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Assessment and Intake Specialists

All assessment and intake specialists identify and understand constituents’ needs, determine their appropriateness for employment, and where possible, refer them to the employment services within their organization in order to help them obtain jobs.

Assessment and intake specialists function as a human-resource professional responsible for weighing the constituents’ strengths and needs in the context of the opportunities available in the organization. Many intake specialists also conduct tests, such as the Test of Adult Basic Education to assess academic skill levels, and career interest assessments such as the Self-Directed Search.

Many assessment and intake specialists have training and education in the mental health and human service fields. They can be high-school educated, have an advanced/graduate degree, and related specialized training.

Employment Counselors/Case Managers

Employment counselors and employment case managers are front-line staff whose primary responsibilities are to engage and retain constituents within the context of program services, to assist constituents who may have barriers to employment, and to help constituents in need additional assistance to become fully job-ready.

An employment counselor may provide counseling, advice, and support to constituents around job readiness issues, which can include the spectrum of soft skills and life skills development (such as budgeting, managing time, dealing with authority). Employment case managers may provide subtly distinct services from those of counselors acting as advocates, resource persons, educators, coaches, and counselors. Employment counselors and case managers have overlapping skills and responsibilities, and will often have case-loads of constituents who require wide-ranging and intensive assistance as they receive services from the organization. Both may assist with referrals for issues around child care, transitional public benefits, as well as income support issues that will ultimately help the constituent make a smoother transition into sustainable employment.

Employment counselors and employment case managers are critical parts of the job development team. Their direct work with constituents, and often their broader understanding of the constituents’ needs and challenges can help inform the strategy of employment educators, trainers, job developers, and retention specialists in working most effectively with the constituent, resulting in more appropriate employment placement matches, and longer-term employment placement.

Employment counselors and case managers may also refer constituents to a host of other resources and organizations that provide services that the workforce-development organization does not provide. This can include referrals to education programs, health and mental health programs, childcare programs, and other services that can assist constituents to become job ready as quickly as possible.

Employment counselors and case managers may also directly assist when constituent crises arise. In some instances, referrals for supportive services around medical concerns, issues of domestic violence, legal issues, and other issues may be necessary in order to help keep constituents focused, engaged in program services, and on the job longer term.

In most instances, employment counselors are distinctive from rehabilitation counselors, who have graduate-level training in vocational and/or rehabilitation counseling for individuals with disabilities.

Employment counselors work in the same wide array of settings as do job developers and retention specialists, and can have similar backgrounds (see above under job developers and retention specialists). Their job titles also vary, for example, career counselor, resource counselor, employment specialist, vocational counselor, vocational case manager, career coach, employee assistance counselor, and other variations, although the work and core responsibilities are typically similar.

Employment Educators and Employment Trainers

Employment Trainers or Educators are the front-line staff that provide direct training to practitioners regarding skills development and job readiness.

Job readiness trainers prepare participants for jobs with training in communication skills, interviewing skills, resume and cover-letter writing, time management, dealing with authority, and other areas. They are often referred to as soft-skills trainers, but can also be referred to as pre-employment trainers, job readiness trainers, or job training coaches.

Trainers who teach specific to skills related to an occupation or industry (such as building maintenance, computer software, medical billing) are referred to as hard skills trainers, or job skills/occupational trainers.

Both types of employment trainers/educators play a key role on the job development team, and mostly interact with program participants in group or classroom settings. Many trainers come with backgrounds or experience in the educational field, and may play other training or teaching roles within workforce organizations (such as pre-GED/GED, literacy, or English for Speakers of Foreign Languages training).

Many employment trainers or educators are also responsible for conducting tests both for employment/career exploration, and for concrete academic of occupation-specific skills aptitudes. Trainers will often use scenarios and role plays (often with actual employers) to help institute a curriculum that re-creates a realistic employment setting.

Employment Educators and Trainers have a wide array of experiences, skills, and qualifications. Many have training and education in the education and human service fields. Like many other professionals in workforce development, they may have worked within other fields, and thus bring the perspectives of those experiences into their daily work. These trainers can be high school educated, have an advanced/graduate degree, and/or have specialized training in a related area.

Front-Line Managerial Staff

Front-Line managers, depending on the organizational setting, may manage teams of front-line staff from like disciplines or may oversee interdisciplinary teams or departments. Often promoted from the front-lines themselves, many front-line managers cope with challenging learning curves, must assume responsibility for programmatic or departmental outcomes, and often keep a hand in direct service, working with job seekers in a variety of capacities (training, coaching, job development referral services) when covering for staff who are taking leave.  

WPTI specifically builds training for this staff, recognizing their daily challenges in “managing up” while keeping a specific legitimacy/credibility with the front-line staff they support and supervise. Front-line managers -- “coordinators,” “program managers,” etc. -- remain the effective translative link between front-line staff and senior management.

Job Developers

Job developers are front-line staff in workforce organizations whose primary responsibility is to build relationships with employers in order to place the constituents of their organizations/programs into jobs.

Job developers develop and hone a pitch in order to sell their constituent's most employable qualities to a potential employer, and must match the needs of their constituents most closely with the needs of the employers with whom they have developed a relationship. The job developer serves two customers the employer and the job seeker. Managing the essential balance between these two roles, and meeting the needs of both customers effectively, makes a job developer successful.

