Vocational Resources Plus LLC

Author: Rehab Expert

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ~ Thank Our City Workers!

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A few years back, Des Moines Public Schools had planned to use Martin Luther King, Jr day as a snow make up day, but it was overturned by the school board based on good speaking and listening skills of many people. Since then, MLK’s Monday is for all of us to celebrate what he helped to accomplish.

Dr. King would be proud of the process involving our community and his holiday!

I also think he would appreciate students being in the classroom on the 3rd Monday in January learning and growing! (What would students think of virtual learning back in the early 1960s??!!) The doctor obviously had a passion for education, as did his wife Coretta, and knew how important learning is at every age. I totally agree! Dr. King’s teachings continue to evolve throughout communities across our country.

At the end of July of 2019, my husband and I visited the Martin Luther King National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. We found it to be a special place filled with thoughtful, soulful and educational experiences.

You may know that on the evening before he was assassinated, Dr. King was preparing to lead a protest march to help support striking sanitation workers. Dr. King was hard at work doing his job to help others do their hard jobs.

Thankfully, every Tuesday morning the garbage in my hood gets picked up!

Thank you to the city sanitation workers and thank you to the city street sweepers. I appreciate your work. Des Moines is a beautiful city filled with people who care about our community and I’m proud to live here.

I hear the sweeper on my street quite a few times throughout the year and rush to watch it pass by my house!

Thank you Dr. King for your call to service helping working people across the nation. I’m particularly fond of this quote:

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ~ by Dr. Martin Luther King.

Be the best you can be at what you do as an attorney. Let me know if you’d like my help to help you help your client on a case involving work and disability! I’ll strive to be of valued service to your case. Contact me at 515-778-0634 or amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com to learn more about each other and our work for others!

Thank you for reading my post and please be cognizant of what you throw away!

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My professional rehabilitation counseling practice is focused on helping people participate in the world around them, particularly in their own world of work.

January 17, 2022
Happy New Year! Do You Know Where This Sculpture is?

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A few years back, I took this photo while hanging out downtown on a Sunday morning after Mass. I’ve always been fascinated with this bronze sculpture that revolves like a globe! To find out more about it, I did a little research to share with you:

“Sphere Within a Sphere” by Amaldo Pomodoro, 1999

The sculpture “Sphere Within a Sphere” (Sfera con sfera) was placed in 1999, the same year my business, “Vocational Resources Plus, LLC” was born. The sculpture is intended as a metaphor for the coming of new and a promise.

If you didn’t watch New York City’s time ball drop on t.v. because you fell asleep or if you didn’t watch it at all because you had other interests in mind, enjoy this blog as my gift!

Do you know where the Sphere is located and yes, it’s in Des Moines, Iowa, but do you know where it specifically resides? Just fyi: another “Sphere Within a Sphere” by this same Italian artist can be found in the Vatican; and he has another sculpture like it in New York City, too.

But wait! Stay here in town with me, and let me know, did you get my question correct? The sculpture above is located at the American Enterprise Art Park 601 6th Avenue and Watson Powell Jr. Way in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.

Here’s my daughter in the East Village…DSM not NYC!

Enjoy our beautiful city’s artwork! Here’s a link where you can learn more about our city’s public art Des Moines Public Art Foundation

Cheers to your legal work and to our New Year!I can only handle one glass of bubbly, if that!

I’m not sure where I found this, but it rings true ~ Visual art is the expression of an emotion in a particular language—words, sculpture, paintings, photographs, ceramics—so that we come to understood the emotion better.

Here’s a sculpture gracing the entrance/exit to our airport, being installed December 2021. By the way, you’ll find it strange to enter the airport at the exit. If you’ve driven to the airport recently, you’ll know what I mean!

Lift Off

Enjoy art and embrace how your emotions can shape your new year! Btw, did you know of the plans for steel art work on the 6th Avenue bridge over the Des Moines River on our city’s North side? Take a peek, it is very cool! This upcoming art will also be created by the talented Alice Aycock.

