add to their CV, to assist them in their subsequent job
search. Where the disabled person does not successfully complete the work
trial, the placement service may advise further training or guidance.
B. Job placement
These steps are involved in job placement:
- gathering information on job vacancies, and on job-seekers
- making contacts with employers
- providing technical advice
- conducting job and work analysis
- job-matching
- job-coaching
- providing follow-up services.
Gathering information
on job vacancies
The placement service requires a system for gathering
information on local job vacancies as they emerge. This may involve
notification from employers, combined with use of newspaper job
advertisements, and information gained through personal contacts with
employers. This information should include the job title, along with a
description of tasks and working conditions, including working time, pay,
and holidays. Placement services have in the past recorded this
information manually, but the trend is now to computerize it where
possible, for ease and speed of retrieval. This enables job placement
officers to identify suitable jobs for job-seekers with minimal delay. It
may also form the basis of an information service for disabled job-seekers
who can conduct their own job search.
If a computerized approach is to be introduced, its
resource implications - financial and human - need to be considered and
planned for.
For some disabled job-seekers, additional information
may be required about the jobs in question, such as company location,
accessibility of the company premises, availability of public transport,
and company policy towards employing disabled people. This information
should be gathered when discussing the placement with the employer.
Information on job vacancies should be complemented by
information on local labour market trends. This may be gathered by the
placement service directly or through other agencies who monitor these
trends, and by visiting local enterprises. The key information concerns:
- which enterprises are growing
- which are contracting
- what technological changes are taking place and
- how these will affect jobs.
on job-seekers
Information should be obtained on individual job-seekers'
- educational level
- qualifications
- skills and experience
- disabilities and work-related needs associated with this
- occupational aspirations.
This information should be obtained primarily from the
job-seekers or their advocates. Some information may be required from
vocational assessment professionals to indicate work capacity and
aptitudes; sometimes medical reports may provide additional information
about the person's disability as it affects capacity to work. But this
information should be sought after the first interview with the
job-seeker, whose agreement to access the information should first be
obtained.
The information on job-seekers should be recorded
either on card or on computer. This is called the process of registration,
which should be kept as simple as possible. Job-seekers should be
encouraged to reregister at regular intervals by phone or by letter if
they have not found a suitable job. They should also be encouraged to
inform the placement service if they find a job through other means.
Contacting employers
Employers are important clients of the placement
service which should invest resources in developing a partnership with
them. In cooperation with employers, placement officers can place
job-seekers to existing job vacancies and assist in creating new
opportunities for disabled job-seekers.
Depending on the placement service strategy, employers
may be contacted individually and through associations of employers,
industry associations (e.g. hotel and tourism, manufacturers, financial
services), and chambers of commerce. Informal networks of employers may
also be tapped to contact other employers who may be willing to provide an
opportunity of some sort to disabled people - a work trial, on-the-job
training, a supported-employment placement, or a job.
Contacting individual employers
Employers should be regarded as valued clients of the
job placement service, and as potential partners. They require
high-quality service from the placement service to help them identify
suitable employees for their vacant positions. In return for this service,
they may provide valuable advice on skills training, in identifying jobs,
and in establishing viable small businesses.
Placement officers need to be able to "think like an
employer" so as to negotiate effectively with them. The placement
service should foster this awareness through training. It should also
develop an employer database, containing as much information as possible
about companies in its catchment area, including their policies and
practices concerning employing disabled people. Informational brochures
and technical materials should be developed, providing the employer with
relevant information about the work ability of disabled persons as well as
the placement service itself, in an attractive, easy-to-read format.
Contacting employers' associations
Working through employer associations may prove
extremely effective. At a policy level, it is useful to develop an
agreement with these associations to cooperate in promoting employment
opportunities for disabled people. Such an agreement would require the
involvement of policy-makers within the employment service as a whole. At
a practical level, cooperation could take the form of seminars or
meetings, jointly organized with the employer association, drawing on the
association's membership for ideas about how the topic should be
approached. Such events, if well planned, are likely to have far greater
impact in opening doors to individual employers than if the placement
service were to organize a seminar on its own. Alternatively, it could
take the form of an agreement reached with the employer association to
provide job placements and work trials through its member companies.
Working in this way, the placement service can contact far more employers,
more efficiently, than if each were to be contacted individually.
Using employer networks
In addition to working with formal employer networks,
the placement service may develop informal networks. For example, it could
ask employers who have successfully employed people with disabilities to
act as advocates in persuading other employers to give a disabled person a
work-related opportunity. The placement service could then follow up on
the contacts. Employer advocates could also provide valuable advice on the
skills and work-related behaviour required of employees, which the
placement service can pass on to the skills training providers.
| Employers are more likely to listen to other
employers than to placement officers. |
Work and job analysis
The ability to identify suitable jobs for job-seekers
with disabilities is central to an effective placement service. This
requires job placement officers to be able to carry out:
- work analysis and
- job analysis.
Work analysis involves looking at all work carried out
in an enterprise or in one department or section.
The purpose is to:
- identify elements of existing jobs which could be combined into one
or more new jobs suitable for a disabled person
- identify work which is not being done at all, which could become the
basis for a new job to be performed by a disabled person
- identify opportunities for work experience programmes for disabled
persons.
Job analysis involves looking at existing jobs to find
out what the worker does, how the work is done, where it is done, what
skills and abilities are required, and the conditions under which it is
done. To carry out job analysis, it is necessary to:
- observe the work carried out in the enterprise as a whole
- observe the work being done in a particular job
- interview workers, supervisors, and personnel managers and
- listen to workers, other disabled persons, supervisors, and
managers.
