Full course description
Explore our Curriculum: What will you learn first?
Foundations of Employment Services
This course explains how you can support all individuals in pursuing meaningful, rewarding work, including people with disabilities and other barriers. You’ll learn about the history of employment services as a profession, the key duties of your job, and the core competencies you’ll need to do your job well. In addition, this course will provide you with a solid ethical foundation on which to build your career.
Lesson 1: Evolution of Employment Services
Lesson 2: Values and Expectations of Work
Lesson 3: The Employment-Services Professional
Lesson 4: Partners in Employment Services
Principles of Career Development
In this course, you’ll learn the most effective ways to use individual assessments and
other planning strategies. These techniques can help job seekers focus on their skills and interests and get clearer about what various careers involve. You’ll find out about key strategies to help people overcome barriers to employment. This course also covers the relationship between disability benefits and employment, and how beneficiaries can make the most of work incentives.
Lesson 1: Everyone Can Work
Lesson 2: Person-Centered Planning
Lesson 3: Assisting with Barriers to Career Development
Lesson 4: Tools and Assessment Strategies for Career Discovery
Lesson 5: Using Mainstream Approaches for Career Planning
Lesson 6: Earnings, Benefits, and Career Choice
Strategies for Job Development–Part 1
This course will show you how to develop a plan to help people find jobs. Topics include giving advice on disclosure and matching individuals’ desires and abilities with career opportunities. The course also includes guidance on the latest job-search and marketing techniques, including creating marketing materials, taking advantage of social media, and networking (both in person and online).
Lesson 1: Disclosure, Resumes, and Interviewing
Lesson 2: Matching Job-Seeker Skills to Jobs
Lesson 3: Marketing Materials for Job Development
Lesson 4: Using Social Media to Market Job Seekers
Strategies for Job Development–Part 2
Job seekers are your customers — but so are the employers who can hire them. This course will explain the importance of understanding and responding to employers’ needs, and matching them to job seekers’ skills and interests. You’ll learn how to show employers that working with your agency is a win-win proposition. Topics include solving business problems, developing mutual confidence and trust with employers, supporting job seekers with online job applications, and negotiating hiring arrangements.
Lesson 1: Employer as the Customer
Lesson 2: Identifying Employer Needs
Lesson 3: Online Applications and Personality Tests
Lesson 4: Negotiating the Hire
Business Perspectives
You’re focused on supplying workplaces with qualified job seekers, but what about the employer perspective? This course goes in-depth into the “dual-customer” approach to career development. You’ll learn about the functional use of labor-market information for the modern economy, using research to learn about employers’ experiences and workforce development strategies, strategies for working with small and large employers, engaging in community and business networking, and collaborating creatively with employers and job seekers to make strong job matches.
Lesson 1: Serving the Employer Customer: Fostering Responsive, Timely, and Business-Driven Customer Service
Lesson 2: Understanding and Using Labor Market Information to Meet Workforce Needs
Lesson 3: Shifting Perceptions: The View of Business Customers on Hiring and Retaining Workers with Disabilities
Lesson 4: Building Strong Business Partnerships
Performance Coaching and Support
These courses will address how you can work with job seekers to help ensure a successful employment experience. We’ll also cover working with employers to support new hires with disabilities and other challenges on the job. Topics include developing soft skills, creating support plans, facilitating natural supports, acquiring and maintaining skills, emergency preparedness, and fading supports from the job site as the worker gains independence.