Enjoy, embrace, and reminisce about this past year…keep the good and dispel of the not so good! And after that, I hope you make time to think about me and how I can help you help your client on a case involving work and disability!

I look forward to hearing from you this year!

Give give me a call at 515-778-0634 or email me at amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com to start our discussion about your case. Thank you for reading my blog post!

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My professional rehabilitation counseling practice is focused on helping people participate in the world around them, particularly in their own world of work.

January 4, 2022
Watch “The Kitty Cat 🐱 Dance” on YouTube

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An absolutely favorite video!

Alaska TF, my office puddy, likes to watch it with me:

November 30, 2021
Working on a Litigated Case Involving Work & Disability? A Job Analysis Can Help!

Reading Time: 3 minutesAre you working on a litigated case involving work and disability? If so, I believe a job analysis can help you and your client, and in many ways! A job analysis involves the process of gathering and recording objective data about a specific job.

Capturing what the job is all about helps to evaluate what an employee does, why the work is done, how the work is done, results of the work, the skills, knowledge, and abilities required to perform the work, and the context in which the work fits into the organizational structure.

And, as an analyzing kinda person, I’ll find direct connections to ways of the trade, and possibly record direct comments from incumbents or a worker who knows what’s going on!

A job analysis is helpful in many ways. Plus they’re fun to perform!

A complete analysis involves visiting the job site to witness the job being performed and interviewing supervisors and employees about the accuracy of existing job descriptions. (And that’s a story in itself!) It sure can be an interesting tour and communication experience!

For me to find out what actually takes place on a pertinent day to day basis (without being there obviously because I have my own job to do), consulting with management and incumbents of the job along with digital video recording, if helpful, allows for a critical analysis of the parameters of performance at a work place, including common physical demands of duties of a job. And trust me, a video can produce some humor too when’s it’s needed at work!

Once the job analysis describing the critical duties of the job, an evaluation of the work environment is completed, and a report written is prepared and presented, there, hopefully will be a greater understanding of the essential functions of the job. And to each person the job can be functionally different. It depends on how one goes about doing it!

This understanding allows me as a vocational expert to make recommendations for reasonable accommodations and to testify to the efforts of the employer to provide reasonable accommodations.

Need help with a litigated case involving disability and work?

I help with plaintiff/claimant and defense cases! I am not one sided!

Contact me, Amy E. Botkin, to discuss your client’s claim. I’m here to help you help your client!

Vocational Resources Plus, LLC * lcpresourcesplus.com * 515-778-0634 * amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com

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My professional consulting practice focuses on helping attorneys help their clients with civil litigation matters.

October 12, 2021
Big Miss Steak…Cut Your Meat, Chew A Lot and Eat Slowly!

Reading Time: 5 minutesWe humans make some big mistakes. It’s those misguided or wrong actions or judgments that range from simple to complex that can cause alarm and then when understood and corrected can turn into an unforgettable learning experience.

My family and a couple of the kid’s friends had Florida travel plans in June of 2017 to visit my mom and her new husband Dave; and my sister who lives in the Sunshine state, too. Disney World was in the works and a lot of beach time was in mind!

I enjoy flying in an airplane, do you?

We were ready to board the plane, in fact most passengers had already boarded, when I heard over the intercom something to the effect of “stop boarding”. I then witnessed passengers I previously watched moving into the plane’s bridge walk back out with their carry-ons in tow; and thought to myself “oh no, no, no, this doesn’t seem right”.

After all passengers were back in the boarding area, the announcement came on that the plane had been hit by the baggage handling cart causing a hole in the fuselage and we would not be flying. I listened to several passengers give their theories…and some actually felt the impact from the baggage cart when it hit the plane on the side. Wow.

Baggage carts are usually seen in a flurry of activity

After being at the airport patiently waiting to board for 3 hours, the flight was canceled because no rescue plane could be found. Did you know rescue planes existed?

