Uncovering Customized Employment

The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities in partnership with nationally known training experts from Marc Gold & Associates is happy to be offering the training series: “Uncovering Customized Employment” in which the Discovery and Customized Job Development trainings will be available at no cost to participants.

There is room for 40 participants. Please see the information below and sign up soon!

Training Details

The training series will be broken into two parts: Discovery, and Customized Job Development.

Discovery Training dates will be:

July 15 – 1pm-5pm, July 16 – 1pm-5pm, July 17 – 1pm-5pm, July 20 – 1pm-5pm,

July 21 – 1pm-5pm, July 22 – 1pm-5pm. All times are Central time.

Job Development Training dates will be:

July 29 – 1pm-5pm, July 30 – 1pm – 5pm, July 31 – 1pm-5pm, August 3 – 8am-12pm, August 4 – 8am-12pm

August 5 – 8am-12pm. All times are Central Time.

The training sessions will be conducted using the Zoom platform. Training will be interactive and we ask that all participants have and use both audio and video capabilities.

The Discovery Training will focus on:

Completion of Discovery activities, the foundation for customizing an employment relationship for an applicant with an employer, taking into account the applicant's life experiences.

Profile Document Development

A comprehensive document that describes the job seeker in a narrative manner, which is used as a basis for job development, planning and support.

The Customized Plan for Employment

Person-centered planning meeting with the applicant, family, friends, advocates, counselors and others. Takes into consideration the job seekers interests, contributions, and conditions for employment.

Development of a Visual Resume

This is based on the findings of Discovery and provides potential employers with insight about the job seeker.

Job Development Training will focus on:

Development and understanding of essential selling points, sweeteners and hole cards that you will utilize throughout job development
Creation of a Concept Portfolio that will be used to introduce the concept of Customized Employment and your provider agency to prospective employers
Development of a script to utilize for initial presentations to prospective community employers
Presentations (video practice and real life) utilizing your script and concept portfolio for perspective employers
Conducting an Employer Needs Benefits Analysis
Making Employer Contacts

Attendance & Registration Information

Attendance is mandatory at all 12 half-day sessions to receive an ACRE Certificate of Achievement with a focus on Customized Employment. Should anyone need to miss a portion of a training session, a recording of the training will be available for 24 hours. That person will need to ensure they request the link to the recording. They will then be required to watch the recording and complete any applicable homework assignment for that session. If there is not a homework assignment, they will need to watch the recording and email a brief synopsis of what they learned to the trainer.

It is important to register for both training sessions using the link provided. Additionally, it is imperative that the name on the registration matches the name you will be using on your zoom account to sign in. If the names do not match you will not be granted entrance. This is an ACRE requirement.

Registration is limited to 40 participants. Should more than 40 people register, those above 40 will receive a communication letting them know that they are either waitlisted or may not be able to attend. The ACRE Certificate will automatically be generated once attendance at all 12 training sessions has been verified. The certificate will be sent to the address included on your registration. A certificate will not be issued for anyone who does not attend all training sessions.

Additionally, MG&A does offer performance-based certification in both Discovery and Job Development. Performance-based certification is optional and will incur additional fees. Although Illinois is not currently requiring performance-based certification, providers may want to consider this intensive process for their staff members who may wish to conduct Discovery or Customized Job Development Further information about this 3-year certification will be offered in both the Discovery and Job Development training sessions. Additional information is also available on the MG&A website, www.marcgold.com.

Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities | ICDD.Illinois.gov