Workplace Readiness Training

Workplace readiness traits describe skills employers seek from most employees. These are skills and behaviors that are necessary for any job. Work readiness skills are sometimes called soft skills, employability skills, or job readiness skills.

These abilities help employees learn how to interact with supervisors and co-workers.
They help reinforce the importance of timeliness and build an understanding of how we are perceived by others.

The development of these job skills can help individuals succeed both at work and in other areas of their lives. Service providers are not only great trainers in these skill areas, but are also leaders who can teach by example.

Practices | Strategies | Tools

Promising Practices

Employers value employees who can communicate effectively and act professionally. No matter what technical skills a job may require, every job requires good social skills/interpersonal skills.*

These types of services may be provided through instruction, or other activities where the student can learn and apply knowledge.

*Source: This information is obtained from and aligns with the Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) requirements as outline by the Workforce Innovation Technical Assistance Center (WINTAC)

Soft Skills Training Data

PROMISE youth who completed Skills to Pay the Bills training were more than 5x more likely to obtain employment and have higher hourly wages.

Source: Wisconsin Promise

Strategies

Consider incorporating these strategies into your Workplace Readiness Skills training:

Connect school experiences to real-life work activities and future career opportunities.
Provide opportunities for in-depth student engagement in hands-on learning, and direct exposure to business and workplace culture.
Facilitate direct employer and/or community involvement in the design and implementation of Workplace Readiness Experiences to ensure students are exposed to real-work, current business and industry standards, and receive an accurate evaluation of work performed based on relevant skills.

Source: Workplace Readiness Training, hosted by WINTAC and NTACT

Individual

Identify and learn how to use assistive technology in the workplace
Meet with a benefits counselor
Develop individual transportation plans and learn necessary mobility skills
Provide self-evaluation instruction/ programs that include the same topics as found under a group setting:
Maintaining healthy relationships
Work and study habits
Planning and goals setting
Using community resources
Budgeting and paying bills
Computer literacy

Group

Provide lessons on strategies to support independence at work such as time management, self-monitoring performance, and accepting constructive feedback
Conduct simulations to develop social and communication skills
Develop financial literacy; including banking and budgeting skills
Provide role-play experiences for working as a team
Develop communication and interpersonal skills
Provide group orientation and mobility skills (i.e., to access workplace readiness training or to learn to travel independently)
Develop job-seeking skills
Instruct students on understanding employer expectations for punctuality and performance, as well as other "soft" skills necessary for employment

Source: CRP Pre-ETS Guidebook: Strategies for Community Rehabilitation Providers to Collaborate on Pre-ETS

Communication and Engagement Strategies

Training tips for working with individuals with disabilities:

Gather basic information about participants before training.

Do any participants need any accommodations?
- physical accessibility of the space
- captioning on videos
- presenting material in multiple formats: handouts, powerpoint, video, small group discussion, lecture, hands-on activities, etc.
- identifying any reading or language barriers. Ask for volunteers to read, use activities that don’t require reading, focus on hands-on approach whenever possible.
- considering instructor to participant ratios
- asking participants what works for them! They may have ideas based on experience. Don’t forget the basics.

Training tips for student and parent/family engagement:

- Remember Pre-ETS is really “enrichment” not “required” coursework for students
- Make activities engaging, relevant, and accessible (realistic and can be done at home)
- Prioritize what you are asking of families, so they do not get overwhelmed
- Find ways to talk directly to families
- Arrange regular times to connect or touch base
- Connect families with other families
- Connect students with peer support like “best buddies”
- Celebrate success of what students are doing
- Celebrate the parents too – sometimes need to pay attention to parents first because parent’s needs are not being met.

Source: Dr. Erik Carter, “Supporting Tennessee's Students Remotely”, hosted by Transition TN.

Consider family support:

Discuss/reinforce employment expectations
Facilitate/model effective communication
- Reinforce this is a partnership
- Be mindful of diverse cultural backgrounds
Discuss supported decision-making, and encourage parents to have high expectations
Align the motivations and goals of education and VR with the motivations and goals of the families (all while giving students a voice)
Ask the right questions to better understand what impacts a parent’s vision for the future, and what causes them concern
Establish a working relationship with your state’s parent training center

Source: Workplace Readiness Training, hosted by WINTAC and NTACT

Training Tips

These suggestions are based on lessons learned through Wisconsin Promise and other projects focused on working with youth, individuals, and families.

Teacher or Counselor define or describe the skill
Provide a rationale for needing to learn the skill
Offer situations when the skill might be used
Use role play to teach the skill – consider video modeling.
Finally help students understand the nuances of using that skill

Source: Nick Elksnin & Linda K. Elksnin (2001) Adolescents With Disabilities: The Need for Occupational Social Skills Training, Exceptionality, 9:1-2, 91-105, DOI: 10.1080/09362835.2001.9666993

Video Modeling is an evidence-based practice that has been effective in teaching social skills to students with disabilities. Video modeling enables an individual to learn a new skill by:

Watching a video of someone else demonstrating the behavior.
After watching the video, the learner is asked to imitate the task.

Previous studies have used video modelling to increase the use of language and communication skills and to improve social initiations and interactions among children and adolescents with disabilities.

Source: Munandar, Vidya, Morningstar, Mary E., and Carlson, Sarah R. ‘A Systematic Literature Review of Video-based Interventions to Improve Integrated Competitive Employment Skills Among Youth and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder’. 1 Jan. 2020 : 1 – 13.

Demonstrate Immediate Results

Need to be able to use what they learn now (Applying…)
Skill-based learning (Show you know your stuff!)

Establish Clear Rules (You’re a Leader/Teacher)

Are you a decision-maker or are they?
What are your expectations for behavior etc.?
How clear is the trainers’ role?

Teamwork in Small Groups

Learning tasks; peer influence
Not a competition
“Bonding” (make it fun!)

Engagement

Burden is on the learner - challenge them
Dialogue to see if they are really “getting it”
Open questions put to small groups so they have to share with each other

Accountability (Pre and Post)

How do we know they know? (Help them demonstrate as above)
Use those who “get it” to teach others: Train the Trainer Junior!

Tools

Following are some tools and resources to assist you with your career planning activities.

Featured Resources

Skills to Pay the Bills

A curriculum developed by ODEP focused on teaching "soft" or workforce readiness skills to youth, including youth with disabilities. Skills to Pay the Bill Training

Life Skills Training

Casey Life Skills (CLS) is a free tool that takes a look at the behaviors and competencies youth need to achieve their long-term goals. It aims to set youth on their way toward developing healthy, productive lives. Casey Life Skills

Before Age 18

For youth with disabilities and their families, get ready to consider choices, explore the possibilities, and take action now to prepare for age 18! Before Age 18 Website

Explore-Work.com Training

Online training to help youth explore their future -- follows the five Pre-ETS training topics. Explore-Work Website

Related Resources

Workplace Readiness Training Resources from the Workforce Innovation Technical Assistance Center (WINTAC)
CRP Pre-ETS Guidebook: Strategies for Community Rehabilitation Providers to Collaborate on Pre-ETS
Essential Skills to Getting a Job: What Young People with Disabilities Need to Know from the Office of Disability and Employment Policy (ODEP)
National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C)
National Deaf Center: Pre-ETS Guide

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