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 short-term project. In many volunteer and project environments, it is possible to set up fairly quiet settings that do not cause potential overstimulation seen in crowded and busy work environments. The public support aspect of Help Desk work or of technical support to consumers should be carefully assessed. Will the student or young adult require an office environment that is 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?
- Will support be needed to assist transitions between work stations or computers/offices?
- How much interaction with business customers or business personnel will be required?
- Is a Help Desk setting too social an environment fraught with problem-solving situations that would overly tax this student? Or are most of the questions sent on email such that the social aspects can be limited?
- 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?
It is important to pay attention to the number and complexity of duties that are available in the project. Setting up projects to consist of frequently practiced routines around concrete and finite tasks that are easy to structure is certainly an initial goal in building the resume. In creating the job match, it is critical to consider the activity needs as well as the environmental needs of the student. Will the student get bored with one particular office or library task that is primary in the job description?
Will the student flourish in an environment where he has several different daily tasks between which he can move such as updating software on numerous systems, cleaning the room containing the server and network routers, and responding to troubleshooting requests by employees? Clerical support positions can potentially involve a combination of simple clerical tasks with troubleshooting, file sharing tasks, hardware and software updates, etc. Moving from simple projects to more complex positions is recommended. On the other hand, avoid temporary worker positions since these workers have to adapt to multiple environments and varying job conditions.
Self-Assessment – Career Planning – Environmental Assessment