Introduction

Suitable employment for job seekers with complex lives rarely comes from newspaper want ads, job postings, online career ads, or signs in shop windows. Customizing the relationship between employers and job seekers can offer an effective alternative. Employment professionals need to get beyond comparative, competitive evaluation strategies and embrace a more person-focused strategy-job seeker exploration using a discovery approach.

What Do We Mean by Exploration?

Exploration is a strategy that asks employment professionals and job seekers to discover all the facets of the individual's life that relate to employment. It is only from this in-depth exploration that we can truly customize an employment relationship.

Exploration can be accomplished in a number of ways, depending on the needs and preferences of the job seeker. Many job seekers will wish to engage in a process of self-exploration, often facilitated by others. This involves answering questions, reflecting on ideas and past experiences, and identifying personal issues and challenges. Other job seekers may wish to participate in a peer group such as a job club in which members assist each other in shared exploration. Still other job seekers, especially those with significant complexities, will benefit from facilitated exploration, a process in which an employment professional, family member, or friend spends the time necessary to understand the job seeker's strengths, needs, and preferences.

This article will focus primarily on facilitated exploration. It is written for the employment professional who may have the opportunity to act as a facilitator in the exploration process.

Why Is the Exploration Phase So Important?

Exploration is a critical first step in the Customized Employment process. Once planning identifies the job seeker's strengths, needs, and interests, a plan can be developed describing how those skills can best be utilized. Unless we first discover information about the job seeker's life, we often develop goals for the job seeker rather than goals by the job seeker. Exploratory time is necessary to understand the job seeker's lifestyle, personal goals, preferences, experiences, and needs. It is also critical to identify the complexities that the job seeker brings to potential employment relationships. Formal testing and vocational evaluation procedures may be used to supplement this exploration when specific additional information is needed to complete the picture.

Note of Advice Regarding Consent, Confidentiality, and Pre-Employment Inquiries

The process of exploration involves working with an individual to understand his or her strengths and interests. The job seeker must drive the process and identify whom they want to participate. It is critical that facilitators working with a job seeker have the job seeker's permission to speak with the range of individuals who might be part of the exploration process. In addition, prior to exploration there should be an explicit discussion with the job seeker explaining that this exploration process may involve inquiries into whether and to what extent the job seeker has a disability. It is vital that the job seeker be informed that the information requested is intended for use solely in connection with the voluntary affirmative action efforts of the Customized Employment process. The job seeker must be informed that (1) the specific information is being requested on a voluntary basis; (2) the information will be kept confidential in accordance with applicable law; (3) the refusal to provide such information will not have an adverse effect on the provision of employment services; and (4) the information requested will be used only in accordance with applicable law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Workforce Investment Act.

Facilitating Exploration: Ingredients for Success

A positive attitude sets the pace for all exploration activities. It is essential to maintain the focus on the job seeker's interests, strengths, and needs to determine the conditions under which the job seeker will "shine" as an employee. If you are the exploration facilitator, you need to:

• Believe that the job seeker can work
• Model confidence in the job seeker for the group
• Use an array of strategies to understand the job seeker's life story and the conditions for success
• Emphasize the job seeker's contributions and interests

In addition, when discussing disability, staff should focus on the individual's abilities and the accommodations and auxiliary aids and services that may be needed in order to use these abilities, rather than on limitations.

Skills Necessary for Facilitated Exploration

The facilitator must use the following skills in this exploration phase in order to achieve success.

Sharing
There is a great deal to be learned about the job seeker if all parties begin by sharing their picture of the job seeker from different-yet optimistic-perspectives that relate to work.

Listening
Listening carefully to all parties in the exploration process creates a clearer understanding for everyone. However, employment professionals must also be observant and pay attention beyond the original answers and surface meaning. Go beyond simple questions and answers as your primary strategy for gaining insight.

Reflecting
All parties involved in the exploration process must reflect on their thoughts, memories, and aspirations for the job seeker. The time spent in reflection with the job seeker, family, and others allows everyone to see personal information from an employment perspective while sorting out the complexities in the job seeker's life.

Describing
Describing the job seeker should be done in a positive, comprehensive, robust, and non-evaluative manner, whether verbally or in written form. This is important because it:

• Redirects others from jumping to conclusions before all the information has been gathered about the job seeker
• Enables others to clearly visualize the job seeker in a work environment
• Stimulates further conversation that leads to additional questions and information to help complete the picture of the job seeker

Give and take
Discussion and compromise are necessary in the exploration process to ensure that everyone achieves a win/win outcome. The facilitator will need to negotiate with the job seeker and other participants on an array of topics, from setting times to meet to seeking clarity on the details of the desired type of employment.

Note of Advice Regarding Disclosure of a Job Seeker's Disability

Inquiring about disabilities may be useful in assisting an individual to move into employment. However, service providers need to be aware of the rules governing pre-employment inquiries into whether and to what extent an individual has a disability. See "Note of Advice Regarding Consent, Confidentiality, and Pre-Employment Inquiries" on p. 2 about when and how to share this information. Generally speaking, service providers may not disclose to others disability-related information about the job seeker. Remember that information concerning a disability needs to be kept confidential unless the individual gives explicit consent. (For additional information, see "Appendix A-Description of rules relating to disability-related information" in Strategies and Practices for Effectively Serving All One-Stop Customers-A Framework for Systems Change and the U.S. Department of Labor Civil Rights Center at www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/.)