The purpose is to assess:
- which jobs could be done by disabled persons should future vacancies
occur
- which jobs could be done by disabled persons if the job or the
working environment was modified in some way
- which parts of a job could be done by a disabled person if a job
restructuring was to take place.
| It is important that job placement officers receive
training and practical experience, so that they can carry out job and
work analysis effectively. |
Technical advice
Employers who are willing to consider engaging a
disabled person or providing a work trial require information and advice
which the placement service should be ready to provide. This includes:
- information on laws, quotas, financial assistance, and other support
measures concerning the employment of disabled persons
- information on various disabilities and their implications, if any,
for the individual's working capacity
- information and advice on safety and accessibility for workers with
different types of disability
- advice on adaptations to workplaces, workstations, and work
procedures
- advice on the effect on co-workers and supervisors of employing
people with disabilities of different kinds.
Being able to provide this advice and information when
requested is central to the effectiveness of the placement service and
will greatly enhance its credibility with employers. If the information is
not already available, a technical desk-manual should be developed for use
by job placement officers, and informational brochures should be developed
specifically for employers, communicating the necessary information
clearly, simply, and in an attractive format.
Job matching
The ability to match job-seekers with suitable jobs is
central to the work of the placement service. Placement officers will draw
on information they have gathered about the disabled job-seeker (through
interviewing and vocational assessment) and about the job requirements in
trying to achieve the best match possible.
Where a perfect match is not immediately possible - if,
for example, the disabled job-seeker lacks the necessary experience and
training - the employer may be persuaded to offer a work trial to enable
the disabled person to acquire the experience and skills needed for the
job. Sometimes the employer may offer the person a job on completion of
the work trial. In other cases, the work trial can be used in the person's
CV and may assist in getting another job later on, particularly if the
first employer provides a reference; or it can be used to identify further
training or job preparation which the person may require before securing a
job.
Job coaching
Where an employer agrees that a disabled person can be
trained on the job - whether as part of a supported employment placement,
a work trial, or purely as a training placement - the placement service
may be required to arrange for a job coach to provide the training if the
employer does not have a supervisor who can do this. The job coach service
may be arranged and paid for by the placement service directly, or, more
usually, by contracting another agency (often a non-governmental
organization) to provide this service. The job coach service may be
arranged for whatever time is required. In some cases, several days is
sufficient. In others, the coach may need to train the disabled person for
a longer period, and possibly provide back-up support, visiting the
company regularly after the initial training.
The job-coach service makes on-the-job training
possible where the company supervisors are not available. On-the-job
coaching has several advantages over conventional training provided before
placement in a training centre for people with disabilities:
- The machinery used for training is up-to-date.
- The work processes are those currently in use in the labour market.
- The working conditions are those of a viable company.
Follow-up
Sometimes a follow-up service is essential to ensure
that the disabled worker is successful in the job.
Follow-up can assist the disabled worker in keeping the
job by identifying any existing or emerging problems and can assist the
employer by focusing attention on the disabled worker and the job, with a
view to minimizing tensions which may have emerged. The follow-up visit
also gives the placement officer the opportunity to explore whether the
employer is interested in employing other disabled workers. If the
employer is reluctant, this provides a good opportunity to find out why.
If the employer is interested, details of possible jobs can be obtained.
Follow-up can require quite a lot of time, so a
decision will be needed on which placements to review. Priority should be
given to disabled persons in their first job, disabled persons receiving
on-the-job training, and disabled persons requiring ongoing support.
C. Self-employment
Supports to self-employment make up a further important
element of an effective placement service for people with disabilities.
This is particularly true in developing countries where a high percentage
of the workforce is engaged in this form of work, either in the formal or
informal sector. Selfemployment has not received as much attention as
other employment options for people with disabilities up to now, although
many of those who complete training at special centres go on to try
earning a living in this way. Its potential has increased with the
development of information technology and the emergence of telework and
e-commerce as viable options particularly relevant to people with limited
mobility.
Frequently, the only assistance provided to those who
wish to set up their own businesses is training in the specific skill
involved, along with financial assistance in the form of start-up grants
or loans, or in some cases, a grant of machinery or equipment. Often the
placement service administers the grants or loans, while training centres
issue the tools and equipment.
But for a business to be viable, more is needed than a
particular skill or some start-up incentives. Budding entrepreneurs need
to know how to identify a business opportunity and develop a business
plan. They also need management and bookkeeping skills. They sometimes
need access to technical advisory services, and assistance in marketing
their products and services. They usually need assistance in accessing
credit, and in purchasing raw materials in sufficient bulk to minimize
costs. Employment services may provide some of the required support
directly, but it is more likely that they will refer the disabled person
to other agencies that provide the requisite service, or they may contract
other agencies to provide the service for specific individuals.
In advising disabled people about self-employment, it
is important that the placement services be discerning, since not everyone
has what it takes to become an entrepreneur.
D. Publicity and promotion
Publicity is of central importance to an effective
employment service, particularly if it has been decided to take a
collective approach to promoting employment opportunities for disabled
job-seekers.
The publicity department can work through:
- media events
- seminars
- job bazaars
- publications
- videos.
Strategic alliances may be formed with other partners
to assist the placement service in its promotional work. Media groups and
advertising agencies could be approached to assist in the development of a
Code of Practice for the portrayal of people with disabilities, and to
advise on designing effective awareness-raising campaigns targeted at
specific groups - primarily employers. The support of journalists and
marketers could be enlisted in designing and writing promotional brochures
intended for employers. By cooperating with professionals in these fields,
the placement service will become more effective in conveying a positive
image of disabled workers and overcoming negative attitudes.
3. Placement service - key components
Placement of Job-Seekers with Disabilities
|
