Peeling Back the Curtain on Effective Vocational Services

We recently received a question asking us to explain, “what exactly are vocational placement services?” As counselors, vocational placement services are as second nature to us as walking or breathing, so it never occurred to me that there could be confusion surrounding this term.

As far as vocational placement services are concerned, generically, they can be thought of as anything related towards obtaining gainful employment and not full-time retraining; however, we do generally recommend vocational placement services in conjunction with a structured employment enhancement program.

Assigning an injured worker (IW) for vocational placement services can be a ‘leap of faith’ for a claims administrator, especially if one is not familiar and/or totally comfortable with the process of vocational placement. I hope this overview of what constitutes effective vocational placement services can be of assistance in peeling back the curtain on what we, as effective vocational counselors, do to assist the IW in locating gainful employment.

During vocational placement services, VocMed counselors will work with IWs to:

Jointly Develop a Resume

Many IWs, while familiar with the general concept of a resume, are unable to develop their own professional resumes due to a variety of factors including a lack of understanding of the document, a lack of understanding of what employers seek from the document, a lack of insight into transferable skills and abilities, or even technological barriers based on a lack of familiarity with recent word processing programs.

We work with the IW to jointly develop a professional resume, free of grammatical and formatting errors, tailored to the IW’s individual skills, abilities, and what employers in their fields of occupation are looking for. For example, many supervisory positions in the building industry request a collection of projects. Many transportation fields prefer a driving record to be submitted with a resume or application.

Provide Vocational Coaching / Counseling

Vocational counseling and coaching is, personally, one of the facets on which I enjoy spending the most time. Many IWs want to succeed in locating employment; however, lack of the skills to do so are based on inexperience, changes in hiring practices since last in the labor pool, or any other variety of reasons. Below are several activities a good vocational counselor will undertake with an IW during their time together:

• Sample Application Review - Provide and review over a sample job application to confirm IW's ability to accurately complete the document, as well as provide job coaching on positive ways to answer questions such as, "Reason for Leaving Last Employer".
• Scheduling of Mock Interview - As it may have been years since the IW interviewed for a position, and has not done so since being injured, we provide job coaching through conducting a mock interview.
• Administering / Scoring Vocational Interest/Aptitudes Testing - O*NET Interest Profiler, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, etc.
• Confirmation of or Assistance with Appropriate Interview Attire

Research Structured Employment Enhancement Program Options

As we touched on earlier, a structured employment enhancement program should be paramount to the success of any vocational program. With that being the case, important staples such as computer skills and a high school diploma should always be separately evaluated and, if necessary, identified and arranged whenever appropriate and as soon as possible, as these programs can be undertaken prior to the IW reaching full medical clearance.

During the vocational placement process; however, structured employment enhancement is more focused on an IW’s vocational background and aptitudes. For example, an individual interested in going in to the culinary field would be provided assistance in obtaining a ServSafe certification. An individual interested in the transportation field would require assistance in locating and obtaining training to obtain a Commercial Driver’s License. Parties interested in working for a financial institution can gain a leg up on other applicants by attending bank teller training courses, usually offered at low cost through community agencies, such as Goodwill. And, finally, all IWs benefit from obtaining a Career Readiness Certificate.

These are just a few of the many examples where structured employment enhancement during the vocational placement process is more individualized and focused and can also be done in conjunction with the retraining staples (GED / Computer) mentioned above.

Register with Community-Based Employment Assistance Resources

Almost all states provide some form of job seeking assistance, through both online and in person means. In the State of North Carolina, the state funded entity is NCWorks, who have a network of career centers in most localities throughout the state. Once registered with NCWorks, job seekers can view job leads online, access retraining, as well as utilize on-site computers for placing applications. Additionally, NCWorks staff members are trained to assist with online job applications, should the vocational counselor be unavailable, or if the IW is applying outside of meeting hours.

Several private sector facilities also offer similar services, with Goodwill Industries being perhaps the most notable. While not available in every Goodwill location, many now have their own network of Career Connection Centers, where users can utilize computers free of charge, as well as make copies and print job-related materials free of charge. Goodwill also has staff members trained to assist in placing online job applications.

Provide Qualified, Screened Job Leads

Job search is certainly a ‘staple’ of effective vocational placement, but, truth be told, can be done with varying levels of quality. Poor quality job search is simply skimming the internet, finding a couple of job postings that look somewhat suitable (without qualifying the lead), and, when providing, claim “accommodations could possibly be made.”

