What does it take to prepare for the 21st-century workplace — especially if you’re blind or visually impaired? Our career preparation, skill-building training and business-focused access technology instruction is designed to ensure you’re equipped to compete.
The curriculum is intense. It’s comprehensive. But above all, it’s proven. Our participants have gone on to succeed in internships and permanent employment — in some cases, enjoying the first paychecks they’d ever received.
The skills you need for the career you want.
The Career Launch curriculum is designed to give you the hands-on training and experience necessary to build a sustainable career in professional fields focused on customer success. Skills like these can take you to positions in sales and marketing, HR and recruitment, customer support and more.
Here are just some of the things you can expect to cover during Career Launch training:
Business best practices and prioritizing the customer experience
Understanding customer experience, needs and retention
Managing different types of customers
Making a connection and providing personalized service
Creative problem solving
Technology and tools
Common office systems and tools, including Salesforce, Microsoft Office, Google Suite and more
Access technology and how to use it to effectively work with mainstream office technology
Apps that empower users when at work, commuting and living independently
Professional and career management skills
Time and task management and organization
Writing professional emails
Building a resume and online profiles
Leveraging your professional network
Workplace attire and grooming
Job interview prep and mock interviews
Developing confidence in building rapport, making social connections and quick-thinking (through improv workshops)
Advocacy – knowing your value and your rights
Communicating about disability to recruiters, employers and colleagues
Understanding your rights — the ADA and Social Security — and how to effectively advocate for them
Pursuing workplace accommodations, promotions and upward mobility
Hearing how successful professionals with disabilities have built their careers and navigated tricky situations
Career services
Weekly one-on-one job coaching, customized to fit your career goals
Ongoing job development workshops covering job retention strategies, boundaries in the workplace, work-life balance, working from home, financial literacy and more
Monthly reports provided to you and your VR counselor throughout the program
Working with hiring managers to maximize your success and progress in your new job
We are laser-focused on helping you land a career-track opportunity.
Employers need people who can help their customers, employees and prospects place orders, answer questions and solve problems.
These entry-level positions provide opportunities to build new, highly transferable skills. That means you can grow with a company or gain the experience necessary to climb the ladder there or elsewhere.