Many passengers were grumbly and we figured someone at the airport possibly got fired. I watched with fascination through the terminal window as the plane was being inspected, even the pilots were taking pictures with their cell phones!

Being a Saturday evening, this was the last flight of the week until Thursday, (can you read into what airline I’m referring to if you’re familiar with DSM to Orlando flights?) Although there were some options for our travel the next week, none would have worked out for each of our schedules.

No vacation in Florida. No Disney for the kids. No beach for me…and I even packed four bikinis!, no seeing our friends and family, no nothing…and all the energy involved in the planning of the trip, down the tubes.

I really just wanted to get out of the airport and back home that day. I looked at this experience with the family as practice however, because we’ll be doing it again! Plus I learned how to pack more efficiently and now know I can take food on the plane!

big miss steak!

Question: How the heck did a human driver hit a huge airplane with basically a golf cart and seriously damage it? This was A Big Mistake affecting a lot of people! Of course my mind went into litigation thinking as there could probably be some lawsuit for any reason. Good thing no one was injured; and hopefully those who really needed to get to Florida ASAP got there without too much anguish.

You’re Fired!! You’re Fired!! You’re Fired!!

When my son Jacob was very young, he used to love to repeat You’re Fired! You’re Fired! You’re Fired! over and over and over. I really never had any idea who he was firing, but he did a lot of it! Jacob was fond of Charizard, of the Fire/Flying Pokemon species, maybe that’s why he was fond of the phrase you’re fired? Are you? Have you ever been fired? Have you had to fire someone? Did you learn from it?

Okay, here’s one of my own mistakes about me as I was getting ready for the Florida trip. As I considered what to take as a carry-on (free on this airline), I decided upon a smaller purple suitcase with wheels I’ve used before…and as I was packing it I felt something lodged at the bottom. Upon retrieval, I found a maroon jewelry box and opened it.

Wrapped up in tissue was my diamond tennis bracelet!

Being missing for over a year, I had seriously thought it was lost for good. Okay this “big miss steak” wasn’t so bad, and I hope I learned my lesson. There was another time time I was stopped at airport security because a pocket knife was found buried inside an unknown ripped seam inside my little purse. Oops.

Another “big miss steak” is inadvertently bringing a pocket knife through security!

I strive to be extremely careful with my work, especially with my writing skills. However typos do arise and I’ve been known to unfortunately miss my own (including having a date wrong on my resume for a couple years before I noticed it!) BTW, other’s typos glare at me.

But big mistakes, like negligence when it comes to a patient’s health care, is something I can help with and I’m sure we’ll both learn a lot through the course of the case. If I make a mistake on your case, I will accept responsibility.

I’ve recently worked on a medical malpractice case; and in this case the patient died, however my role/goal was to perform a vocational evaluation and assess his earning capacity had he not died in such a short period of time. For more information on my work in this case and how I followed basically the same methodology as other evaluations, please contact me.

Yes everyone makes mistakes and everyone needs to be careful in our roles at work. I don’t know if anyone was fired or if there was any lawsuits over this airport incident, but it got me thinking about mistakes, including the many of my own.

I’m not saying eating steak is a mistake, but I agree becoming a vegetarian is a big missed steak! Keep in mind I am a vegetarian and have not eaten steak since 2011 (although I can’t deny the great smell!) To each their own, just be sure you cut your meat carefully, chew a lot, and eat slowly!

Contact me at 515-778-0634 or amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com for help on a litigated case involving work and disability! Are you a meat eater or a no meat eater? It’s your choice!

Thank you for for reading my post.

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My professional rehabilitation counseling practice is focused on helping people participate in the world around them, particularly in their own world of work.

August 24, 2021
Here’s Link, One Love in My Son’s Life & He Got Married!

Reading Time: 4 minutesIf you’ve noticed, I like to add links to my posts. I hope you’ve found something interesting to read when you read more and more into my blog posts! Ironically, I have a grand dog named Link! He belongs to my son Jacob and his wife Bridget! More to come on this news below!

