Job Training Starts in Kindergarten

Job training starts your first day of kindergarten, or whatever day you first exercise your own responsibility in an institutional setting. In addition to learning the alphabet, colors, and how to add 2 + 2, you also learn how to socialize. How you interact with your peers can make the difference between getting hired, promoted and/or getting fired. It’s even more important for people with disabilities.

A teacher named Ron Clark wrote a book entitled The Essential 55. In that book, he teaches concepts we should all have learned as children. He wrote the book because, in my opinion, he got tired of teaching kids something their parents should have taught them. Surprisingly enough, all of these are essential job skills. Some of those concepts are listed below.

Make eye contact
Respect others ideas and opinions
Say thank you within three seconds of receiving something
When you win, do not brag; when you lose, do not show anger
Be the best person you can be
Always be honest
Perform random acts of kindness
If someone bumps into you, even if it was not your fault, say excuse me
Stand up for what you believe in

It doesn’t matter if you’re digging a ditch or directing a space shuttle operation, your place in the vocational world is judged, in part, by your interaction with others. When you apply for a job you will be asked for references. Those references can attest to whether or not you “play well with others”. Employers want to know how an employee with a disability will get along with non-disabled peers.

While in school, we are judged by our grades - academic competition, an important part of job training. We learn, however, more than just geometry and English composition. We learn how to be competitive in other ways. The importance of competition can NOT be overstated. As persons with disabilities we must be competitive with our non-disabled peers. Otherwise, there will be no reason for anyone to hire us. Let’s examine one way to be competitive. There are several laws including the Rehabilitation Act, and IDEA that allow a person with a disability to take extra time to finish a project or take a test. Let’s suppose though, you are in a job interview. The prospective employer isn’t allowed to ask you about your disability but he or she can ask you how you would approach a certain task or even if you can complete a certain task. If your response is, “Yes, I can do that task but I’ll need extra time,” guess what, you just blew the interview. If you don’t mention your need for extra time, and ARE hired, you would most likely be dismissed during the probation period.

calculator and notepad in a notebook

Think of school as a training ground for employment. Learn how to complete tasks and tests as fast or faster than your non-disabled peers. As a C-5 quad, it took me several years to learn how to be competitive. By time I entered into graduate school to earn my MBA I was as competitive as my non-disabled peers by using a portable “desk”. This was long before laptop computers were invented. I started by using Velcro to attach my financial calculator to the inside of a notebook. I did the same with a pocket computer and a note tablet with numerous financial formulas. The mouthstick that I used to press the calculator buttons was kept secured in the notebook. Whenever I needed to work out a financial calculation I had everything to do so at my disposal and could do it as fast, if not faster, than my non-disabled peers.

Let’s suppose you are applying for an entry level job that doesn’t require abstract thinking. You will STILL need good job skills. Good work skills are rarely taught by vocational counselors. Employees are just expected to:

Be punctual
Be neatly groomed
Dress appropriately
Be organized
Be reliable
Be self-motivated
Be adaptable
and most importantly, be competitive

The competitive virtue was my idea. When you go to an interview, you are competing against other applicants. You have to show how you are better than everyone else applying for the job.

Competitiveness requires more than just quickness. Sometimes it requires approaching problems in non-traditional ways - thinking outside the box. I had a class in international business that involved teams playing a game that tested business decisions. To conclude business each team started with X amount of money. Each team had the opportunity to purchase research in order to make better business decisions. Our professor suggested one team may want to buy Research A and trade with a team that bought Research B and vise-versa. As team leader, I offered to trade one team Research A for their Research B. I approached another team and offered to trade them Research B for their Research A. I acquired research from each of those two teams, copied it, then made the exchange. In essence, we acquired two research reports without spending a penny. That type of thinking, as well as our approach to other decisions helped our team place first and we each earned an “A”.

In addition to the above skills, employers are looking for a well rounded person. In other words, employers want to see your involvement in extra curricular activities such as sports, band, theater, or just about any club your school may have. Activities in the community also speak well of you. It shows the employer you have outside interests and can function well in multiple settings. This is particularly helpful in growing and/or rapidly changing companies.

I interviewed Robert Crawley of the Texas Workforce Commission who said soft skills, in addition to the ones already mentioned, such as attendance, are very important.

According to Crawley, in a report by the Quality Workforce Planning Committee, entitled Who Gets Hired, the following skills were considered important:

good basic academic skills
listening skills,
oral communication,
team working,
interpersonal and negotiating skills,
problem solving skills

Personal traits identified as important to have are:

having a positive attitude,
pride in self,
and the ability to learn

Self-starters with proven initiative and performance in post-secondary training or on-the-job training are highly valued. In addition to common or soft skills, many companies also want to see good computer skills as well as written communication skills.

In summation, prospective employers want their employees to have good socialization skills - skills they should have been learning since kindergarten. In addition to soft skills such as punctuality and attendance, applicants should have good academic skills and good personal traits. To win the job you want, you must be competitive, you must have more and/or better skills than other applicants.

Do you have a question about employment and disability? Send your questions to grodgers@austin.rr.com and put “DLRP JOBS” in the subject line