Jayme >> Good afternoon and welcome to today's Ticket to Work webinar, “Presenting Your Best Self to Employers.” My name is Jayme Pendergraft, and I'm the director of communications and outreach for the Ticket Program Manager. I am pleased to now introduce our moderator for today's webinar, Ray Cebula. Ray received his law degree from the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce law school —excuse me, Franklin Pierce School of Law. He spent 23 years providing legal services to individuals with disabilities in their interactions with Social Security and then became part of Cornell University's Work Incentives support center. In 2005, he joined the staff of Cornell's Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability. He now serves as the program director of YTI online, that is Cornell's Work Incentives practitioner credentialing program. With that I will hand it over to Ray. Thank you, Ray. 

Ray >> Thank you, Jayme. I had to unmute myself. I'm taking on the role as moderator today and my friend, Derek, is going to take on the role of the presenter today. I can't really think of a better time to make that switch when we talk about presenting your best self to employers. Derek is the man if you want to be able to present yourself well to employers, as well as filing applications, preparing those resumes, all that good stuff. 

So today's webinar can be accessed, please — accessing today's webinar, I should say, please know that you will all be muted. There is a question-and-answer box that you can ask your questions, and we will take those as we can. Select an option for how you want to join the meeting today for audio. The device speaker option will enable you — will enable the sound to be broadcast through your computer. Make sure your speakers are turned on or your headphones are plugged in. If you prefer to listen by phone, please click the phone option. To listen by phone, after you do click that phone option as seen in the previous slide, you will see the window shown here. Select dial in option, then click join meeting. On your phone dial toll free 1-800-832-0736. And today's access code is 4189148 pound sign. 

Welcome to the Adobe connect platform. We have a presentation pod, as you can see that's the largest part of your screen. All of the slides will be presented there. A captioning pod, the gray section beneath that presentation pod, if you need captioning, please go up to the top of your screen and click on the carrot or the down-facing arrow next to CC for closed captioning. Over on the right-hand side you will see the Q&A pod. We are asking you to put all of your questions that you have today in that Q&A pod. We have a very large group with us, so we will be picking those questions that are of the most interest to the most people. We're not able to answer questions about anybody's personal situation. This is just not the appropriate place to share information like that. 

Below that Q&A pod you're going to see a Web Links pod. A lot of the information that we're going to be presenting today can be accessed in that Web Links pod, and a lot of other good stuff if you want to scroll through that at any time. Derek will be letting you know when something is in that pod. 

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Questions and answers. Please use that Q&A pod to the right of this screen. We want to hear your questions. We will direct the questions accordingly during the question-and-answer portion, and we've got, I think, three sessions today which will be devoted to questions and answers. If you are listening by phone and are not logged into the webinar, you may also ask questions by emailing them to TTW webinars@ssa.gov. And the webinar online resources, again, that Web Links pod is going to help you find the resources we're talking about today and many others. There's a lot of good stuff in there. If you are listening through the phone and not logged into the webinar, you may email TTWwebinars@ssa.gov for a list of the available resources. Technical assistance. If you experience any technical difficulties during the webinar, please use the Q&A pod to send a message or, again, email TTWwebinars@ssa.gov. Today's presenters. You've already met me, Ray Cebula from Cornell University and I'm here today with Derek Shields. Jayme, do you have Derek's bio description that you can share?  

Jayme >> Sure, Ray. Hang on just one second while I grab that. Please bear with me for a moment. Derek Shields joins us today to talk about presenting your best self to employers, and as someone who actually personally worked for Derek and has known him for going on 20 years now, I wholeheartedly agree with Ray that he is the person for this job. So we'd like to welcome Derek this afternoon. He has nearly 30 years of experience in disability services and currently senior Employment Network development and training manager for the Ticket Program Manager with a master's degree in management and disability services. Derek also serves as president of ForwardWorks Consulting and is advisory council co-chair of the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. I will now turn today's webinar over to Derek. Welcome, Derek, and thank you, Ray.  

Derek >> Hey, everybody, this is Derek. Yeah, so our agenda topics today, we have four of them and I'm delighted to be with you to talk about presenting your best self to employers. We're going to start out with an overview of Social Security's Ticket to Work Program, followed by three sections really designed around that title topic. How do we create successful application materials, like Ray was saying, those are your — like your tools that provide that first impression. So I'm going to go through some recommendations for building great resumes, designing great cover letters, and also thinking about online portfolios. How do you present yourself outside of a resume, too? Then we'll switch after a Q&A break to preparing for an interview and give you some tips there and we will have a second Q&A and then we will come back and finish up with who can help you present your best self to employers, and that's covering the Employment Team members that are available to get eligible beneficiaries. So I'm looking forward to diving into those topics around employer-facing content but to kick us off we will turn it over to Ray to cover the Ticket to Work Program. Ray? 

Ray >> Two types of benefits that we all know, Social Security Disability Insurance and SSI or Supplemental Security Income. It's very important when you begin to talk about returning to work or starting work for the first time that you know what type of benefit you're receiving. Now, Social Security Disability Insurance is just that, it's the insurance program that we are all purchasing when we work and have FICA taxes withdrawn from our gross K. It has many, many Work Incentives, but they are particular to that benefit. Likewise, SSI, Supplemental Security Income, is not something we've bought, it's a needs-based program and will provide benefits to people who have never worked or people who haven't worked enough to become insured for the other program. This program also has an extensive list of Work Incentives that are peculiar to that program. And, seriously, there is a wall between them, and you need to know. We don't want to see you wasting time talking about what you think is SSDI only to find out that we should be talking about SSI. So try to make sure you know what benefit it is. 

