Working Relationships: Creating Career Opportunities for Job Seekers with Disabilities Through Employer Partnerships

All businesses have needs. People with disabilities have the skills and desire to work. As employment specialists work to match employers with job seekers, they need to do more than understand the job seeker's personal and professional goals—they also need to know exactly what the employers are looking for. That's what Working Relationships is about: securing satisfying jobs for people with disabilities by fostering partnerships between employment specialists and businesses. A must-read for all employment service providers and for anyone interested in employment of people with disabilities, this book helps readers

• understand the theoretical framework for improving career development practices through relationship building
• understand what employers want and expect from employment service providers
• learn about the building blocks of strong partnerships with employers: beliefs and values, communication skills, multicultural competence, ethics, and self-efficacy
• find practical guidelines for getting to know both job seekers and employers, marketing proactively to businesses, matching job seeker characteristics with employer needs, and using the tenets of quality customer service when working with employers
• consider the possibility of non-traditional employment through customized job consultation
• discover strategies for improving job retention and promoting career advancement for people with disabilities
• explore specific ways to make employment service programs more customer-oriented, convenient, and understandable to employers

Filled with helpful case studies and examples, this valuable resource will help employment specialists develop strong, respectful partnerships with businesses—partnerships that will lead to rewarding careers for people with disabilities.

Erin Riehle is a recognized authority and national leader in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She is a founder and Senior Director of Project SEARCH, an employment and transition program that has received national recognition for innovative practices.

When she started Project SEARCH, Erin was a nurse manager at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center with no particular expertise in disability issues beyond the strictly medical. Her motivation was to offer people with disabilities-who made up a significant portion of the hospital's patient volume-the same opportunities for training and employment that were available to everyone else. She brought a business perspective to the field of disability education, as well as an ability to bring organizations together for a shared purpose.

Now, Erin is regularly invited to present at national and regional conferences, and has co-authored numerous publications and book chapters. She has served on many national committees and is a past board member for the Association for Persons in Supported Employment (APSE), the Ohio Governor's Council on People with Disabilities, and the U.S. Business Leadership Network. Project SEARCH received the U.S. Department of Labor's 2004 New Freedom Initiative Award, was the Inaugural recipient of Dartmouth-Hitchcock's 2010 James W. Varnum National Quality Award, and received a 2011 Inclusion Champion Award from Mitsubishi Electric America.

Erin lives in Terrace Park, Ohio with her partner, Judy, and their inimitable dog, Molly. When Erin grows up, she wants to be a master gardener.

Richard G. Luecking, Ed.D., is the President of TransCen, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Rockville, Maryland, that is dedicated to improving education and employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Dr. Luecking has held this position since 1987, when he was charged by the Board of Directors as the organization's first employee to create improved linkages between schools, employment service providers, government, business, and families so that youth with disabilities experience improved post-school employment outcomes. During his tenure with the organization, he and his TransCen colleagues have been responsible for the design and implementation of numerous model demonstration and research projects related to school-to-work transition and employment of people with disabilities. He is the author of a range of publications on related topics, including the book, The Way to Work: How to Facilitate Work Experiences for Youth in Transition (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2009).

Ellen S. Fabian, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services (CAPS) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Fabian's career includes program development and evaluation in job development and supported employment, as well as research, training, and teaching in these and related areas. She has served in a number of leadership positions and maintains a strong interest in psychiatric rehabilitation, career development, and rehabilitation counseling.

George P. Tilson, Ed.D., is Senior Vice President of TransCen, Inc. He assisted the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities in creating its youth career program, “Bridges . . . from school to work,” and subsequently became the national director. He has co-developed and directed numerous innovative demonstration and research projects and written numerous articles and book chapters on such topics as career counseling, job development, and accommodation strategies. He is the coauthor of Working Relationships: Creating Career Opportunities for Job Seekers with Disabilities Through Employer Partnerships (with Richard G. Luecking and Ellen S. Fabian; Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2004). Dr. Tilson has conducted training nationally and internationally to corporations, employment service agencies, school systems, student and parent groups, and government agencies. He serves as an adjunct professor of education and human development at The George Washington University. Prior to joining TransCen in 1989, Dr. Tilson was a high school English and special education teacher, career counselor, and program evaluator.