1. DEI Business Engagement CoP
Moderated by: Miranda Kennedy and Nikki Powis, NDI DEI TA Team
Presented by: Diane Hernandez, IA DEI Project, Shannon Myers IA Department for the Blind, and Michelle Krefft, IA Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Miranda
Business Engagement Community of Practice

2. Moderators Moderator: Miranda Kennedy
Title: Director of Training, NDI Technical Assistance Team
Organization: National Disability Institute
Moderator: Nikki Powis
Title: Subject Matter Expert on Business Engagement, NDI Technical Assistance Team
Organization: National Disability Institute
Miranda

3. Recap on the Business Engagement CoP
The Business Engagement CoP Provides a platform that brings together DEI project staff from across the country to discuss and learn from one another on engaging business and industry partners.
How do I join/participate in the DEI Business Engagement CoP?
- Contact Nikki Powis at:
- Miranda Kennedy at:
- Let us know via the post webinar survey
Business Engagement CoP landing page & archived webinars:
Nikki

4. Presenters Presenter: Diane Hernandez
Title: Disability Resource Coordinator, Iowa Round VI DEI
Organization: Iowa Employment Solutions at DMACC
Presenter: Shannon Myers
Title: Employment Specialist
Organization: Iowa Department for the Blind
Presenter: Michelle Krefft
Title: Business Services
Organization: Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services

5. Business Engagement Community of Practice
Reverse Job Fairs
Business Engagement Community of Practice
Iowa Disability Employment Initiative Round VI and Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Blind and General Agencies
nformation

6. The Issue/Challenge
Hosting Job Fairs is a popular and effective feature and function of the American Job Centers (AJCs) and their partners. However, Job Seekers with Disabilities can find it difficult to benefit from these events, highlight their abilities to employers and compete with their non-disabled peers in the proto-typical Job Fair environment.
As a result, employment outcomes rarely arise out of this set-up for this targeted population despite best efforts to make the events accessible.
Nikki

7. Polling Question
My experience with people with disabilities accessing Job Fairs and achieving employment outcomes as a result is:
Positive = It works in my area
Neutral = It works sometimes
Negative = It’s not working
Other = We have developed other strategies just like Iowa (and Connecticut and South Dakota).
Nikki

8. Reverse Job Fair – Turning the Tables
The Reverse Job Fair is an incredible opportunity for job seekers to showcase their skills, personality and ambition to employers. This is done by literally flipping the tables.
Job seekers develop presentations, displays, and materials and the employers circulate around the room learning about candidates.
This role reversal puts the job candidate in a position to design an experience that demonstrates their best attributes.
Diane

9. Benefits To Job Seeker:
High quality portfolio to share, including resume, elevator speech, etc.
Practice developing presentation adapted to essential job functions.
Confidence!!!!
To Employer:
Connects businesses with high quality, but often overlooked, job seekers.
Requires less financial and logistical burden (no display).
Gets a chance to see job seekers’ strengths in a way that promotes creative thinking about hiring.
Diane 1 minute

10. Step 1 Establish Team Our Team
EDRN – Employer’s Disability Resource Network
EDRN is a collaborative group of state, federal and community partners working together to identify, develop and mobilize resources, supports and services that add value to Iowa businesses hiring people with disabilities.
Our Team
Diane Intro on Partnering
Michelle: Description of what EDRN is. 1 minute
Start End 12

11. Step 2 -- Establish a Plan
Essential to your success is creating a strong Work Readiness/Preparation
Component. There are a number of ways to do this, but we did a three-part process:
Day 1: Work Readiness Workshop – Clinic with stations for job seeking skill building
-- Preparation and one-on-one work with counselor --
Day 2: Dry Run – (Don’t miss this step)
Day 3: Reverse Job Fair – Let’s go get jobs!
Shannon:
Start End 15

12. Steps 3 Find a Location
Shannon
Start 15 End 16

13. Steps 4 Identify Job Candidates
We decided that each partnering agency could bring 5 job seekers to the event.
Only bring as many candidates as you can support.
No criteria other than that the job seekers was willing and able to put the work in that is needed to be successful.
Job seekers complete application and release of information (have to have a tracking mechanism).
Review expectation with candidates.
Diane (Shouldn’t just be customer served by DRC). Michelle to discuss VR process
Start End Catch up or slow down slide

14. Steps 5 Identify Employers/Sectors
Invite employers in job sectors that candidates are interested in.
Let them know the number of job seekers in their sector.
Have them provide job descriptions.
Send s in every form: s, in-person, phone calls, and calendar invites.
Michelle
Start 20 End 22

15. Step 6 -- Work Readiness Workshop
Stations
The Look – grooming, hygiene and what-to-wear
Interviewing – business partners perform mock interviews with candidates and provide immediate feedback
Resume and Application – Utilizing job descriptions provided by businesses who will be at the reverse job fair, job candidates receive assistance/suggestions on how to tailor their resumes
30-Second Elevator Speech – Using a cell phone, introductions are recorded and played back so job candidates can learn to make an impressive first impression
Display 101 – Each job candidates booth needs to be eye-catching and different – a unique way to showcase their talents.
Shannon
Start 22 End 26

16. Step 7
Diane
Start End 28

17. Step 8 – Mock Job Fair/Rehearsal
Before mock job fair measure out space and make sure there is a good flow for tables.
Set up tables with colored tablecloths indicating sectors.
Create a handout for employers, explaining handouts.
Get agency and business partners to act as the “employers.”
Make sure job seekers know to arrive a minimum of one-hour before.
Think through EVERYTHING – parking, signage walking in.
This should be held approximately one week ahead (reminder to you to send out reminder notices to businesses about the actual job fair).
Michelle
Start End 31

18. Reverse career fair showcases talent
Welcome to Iowa’s first reverse career fair!
Our job candidates are separated by sectors to allow you the easiest access in finding talent to match your business
needs! Please feel free to stop by any booth to meet a candidate, but look for specific colored table clothes to identify a particular sector! We appreciate your attendance- thank you!
ORANGE GREEN YELLOW
HOSPITALIY OFFICE/CLERICAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
RED BLUE
MEDICAL LABOR/WAREHOUSE
Please seek out any of our staff if you have questions or desire assistance! Our staff will have a lanyard with a name badge around their neck for easy identification!