Job developers work under enormous pressure in order to meet the funding and/or contractual obligations of their organizations. Meeting monthly, weekly, or even daily quotas are a norm. Job Developers are required to effectively market—and deliver on—an array of concrete organizational services that can assist employer, such as pre-screening services, resume development, first-tier interviewing, and other key human resource-related services that ultimately saves any employer time and money.

As an integral part of the job development team, job developers often work in tandem with employment counselors, employment educators, retention specialists, and immediate supervisors.

Often, job developers must synthesize the work of other workforce development professionals in their interaction with customers. Many job developers report that a significant amount of their time and focus is devoted to job readiness counseling; particularly in preparation for, and immediately debriefing constituents after job interviews.

Job developers may often be responsible for the efforts to retain people in jobs, even though, by organizational standards, they may not bear the title retention counselor or retention specialist. Many funders require that constituents placed in jobs must remain on that job for a certain period of time (three months, six months, one year, and beyond) in order to receive performance-based financial compensation and bonuses.

Job developers work in many settings. They are employed in community-based organizations that operate workforce development services; stand-alone, workforce-development organizations; trade associations and union organizations; proprietary schools; post-secondary institutions (such as community colleges); as well as private, for-profit organizations and corporations, and head-hunter firms, whose primary purpose is to place people into employment on a fee basis.

Job developers have a wide array of experiences, skills, and qualifications...
Some come from (or eventually enter into) the for-profit sector, where they capitalize on their marketing and sales skills. They may come from other fields, and bring the perspectives of those experiences into their daily work. They can be high school educated, have an advanced/graduate degree, and/or have specialized training in a related area.

Retention Specialists

Also referred to as retention counselors, employee assistance counselors, or after care specialists, retention specialists are front-line staff in workforce organizations whose primary responsibility is to secure people appropriate employment, and keep them on the job as a matter of mission, organizational policy, and funding requirements.

Retention specialists must work in tandem with employers to ensure that referred persons fit the job properly, and are adjusting to the demands of the work setting. Often retention specialists must problem-solve and troubleshoot when issues come up on the job, particularly during the employer's probationary period. A retention specialist (as may also be the case with a job developer) may act as a secondary supervisor to the new employee in order to work most collaboratively with the employer. When problems arise on the job, a retention specialist may intervene as would the actual workplace supervisor. In some instances, a retention specialist will even terminate an employee (in close cooperation with the employer) when it is determined that the employment setting is not a good match, or if there are specific concerns regarding the new employee that the employer itself cannot fully address.

A job development team (which may include a job developer, a retention specialist, and an employment counselor) are all responsible for both the quality of the placement of a constituent, as well as the quality of the relationship with the employer. Increasing employer partnerships and investment are often direct results of this kind of commitment.

Often, retention specialists become experts concerning new employee access to both work supports and income supports—a wide array of publicly funded services and credits (such as the earned Income Tax Credit or EITC)—to ensure that new employees—especially those in lower-wage, lower-skilled jobs have the support they need to keep the job and ultimately take advantage of career advancement opportunities.

Senior & Executive Staff

Senior and executive staff are those persons in senior management or executive positions within workforce-development organizations. Senior staff often include program managers, senior program managers, and/or directors of workforce development departments or initiatives with in community-based organizations, stand-alond workforce-development organizations, or within workforce development/adult continuing education departments of community/four year colleges.

Executive staff typically refers to those staff that are in the highest-level positions within organizations, such as chief financial, operating, or executive officers (or their deputy/assistant staff), vice presidential or senior vice presidential staff, or in educational settings, associate/assistant-level deans or deans that oversee educational departments within a college or university.

In all cases, effective senior/executive staff are very adept at managing diverse, complex, and sometimes converging funding streams, work in complex, competitive environments, and have the capacity to manage staff across many disciplines.

Vocational Counselors and Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors (CRCs)

Sometimes referred to as employment counselors, Vocational counselors are front-line staff whose primary responsibility is to provide an array of career counseling and assessment services for participants in workforce-development programs. Graduate-level vocational counselors often sit for a New York State exam to become Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, and hold a state credential similar to a state teaching license or a social work practice license.

Vocational counselors and CRC's work in a variety of workforce organizations, but as well as mental health, substance abuse, educational, and medical treatment organizations; any setting where services for persons with legal hidden or visible disabilities may seek services to get training or employment placement assistance.

Vocational counselors must work seamlessly with the job development and job readiness team to ensure that participants are properly assessed for job readiness, and to broker appropriate services for them, especially if specialized services are needed (such as mental health, educational testing, substance abuse treatment). CRC's in particular specialize in helping participants understand how employment can help persons with disabilities or in recovery move on to have fulfilling lives.

Vocational counselors and Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors have a wide array of experiences, skills, and qualifications. Like many other workforce development professionals, they may have worked within other fields, and thus bring the perspectives of those experiences into their daily work. Many vocational counselors have Associate's or Bachelor's degrees, Certified Rehabilitation Counselors must have a graduate-level degree in Vocational/Rehabilitation Counseling, and typically take a national certification examination to become certified.

The Commission on Certified Rehabilitation Counselor Certification