Careful attention to the environmental stresses of a specific setting is necessary. Consider the student’s responses to the Environmental Assessment as well as the student’s behavior that you see in classroom and school environments. Your consideration of these factors can often enhance the success of a volunteer experience, a summer or part time job, or a job training placement. In many clerical and research positions, it is possible to find fairly quiet settings that do not cause potential overstimulation seen in crowded and busy work environments. Many office and research environments are conducive to focused work without frequent (and possibly difficult to manage) opportunities for confusing social engagement.
- Will the student need a cubby or separate office space to support his focus and attention on the job?
- Is the copy machine in a ‘highly trafficked’ area that is not conducive to focused work?
- It is possible that books, magazines, and information in a library is such an area of focus for certain students that they are too distracted by materials to sustain focus on job responsibilities. If the information is everywhere, there is no way to redesign the environment to assure performance.
- How much interaction with business customers or library patrons will be required?
- Is the front desk of a library too social an environment fraught with problem-solving situations that would overly tax this student? Is the student able to handle lots of young children, crying babies that arrive for story times at a public library?
- Answering the phone in an office requires abrupt shift of attention, starting and stopping tasks in an instant, as well as complex social decisions about where to direct a call, handling caller frustration, and where to find information. Is this a skill set to avoid for the student?
- Is the business one where customer complaints are common? Will the student be able to handle that level of anxiety and frustration from other people?
Look at the general sequence of tasks in the office or library setting. Look at the distances traveled in transitions and the spaces through which transitions occur. Are there distractions? Are materials and space well organized? Sometimes negotiating a different sequence of tasks or minor adjustments to the space and materials will be quite acceptable to the supervisor if she knows that these adjustments will lead to better work quality.
Self-Assessment – Career Planning – Environmental Assessment