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Orientation and Training Center
Career Class Curriculum
The career class is designed to teach students a variety of facts in the career development process such as choosing a career, getting a job and functioning in the workplace. The class also focuses on the importance of the Americans with Disabilities act and how it applies to us in all of the above mentioned facts of career development. This training is done via professional speakers in their fields, successfully employed blind/visually impaired employed persons, small group discussions and role playing, paper writing, and onsite job shadowing with blind/visually impaired employees. This class is designed in two parts; "Choosing a Career" and "Disability and the Workplace" lasting two 8-week terms.
Choosing a career
Week I:
Discussion: Introduction to career class/program
Discussion: Interest testing results; interest test scheduling
Discussion: Choosing a career:
- Which career is right for me?
- Riding one horse
Discussion: Role of personality and job choice:
- Connecting with local job mentors who are blind
Week II:
Choosing a career ct.
Discussion: the role of personality in job choice
Knowing yourself
Temperament test
Process for finding a job
Week III:
Discussion: Job Hunting
- Knowing the job market
- Using market trends to your advantage
- Discussion: Networking and how to do it
- The hidden job market
- Job hunting online-ten things to avoid
Week IV:
What are cover letters, resumes and personal data sheets. (Examples of each)
Beginning sample resume writing (with assistance from professional resume writer)
Week V:
The job interviewing process and interview essentials
Interviewing cheat sheet and doing interview homework
Ten rules for a good interview, pet peeves of interviewers, brain teasers used during the interview
Week VI:
Most common questions used during interviewing the 2nd interview; salary negotiations, handling job rejection
Week VII:
Speaker-large company (what looks for in cover-letter, resume and interview).
What are soft skills and their importance in the workplace; the perfect employee.
Speaker- Soft skills in the workplace.
Week VIII:
Surprising ways to survive and thrive on the job; employer expectations
Dealing with difficult people on the job; good communication skills in the workplace;
Overview-of sessions I and II
Disability and the Workplace
Week I:
Introduction to quarter
Choosing a Career/job as a disabled person
- What jobs can I be involved in as a blind person?
- How can I better ready myself for the job market?
Week II:
What can I expect from the voc rehab system for assistance in obtaining a job?
What educational/training programs are available to me as a blind person?
Week III:
Knowing my rights as a disabled person
- What is the ADA?
- In what way does the ADA specifically relate to employment?
- Where do I go if I feel my rights as a disabled job seeker or employee have been violated?
Week IV:
Finding a Job
- Job interviewing as a blind/visually impaired person
- When to disclose my disability
- How to know when discrimination might be an issue when not being allowed to apply for a job
- How to know when discrimination might be an issue in regard to not being offered a job
Week V:
Tips on negotiating for needed assistance for the job interview
- How best to sell myself before and during the interview process as a blind/visually impaired person
Week VI:
Keeping a Job
- Dealing with supervision as a blind/visually impaired person
- Tips for dealing with and interacting with coworkers as a blind/visually impaired person
- Tips for negotiating for assistance on the job
- The importance of technology on the job
Week VII:
Speakers: successfully employed blind/visually impaired speakers
Week VIII:
Wrap up; handing in written reports of Where I Go from Here and Job Shadowing
Oral reports on job shadow experience