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Job Readiness is defined as the skills that individuals need in order to be productive employees and know what employers expect from them in the workplace. In addition, people trained in these skills know how to interface with peers, management and customers in a professional manner. Critics in the past had doubts that Job Readiness skills could even be taught. Not only have they been proven wrong, it has now been verified that Job Readiness skills can also be successfully taught to the intellectually disabled. And in the process, these people have been working intern programs that evolve into full time positions. Life College located in Tustin, California has been successfully teaching Job Readiness to young adults with intellectual disabilities including, but not limited to, Autism, Fragile X, Brain Injury, and other Developmentally Delayed Learners. The 2-year program prepares students to find employment and teach them self-advocacy and conflict resolution in their daily lives. The program at the school gives the students the confidence to perform everything from personal planning to money management. The school is using a video program provided by The Business SoftSkills Company. It prepares students for job careers in industries such as the automotive, child development, computer software, leisure and hospitality, light manufacturing among many other career paths. Students who graduate will have a set of transferable skills that include Resume Writing, Interviewing Skills, Job Readiness, Phone Skills, Email Writing and other soft skills for business along with Internship Experience. The video program is broken down into small chapter segments which can be easily replayed so the concepts can be comprehended by the students. This process is successful because of the professional level of the videos that uses actual instructors instead of just voice over PowerPoint presentations. The lessons also are closed captioned to enhance the complete lecture. Joyce Arnston, one of the instructors and a board member of Life College stated, “The Business SoftSkills Videos offer business approved content that contain real life role-playing experiences along with case studies. The students are learning what employers will expect from them in the workplace and how to relate to others” she added. Employers have reported that graduates from Life College use their Job Readiness skills properly and have become valued employees who have great attention to detail and an excellent dedication to their job. Most internships are successful and lead to full or part time positions. The intellectually disabled employees become productive citizens and feel good about them selves because they are earning a salary and are learning to be self sufficient. Jim Stedt is a partner at The Business SoftSkills Company (GetSoftSkillsNow.Com) located in Santa Ana, California. They provide job readiness and workforce success videos for education, business, prisons and individual use. Training is available online, on DVD, or through an affiliate program. These products are the most complete and concise soft skills training packages now available for the price of an average college textbook.
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Job Readiness, Soft Skills, Intellectually Disabled,
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