Part 1
Lesson 1: The Role of the Job Coach Outside the Workplace
Lesson 2: The Role of the Employer
Lesson 3: The First Days of Work and the Employment Support Plan
Lesson 4: Legal Rights at Work and Self-Advocacy
Lesson 5: Preparing for Emergencies in the Workplace
Part 2
Lesson 1: The Role of the Job Coach in the Workplace
Lesson 2: Developing a Plan to Sustain Employment and Starting the Job
Lesson 3: Supporting Employees’ Learning Styles
Lesson 4: Developing a Task Analysis
Lesson 5: Natural Supports, Self-maintenance, and Fading
Using Work Incentives Toward Self-Sufficiency
If you provide employment services for people who receive various disability benefits, you recognize that concerns about the relationship between earnings and benefits is one of the primary barriers to employment. The truth is, many people can effectively use work rules and incentives to become self-sufficient. While the incentives are complex, you don’t need to be an expert to help. This course is an introduction to work incentives. It will help you understand important terminology, fundamental rules and concepts, and crucial strategies in helping beneficiaries maximize work incentive use and economic self-sufficiency.
Lesson 1: Why Work? An Overview of Work Incentives
Lesson 2: Proactive Planning: Staying on Track with Work Incentives
Lesson 3: Key Incentives for People Receiving Social Security Disability Insurance
Lesson 4: Key Incentives for People Receiving Supplemental Security Income
Lesson 5: There’s More to Benefits than Cash: Medical Benefits and Other Subsidies
Lesson 6: The PASS: Helping People with Disability Benefits Create Careers
Funding
Getting funding for employment services can be challenging, but there are many sources available. In this course, you’ll learn about primary funding sources, such as vocational rehabilitation and developmental disabilities agencies. You’ll become familiar with alternative funding sources and with strategies for blending and braiding funding. We’ll also cover Medicaid waivers, resource ownership, and Social Security work incentives.
Lesson 1: Where Funding Comes From
Lesson 2: Social Security and Additional Funding Sources
Transition: Preparing for a Seamless Move from School to Adult Life
Students with disabilities now aim for a job once they exit high school, just like every other student. Their path to employment may have a stop at a university or college prior to seeking competitive work. A productive future has never been brighter for high school students with disabilities because of the existing array of employment options.
The information and resources offered in this course are intended to assist those involved in transition to increase their knowledge, skills and awareness leading to successful outcomes. This will occur when:
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transition planning adheres to the employment goals of the student
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students have full opportunity and access to work-based learning, career counseling, and assistance in developing their skills for work, continuing education and community living
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assessments are ecologically-based and correlated to jobs within the community
Lesson 1: Federal Policies Addressing Transition
Lesson 2: Building Expectations of Youth, Families and Teachers
Lesson 3: Assessing to Plan for College and Work
Lesson 4: Coordination and Collaboration for Student Success
Lesson 5: Work Experiences: The Essence of Employment Preparation Lesson 6: Think College
Ticket to Work
You’ve probably been hearing about the Social Security Ticket to Work program for years. But what is it, and how can it help the job seekers you support? Get an overview of this useful work incentive in this special feature.
Networking
In a challenging economy, employment specialists and job seekers need to become
expert networkers. But what’s the best way to network? And what if networking feels uncomfortable? In this course, we offer tips about growing your network and those of the job seekers you work with. You’ll learn about weak and strong social ties, social capital, and social media. And we’ll go in-depth into two powerful networking techniques: elevator pitches and informational interviewing.
Lesson 1: The Hidden Job Market
Lesson 2: Elevator Pitches and Informational Interviewing
Employment Services for People with Mental Health Disabilities
Job seekers with mental health disabilities often encounter employment challenges,
and additional concerns may emerge if people have co-occurring issues. In this course, we’ll share approaches to help people with serious and persistent mental illness succeed in the workforce. You will learn best practices as demonstrated by research, the latest approaches for effective job development, techniques for engaging job seekers, and ways to support people in maintaining employment and succeeding in the workplace.
Lesson 1: Core Values and Principles
Lesson 2: Networking, Disclosure, and Job Development
Lesson 3: Providing Support and Promoting Retention
Lesson 4: Co-occurring Issues and Other Challenging Behaviors
Employment for People with Disabilities and Criminal Histories
Job seekers with disabilities and criminal histories often encounter barriers to employment. In this course, we offer strategies and resources that will help you to provide employment services, and facilitate successful outcomes, for this population. We will analyze common barriers these job seekers face and explain ways you can overcome those challenges. We will also discuss methods for collaborating with employers and other partners.
