Customized Employment Checklist III:
Planning Meeting
• / Similar to PCP meeting but only focuses on employment.
• / This meeting is held within two weeks of the time the profile has been completed and distributed to family and team members
Date Completed / II. / Preliminary Meeting with Job Seeker
Develop ground rules for planning
List desired planning meeting participants
• / Get enough information so you know how to contact them
• / Make sure there are more natural supports (friends, family, etc.) invited than paid participants
• / Suggest people with connections to or knowledge about interest area or tasks, in addition to people who know the job seeker
• / Try to keep maximum participants to 10-12 (the more people who attend, the longer the meeting takes.)
Determine date and time of planning meeting (as possible, determined by individual and family)
• / Decide how long the planning meeting should last
Decide on venue/location for planning meeting
• / Meeting-type room (but usually avoid school conference rooms)
• / Minimal distractions
• / Job seeker must be comfortable in location
Develop seating arrangement
Determine who will make decisions:
Job seeker will be making all decisions
Job seeker’s family will be making all decisions
Job seeker and family will be making decisions, but job seeker has “trump” (final say)
Decide who meeting facilitator will be
• / Remember that the best person to facilitate a plan is the person who spent the time to get to know the job seeker
• / Facilitator must reign in participants if they start to wander off-topic during meeting.
Have job seeker (and family) review the profile and any other written information that will be shown at the planning meeting.
Date Completed / III. / Prior to Planning Meeting
Make copies of Part 1, 2, and 3 of the Profile.
Make labeled sheets for each participant:
• / “What Works and What Doesn’t”
• / “Conditions”
• / “Interests”
• / Contributions”
• / “Specific Tasks as per Interest Area”
• / “Potential Employers”
• / “Related Issues”
Confirm availability or purchase easel with flipchart/large paper, markers, pens, tape
If using laptop or projector, test in location
• / Back-up with poster paper
Arrange for drinks, cups, ice, napkins, etc.
Make sure there is ample room and seating for all participants.
Date Completed / IV. / Planning Meeting- Introductions
Introduce everyone and review the goals and guidelines for the meeting:
■ / Remind meeting attendees that the meeting is about employment, not about feasibility for the individual, or whether he/she should work.
• / The focus will be on employment possibilities that fit the individual
■ / Facilitator will remind the group that we are starting with the person – not a job description.
■ / Let participants know that anything that doesn’t fit in this meeting will be placed on “Related Issues” paper and revisited at another time.
• / The meeting belongs to the individual
Caution participants that this meeting is different than most PCP meetings.
■ / Funnel analogy – lots of discovery/profile information will trickle down to reveal a few possible employers
Date Completed / V. / Planning Meeting - Build the Blue Print
Part 1: What Works – What Doesn’t
“What Works/What Doesn’t Work” activity – chart responses from the group
■ / Do not move until everyone is engaged (as demonstrated by their input)
■ / Model that job seeker/family has the last vote, the “trump”
• / Ask “Do you agree with that?” before putting suggestion up on board
Part 2: Conditions, Interests, and Contributions
Ask the individual, with assistance as necessary from family members and educational personnel, to describe characteristics of his/her ideal job.
■ / Write key information on the chart
■ / Define the ideal job in terms of the applicant’s:
• / Conditions
º / Issues such as days of work, pay, benefits, location of the job, inside/outside work, time of day, hours per week, etc.
º / Target go/no-go conditions for priority consideration.
• / Interests
º / State in the broadest possible manner allowable by the applicant.
º / Examples: working around boats, office work or working in a retail setting.
º / Do not confuse work preferences with preferentially-stated conditions.
º / Avoid using job titles.
• / Possible contributions - optimistically state the individual’s characteristics
º / Personality characteristics
∙ / Ex. – sense of humor, compassionate, engaging personality, good memory of people and tasks, honest, decisive, lets her needs known.
∙ / Add descriptive examples
º / Skills: Look at Section 5 of Profile Part II
º / Are there additional skills not already mentioned in Section 5?
º / Determine the most reliable skills
∙ / Ex. – Makes choices using pictures, operates automated equipment with switches, communicates through recorded messages, observant of people and time, pays attention to detail.
º / Credentials
º / Experiences
∙ / Ex. – In-school work tasks of stapling and shredding, in-school office aide position, created beaded bracelets.
Date Completed / Part 3: Task List
Develop Task List
■ / Potential Tasks
• / Any work-related performance activity that the individual should reasonable be expected to perform at work, with training, supports and accommodations as necessary, based on the current skills they now have.
■ / Organize task list by interest areas from Part 2 of the Employment Plan.
Part 4: Specific Employer List
Employers in this part of the plan might initially come up randomly in relation to interest areas. Facilitators may want to assist team members to identify potential employers by interest areas from Part 2 of the Employment Plan. Regardless, after a list of 15-25 employers has been developed, it is necessary to prioritize that listing to reflect the intended sequences for employer contacts.
Create Employers/Tasks/Contacts List
■ / Identify specific employers in the area who might need those types of job tasks.
■ / For each employer identify potential tasks from the individual’s call list felt to be appropriate for that type of business.
• / Place the number(s) of the tasks from the task list developed previously in the meeting.
■ / Be sure all of these businesses meet the key information identified in the applicant’s ideal characteristics and task list—don’t pick a place because “they’re hiring”
■ / Try to identify from 15-25 employers
■ / Prioritize the list—decide on a call order
■ / Identify potential connections to specific employers
VI. / Planning Meeting- Follow-up
Record the information from the meeting on the Planning Meeting worksheets
When the meeting is over, type up information and mail it out to the job seeker and family.
■ / Get confirmation that all information is still correct.
■ / Mail out the information to the other participants
Material compiled by Linda McDowell and Melynda Ross from information provided by Marc Gold and Associates (2010.) 1/5