What is the Ticket to Work Program? The Ticket to Work Program is free and it's voluntary. It's administered by the Social Security Administration. It offers career development for people ages 18 through 64 who receive Social Security Disability benefits, SSDI or SSI, and want to return to work. How can the Ticket Program help you? The Ticket to Work Program connects you with free employment services to help you decide if work, including self-employment, is the right choice, to help prepare you for work, whether that be training or listening to Derek, get your resume together. How to interview. What questions are you going to ask? Find a paid work opportunity. Derek is also our man for that. You know, getting a paid internship or an apprenticeship is a great way to get some experience. And then how will you succeed at work? The Ticket to Work providers aren't going to stop helping you just because you found a job. We're going to continue with you for several months to make sure you're able to succeed and provide you with support. You can learn more at “What is Social Security's Ticket to Work Program,” a self- guided tutorial in the Web Links pod. The Ticket to Work Help Line is available to you to ask basic questions, “Who are the providers in my area? What is this Ticket to Work? How can I use it?” With no obligation whatsoever. The Ticket to Work Program offers a toll-free Help Line to answer your questions and support you on your journey to financial independence. You can call the Ticket to Work Help Line Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. That number is 1-866-968-7842. For TTY users it's 1-866-833-2967. And now I'm going to turn it over to Derek and he's going to take you through the application materials and all that other good stuff. Take it away, Derek.  

Derek >> This is Derek. Thank you, Ray. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today for this session. I appreciate the setup there and understanding more about the Ticket Program and who is eligible, and, of course, that's why we're here — these Work Incentive seminars focus on Ticket eligible beneficiaries and helping those of you that want to explore pathways to work, to do so with us. Today in “Presenting Your Best Self to Employers” we've got some featured content for you. I think this is really designed for anyone. If it's your first time considering work or you're going to consider returning to work, you know, we have somewhere around 7 to 7.2 million job openings in the country. And if you are preparing for one of those opportunities, hopefully you can get a tip today that would either refresh your approach or perhaps rejuvenate it or give you a whole new tactic. We're going to start out today by covering creating application materials. So let's jump into that now. 

When we think about the materials and creating application materials, we certainly think of resumes. Resumes being a key, still today, and they come in different forms, of course. So we wanted to talk about them to make sure that everyone is comfortable with them. You know, usually they are a short document, potentially a single page that summarizes your work experience, your volunteer experience, your skill sets and, of course, any education you have. And, you know, one way of looking at this, whether it's a single page or a couple pages, it's trying to summarize who you are, what you bring to an employer and how that framing might also see, for an employer, how you are a good fit for them and vice versa, how they are a good fit for you. It's really a two-way opportunity here when we think about preparing for an interview. Yes, they're interviewing you, but we also hope that you're interviewing them, looking for a good match. That resume is a first impression, so while we are putting together to showcase your qualifications, we're also thinking about how we can get somebody's positive attention. So when we put together the content, we'll talk about that in a moment, it's important to think about not just trying to get it delivered, but it's trying to get it delivered in a way that it's obviously well received for that strong first impression. And that resume gives a tool to the employer to think about customizing their questions based on the field or sector, and your experience. So it allows for that bridge, once again, to be built. And that should allow for that more effective review. I think about resumes, too — you know, you might think about them as a list, a chronological list of things, and they are, but what we also know is that it's an asset inventory. If you haven't thought about your resume that way in the past, I'd like you to think about that as I share some recommendations so we can think about how we turn this into more of an asset inventory tool that does have that snapshot of where you've been and what you've achieved. 

All right. So let's look at what to include on a resume. And we've collected some suggestions here for you. Of course, we have contact information. We want to make sure —you know, I've seen some resumes, unfortunately, that people have their name, but they forget to put some form of contact information on them. As they get passed around, you never know where it might end up. So obviously have your name, but consider including, you know, professional email address. Think about what that email address has in it. If you're comfortable with it, a telephone number. I know that some people prefer not to do that, just for some security’s sake, but if you can include it, do that. And then if you have one, I also recommend including some other portfolio link, like if you have a LinkedIn page or if you have a personal website or a blog, you can list that up top with your contact information, too. 

With that we turn to work history. It's a chronological list of what you've achieved, if you've worked in the past. You know, we do recommend listing your previous jobs and starting them out, you know, at the top, the most recent, and working in what we would say reverse chronological order. So put the most recent there and then go backwards and end with the one of your last ones. You know, include your company name. We want a job title that you had and, of course, the dates you worked. And if you don't have much work experience and you're a little bit younger in your career, then, you know, we would include months and years. If you worked for a long time and you are returning to work, then maybe you could only include the years. That's really a personal choice to describe your history of work. We will talk about other kinds of work because we often know that some people have employment gaps or haven't worked, but have different types of experiences, and we want to make sure that you feel like you can have a resume, too. 

The next section we have listed here is education, and I will put certifications right with it because, you know, depending on the field you're in, education may be important, or a certification might be more important. So depending on what you're looking at achieving inside of a specific industry or sector. So same idea here, including the schools that you attended and if you had a graduation date, when that would be. For those of you that perhaps recently graduated high school, then this would be something to showcase. If there's others out there that that's been years and you've had different training education since, then we might start to leave that high school education off. It just really depends on where you are with your experience and what you want to showcase. For some others it includes classes or tracks that were part of a Community College education or potentially a vocational tech training program. So think flexibly here. If you don't have a bachelor's degree from a four-year institution, that doesn't mean you're not capable. What we want to do is showcase what training and education you have and how that's connected to your skill sets that the employer seeks. Remember, an asset inventory is looking for your strengths, your skills, and your experiences, that could come from worker education, but it can also come from just lived experience. Be flexible with yourself there. 

An example here is maybe if you were in the medical field and you used to be a technician, you know, I would encourage you to go ahead and put in that technology —excuse me, that technician certification. Maybe you were a radiologist tech, and then you had stoppage in your work career. You know, you could have had that without getting a formal degree. But if you are returning to the medical field, that certification, even though it lapsed, would be critical to show to a potential employer. Whatever you worked hard to do, make sure you include it. Next, we have this line here, tasks, results, or goals met in each position. Frequently you see on your resume where you worked, your title and the timeline, then underneath that list the bullets. That's where this comes in, tasks, results, or goals. Employers really like to know what you did with your time and when employers can read that story in more than, you know, answered telephone calls or delivered mail, and they get more out of it, well, what was the volume of work done and the time frame that it was done and the quality level that it was done. They start to get a better sense of did you meet the position's objectives, and do you know how to talk about it outside, you know, kind of that first-level description. So like if you were a customer service associate, maybe you were working at a store or perhaps like an inbound telephone sales position. You know, could you say answered 500 inbound calls per week with a 98% proficiency and received the president's quality award. That's a lot different than saying answered customer telephone calls. So I would encourage you to look at how you're saying your tasks and framing them with kind of the volume of the work and also, if possible, the quality of the work. That's a lot more interesting. If you can do that it might tell a slightly different story for folks. 