LinkyPooPoo first. He’s named after Link a fictional character and the main protagonist of Nintendo’s video game series The Legend of Zelda.

Jake and Bridget are gamers forever now! I’m sure Bridget, as a gifted writer, musician, barista, educator, creative, intelligent, and beautiful young woman can appreciate opening my blog writing to you about her dog. Yes, that’s right, Link!

For post context, Jacob’s been employed as full-time animal technician at the ARL for over two years now. Guess what happened within the first few weeks of his employment? You’re right! He adopted a dog!

Here’s Link the 1st Day I Met Him!

Link!

He’s an Australian Kelpie. In this photo he’s two, recently he turned four!  Link has experiences dealing with emotional doggy issues which are worked out on a constant basis, no different than a human living through long-term a traumatic injury or catastrophic situation does. Many pets who are at the ARL have behavioral issues and with training, love and attention, they can overcome the issues that may be inhibiting them from becoming the best doggie they could be. Sounds good!

According to petful.com/ Australian Kelpies are herding dogs often referred to as workaholics because of their intense stamina and endurance. Their instincts make them wary of strangers, a good attribute for any watchdog and they need consistent socialization in order to judge real threats better.

Kelpies are incredibly independent and intelligent, and known for being able to learn almost any command or task (sit came instantly with Link). This dog requires an active and involved family to whom they are very loyal. I’ve taken him for walks and it is brisk!!!. Link is very loyal to Jake and Bridget and I love how he bonded with a rescue kitten with a disability Jake and Bridget fostered.

Bridget and Jacob are great dog parents!

Congratulations to my son Jacob and his long-term girlfriend Bridget who married recently by a court judge! Good luck with your future & I look forward to a celebration with a ceremony and family and friends & all our family dogs: Bella, Link, Rory, Mila and Pennie, and Ruro too!

Like pets we bring into our lives and care for any rehabilitation need, humans need access to health care and human services that match their lifestyle. Having insight into how a person experiences daily living through their own eyes, sight being one factor surrounding their experiences, is important when preparing a life care plan.

5 basic senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste

Like humans, five senses play an important role in helping dogs understand their surroundings. But the way dogs use those senses is often very different than how we do. To highlight two, a dog’s sense of smell is 100,000 times more powerful than yours or mine; and they are capable of hearing sounds four times further away than your or mine! Why is that asks my forensics mind? To learn more, here’s a resource about dog senses.

My specialty is forensics, and in role as a consultant, I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about your client’s rehabilitation needs following a serious accident or injury that leads to work-related disability. I will work hard to make sense of your case and add value through understanding what the client really does or really does not need, resulting in a higher cost or a lower cost figured into the nuances of your litigated case.

Link’s getting that last bit of whip cream and no one can stop him!

In closure, I offer “evidence”: Dogs have about the biggest heart per body mass of any animal on the planet, making them highly attuned to reflect the emotions in our hearts. If you’re a dog owner, you likely know what I’m referring to.

Here’s another resource that I’m sharing titled  Pet Wisdom From Animals. Beyond Snuggles and Companionship, Out Pets Offer Us Profound Spiritual Lessons.

My attorney reader, I hope you enjoy my post and the links I offer. I encourage you to read the resource material presented in this post and lovingly look into your dog’s eyes (Sight), give her a pat on the back or a scratch behind the ear (Touch) and feed her her a treat kibble or two (Taste) while singing or humming your favorite tune (Hear) while she can smell your breath (Smell)!

Thank you for reading! Please contact me to discuss your litigated case and how I might help you help you client. Contact me at 515-778-0634 or amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com for more information about my approach to life care planning and to discuss your case!

P.S. – There’s a 6th sense called proprioception, which allows us to keep track of where our body parts are in space. In my case, I sense this is the ability to keep track of what makes sense and what doesn’t make sense! You see, I have the ability and experience to prepare a life care plan and to critique a life care plan, all to the benefit of you and your client! Contact me today!

