One-Stop career centers and job seekers with disabilities: insights from Kansas

Journal of Rehabilitation,  Oct-Dec, 2005  by Jean P. Hall,  Kathy Parker

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

In contrast, two of the eight mystery customers stated that the people working the greeting area were helpful and friendly. However, for one these two customers, the receptionist was the only helpful person. "People there were either helping others or looking busy moving around. Other than the person at the front, really nobody there looked approachable."

Comments about other staff members who interacted with our mystery customers were mixed. Our blind customer and our customer with cerebral palsy gave the staff and Center good reviews while the others were dissatisfied with the services that they received. Comments included: "They always seem grouchy," "One out of four people was really nice, but nothing went past the getting online again," and "I turn around and they're gone."

People with disabilities often have low self-esteem (Human Resources Development Canada, 2004), especially when it comes to issues of employment, and they may be sensitive to even the slightest inattentive behavior. The participant who felt he wasn't even welcome to use the computers when the receptionist told him that he could do what they offered at a friend's computer, walked out and said, "I'll probably never go back there. I don't know what these people are getting paid for, to sit around in front and read a paper." It took quite a bit of persuading from project staff to get him to go back.

Only one of the mystery customers indicated that he had been asked either in writing or in person about having a disability. Another customer commented:

   He left my disability alone. I think he was afraid to talk
   too much about my disability. Well, some people believe
   they're going to hurt your feelings. He was comfortable
   with me, but I don't think he was comfortable talking
   about disability.

The only customer who stated he was asked about his disability was the same customer who got information about intensive services in the form of training.

Services. The One-Stop centers in Kansas all work on a resource center model. Customers are directed to computer workstations and are essentially on their own to find a job. As one of our mystery customers said "... basically the people there are tech support." When he directly asked whether or not there were "counselors or someone to assist in the job search" a mystery customer was told, "We used to do that but not anymore." Another customer told us:

   He didn't tell me anything about how to do a job search,
   all he did was show me the computer and show me how
   to get on the Internet and how to look up the jobs. He
   didn't talk to me about any of them. I just printed out a
   bunch of what I like when I went through; what sounded
   good. Then I printed it out and I brought it home.

Customers did not feel that they had a choice about the method they could use at the One-Stop to find a job. Some of them did notice that newspapers were available but none of them were told about other ways to search for work. When asked if they would be able to search for a job on their own because of what they learned at the One-Stop, all of the customers stated that they did not feel their visits were helpful in teaching them about how to do a job search on their own. All of the mystery customers stated that they were not asked if services were helpful to them. It should be noted that customer satisfaction surveys were sitting on the front desk but none of our customers saw them. Customers with visual disabilities would have needed additional supports or alternate formats to fill out the forms and people of short stature or people who used wheelchairs would not know that the forms were there.