Now, I know there's some of you out there that are saying, well, I haven't worked before in a traditional employment setting and I perhaps feel like my resume —I have a hard time filling my resume with enough content to be competitive. This is the case, of course, for folks, some folks. I would really encourage you to rethink any volunteer work that you have done. You know, community service or perhaps, you know, supporting through a community church, different community needs, is a great way to develop skills. You can showcase where your assets have come from through that volunteer work. You know, so examples could be something like if you volunteer for Habitat for Humanity a couple times a year and you've developed some carpentry skills because there was another guy that was there that had you be an assistant, now you know how to do a couple things like, I don't know, install ramps or frame a wall. Well, you didn't get training in that, but you did have a mentor and volunteer position, and you can frame that as developed experience. Or perhaps you were, you know, involved with like a Big Brothers, Big Sisters. You know, these volunteering opportunities allow you to demonstrate time management skills, potentially, you know, a list of others that maybe aren't coming through your work history because you don't have enough exact work history. So think about that. 

The next one, useful job-related skills. You know, this is really what I've been getting at with all the description around the asset inventory. So if you are thinking about a position and you're thinking about customizing a resume for that, you know, application for the position, and they're looking for specific experiences, you're going to know what those are and you're going to be able to think about where did those experiences or skill sets come from? Do I have technical skills? Do I have writing skills? Do I have those time management skills? And then go back and look at work history, education, and training history, and volunteer history, and pull out the best examples you have to put in that asset inventory and use those keywords. Keywords would be specifically the skill sets that they're looking for. That's where you want to build your one-to-one match and showcase your asset inventory. 

And the last one, awards, honors, and work-related achievements. I think by this point when you are on your resume or you're telling your story, sometimes it's challenging. You know, I was brought up, my grandmother told me, Derek, that's not good, you're bragging. So I was brought up in a generation where we weren't supposed to brag and now we're telling you on your resume, go ahead and brag. You know, I've reframed that as this is, again, showcasing your work and your achievements and it is a competitive process to find employment and you need to brag. So I mentioned before the customer service associate got the president's quality award. Well, this would be something to list with pride. If you've got an employee of the month award, that would be something important to include. You know, if you ever earned some type of honors in an educational program or a certification, add that too. That becomes part of your identity and all of this on a single page or a couple pages of paper is your identity and can become your brand by what you put there, meaning how you're recognized by others and how they view you. This could come to us if we hire you, too. So keep those thoughts in mind when considering that. 

All right. We spent a little time on what to include and writing and creating your resume, so now we're going to look at the next piece, which is focused more on tips for writing it. So we know now the types of content we want to put in, well then how do we format that? If you are like some folks, you might open like a word processing app like Microsoft Word and look for a template. That's a good way to go if you don't know where to start. Or, as we talk about later, with your Employment Team members, some of these employment counselors, they might have templates or give you advice. But we do have some general tips that you can take for sure. First one is make your contact information stand out. We recommend what you put there, but then also use, you know, appropriately larger sized font and put that email address in there. Don't make it hard for a talent acquisition or human resources person to be able to figure out how to reach out to you. They're getting a lot of resumes. Make their job easy by doing that. That email address, you know, you think about it, sometimes we see people with AOL or Yahoo addresses. While many people had those, they're kind of outdated. So you can consider updating that to a more current email app, but most importantly, you know, if you are a Jets fan and it says jetsjetsjets@AOL.com, you never know how somebody is going to react to that. If they happen to be Jets fan, you're lucky. Most likely they will want to see your name in that email address, so think about that and get an appropriate one. 

Next, tailor your resume for specific jobs. This is where we talk about connecting the skills and experiences to match the job description. It's not necessarily a science, it is a bit of an art, and when you do that if you are unsure about how to do that, your Employment Team members can help. But doing that side-by-side, you know, I'm kind of a paper person, so I like to print things out and literally take a pen and look at the job description and check off, okay, I've got that in my resume. They're asking for, you know, this leadership experience. Well, you know, I have that a little bit, but maybe I should work on that over on the resume. That's how I approach it. You might want to ask for feedback, you know, from a family member or something to get their view on what matches or what you can do. We do put up here “list information in order of importance.” We know that the volume of resumes out there can be inundating. There is a lot of email and resume and application traffic going on, so we want to make sure if you only have, you know, a certain amount of time that you're going to get the person's attention. So elevate the most important. Is it work history? Is it skill sets? If you are looking at a technical position, is it your technical skill sets and certifications? Drive those right up there. 

And our last recommendation here, kind of a showcasing the day and age we're in, referring to applicant tracking systems. If you are not familiar with those, most larger companies are using these today, and thinking about how to make your resume friendly for these systems that receive and in effect become a database of resumes. If you want to get screened in to a company that uses an applicant tracking system, you need to make sure that you have the required information that they've asked, you want to make sure that you don't have errors, meaning spelling typos or other grammatical issues because they would — systems can search you out instead of in. And you want to make sure that those key skill sets are in there. So when we say keywords, think of the applicant tracking system. They're looking for somebody with these skill sets, and did I put those as keywords in my resume? Because then the tracking system is going to be able to be filtered by perhaps work experience, perhaps education, but importantly those skill sets as keywords. 

All right. So following these tips, writing the resume, make a strong impression and you increase your chances of landing that interview. And with that in mind, then we say, well, what else is part of those application materials? And we come to cover letters. Perhaps they are not as critical as the resume because they're not a filter in the applicant tracking system, but it is another opportunity for you to pass along some really important information. It does help you introduce yourself and persuade the employer to have a deeper look, meaning let's check out the resume, I'm intrigued. So think of it as a bit of a top sheet to that resume. And you have the ability to put it in. It might not be required, so I would recommend going the extra distance. If it's optional, still send one. It's an opportunity to bring your personality and your personal brand forward in a way that sometimes is hard to do through a resume. And it can help set you apart from other candidates, bringing your story and the company’s story together. And I think that’s what we’re looking for here – a chance to build that bridge. 