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My professional rehabilitation counseling practice is focused on helping people participate in the world around them, particularly in their own world of work.

February 16, 2021
Des Moines, I am Proud to Be a Resident! Our City Loves Rehab as Much as I Do!

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Original publish date: Jan 20, 2021

As a rehabber, it’s my natural tendency to want to change things to function better or differently than from before! Of course, my career focus is rehabbing people, but you could ask anyone around me and know that I also rehab myself!, plants, animals, used items, and just about anything else that engages my rehabber instincts!

I love to see improvements within people and within existing places. I get a thrill from seeing enhancements, more functioning, beauty and lovely spaces and places to visit!

Simply put: a high standard quality of life is good for all.

I’ve been a DesMoinesian since the mid-1980s and have witnessed our town improve greatly! Have you visited the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden recently? While touring the “new” outdoor area, I kept repeating “wow” over and over. The pathways and waterfall are spectacular!

I’m happy the rainbow sculpture didn’t go far!

I’ve always had a fascination with along the rivers and the Capitol area…and downtown too!!

Luckily, I often see our beautiful Capitol building ~

Built 1871-1886

The city of Des Moines is really cool which is incredible considering our town was stalled for awhile. I’m proud to be a resident and am excited to be a part of where we all are going! Even Cowles Commons, formerly Nollen Plaza has been rehabbed! My motto “use what you got!” must be aligned with the City!

“Crusoe Umbrella” It was also a good beer holder!

My brother Steven and I loved going to Seniom Sed in the 80s. I’m also fond of Gray’s Lake and recall how it was so many years ago, pretty hidden and not nearly as impressive as it is now.

My brother loved to play hacky sack with his buddies in the grassy area near the north entrance. Steven’s plaque is on the southeast end of the bridge. In Memory of Steven J Prochnow Hacky Sack Any1?

Des Moines continues rehabbing our downtown and East Village in an incredibly tasteful fashion! Our outdated buildings are turned into new beauties. We are seeing lofts going up in warehouses, the new YMCA, and what will be of the Younkers building? I used to work there as a clerical temp in the marketing department in the 80s!

Have you been inside Central Campus, the DMPS building which undergoes rehabilitation as well? Of course, our libraries have seen great improvements, and the sculpture garden is worth a visit! I could go on bragging about how Des Moines loves rehabilitation and so do I!

My brother Steven was an avid skateboarder. He would be thrilled about the plans for a skate park along the river, along with a sculpture that is proposed for skaters to actually use! It’s size is going to WOW us!

WOW Rose!

I’m here in Des Moines, Iowa, yet can work on a case across the country! Please contact me 515-778-0634 or vocresources@gmail.com for help on a litigated case involving work and disability.

As a rehabber, you’ll find I focus on quality of life and will instinctually put my best effort forward!

P.S. As the city transforms, I can happily add to this evergreen post.

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My professional consulting practice focuses on helping attorneys help their clients with civil litigation matters.

January 20, 2021
Samantha Josephine, Soo Soft and She Smelled Sooo Good!

Reading Time: 3 minutesI miss SamiJo and am writing and posting pictures of you are a healthy for me to grieve, how ever many years later. Samantha Josephine Botkin ~ January 10, 2002 to January 10, 2018.

I have many memories of Sam, the only store bought cat in my life! Got my money out of that Aqualand purchase when kittens were for sale in the front window facing 6th.

16 years is a long time to spend with me Sam. We went through a lot! Her beautiful fur smell! I loved pushing my face into her coat taking big sniffs!

Once upon a time, my goal: was for Sam to be a “lap” cat. It took five years, but here’s my proof. One proud cat owner this day, December 20, 2007! Sure wish I knew where that pink ISU hoodie went.

Here’s My Proof!

After that, she pretty much was always near me! She loved cuddling up with ArinJune too!

Here’s just a few more of the many pictures of Sam I’ve taken over the years.

Yoga Love, this was a selfie!

Isn’t she special! As I believe all cats (and cat owners) are!

