To determine if consumers have choices of employment opportunities (i.e. location of job, type of work, provider who conducts assessment, part-time/full-time preferences?), a telephone survey was conducted by the Direct Purchasing Consultant of the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Disability Services.  Working with the CT Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS), this is a sample of the questions asked to consumers:

I'm calling about your situational assessment at the (name of company).

1. What did you hope would happen when you were placed at name of company? 	

a.  evaluate your career interests and skills? 
b.  lead to possibly being hired there?

2. BRS has several services to help people explore careers. For example, one is called direct job placement.  This is where your counselor or someone else on BRS staff helps you to locate job openings and apply for jobs.  It does not involve an evaluator on site.   People can also participate in a job club. This is where you join a group of other job seekers led by staff at the BRS office.  The purpose of job club is for group members to help each other in doing their own job search.
Another is called formal job training.  When a counselor and client agree that this is the service to use because the person needs more specific skills or credentials to get a job, BRS might help in providing funding for some vocational, technical, or college training.  The Situational Assessment you participated in at the (name of company) is another kind of service. An evaluator accompanies the consumer to the job site to observe how the consumer works, to answer questions and to be available to demonstrate skills when that is necessary.  

When you decided how to look for a job, did you have a choice of which employment service you would use? 

3.  For your situational assessment, did you have a choice of 
a) The kind of job you would be trying?
b) The location/company where you were placed?
c) The agency which would be working with you (i.e. the one that arranged placement and provided evaluator)?

4.  Was a staff person with you on the job site during the assessment? 
a) What did that person do?
b) Do you think it was necessary to have an on-site evaluator during your whole assessment?

5. When you finished the assessment process, did you get a job at the company where you were being assessed? 
IF YES, I'd like to ask you a few questions about that job.
a) Are you still employed there?
b) How long have you been working/did you work at that job?
c) Do you think you would have gotten the job without this assessment?
d) What was your starting hourly salary?
e) Have you been/were you given more responsibility?
f) Have/did you receive(d) a pay rise?

8. If you did not get a job with the company where your situational assessment took place, what did you learn about yourself that helps you make decisions about other jobs? 

9.  What do you think were the good features of the assessment?

10.  What things did you dislike about the assessment?

11. I'm interested in how satisfied you were with the assessment.
a) Completely satisfied (there was nothing I would have changed about it)
b) Mostly satisfied (I got a lot out of it...but would have been better if ____________________)
c) Satisfied (It's what I expected because ______________________________)
d) Somewhat satisfied (I got a little out of it but still felt my time was wasted.)
e) Not at all satisfied (It wasn't helpful at all.) 

12.  If you did not get a job with the company where your situational assessment took place, did you get another job somewhere else? 
a) Was the situational assessment you received at (company name) helpful in getting this job?
b) Was the job you got in the same kind of work that you did during your situational assessment?
c) In the first job you did get, how long did you work at that job?
d) What was your starting hourly salary?
e) Have you been/were you given more responsibility?
f) Have/did you receive(d) a pay raise?
g) Are you still employed there?
h) If no, why did you leave the job?

13. Did you receive job-coaching services once you got a job?
a) Was the coaching time you received too much----, just right------ or not enough------? 

14. If in the future you find that you need vocational rehabilitation services again, do you think you would choose to participate in another situational assessment?
Almost certainly______ Maybe_________ Probably Not_________

15. May I have your permission to contact the employer where your assessment took place? 
(If possible, get name of best contact person)

To determine if employers were satisfied with the vocational employment programming provided to consumers in their place of business, a telephone survey was conducted by the Direct Purchasing Consultant of the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Disability Services.  Working with the CT Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS), this is a sample of the questions asked to employers:

Explain who caller is and why call is being made.  Consumer (name) has given permission to call you. (S)he had a vocational assessment at your company (approximate dates) and I'd like to ask you a few questions to get your feedback on how satisfactory this service was for you and your company.

1. How are the majority of your employees hired-
employment agency referral-----?  advertisement-----? personal referral______? Temp positions extended to full time-----?

2. When you agreed to have a vocational rehabilitation client participate in an on-site assessment, what were you told was the reason for the assessment?
a) Did you hope it would be a tool to possibly identify an employee for you?

1. Regardless of whether you hired this individual, what type of information did you receive that was beneficial to your company?  

2. When you think about the presence of the on-site evaluator during the individual's assessment, was it very helpful---,somewhat helpful---not really helpful---? An obstruction---?

3. Did you know that this situational assessment is a service of Connecticut's Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS)? 

4. How satisfied were you with the services offered through the assessment? 
(a) Completely satisfied (there was nothing I would have changed about it.)
(b) Mostly satisfied (I got a lot out of it...would have been better if ____________________)
(c) Satisfied (It's what I expected because ______________________________)
(d) Somewhat satisfied (I got a little out of it but still felt my time was wasted.)
(e) Not at all satisfied (It wasn't helpful at all.) 

1. What do you think were the strengths of the assessment?

2. What features of the assessment needed improvement?

Part 2: If you hired the individual (name) who received the assessment at your site, 
3. Would you have hired this individual if there were no opportunity for such an assessment?

4. Was an option to hire this individual without an assessment ever presented? (i.e. as a straight job placement?)

5. Were the results of the assessment reported to you?
a) Were the results as reported an accurate indicator of the work abilities of the individual?

1. If a private provider gave job coaching to the employee after (s)he was hired, was the amount of 'coaching' time too much------------, just right---------- or not enough-----------? 

2. What was the starting hourly salary?

3. Since hiring did/has the individual advanced in hours (yes or no), wages (yes or no) and/or responsibility (yes or no)?						

4. How long have you employed the individual? or how long did the employee work for you?
If the employee no longer works there: 
5. Can you tell us why the employee left?



Naomi K. Cohen, Direct Purchasing Consultant
A.J. Pappanikou Center for Disability Studies/CT Bureau of Rehabilitation Services
US Dept of Education "Innovations in Choice" PR/Award # H235W70040 
August 8, 2000