What Is Job Development?
Lesson 1 Module 1
Job development is about matching the skills and challenges of a person with the right employment. To do this successfully, a job developer must take into consideration the person’s strengths, abilities, challenges, and needs and then match these factors with the right work setting, supervisor, work tasks, and co-workers.
The role of a job developer IS:
- a sales person
- an on and off-the-job consultant
- a liaison between the employer/co-workers and the job candidate or new employee
- a marketer
- a clarifier
- a general provider of customer service to all involved
A job developer is NOT:
- a caregiver
- social worker
- babysitter
- mother/father figure, or
- the only reason a person gets to keep a job!
If you have ever been tasked with finding meaningful jobs for a person with intellectual disabilities (ID), you might think of yourself as a salesperson. As a job developer, your job is to sell a PRODUCT (in this case, qualified job candidates), and a SERVICE (on-the-job consulting at no cost) to a targeted AUDIENCE (employers who need assistance filling their hiring needs).