Techniques for Discovering Information

There are several ways that facilitators can explore the job seeker's employment-related goals and interests to uncover pertinent information.

Observation
Good observation skills are vital to effective exploration. A skilled observer will note the time the job seeker takes to move from one area to another and their interactions with both familiar people and strangers. The facilitator will also find the chance to observe the job seeker as he or she makes decisions to respond to different cues. The employment professional should observe the job seeker in different situations and a range of environments. It is also important to observe routines that can give a picture of how full or empty the job seeker's day is, and whether or not accommodations are needed.

Conversation
Another exploration tool is conversations with the job seeker and family, friends, teachers, and support people selected by the job seeker to be part of this process. Conversations should be free-flowing but use a subtle structure to keep the process on track. It is important to consider words chosen, body language, and tone.

Interviewing
While job seekers, family, and friends are likely to be comfortable with a conversational style, more structured conversations with service providers, counselors, and other professionals may help to provide information in a manner more consistent with their experience. Interviewing may also be effective with job seekers and non-professionals when seeking perspective on more routine parts of a person's day that may lend themselves to shorter responses.

The "Where" of Exploration: Consider a Range of Places

Home
Home is where most job seekers are most "who they are." Going to a job seeker's home, if invited, establishes trust that the process is primarily about them-not the agency, the system, or the labor market. The job seeker's home is a place to understand the complexity of that person's life. Home is also where, for most people, life intricacies are worked out, such as preparing meals, enjoying hobbies, sharing rides, and the basic organization of day-to-day activities. Such visits help the employment professional understand the number of people living there, their intensity in the job seeker's life, and possible contributions they may offer the job seeker when developing employment options.

Familiar community places
Since most jobs are performed in the community, it is necessary to go into the community with the job seeker. Visiting a place that is part of the job seeker's daily routine can give information on responses to that setting, such as the job seeker's skills, pace, dress, acquaintances, and social interactions. Job seekers can help identify these places when sharing their daily routines with the facilitator.

New places in the community
When the employment professional observes the job seeker engaging in novel activities, it is important to learn how the job seeker identifies where to go, responds to the natural cues in a new environment, and meets strangers. This information will be critical as you recognize strengths or needs for the work environment, and consider strategies to support the job seeker in the new job.

The "Who" of Exploration: Identifying a Range of People

Job seeker and immediate family
Information should be gathered initially from the job seeker and then from trusted family and friends, as appropriate, who are willing to participate in developing employment for the job seeker. They can provide insight about the job seeker's distinct characteristics.

Community connections
This group may consist of extended family, neighbors, church members, or other connections in the community. These individuals can have insight into the job seeker's unique abilities and interests. They may also be resources to "open doors" when contacting targeted employers.

Personal representatives
Job seekers often use a personal representative to assist and potentially represent them to an employer. This can be a counselor, job developer, advocate, employment professional, or other qualified person. The personal representative may or may not be the facilitator of the exploration phase of the Customized Employment process. If the personal representative is not the facilitator, in order to understand the job seeker's background and negotiate effectively with employers, the representative should be involved in the exploration process.

Service providers, counselors, teachers, and other professionals
Professionals who care about the job seeker can offer an important perspective. Try to ensure that the professional either has or had direct contact with the job seeker. In addition to those professionals who have regular, direct contact with the job seeker, there is often an array of people in other staff and service roles who might be able to offer insight and information.

Making Time for Exploration

Many people say they don't have time for such an in-depth exploration. However, without adequate time for exploration a job seeker is likely to remain either chronically unemployed or chronically changing jobs. Different methods and services are required to reach a different outcome. More time spent on exploration will pay off in less time spent on the job search, successful outcomes, and longer retention.

Describing Sue's Activity

Sue creates needlepoint items to be framed for her family. Most of the items are family names that she puts together by counting the number of holes for each letter to create a template. She takes care to use the colors in the recipient's home, and makes one item a week. While she usually uses material that has ten stitches to an inch, she prefers 22 holes to an inch, which is very small and detailed work. Her work is precise, with each stitch being even and going in the same direction. She has been offered money for these creations from others outside the family. She typically works alone, late at night. Her mother purchases the materials to reduce Sue's frustration when making choices.

This description is useful in exploration because:

• It creates a positive picture of the job seeker.
• It provides details. Instead of saying "Sue loves to work with her hands," it gives a description of how she uses her hands, including the activity itself, the pace, supports offered, performance, and her interest in the activity.
• It makes it easier to envision the characteristics of a working environment in which Sue can perform successfully (e.g., sitting for long periods, working alone, and performing detailed tasks that might involve counting).

A Note of Advice

Not spending enough time on these activities could result in a less comprehensive picture of the job seeker and potentially create the danger of overlooking some complexities that may impact employment. Also, remember that the exploration process is meant to uncover information regarding the job seeker's strengths and interest, not to test or assess the job seeker.

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Subject Tags: Best Practice | Career Development | Job Coaching | Job Development | One Stop Centers |