So let’s now look at some ideas for writing a cover letter. Some tips around that like we did for the resumes. So we have a few listed here, four listed, and I’ll comment on some on each. So researching the company so you can show how your skills and values align with theirs. So two things there: what’s my skillset match, what do I bring to them, and then what do I have in terms of values that align with theirs. So how do you do that? You can visit their website, you could also look at some news articles, either their own press releases or some things that you could find in other news coverage. If it’s a smaller entity, though, maybe that’s harder. They have a website but it’s small. Or you know they’re in the community and you’re looking to be a salesperson at a local retail shop or a service person at a local store, I recommend looking in apps like Yelp. Sometimes even NextDoor. You can get a lot of reviews and understand a company or an employer’s reputation through those tools. So something to think about. 

You can personalize your cover letter of course for each job. Try not to use a generic version but refresh it each time. And if you can address the hiring manager directly, that’s great. It’s not always available to do it but it can make it more customized and personal. Then last, emphasize your skills and experience, and in doing that, explain how those align well with the job. And again, that’s that bridge-building work and it could be the more challenging work but if you put your effort into it, it’s going to get the attention of the employer. And those steps can once again help your cover letter stand out in making that positive impression. 

Alright when we think about what to include in it, a well-structured cover letter includes several things. I’ve been mentioning them, but you’ve got your contact information again, your name, your email, your potential mailing address and those optional items like LinkedIn or the portfolio link. So they’re repeating. Remember your cover letter might get separated from your resume so think about that and make it findable so they can come back and find you. We want the recipient’s information, you know, like the hiring manager or the title of the company, maybe a position. They call it a job requisition number in some larger companies. But maybe it’s just the title of the position for a smaller organization. And then an introduction that briefly states who you are and the position you’re applying for. In the body of the paragraph, it wants you to include those knowledge, skills, and abilities. That’s that asset inventory that relate directly to the job and that’s that important paragraph in the cover letter. And then highlight what makes you qualified. This is that chance to stand out in the competition and brag a little bit. Not only what you’ve learned and what you’ve experienced through work but potentially what you’ve done in the last year or six months to advance yourself. And be proud of that. You know we can’t all learn all the time but if we can demonstrate what we’re doing through lifelong learning or approaching new content and improving ourselves, this will demonstrate positive value to the employer. And as I mentioned, any other accomplishments or achievements like those awards. And then finish off with that strong closing statement: I look forward to hearing from you and having the opportunity for an interview, that type of thing. 

Alright now that we’ve gone through the cover letter, a couple thoughts on portfolios, which are really fabulous additions to your application materials. So if you’re not familiar with a portfolio or what I like to call a living portfolio, this is a sample of work or potentially previous work that showcases what you do, what you have done, and brings these opportunities to employers or potential employers. So an example would be if I was to apply for a website design job, you would include previous websites that you’ve designed. If you’re a photographer, showcase a selection of your best photos. Maybe you do nature photography, and you have a section on that. Maybe you’ve done headshots for clients, have a section on that. But really bring forward your creative capacity as a photographer there. So my portfolio’s not like that, I have a LinkedIn account that I've managed for a long time, and as I publish things like papers or resource guides, I tend to add those as my recent achievements. And so if you go to my LinkedIn page you will see six or seven what I would call my “deliverables” for clients that I'm proud of. And I try to continue to add those over time. So a couple different ways to look at a portfolio. While it's not required, it is a good way for you to augment what you have, to add to your resume and cover letter, one more thing that's going to make you stand out and, again, be part of your personal brand. 

When creating a portfolio, you know, we recommend determining what best representations of your work you should include. I gave you some examples but those are steps you’ll need to consider. You could have different sections, here we have publications, websites, and artwork as examples, but what is it that you've done that you would bring forward for a living portfolio that would help tell your story? Or perhaps you have a personal blog and your blog has subsections. Think about those subsections if you are going into communications application, how does my blog represent different communities, and how would employers look at that. You know, have a statement outlining who you are and your goals and request and maintain testimonials if possible. This is a great one. If you haven't asked for testimonials, it would be a good thing to add. You might ask for references, but you can also get a testimonial and include that in your portfolio. We have the awards again and of course include ways to connect. If you have other social networks or accounts, putting those links there so they have the opportunity to look at how you're engaging in the community over there, too. So some good tips on creating a portfolio. 

As we round out the application materials, remember the first part was on creating successful application materials. I just want to review a few things here. It's great to have an awesome resume, to have an awesome cover letter, and to have a fantastic portfolio — a living portfolio — but if you have errors in them, it's going to take away from that keyword. If you put attention to detail and then you go to one of these and there's a spelling error, then it's questioning, well, what's your attention to detail? So have somebody give you feedback. I highly recommend that. And then continue to update your materials. You know, if you haven't done that for a while, I would encourage you to go back, refresh them and make sure that they're up to — up to the story that you want to share for the positions that you're considering or actually applying to. All right. With that we are now at our first break and I'm going to ask Ray to come back in. 

Ray >> Here I am, Derek. And we had some questions for you. Lots of audience participation, in fact. The first question that we have is: What if I haven't worked in a while? I might have a gap in my resume either because of a disability or for any other reason. How do I deal with that?  

Derek >> Ray, thanks for the question. Yeah, I mentioned that, and I'm not surprised we have the question. That's probably the most asked questions when it comes to a resume and the work that we do. It's a very personal decision. First of all, for a lot of people it's good, it's fine, it's your life, and how do you want to tell that story? That's a personal decision. There's a couple different ways to position that. You could identify on the resume that you took time off and identify what that was. You could do that in a cover letter, instead of the resume itself. You could also look at that not about what employer you worked for, if you weren't working, but how did you develop other skill sets, and in doing that you create a chronological —a reverse chronological resume that blends together potentially education and work and volunteer experiences. So rather than separating them by those three as individual sections, you can make a reverse chronological resume. It's a good way of filling in gaps of time with other types of ways that you've gained skills and assets. You know, somebody once had a job, had an injury but was able to be at home and take care of younger siblings. Well, that in effect is baby-sitting, it gave new skill sets for that individual. So caregiving responsibilities can be reframed in gaining new skill sets. If I had to use certain apps for time management, I could put that in there. If I was responsible for engaging with all of their scheduling for those siblings for different appointments, then I was in effect doing communications outreach to other community members. So there's a lot of things that you could put in there. The idea here is to emphasize transferable skills rather than, “I had time off from work” for whatever personal reason that might have been. So, again, that's a personal decision. We would encourage you to work with the Ticket to Work service provider in going into the details on that and we will tell you how to find those later today.  