I love this shot with Sam lounging on the blue pillow (which I salvaged out of my mom’s dumpster when she cleaned her house out before moving to Florida after dad died in 2016), the colors being a perfect background!

Below is the last photo I took of her, the day I called my vet and was referred to the Iowa Vet Referral Service on Merle Hay Road (highly recommended by me).

When I look closely into her eyes, I can see me. A week after she was euthanized, I picked up her ashes and on the trip home, I saw a rainbow in the sky!!! It was the Rainbow Bridge without a shadow of a doubt. If you’ve experienced this before, you know what I mean. Believe me, it’s breathtakingly true.

The box for her ashes is beautiful, its’ home in my bedroom is near where she slept. Her clay paw prints have a special place as well, which I fill with vanilla essential oil for a nice aromatic reminder of the love of my life Samantha Josephine Botkin.

Prrrrrrr.

I’ll never ever forget our time together on this earth! Till we meet again girlfriend.

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Also for memory’s sake I’ll keep my original byline:

My professional rehabilitation counseling practice is focused on helping people participate in the world around them, particularly in their own world of work.

January 10, 2021
Simply Yet Methodically Defined…Transferable Skills Unfold During Vocational Assessment!

Reading Time: 5 minutesAs a fundamental guide, I agree with and adopted a simple definition of “transferable skills” as: those versatile skills that can be used effectively in a number of different roles. Good definition!

Transferable skills are universal skills — you can transfer them from one type of work to another without much effort on your part or training from the employer (Mullins & Roesslers, 1998).

Unlike job-related skills, which tend to be used only in one type of work, transferable skills are skills that can be used in every occupation, regardless of the type of work! Source

There are many dimensions to a person’s vocational capacity, and putting interests and aptitudes aside for now, the challenge is how to measure and classify hard skills (motor and cognitive) and those influential soft skills (of vital importance) in a standardized way to underline the skills of a job seeker.

Because there are literally thousands of skills, my methodology highlights the most “user friendly” skills as a precursor to job placement.

I ask the job seeker to complete a transferable skills checklist, and this link takes you to one example of a useful checklist.

There are many useful checklists on the web that serve as informational aids, feel free to use which one works best. Here’s another example of a transferable skill checklist I like.

From a checklist (example of yet another!), I look for 10-20 checked items and with a focus on placement, the job seeker is encouraged to tell me their story by participating in a discussion filled with open-ended questions such as ~

Why did you check a certain attribute? How did you use that skill in a work-related situation? What where the tasks involved? Was there room for creativity? How could that skill be used in another job?

Then I ask research related questions, such as ~

What could change if the work appears to be unrelated to the past employment situation? How can we be sure you can be productive in a new job? Who should get to know your best transferable skills? Why would your skills be valuable to others? And so on!

Get to the best skills through open dialogue!

I recognize the personal qualities of the job seeker and understand those transferable skills s/he owns in comparison to the specific job-related skills and hiring qualities employers often look for.

During an evaluative interview, I continuously assess any influential “soft skills” that rise to the surface. How does the person communicate?

What is her body language telling me? Is s/he exhibiting an open or a closed style? And of course, the environment and the context is accounted for. I look for indicators of creativity, flexibility, change readiness, leadership, team building, and so on.

If the person is able to build rapport with me and openly discuss their work attributes, they should be able to interview well, or at least feel a degree of comfort marketing themselves and become an effective seller in a job interview [with or without job seeking skills training]. If you’d like help now, here’s a link to Job Interview Questions and Answers, a free, interactive video app that helps you practice your answers to tough interview questions in an easy-to-use mock interview format.

Once solid assessment information is gathered during the interview, through completion of vocational worksheets, along with a generic application and a self-rating scale, the individual’s educational and vocational history is processed. The assessment process continues to unfold!

I detail all the occupations and job specific skills, roles and responsibilities that appear in the individual’s background and pay particular attention to those skills the individual has the capacity to reintroduce. Starting with one job or volunteer experience, I break down 3 major tasks and then divide those into skills acquired from performing that job. This process is eye-opening!

