Although career development and early work experiences are associated with improved postschool employment outcomes for youth with disabilities, transition personnel report having few natural community partners to support and enhance these experiences. We surveyed 135 chambers of commerce and other employer networks to examine (a) whether and how…

The majority of the managers reported some prior experience with mentally retarded persons, believed that the mentally retarded should be employed competitively, but were undecided whether they personally would employ an adequately prepared mentally retarded worker. (SW)

Work related objectives in career education curricula for the handicapped were submitted to ratings by employers. Employers reacted significantly differently according to type and size of business. Variability was found in employer response for each of the 25 subdomains, yet 14 were content-validated by at least eight of the nine employer…

The authors explore the effects of labels and employers' hiring decision making in relation to placement of handicapped persons. Eleven job placement practices (such as matching the client to the job and addressing employers' objectives) are outlined. (SW)

Factors (planning, relevance, involvement, follow-up, and compromise) influencing the commitment of an employer to developing jobs for handicapped persons are reviewed and conceptualized in the Employer Interaction Process. (CL)

The survey of projects concerned with placing secondary students with mental handicaps into competitive employment studied 24 matched pairs of successfully/unsuccessfully employed students. Results showed that successful programs were characterized by team effort, employer support, employment supervision, and a sensitive match of student and job.…

The study identified skills and skill categories deemed most relevant to job success by employers of people with severe handicaps (N=22) and employers with no such experience (N=24). Employers experienced with the disabled deemed the personal factor category as very important while in-experienced employers ranked the personal factor category the…

The study examined differences between successfully employed young adult disabled workers (N=40) and their employers concerning learning, work habits, and independence behaviors in the work place. Results indicated overall employee/employer agreement in successful settings with no significant differences across exceptionalities. (DB)

The article recommends involvement of more community resources in transitional programing for students with disabilities. In-depth analysis of what is expected from a job should be used in transitional programing. Employers also need to be encouraged to hire workers identified as having a special need. (DB)

The employer's role in determing whether the handicapped individual successfully makes the transition from school to work is examined. Teachers need to be trained in the importance of employee/employer relationships and need to begin to help employers to accept a teacher role with new handicapped workers. (PHR)

A total of 338 employers, service providers, and high school students with mild mental disabilities and learning disabilities completed the Successful Employment Survey. Results indicated that service providers and employers have similar expectations about what individuals with disabilities need for workplace success, whereas students ranked…

This comparison of the attitudes of 78 employers, who identified traits needed by either handicapped workers or workers in general, found no significant differences in ratings of the importance of various traits. (DB)

This study compared the perceptions of 87 practicing and preservice special education teachers and 100 employers concerning critical factors for job success. Educators rank ordered the four job skill categories as work related, social, communication, and personal, whereas employers' rankings were work related, communication, personal, and social.…

This follow-up study of 54 graduates of a California high school career and vocational services program for students with developmental disabilities or learning disabilities found that only 39 percent were in competitive employment and that jobs were predominantly in the food, building, fabrication, and packaging service occupations. Most…

Attitudes of 38 work-experience employers toward the employability of high school special education students were studied. Employers had positive attitudes toward the employment potential of mildly handicapped students and stated that their participation in the work experience program increased the likelihood that they would hire a special…