5 TIPS To Help Get Your Disabled Teen A First Job
5 TIPS To Help Get Your Disabled Teen A First Job by Mike Kelly
It’s not so easy to get jobs for youth with disabilities.
Because our society had become so impersonalized, most every job seeker is forced to go online to apply for a job. Gone are the days when jobs could be secured face-to-face with management and/or business owners upon paying visit to their business. Online applications are not only impersonal, but also too sophisticated to fill out—most especially for someone with intellectual challenges.
To add a further degree of difficulty for teens looking for work, many kids are competing for jobs with adults—many of whom have college degrees and work histories and have to find any job in order to pay back their massive student loan debt and/or feed their families.
That said, below are five TIPS that can help you (as the parent) find your child with challenges their first job.
Have your son or daughter job sample at local businesses in careers of their interest
Job sampling is a great way to provide career exploration to youth with various challenges.
Job sampling is where an individual with an interest in a few jobs gets to actually work in those jobs (as a volunteer) to gain firsthand experience what each particular job entails. Job sampling can last as little as a few hours or as long as a few days, providing teens opportunities to experience a variety of careers of their interest to help determine which fits them best.
Job sampling acts like a colander for job interests. Some interests fall out, some interests stay in. That which stays in are possible career paths.
Job sampling strengthens the ties between students and their communities and educates prospective employers on the many skills kids with disabilities have. It provides community businesses opportunities to tap into a potential untapped pool of workers. And it demonstrates that not all youth with disabilities want to bag groceries, fold laundry, or clean tables for work . . . just because a teen has a disability.
Have your son or daughter create a resume and personally meet with business owners or store hiring managers in person to see if there are any job openings
Ask most younger teens (13, 14 15) what a resume is and prepare to receive a blank stare response in return. “Huh?” is likely what they’ll utter afterward.
I’ve had dozens and dozens of hiring managers tell me that they hired my teen students because my students created a resume and handed it to the person interviewing them. It separated them from their competition.
Obviously, a teen searching for her or his first job is going to have limited information to put on that resume. Here are some things they should include:
-School awards / achievements
-Any volunteer work (church/temple, community, school project, etc.)
-Any job samplings or other work experiences
-Interests and hobbies
-Any entrepreneurial endeavors: sold lemonade in front of home, shoveled snow for neighbors for money, etc.
-Objective: what they’re looking to do and what job they’re trying to find
Once resume is complete, then take a proactive approach and pound the pavement meeting with hiring managers of different places your child may want to work. Coach them beforehand and if they’re able to, let THEM take the lead, while you stand with them. This will score big points with hiring managers, rather than you doing all the talking while your child stands speechless.
Go up the corporate chain..
You know the saying, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?’ I have a slightly different version of it: If at first you don’t succeed at the local business level, climb up the corporate ladder for results.
While job developing on behalf of a student, and after initially being rejected by a company’s store (hiring) manager, I didn’t take No for an answer. I climbed up the corporate chain of command to reach the decision-makers of the company.
Every store or business manager that you see in your town has a district, regional, and national manager that you don’t see. (Unless it’s a mom and pop-owned business) Eventually I connected with the district manager in charge of several stores. I pitched to her the job that my student wanted to do, how she was a worthy candidate for employment, and how her hiring would showcase that this particular company practices inclusive hiring—something that all companies claim they do, but in reality, often do not. My student being hired would provide visual evidence they actually do hire differently-abled people.
After weeks of my follow up calls and e-mails, the HR manager finally agreed to meet with me. This was a start. NFL Hall of Fame running back Gayle Sayers once said, “Give me eighteen inches of daylight, that’s all I need” (to break free and run for a touchdown). My equivalent was an initial meeting. That’s all you may need as well.
After an hour-long meeting with my student and me, thanks to the open-mindedness of this wonderful DM, she and her regional management team decided to give my student an opportunity.
Because of my persistence and efforts, my student was hired and happily worked at that job for over three years before landing a better opportunity elsewhere. If I initially gave up after the store manager said No—like most people would have done—my student never would have found her job.
Follow up, follow up, follow up
I kiddingly bestowed myself the title of The King of Follow Up. If I didn’t follow up two or three or . . . five times with people, I’d have little success both personally and professionally.
I think that’s one of the things that determines if people find success or failure. Most people give up too easily. “Well, I called that guy and left a message last week. If he doesn’t get back to me it’s not my fault. . .”
No!
Call him again. Leave another message. If he doesn’t get back to you, send him an email. If that remains unresponded, if you can, drive over to where he is and try to meet him face-to-face. Don’t give up. Follow up.
If I had a dollar for every time I followed up, I’d be somewhere on the richest person in the world list. But my follow-ups have made me successful both in my private life and in my professional life. Sure, it’s a pain in the neck to follow up. And some folks may think of me as a nudge. In my defense, if people got back to me, there would be no need for me to follow up.
If I never followed up, most of the hundreds of kids with disabilities I’ve worked with over the last fifteen years would not have gotten jobs.
If I never followed up, zero of the world-famous professional athletes I’ve secured would have agreed to donate their time and headline fundraisers I created and organized benefiting individuals with disabilities.
If I never followed up, none of the businesses would have donated over $70,000 to those fundraisers I created.
If I never followed up, I never would have gotten famous professional athletes—including one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players of All-Time—to visit the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and speak with America’s poorest children for motivational purposes.
If you can’t find success at someone else’s business, help your son or daughter start their own business
Sometimes you’ll just keep hitting brick walls; people telling you there are no jobs available or you get no responses to your submitted job applications. It’s incredibly frustrating, I know. However, if your son or daughter with challenges has an entrepreneurial spirit, perhaps look into having them start their own business and work for themselves. It can be cheap, fun, and easy to do.
Some examples of my own students and the businesses I’ve helped them start:
-Dog walker- with my help, a teenager on the autism spectrum who also has severe ADHD began walking dogs in his upscale neighborhood.
-Lawn cutter / landscaper- with my assistance, another teen with ADHD and learning disabilities started his own lawn cutting and landscaping business in his neighborhood.
-Artist- with my guidance, a teen with intellectual disabilities and a seizure disorder began selling her own artwork (oil-based and watercolor paintings and hand-made jewelry) within her home town of Charleston, South Carolina—including selling her art within the world-famous Market!
-Musician performing at assisted living facilities- with my support, a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome began performing (playing the piano and singing) at several different assisted living homes within a ten-mile radius of his home, appearing regularly and earning $20 an hour per performance. A natural ham, he loved performing and making money so he can buy, you guessed it, new video games to play.
To learn more about helping youth with disabilities find jobs, visit www.specialstoriesbook.com to check out the new book “Special Stories . . .” by Mike Kelly.