Ray >> Okay. Thanks for that, Derek. Some good information there. We have a very specific one that's come in concerning gig workers, and the question is how should gig workers or 1099 contractors list experience on a resume? Should we use a comprehensive history or a project or task-based CV, curriculum vitae or curriculum, highlighting deliverables instead of standard resume bullets?  

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks, Ray. And that's a fantastic question and that's one that we see a lot more now. You know, it's not a one-size-fits-all approach, so it really depends on the position that you're applying for. You know, so if you've had a gig-based or independent consultant type approach to work and the employer is seeking that, then it would be a good match. If you have — you know, so you would get into more of a lengthy resume. There's also an approach to do both. You could have a shorter resume with a description of the work in your cover letter. Or if you have a living portfolio, go there for the detailed list. So you could choose one of the three to put in the expansive list of the gigs; when they were, what you did, and, if possible, the positive impact of that, you know, effort. But they don't have to be in all three, and I would choose one that you would feel is right for that representation. If possible, you could also include a testimonial or reference from one of those gig-based customers, especially if you are looking at applying to a similar-type position going forward. If it was successful for you and it sounds like it has been for some, don't go with just, oh, I did it once or twice. You could put a section in your resume that said independent consultant for, you know, let's say from 2020 to 2024, and then put sub bullets with some of the customers and some of the functions you provided to them. You could roll it up as “I was an independent consultant for a while and here is that section of time.” So a couple different ways to do it. If you are proud of the work, I would definitely include it somewhere. It's part of what you bring to that employer, and what I just learned is that you have flexibility to meet different needs of different clients, and you probably could handle stress well if you're bouncing from a gig to a gig to find your next income. So it tells me a lot if somebody was able to do those things. I'd want to know that as an employer. Ray, are you there? 

Ray >> Yes, I'm talking to myself while I was muted. I wanted to thank you for that information about tailoring your resume to each employer and one size doesn't fit all. We have one more question. Someone is asking they've never had a job, can the Ticket to Work Program help me?  

Derek >> This is Derek. Absolutely. You know, if you haven't worked and you hear about a lot of these terms that can be intimidating. But if you are eligible, as Ray describes, receiving one or both of the benefit programs from Social Security and fall inside of that age range, then, yes, the Ticket Program can help you, even if you haven't had any work before, and importantly can translate your non-work-related experience into a resume or an application. It's not an easy thing to do if you haven't done it before, but the Ticket Program and the service providers can best position you to do that well. So I would encourage you to think about that. Okay. I have a lot of strengths and skills and experiences, maybe they aren't from work. Let's give this a go and a little bit later on we will tell you how to contact the service provider. 

Ray >> — some more information.  

Derek >> Excellent. Okay, Ray. Well, thanks for that and I will be back to you in a little bit for our next Q&A round. With that we're going to turn into preparing for an interview as our next section. This is the opportunity to showcase the qualifications and really your enthusiasm. I know sometimes it's hard when you're nervous going forward in these things, but when employers are out there looking for folks, they're looking at who is eligible for this position? Who is qualified for the position? And who is going to fit with us the best? Sometimes that is part of that, you know, personal brand or how you match with the values of an organization. So let's review some tips now to talk about how to make that positive impression in an interview. 

So we come back to research again. You know, I talked about researching before a couple times. I will bring it up again. You know, when you are writing a cover letter or resume you need to think about how do I connect in and how do I make it through the sourcing pipeline. You know, there’s competitors out there, that research will help you. Now we've made it to that milestone. We've been either recommended for a screening, like a virtual contact for a quick call, or a more detailed interview. And so when you think about researching an employer, it's really an important step and it shows you have genuine interest in being there. You know, these online platforms that are out there from companies that collect applications and resumes, it's really apparent as an employer when somebody is just throwing out 500 resumes. Nothing is customized. There's no thought nor care about what the employer is seeking. It's just throwing out there and hoping that one of them will stick. 

So when you think about the research, you're also thinking about trying to stand out, and that's going to help be a differentiator for you. To do that you need to think of the mission, vision, and values of the company. What are their successes and what are their challenges? Because they're looking for people to help them meet those challenges. We will get to these other things that we have listed here. The interview questions are specific and if you have that research in place you're going to be able to answer with confidence what you know about the company, why you want to work there, and what, importantly, you can bring to them. I think that last part is really where I'd like to emphasize. If you are familiar with who they are and what they need, then you're going to be able to be in a better position to say what you can bring to meet their needs. How do you find that out in research? Well, that can be a little bit more challenging, but you can look online, and I encourage you to use a social platform. You know, if you are able to, I follow companies on LinkedIn. Now, I'm not applying to those companies, but if you are applying to companies that are larger ones, and you aren't following them on LinkedIn and they use LinkedIn to find resumes, they sort —in one of those sort features for their talent and human resources teams is who is following our brand on LinkedIn? They will look for regional or work at home positions, they will look at keywords, they will look at education, and they will look at who is following us on LinkedIn. So you could get sorted in or sorted out. So think about that in itself. That's an important consideration if they use that as a hiring tool. But by doing that research you might also be able to just learn some things that are more relevant to a recent time for the company. Oh, I see that this —your company is a sponsor of the special Olympics. I noticed that you are a sponsor for their world games in Florida last summer. I appreciate that because I have a child that has been in the Special Olympics before and that's always been near and dear to our values and I appreciate your company does that, too. It brings the two sides a little closer together. 

All right. Next up, we have practicing answering questions. So we're doing our research, we're figuring out things about the company that are important to them, and now we have the need to prepare for, well, what are they going to ask me? So here we have some tips. Answering those questions obviously can increase your confidence. If we go in without practicing, either by ourselves or with a friend or, you know, an employment counselor, then we're going to be more nervous and that's going to lead to a potential downturn in that interview experience. So in practicing we recommend preparing for a mix of general questions and some more specific questions, and in doing that, you know, like, I don't know, the key one is well, tell me about yourself. You know, what have you done and why are you applying type story line. So this is a chance for everyone to in effect share what we would call an elevator speech. Do you have about a two-minute description that you feel comfortable referring to that's slightly tailored for that employer? If you don't then that's something that you could work on and practice. It will allow you to have more confidence in that situation. 

