Description

This is a year-round position working directly with the New Frontier Employment Program staff and potential business partners to identify employment opportunities for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. This position will work to expand the number of relationships with an end goal of assisting individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities to both obtain and maintain competitive employment. The individual in this role must be able to interface with various types of businesses and help negotiate potential opportunities for internships, community-based work assessments and part-time/full-time paid employment. In addition, the Job Developer/ESS will perform regular and group instruction, guidance, and support to individuals with autism. The Job Developer/ESS will support individuals in the community in volunteer and employment related activities.

Areas of General Responsibility Screening

You are responsible for leading the screening of applicants for supported employment or pre-vocational training services. This includes, but is not limited to, developing assessments aligned to industries practices and standards, taking coursework to become more knowledgeable in delivering assessments and crafting key questions or learning experiences to assess present levels of skills with a potential program member.

You are responsible for developing a person-facing report that serves as a blueprint for any individual seeking vocational services (whether those services are provided by Birch or a different agency). This work also includes providing feedback/ input to Birch leadership on appropriateness of Birch/ OPWDD services for the individuals screened.

To execute on this work, you are responsible for identifying individuals in need of these services and coordinating with all necessary stakeholders to ensure a thorough and timely screening process.

Opportunity and Experience Development

You are responsible for leading efforts to create and develop work (paid or unpaid) experiences that are aligned with service/ program (SEMP/ ETP and Pre-Voc) goals along with the identified goals and interests of the program member.

To accomplish this, you will collaborate with fellow Birch staff to deeply understand each person in need of work experience and thoroughly understand any unique barriers that must be considered to ensure a good match. To accomplish this, you will coordinate and organize meetings with program members and their coaches (if needed) to ask the necessary questions or create mini assessments to completely understand the person you’re developing opportunities for. This includes but is not limited to developing volunteer experiences in a field of interest, internship opportunities, situational assessment sites that meet 2 ETP program requirements and paid work opportunities in an integrated, competitive setting.

While each program member has an assigned coach who is also in charge of creating work experience opportunities aligned to where the person is at in their career journey, you are ultimately responsible for ensuring opportunities and experiences are created in a timely manner.

In general, one new work experience site (volunteer or unpaid work experience/ situational assessment site) and one successful paid work opportunity (2 total per month) is an industry standard for this position.

Specifically, this work may include contacting and convincing potential employers and work experience sites (primarily going in-person, but also calling, emailing, leveraging other sites like LinkedIn), helping modify existing jobs to better meet the program member’s needs, provide information on incentives and supports available to employers.

Personal Organization

You are required to maintain personal organization systems that ensure you meet all deliverables for your position. This includes but is not limited to: maintaining your calendar to clearly identify for your supervisor how you’re spending your time, task/ to-do lists for work with your supervisor or fellow Birch staff, systems and routines for following up on written/ verbal communication to close the loop/ achieve the desired result, and routinely checking in and providing updates on your progress to goals/ performance outcomes.

Work (paid or unpaid) Placement

You are responsible for assisting program participants in securing work opportunities by working collaboratively and taking the lead with employment specialists at Birch.

You will serve as a liaison between program members and potential employers/ work experience opportunities.

You will lead the conversation with potential employers (as necessary) with any position modifications needed by the program member. This work also applies to individuals needing unpaid work experience.

You will foster relationships with and maintain ongoing contact with employers to ensure successful placements and a high level of receptiveness towards working with Birch in the future.

Communication and Documentation

You are responsible for ensuring timely, clear and effective communication with all stakeholders, especially as it relates to meeting your deliverables. Timely communication (email, call, text) includes response times of no more than 48 hours from initial outreach from either internal or external stakeholders.

Clear and effective communication ensures that all context and necessary information is conveyed so that the goal of securing work experience opportunities can be realized sooner.

Support

You will have the opportunity to meet with a coach/ supervisor at Birch once per week. You are expected to be proactive.

1. Name progress towards the goals outlined for the position

2. Identify what’s on track and not on track and

3. Propose solutions and next steps that will help you meet goals and intended outcomes for the position.

Your coach is a resource towards meeting your goals, not in charge of your goals. To that end, you are expected to make connections with external partners who can provide advice and guidance towards effectively developing opportunities for program members.

Miscellaneous

You are required to participate in all required/mandated trainings, maintain all certifications related to job responsibilities (transcript for OPWDD and/ or ACCES-VR trainings),

NOTE: Examples are for illustrative purposes. Responsibilities are not limited to specific examples cited and may change or evolve over time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with individuals with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• Background or passion for making connections with program members and companies in the community.
• Passion for helping make the job landscape more equitable for people with disabilities.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Basic computer proficiency.
• Bachelor’s Degree in related field.
• At least two years supporting individuals with disabilities in employment, preferred. Previous experience as an employment recruiter a plus.

EEO Statement

Birch Family Services provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Birch Family Services complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.Birch Family Services expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Birch Family Services’ employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.

Qualifications