***Read on! ***

I’ve written about my background earlier in my blogging days titled ‘How did I Get into Rehab Counseling? Here’s a Little Story.’ The link I just provided sends you to the first in a series of parts of my story. But today, here’s a little bit about one of my first jobs.

Are you using transferable skills from your past in your current career?

Did you work in the food service industry as one of your first jobs? I did and many people do! Back in the early 1980s I worked as a waitress (ugg, thankfully now food server) at a restaurant called the Red Rooster Grill (as of May 2016 she remains open to hungry customers!) on the corner of Oak and Rocksylvania in Iowa Falls. (Trivia: Iowa Falls used to be the town called Rocksylvania!)

As a waitress, I gained many skills!

Following the methodology I describe above, here’s a chart listing the transferable skills I used at Red Rooster with the skills I continue to use in my present job many moons and late night munchies later as a vocational counselor and life care planner.

PAST EMPLOYMENT AS A FOOD SERVER:

Three Main Tasks ~

1.) Explain Menu & Suggest Menu Options to Guest (Interpersonal Skills)

2.) Take & Place Food Order (Marketing & Sales)

• Relay Orders to Cooking Staff (Communication & Teamwork)

3.) Deliver Food to Table (Customer Service & Quality Assurance)

• Accurately Distribute Food (Accuracy & Organization)

• Take Payment / Make Change (Accounts Payable/Receivable)

• Manage various types of payment (Invoicing & Follow-Through)

The soft skills I acquired as a waitress were learned from serving the after Dan’s Place bar crowd (and late night drivers!) who were out in the streets after 2:00 AM. More on soft skills in another post!

Sorry!! I tried hard not to spill coffee on my customers!!

When the evaluee or the job seeker sees how simple diagramming a chart can be in relation to their transferable skills, they often become more interested in the job search and in working with me in general! Good job!

Let me know how I can help with a vocational assessment to include transferable skills! Here’s another link to a great resource for help identifying transferable skills.

Thank you for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it and will click on the links and read more! Oh, and yes, please contact me at 515-778-0634 or amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com to discuss your case involving work and disability and learn how I could help you help your client!

___________________

My professional rehabilitation counseling practice is focused on helping people participate in the world around them, particularly in their own world of work.

December 29, 2020
The Many Uses and Benefits of Vocational Evaluations
Reading Time: 2 minutesVocational assessment and evaluation services become an integral component in vocational rehabilitation. Depending on the perspective, the service I offer is useful for many different applicable purposes and offers many corresponding benefits. And I’ll provide the best service you need at the right time!

A vocational assessment and evaluation can be used to:
- prepare a report highlighting an individual’s work history
- look at a person’s transferable skill set
- help write a resume and cover letter
- identify job accommodations
- assist in making job training and career choices based on interests, abilities, and aptitudes
- plan the content of a vocational training program
- help trainers and instructors adapt to the needs of the person with a disability
- provide data to survey a labor market
- help process a person’s potential for work or ability to adapt to different work environments
- help employers make efficient hiring selections
- describe factors of employability, hireability and placeability
- start the process of identifying an individual’s wage earning capacity
- serve as evidence to help a judge or jury understand an individual’s working abilities
- help me (your expert!) if called to testify in a personal injury or disability case, divorce or any other civil law case
- offer recommendations about a person’s work-life
For a detailed look into the outcome of this service, please take a look at the Sample Vocational Assessment & Evaluation Report link found on my website. Or, better yet, contact me and let’s discuss what you need and when you need it!

I’m here to help attorneys help their clients through civil litigation involving work and disability. I’m here to deliver:

Thank you for reading my post! Contact me at 515-778-0634 or amyebotkin@lcpresourcesplus.com so I can help you help your client!

___________________

My professional consulting practice focuses on helping attorneys help their clients with civil litigation matters
December 22, 2020