And then, next, research common interview questions for the job you are interviewing for. I really like this one; it prepares you in a customized way for that employer. One of our team members says there are a lot of apps out there that you can use. I'm applying for this position; I want to be a seamstress. I have some work experience in this area, but I need to know what kind of questions they're going to ask me for this job. Or, I'm going to work for that coffee shop, I've never been a barista before, but I've always wanted to give it a try, what kind of questions are they going to ask me? You can plug that into your search in those apps and get some potential questions that you could use in practice. If not, you can reach out through a service provider, you can talk to a family member. They might have some ideas about those potential questions, too. And then, you know, you could outline some of your answers and then practice with a service provider, a friend, or a family member if you have somebody available. It might seem foolish at first, but I remember when I did it at first what I did was I used a mirror, it was just me. I had no confidence in my answers when I was applying for a large copy or printer company, so I started by just sitting with a mirror and acting like I was talking to the hiring manager. Once I got better at it, then I got in front of a family member. It was my brother. Although he was tough on me, it ended up being really helpful when I got to the actual interview questions themselves. That will increase your confidence, of course, and that's the game here, we want to make sure your confidence is increasing. 

Then we have the other side of this, right? They're going to ask you questions and then at the end their final question is, well, thank you, Derek, for coming in. What questions do you have for me? Or what questions do you have for our panel today? And that, of course, can also be intimidating. So we want you to be prepared there. You can, again, use the apps and do some online computer searches to get some recommendations. Of course, you can talk to a service provider that would have some recommendations as well. These questions can range, and we have some examples here. I love the first one, you know, what's a typical day or week like in this position? You know? I have not held it before, as you know. This is my employment objective. I feel like I would be a great match. Can you walk me through the more specifics of what a day is like for someone in the position? Or the next one, you know, what's the most important thing that I’ll need to accomplish in my first three to six months? I really like goal setting, I've heard you have great onboarding training. I want to know where I should be in the first three to six months, can you help describe that? And others, you know, a lot of time people have been in a career for a little bit longer. What's your favorite part of working for this employer for so long? You know, is it a good one or what's something about your work in this employer or organization that many people don't know about? It allows them to reflect and give you a little pointer back. And the last one, what are the next steps in the hiring process? That's an important one as well because it will allow you to address things like, you know, are there second interviews at the point of offer? Will we be discussing benefits or can we learn a little bit more about that now? So have a couple of questions ready to go to make sure you're leaving knowing that it's a good match for you, too. 

And we have our recommendations for dressing for the job. And this is, of course, tailored, depending on where you are, to different answers. Dressing appropriately for that interview is really important and it shows that you care to the interviewer, whether that's online as a screening or an interview or in-person. You know, as these jobs vary, if it's an office or professional job, thinking about a suit or a Blazer or, you know, a nicer outfit, that could be necessary. If you are in more of a traditional blue-collar job, such as a welding job, an outfit might be more appropriate for the gear that's on site. If you don't know, you can ask a service provider or you can ask the person you're interviewing with. Might feel a little risky but you want to make sure you're appropriately dressed based on the environment that you are going. It is important, no matter where you're going, make sure you have clean clothes, you're kind of presenting that wrinkle-free approach, and it shows another attention to detail that you care. 

All right. And then be mindful of time. When we look at this, this is important to arrive to the interview a few minutes early. You know, I used to have the saying I worked for the U.S. Department of Defense for a long time and if you weren't early, you were late. Normally if you were early, you also had a chance to do a little pre-networking. It's a great opportunity to learn something else about potentially who you are going to be interviewing with or about the company that might not come up in the interview. So if that takes transportation arrangements, you know, make sure you put those in place, you know, for any potential delays along the way. 

We also want you to be respectful of the interviewer's time. You know, be focused on them, you know, I've heard some stories about people bringing a cat to an interview or checking their telephone during the interview. You know, obviously for some these are inappropriate things, but these things do happen. Turn off your telephone. Provide your complete attention to the interviewer and really show that your focus is on that conversation and you're fully engaged. What we want as another skill to be demonstrated is that you do have attention to the communication and that you could be 100% present in the interview. If you are not able to do that, they might draw a conclusion you are not able to be 100% present during your job. So keep that in mind. And importantly stay in touch afterwards. Follow up and thank the interviewer for their time. Time does cost employers, and you want them to know that that time mattered to you. Reinforce your understanding of the position. You can send an email, if you have their contact information, and when you're ready to start and you could, again, reinforce any portions of an online portfolio or updates you wanted to share since you were with them in the interview. 

All right. And with that we will wrap up this section with a success story. Ray and I love to share success stories with you to showcase how others have gone before and hopefully motivate you, too. Let's talk about Walter. Walter and his success story with the Ticket Program. He was born with a developmental disability. Walter lives in upstate New York and had to work hard to acquire skills that came naturally to his peers. He did receive Supplemental Security Income or SSI. Walter always dreamed of living independently and he set a goal to find work and wanted to buy a house and earn an income. So he was transitioning out of high school and his counselor at the high school referred him to his local Employment Network through the Ticket Program to have him develop those skills that he needed, like a lot of these skills we were talking about in this session. And then Walter worked with the EN, the Employment Network, and created an Individualized Work Plan with his career counselor. And in the plan, he identified short and long-term goals. He set the goal to improve his soft skills, and this is where we connect. He needed to improve understanding of professionalism, proper dress, timeliness and time management, following directions, and appropriate times to communicate or when we're going to engage. After working on the skills, he was able to work more hours and gain more responsibilities. He started out as a position at Ithaca College; he was working part-time. He did well, he advanced, and then he got his dream job at Cornell University. That's also Ray's employer. And with that he was able to work as a custodian full-time. Walter said, “for me work is not all about the paycheck, it's about the other things that go with the job. I like being part of the Cornell community. Everyone is so nice. Now I get to go to work every day in a place where I'm comfortable, where I can be myself.” So we applaud that for Walter. We also acknowledge and he acknowledges that having a job has given him options that work and earning an income offers. He has private health insurance, a retirement plan, and, importantly, Walter became the first person in his family to own a home. So congrats to Walter and thanks to the Employment Network that supported him in making that possible. 