19. TDL/Office
#1 IVRS
# 18 Data Entry
DEI
AgingGreen
Resour
#9 Admin Support Medical
#17 Main/Trade
DEI
This is a pictorial display of the arrangement of job seekers correlated to job goal with table cloth colors.
#19 Teach Assis
Customer Service
#2 ESI
#20 Admin Assistant
IDB
# 10 Customer Service
ESI
#16 Ge
Office
DEI
Acct/Clerical
#3 DEI --
Greeter DEI
#21 ShuttlDriver
Food Service
#4 ESI
Candeo
#11 Cleric
IVRS
#15 Gen Mainten
#5 Marketing
Aging Resou
Agin Reso
#22 Receptionist
Customer Service
#12 CSR
IDB
#14 Dishwashing
ESI
#6 Customer Service
IVRS
#23 Grnd/Custod
ESI -- Trayvon
#13 Medical – Office
Candeo
#7 Office
IDB - Randy

20. Step 9 – The Reverse Job Fair
You think you have thought of everything before the Mock Job Fair- but you didn’t. You and your participants had the run through so you could correct for missteps. 
Create and print the list of employers that have RSVP’d. This is helpful to have at the event, to track which employers actually attended, and to use for follow up.
Most employers ask “What do I need to bring?” and we have found they typically will want to bring a notepad, several business cards, and any materials they may want to leave with the job candidates about their business.
Have created and hand out satisfaction surveys.
Diane to lead -- All to contribute. Here we can catch anything we want to add
Start End 35

21. Step 9 – The Reverse Job Fair (cont.) The Details
Event staff MUST arrive a MINIMUM of 1 hour before the event and begin setting up tables with the colored tablecloths
Set up the “employer room” with the registration, handouts and surveys. The employer room is a great place to “hold” the employers upon their arrival until the career fair is ready. You can provide coffee or snacks if you want. This will also be a good networking opportunity, and is a good place to provide the business cards of all staff members on the organizing committee.
Put up signs with arrows directing participants to your event.
Answer any and all questions, build connections, provide value.
As business partners leave, a staff member encourages the employers to complete the employer survey, and then collects those completed surveys. Also have job candidate surveys.
Start End 37

22. Step 10 – Follow Up
Follows up with all employers who attended to see if there are any job candidates they were interested in pursuing further, and then coordinates to be sure that information is relayed to the appropriate staff person/agency.
Reviews and tally all survey results and forwards the feedback to the team members.
Schedule a follow up meeting.
Continues to monitor placements of job candidates by reaching out to staff and recording data.
Complete the follow-up meeting - review all feedback materials and discuss plans for the next event.
Shannon
Start 37 End 38

23. Polling Question Couldn’t be better
At what level of trust and seamless communication and partnership are you at in your local area (or state level if you are at the state level) with WIOA partners around Business Engagement Strategies?
Couldn’t be better
Good, but we have room for improvement
Needs work
Needs a lot of work
Nikki

24. Impact and Outcomes 3 Reverse Job Fairs
40 Participants Placements -- 28% Placement Rated
Partners moved from coordination to collaboration to partnership
Jobs placements continue well past fair
Increased confidence of participants
Fostered other partnership ideas
More support for individual initiatives
Michelle to lead. All to contribute
Start End 40

25. Discussions Has anyone else on the CoP done a Reverse Job Fair?
If so, how is it going?
What has your experience been with this practice?
Have you done anything similar but different?
How can we build or improve on the Work Readiness Workshops associated with the Reverse Job Fair?
We are still working on follow-up from Reverse Job Fair Events. Do others have ideas or suggestions around that?

26. Questions If you have a comment or question you can:
A: Click on the “raise hand” icon to have your line un-muted and ask your question/make your comment.
B: Submit it to the host in writing via the Chat or Q&A Box to the right, or…

27. Additional Resources
The DEI Business Engagement Community of Practice (CoP) will support DEI project staff in gaining ideas and insights into how to more effectively engage business partners in hiring job seekers with disabilities as an integrated strategy of AJC service delivery. 
The CoP provides a platform that identifies seasoned DRCs and DEI project staff from across the country that have achieved successful outcomes integrating job seekers with disabilities in the AJCs efforts to engage business and industry partners.
The DEI CoP members who have well established Business Engagement models will provide a short presentation on a specific example related to business engagement, including their experiences, insights and best practices for replication.
This will be followed by discussion around the topic (e.g. Job Fairs, Outreach to Employers, Business Partnerships within and outside the AJC), with other DRC and DEI staff and partners contributing examples from their work and asking questions.
Utilizing the CoP model, we will provide a forum for learning, discussing and sharing.

28. Contact Information
Miranda Kennedy
Director of Training and Technical Assistance
National Disability Institute P: E:
Nikki Powis
Subject Matter Expert on DEI Business Engagement P: E:
Miranda