Background
Dillian is 27 years old and lives with his family in Missouri. His hobbies are swimming, playing video games, and collecting superhero action figures and anything else related to Marvel Comics and anime. He has also attended Comic-Con, and his favorite superhero is Spiderman. Ever since Dillian graduated from high school, he has been working toward having a full-time, benefitted job to be a provider for the family he hopes to have someday. He has been working full time for the last four years as an environmental specialist in the housekeeping services of a local nursing home.
What’s Important
After Dillian graduated high school, he volunteered through a summer work program with other transition-age students and job coaches. This program provided opportunities to work at several local places, mostly doing cleaning tasks, and it was an excellent way for Dillian to get a sense of what working could be like. As the summer program ended, Dillian and his mom had a conversation about what it would be like to have a job and earn a paycheck, and Dillian was excited by the idea of earning his own money.
Dillian and his family live in a small town with a population of around 1,500 and with limited opportunities for transportation and employment. Dillian’s school offered support and connected him with a service provider in the area. The service provider found a local mortuary business that made headstones for graves and worked with the owner to explore career opportunities for Dillian. Dillian was hired at the mortuary for his first paid job and worked there for two years. He enjoyed his assigned tasks and the peaceful sense of order in this work environment. However, changes in business management left Dillian needing a new job.
Dillian and his mother began working with the service provider again to develop his employment plan. “He wanted a job that he could potentially go full time to, and his dream job was a cleaning job,” says Dillian’s mother. “He likes to clean, and he likes things to be organized. And that's just kind of his knack.”
Dillian’s mother worked in the activities department at a nursing home, and she thought Dillian might also find a job there. Dillian’s mother and the service provider supported him to apply to an open part-time position in the activities department, where he was hired and began working three days a week. His job included doing different community activities with the seniors or performing music and comedy for them. Dillian had support from a job coach at work who helped him learn the rules about working in a healthcare environment and learn how to interact with the seniors one-on-one and in groups. Dillian also carved out time at the end of each workday to review ways to handle situations on the job.
With support from the job coach and his mom, Dillian learned to be understanding of people who are in pain or have dementia and to manage his emotions around the sickness and death of people he knew. He enjoyed the job but had difficulty with changes in his schedule and job responsibilities. Dillian stayed with the part-time activities position for about six months, which was enough time for other employees to get to know him and his work ethic. An administrator in the housekeeping department recognized that Dillian was a good, hardworking, reliable employee. Dillian’s mom shared,
“When I went to work there, it was a blessing that the activity director was all about hiring. And then when Dillian got in there, and he was doing his job, the administrator at the time just absolutely fell in love with Dillian and realized that just because you have one experience and it was a bad one doesn't mean that, you know, it's all like that. And when that job opening came open, he went and told her that he wanted to interview for it. And it was an easy transition from there.”
When Dillian applied and interviewed for the open position in housekeeping, the administrator hired him.
What Happened
Dillian currently works full time with employee benefits from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM at the nursing home as an environmental specialist in the housekeeping department. He calls himself a janitor, and he is happy to be in this job. He cleans residents’ rooms by stripping and remaking beds, tidying up the rooms, and mopping floors. He earns a comparable wage to his colleagues and no longer needs Social Security Income. His main goal is to save money for a bike or get his driver’s license so he can have his own transportation.
Dillian’s job coach supports him for seven of the eight hours he works on most days, leaving an hour before he finishes. Dillian works there on his own for one day every other week. The long-term plan is for the job coach to lessen the time that she works with him. Dillian, his job coach, and his family all agree that this job is an advancement over his previous job. “It was a big step,” says his job coach, “a lot more involved. A lot more for him to do.”
Dillian has a list of the tasks he needs to do in each room, and he crosses off each task as he completes it. Dillian is at his best when he knows the expectations and what to do to meet them, and he has a special paper listing strategies to deal with anxiety about anything changing in his routine or job. The guidance and trainings for working in healthcare facilities are always being updated, and Dillian’s job coach supports him to keep up with what he needs to know. Dillian learns the new information and procedures from these trainings by repeating them in sequence over and over again. He has also learned soft skills from reviewing common social experiences at work. Dillian’s advice to other people is not to give up. “Don’t give up. If you’re going through a tough time, push through it.” Along the way, people need to be taught and shown your world, “even if sometimes that world is difficult and hard. Keep doing what you’re doing, and it will get better.”
Lessons Learned
Advancement takes time, persistence, and support. It takes time to work toward a goal, persistence to work through a challenge, and support to work out strategies and solutions. Dillian is like many other people who succeed in their careers by aiming for the right work situation, finding ways to work through difficulties, and getting coached on how to improve. In Dillian’s case, all his efforts resulted in the opportunity to advance in his career.
A strong work history is important for career growth. Even when Dillian wasn’t working in his preferred job, he was able to put his best foot forward and continue to exceed the expectations of his employer and coworkers. Dillian developed the trust and experience with his employer to be offered his dream job. Your first job will not always be your dream job, but the skillset that you develop at that job can help you meet long-term career goals.
For more information, contact: Jean.Winsor@umb.edu