Okay. We are at who can help you present your best self to employers? And this is the final section before our Q&A and Ray will wrap it up. We've mentioned throughout this a lot of references to who can help you and the Employment Team or the service providers, and we want you to be aware of them. As you think about returning to work and possibly changing careers, you're going to have questions and need support. We all do. Connecting with the Ticket Program service provider can really help you develop that work plan, the Individual Work Plan, with achievable short and long-term goals, and steps to find and maintain employment. The Ticket Program service providers can even help you find the type of career you might enjoy and any transferable skills you have. A lot of these providers have employer contacts and relationships so they're going to be able to hear your work goals and figure out how some of those skill sets, that asset inventory, may or may not transfer to specific employers and help you start to envision what that bridge to work can look like. 

All right. As I mentioned, there's different ones out there. There's Employment Networks and there's State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. We call these ENs and VRs. Perhaps you've heard that before. The Ticket Program gives you access to a variety of service providers, ENs and VRs being two of those. What we want to do is just give you a little bit more detail on them in case you are not familiar. The Employment Team, the first one is the Employment Network. This is a private or public organization that has an agreement with the Social Security Administration to provide those employment support services to people who are eligible for the Ticket to Work Program, and importantly they're free. So those are —you know, for those of you that are receiving SSDI or SSI and are aged 18 through 64, you're Ticket eligible and can get free employment support services from these Employment Networks. 

There are also ENs that are called workforce ENs. There are many public workforce system organizations, we call many of these American job centers, all across the country. There's almost 2,000 of these and there's many of those that are workforce ENs that you could also work with, and I encourage you to consider doing so. When you think of the Employment Networks, there are specific services and supports designed to help you. We've talked about, you know, preparing your materials and preparing for the interview and of course that's here, but they can also help with that goal setting, in preparing those materials in the portfolio, along with connecting in, well, in the interview how would I request a reasonable accommodation, or should I request a reasonable accommodation during an interview, and talk to you about what's best for you as you want to disclose a disability or not disclose. And importantly, many ENs have the ability to either provide benefits counseling or connect you to a benefits counselor that would talk about, as you start the journey of work, how work will impact your benefits. So a lot of great valuable services and supports there. 

State Vocational Rehabilitation or VR agencies also provide services. They provide a much wider variety of services that help people with disabilities return to work or enter new lines of work. You know, maybe you're entering the workforce for the first time. They could also have embedded benefits counseling, but they get more involved with some of that more robust vocational rehabilitation or longer-term training and education. If your work goal is —requires a certificate in a specific vocational tech area, they can help. If your work goal requires a bachelor's degree, a four-year degree, they can help. So you could receive services first from a VR and then from an EN. So a lot of good options out there for you to consider. With VRs here on this slide, you know, usually work with individuals who need more significant services. In some states, that includes more intensive training and education and rehabilitation. They may also offer career counseling and job placement assistance, which is important to consider outside of that counseling that I mentioned just a moment ago. 

So a lot of great services coming from the VR system. If you’re interested in this we just want to mention that you can find a member of your Employment Team, one of these service providers by going to our Ticket to Work Help Line. You know, Ray mentioned this, and I’ll just mention it again. You can reach the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 or via TTY at 1-866-833-2967. That TTY line is available for individuals who are deaf, or hard of hearing, or who have other communication disabilities. If you prefer not to call one of the beneficiary support specialists at the Help Line and you prefer using a computer for your search and doing that directly, you can visit the ChooseWork website at the Find Help page. The Find Help page is also #10 in the Web Links pod. By going there, you can search by your zip code if you prefer something that’s more in your backyard, you could also look for a national service provider. You can filter by services offered, your disability type, there’s a language spoken field, and specifically for the service provider type. If you want to work with an Employment Network or a Workforce Employment Network or one of those State VR service providers, you can search by them, the Find Help tool will give you your report and then you can reach out directly to that service provider. And that brings us to our second Q & A and gives me an opportunity to invite Ray back in. Ray?

Ray >> Hey Derek, thank you for all that great information. We’ve got a lot more questions for you. One of them is how do I research a company before my interview?

Derek >> Thanks, Ray. I mentioned a couple of these things, but I think it’s important and I appreciate the question. If somebody’s asking it there’s probably others thinking it too, right?
I think the top ways of doing it are considering the employer, if they have a website, is there a chance they could review and read about their history. Normally a website will have an About Us page. Even for smaller companies or organizations, it will give a historical view. How was the organization founded? What was the original mission, and how did it evolve over time? So I’d recommend starting there. Look at the employer’s webpage and check out the About Us area. 

Beyond that you could go in a couple of different areas to find vision, mission, and values. Larger companies, if you’re looking at a very large company, might have something like an annual report. In fact, some of them have multiple annual reports. It gives a good chance to see, well, how is this company doing for potentially like shareholders in terms of return on investment. It also gives different sections like their values-driven commitments. Does this company support the community, if so, how? And you might find connections between your personal values and that employer's values. Like that example of the Special Olympics, that was something you saw on their website for their annual report and that was important to you. It might reinforce, you know, this company is a place I'd like to be. 

Other times it's harder. You could do news searches; you could look on social media. I would also recommend if you are on a professional network platform, search to see if you're connected to anyone working at that employer. An example is in LinkedIn, if you are in there you could search your contacts and find an example of how to connect with somebody who is working there and ask them, would you mind having an informal meeting? I would love 15 minutes of your time to hear more about what you do at that company and answer a few questions of mine. So different ways to do research. I would encourage you to do that, to build up as much information so you stand out compared to the other person and stick around in that sourcing pipeline.  

Ray >> Okay. We're going to stick with that interview for a minute. If I don't have friends or family who can help me prepare for the interview, is there somebody else I could reach out to?  

