Learning appropriate communications and technology skills for the workplace is crucial for anyone working towards becoming gainfully employed – people with disabilities are no exception.

Technology and Communications Skills Training

We’re glad to say that we’ve just completed yet another great season of our Communications Skills and Technology Training for Employment Readiness with students from New Trier High School. Apart from being able to practice essential soft skills like giving a firm handshake when greeting others and paying attention when another person is speaking, our participants learned technology skills in using E-mail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and jjslist.com in a professional setting. Special Education Teachers agree that these on-line skills are essential.

Experiential Learning Project

Towards the end of the semester, our learners embarked on a project called “Trevian Career Exploration”, where each learner picked a local business owner to interview about their disability-awareness and then wrote a review about the business after. They each learned to write a professional letter, follow up with a phone call, and made sure to add the meeting details to their Google Calendars. They also learned to send an e-mail and formal letter to thank the business owners for the interviews after.

Sean’s Experience with Dave Cozzolino at the Wilmette Pet Center

Sean Stafford, 19, had a great experience working to get his interview with Dave Cozzolino at the Wilmette Pet Center. Sean made sure to arrive prepared with a list of questions he had carefully thought up the week before. One of our favorite parts of the interview was when Sean asked Dave what advice he had for job interviewees. Click on the play button below to hear a snippet from the interview.

(Full transcript of Sean’s interview coming soon.)

This program was made possible thanks to the support of a $20,000 grant from New Trier Township.

The jjslist.com Technology and Communications Skills Training Program Featured in Wilmette Life.

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Written by Shuling Yong Shuling Yong is the Digital Marketing and Community Engagement Specialist at jjslist.com, a disability awareness training, credentialing and digital marketing social enterprise connecting businesses and people with disabilities. You can find her on Google+ and Twitter.