To be a truly qualified lead, and thus an effective one, it is imperative the vocational counselor speak directly with the employer, either via telephone or in person, to confirm the duties of the job will align with the physical abilities of the IW. Additionally, many employers will not disclose salary information in an advertisement, so contact with the employer will allow the counselor to confirm the job lead is appropriate financially, as well.

Finally, and the most integral part of directly contacting an employer when conducting job search, is the time afforded the counselor to ‘sell’ the IW on the prospective employer, which can result in a higher rate of interview requests.

Generate Email Account for IW’s Use

In my experience, many IWs, when referred for vocational services, do not have an email account. For those that do, it is typically something more personal in nature and generally with an address unsuitable for listing on a professional resume.

To alleviate these issues, especially in an age where so many employers will only accept online resume or application submissions, we generate a free email account for the IW at the beginning of our time together and provide instruction to the IW on logging in. Even for IWs with a personal email address, this insures they have a professional email, free of clutter, personal correspondence or ads, so that they can easily monitor the inbox and quickly reply to employer requests. Additionally, we log in daily, as well, to confirm the IW is receiving and responding to emails in a timely fashion.

Provide Job Coaching on Independent Job Search

One of the most integral parts of the vocational process is an IW participating in independent job search. IWs who seek their own job leads are more engaged and, therefore, more likely to secure an offer of employment.  Additionally, the best way for an IW to locate a job of interest to him is to locate it him/her self.

During our first meetings, we will provide job coaching on how to seek job leads – either online, in person, networking amongst your community, etc. – and successfully apply. From there, IWs should be required to provide a log of their independent job search activities – activities not related to any of the qualified job leads also provided – to make sure job search efforts are not duplicated between IW and counselor. Additionally, counselors should be following up on independently sought leads to confirm not only if the lead is appropriate, but whether an application or resume been submitted.

Conduct Job Follow Up

Just as important as job search is job follow up. Good job follow up will consist of following up with the employer contact, either over the phone or in person, and determining if the IW applied as instructed. Additionally, it is important to confirm the application or resume was submitted without any errors or illegible information, so the employer may contact the IW for an interview.  Because many employers are reluctant to release applicant information, it is extremely important that the counselor receive from the IW a signed Release of Employment Information form.

Much as when contacting the employer during job search affords the counselor the opportunity to ‘sell’ the prospective employer on granting an interview request to the IW, so does follow up. Employers now generally have the entire pool of applicants from which to select, so being able to emphasize a IW’s experience, prior successes, or desire to succeed in a new occupation can give them the proverbial ‘leg up’ on the other applicants who have applied.

We conduct job follow up to confirm employers are in receipt of IW's application seven days after lead provision, as well as assist in facilitating interviews during follow up phone calls.

Identifying and Facilitating a Volunteer Program

An often-overlooked aspect of vocational placement activities is locating a suitable volunteering activity within the IW’s local community. Volunteer opportunities can be viewed as “on the job training” and not only assist the IW in serving his community, but also allow the learning of new skills, as well as networking within the community to seek employment opportunities.

Bridging the Gaps – Technological, Transport and Other

Often, an IW will have an individual specific barrier towards employment that will need to be overcome, such as the lack of reliable transportation, a criminal record or speaking English as a Second Language. In these instances, we look to find resources within the community that will not only assist the IW during our time together, but also continue after our services are no longer needed.

For example, transportation barriers can be overcome in most localities by planning routes on a bus line.  For rural counties without scheduled bus lines, the local transportation authority will transport residents to and from medical appointments, school, etc. for a minimal fee. Many areas and community centers offer free of cost, in person, ESL courses to assist an IW in strengthening his grasp of the English language. For those with criminal records, there are Federal programs available to assist with seeking employment, as well as Federal incentives for employers willing to offer a second chance to these IW’s.

Enroll in our Harmony Vocational Portal

When appropriate and based on the computer skills of the IW, many of the above-listed vocational placement activities can be performed through our innovative Harmony online vocational portal. This allows greater – and faster – communication between the IW and vocational counselor, as well as allows the counselor to be more available and hands on than through our weekly in-person meetings alone.

Through our Harmony technology, we are able to provide and track retraining opportunities, as well as allow the instant logging of independent job search activities, volunteer times, and more. Job leads are provided daily, as they are found, rather than provided once weekly.

The Harmony portal is designed to be a more engaging experience for the IW, which will lead to a faster return to work and a greater cost savings for all parties involved.

Conclusions

If you are not getting the results from your current case management company or are unsure of the process they use to assist IWs in returning to a productive lifestyle, please contact Taylor Gartz, Director of Digital Marketing. We will be more than happy to provide a redacted full IW file of our vocational case management practices put in to action, and the results they produced.