Lesson 1: Job Development: Issues and Solutions
Lesson 2: Resources, Strategies, and Partnerships
Job Creation
Some of the people on your caseload probably don’t meet the minimum requirements for the available jobs in your community. To help job seekers find positions that fit their unique skill sets, you’ll need to work closely with employers. In this course, you’ll learn how to identify unmet employer needs, match those needs with job seekers’ skills, and write employment proposals. We will also discuss self-employment as an alternative to traditional job placement.
Lesson 1: Using Job Seeker Skills to Target Employers
Lesson 2: Identifying Employers’ Unmet Needs
Lesson 3: Creating an Employment Proposal
Lesson 4: Self-Employment and Career Carving
Employment Services for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are becoming more prevalent in this country. Unfortunately, many individuals on the autism spectrum experience challenges throughout their employment process.
This course addresses important factors to consider when providing employment services to individuals on the autism spectrum such as career planning, job development, and job site accommodations.
Lesson 1: Autism Spectrum Disorders: Beyond the Stereotypes
Lesson 2: Strategies for Career Planning
Lesson 3: Networking
Lesson 4: Collaborating to Build Careers
Lesson 5: Promoting Job Retention
Delivering Remote Services
This is a single-lesson course that review the appropriate services used for remote employment services and studies the need to the delivery of these types of services.
Lesson 1: Delivering Employment Services Remotely
Customized Employment
These course covers the skills needed to master the process of achieving competitive integrated employment.
Lesson 1: What Makes a Successful Employment Specialist
Lesson 2: The Power of Discovery
Lesson 3: Planning for Customized Employement
Lesson 4: Employment Development
Lesson 5: Systematic Instruction and Job Site Training
Lesson 6: Post-Employment Support
Lesson 7: A Pocket Guide to Legislation
Why trust CES for your training needs?
Everyone deserves the chance to find rewarding employment. That’s the goal – and the promise – of the College of Employment Services. Our curriculum helps employment professionals learn to guide individuals through the job search, job matching, and job retention process. The benefits stretch far beyond immediate purchasers and end-users.
For state and local agencies
With tight budgets and strict performance requirements, the demands on your agency are greater than ever. So it’s crucial for you to recruit and retain quality employment-services professionals. The College of Employment Services delivers online training that is far more affordable than traditional classroom instruction. Our curriculum meets national competencies and standards, and it’s built by the experts at the Institute for Community Inclusion. So it’s a powerful tool to help you meet or exceed new state and federal mandates while balancing your budget.
For employment providers
Your goal is to assist the individuals you serve in finding fulfilling work – and the College of Employment Services is the most effective, affordable way to make that happen. Our online curriculum enables your employees to meet the needs of your diverse customer base, while also fulfilling employers’ hiring goals. The training is built on nationally accepted standards of competency and ethics. So it can validate the work you do in the community, and enable you to have a real impact on the lives of job seekers with disabilities or other barriers to employment. And unlike other systems, your employees will have access to the entire curriculum throughout your subscription period.
For employment-services professionals
The work you do is important – and you deserve the chance to build a rich, rewarding career helping people with disabilities and other challenges find fulfilling work. The College of Employment Services lets you complete training on your own schedule, right from your own computer. We offer a full spectrum of on-demand courses
that give you research-supported skills and practical knowledge. Our curriculum is designed to help you build your career path and prepare for certification.
For individuals with disabilities
The job market can be an overwhelming place for anyone – but it can be especially challenging for people who have disabilities or other barriers. The College of Employment Services provides training to employment-services professionals who can help you navigate job hunting, interview preparation, accommodations, and more. Professionals trained by our program can help you get on the path to a fulfilling career. You may also be interested in these courses for yourself, to learn more about the process of finding a job in the community.