Derek >> Thanks, Ray. This is Derek again. Oh, absolutely. As I mentioned, I started with myself in a mirror, or you don't need to look in the mirror, if you prefer. I would practice by yourself. It might seem foolish or foolhardy, but if we don't get our narrative down and then we go to practice with somebody else, then we're going to spend most of their time starting. So do the best you can and then you bring that version to that next person. If it's not somebody like a friend or a family member, we encourage you to use the Ticket to Work Program and these service providers. These employments are across the country, Employment Networks and Vocational Rehabilitation agencies are across the country, and they do exactly that. They're there to be your partner. So if you are frustrated because you don't have another close person, make the Employment Team your team and use that contact. They're all free career support services and that includes interview preparation supports. You know, I met some of these Employment Network professionals and they are outstanding at what they do. What you're missing is having them as part of your Employment Team and giving you confidence through interview prep. So I would encourage you to call the Help Line or do the Find Help tool search and reach out to an Employment Network and tell them what you're trying to do and that you need help with the interview prep and see what you find out. I think you will figure out that the bridge to them is not as big or as wide of a gap as you thought and you would quickly get going in your journey.  

Ray >> All right. Thank you for that, Derek. We have another one concerning how far back does our resume go? How many years of employment should I list on my resume? 

Derek >> Yeah, this is Derek again. It's a good one. I mentioned it a little earlier, you know, it's a soft answer and it really depends. You know, if you had 30 years of being in and out of work, normally those first jobs perhaps are less important, so you might stop, you know, listing some of them. That said, if you are looking at a position in retail and one of your first jobs was in retail, it would be really important to include that you had retail experience. Those types of decisions should be customized per each application and each interview. So when you are thinking about the resume and you're thinking about the variances that's, again, why we encourage you to work with a service provider. They may have a relationship with the employer and they said, look, this employer likes one-page resumes. A couple of these experiences could be left out and here is how we're going to do it. So I would really bring those situations up on a case-by-case basis based on who you are applying to and the nature of your experience. So hopefully that helps. Again, there's not a single answer. Consider reaching out to a service provider for better guidance on each case.  

Ray >> Thank you for that, Derek. And somebody says, this is great advice for an in-person interview, but how do I make a good first impression over the phone or on Zoom? 

Derek >> This is Derek again. Yeah, you know, and this is really important. A lot of organizations do at least the screening through a virtual connection meaning telephone or a Zoom and potentially an email gets that started. So with that in mind, preparing for that would be the first step. So if you think about how many phone numbers — how many times you've distributed your phone number to employers that may call, and you normally answer the telephone, “hey, this is Derek,” then you may rethink that. Oh, I'm in application mode right now, this could be an employer, I'm going to change the, “hey, this is Derek” to something a little bit more professional. “Hello, this is Derek speaking.” Something like that. Just a minor thing, but a tweak. I think on the other side for email or if you are messaging inside of a platform and you get an interview, then how do you show up in a video platform like Zoom or Teams or Google Meet, one of these, you know, how do you engage with somebody? If we don't experience it a lot, it's, again, an opportunity to practice. You can set up a short video practice session for that in advance. 

A couple tips I have, it's — it's hard to be online and not be tempted to access a lot of notes. I work with a lot of employers and employers actually have virtual screening tools that tell them if you are looking at them, if you are reading AI-driven content, and they will filter you immediately out if their tool tells you you're doing that. So keep that in mind. Large companies are preventing hiring people that aren't answering on their own two feet, so to speak. So I would encourage you to, if you can, have eye contact through the machine, meaning you're looking right into the camera and acting like, if possible, you're making eye contact with the other side. And be your honest individual self. Don't worry about making the world's best answer. Make your best answer that you can connect through a video platform and, you know, if you make a mistake, ask for a second and say, well, let me think about that, my answer for a moment. It might draw an uncomfortable pause, but it also shows that you're willing to tell them I need a moment, I'm going to gather my thoughts and when I do, I'm going to give you my answer. I've seen that done plenty of times on Zoom-like screening sessions and the talent acquisition and HR professionals I engage with have no issue with it, either. Just remember that. That's a great question. I'd like to take a moment to prepare my response and, you know, five, ten seconds later, okay, now go. That's better than stumbling over your answer and not being sure how to meet, you know, their interests with a good response. So a couple tips there. I'm sure others have more. Make sure you ask a service provider or other friends or family members for their experiences that would build how you would approach one of those virtual screenings or interviews.  

Ray >> All right. Thank you, Derek. It's a different world than when I started working. Okay. How do I network if I don't have many professional connections? How would I start building those connections?  

Derek >> This is Derek. I love networking and it can be intimidating, but networking as a skill set can only start by beginning. I would tell you you might not have a lot of professional connections, but you do have connections, and some of those personal connections do have community and professional connections. So start with those that are closest with you, friends and family, ask them to introduce you to somebody that's in the field or industry, and then you can connect and ask them for maybe a 15-minute or 30-minute informational interview. You can also use a platform to connect to somebody or use those service providers. One of the questions I would ask the service provider is if you want to join the retail industry, can they introduce you to somebody for an informational interview with somebody in the retail industry before you even begin to apply. It would help you get ready and change your professional network. 

Ray >> Thank you for that, Derek. All right. The last question I have for you is: What if I am unsure about the type of work I want to do or the training I may need before I start looking for work?  

Derek >> Thanks, Ray. This is Derek. All right. Our last question. I think, you know, the Ticket to Work Program is designed for exactly that. I'm not the person for that one. I'm going to direct you to call the Ticket to Work Help Line or use the Find Help tool. The service provider is going to talk to you about all the work that's out there and the training or certifications that you might not have and potential steps to get there. They might redirect you to the state VR agency we spoke about, but I would encourage you to reach out to a service provider for getting started there. Thanks, Ray. 

Ray >> Okay. Thank you, Derek. All right. So how to get started. Social Security's Ticket to Work Program has resources ready to help you get started. Again, the Ticket to Work Help Line is a great place to start for some basic information and grow from there. That number is 1-866-968-7842. Or TTY is 1-866-833-2967. You can visit the website, choosework.ssa.gov. Or as Derek just mentioned that Find Help tool. I can't tell you how many times I'm talking with somebody who is looking for work and I'm using this website. It's choosework.SSA.gov/findhelp. How to connect. Visit the choosework exclamation point contact page to find us on social media and subscribe to the blog and email updates. That choosework contact page is in your web pod. Opt in to receiving text messages by texting "TICKET" to 1-571-489-5292. Standard messaging rates may apply, and you can opt out at any time. And finally email us at tickettowork@ssa.gov. Okay. And to close out today, please join us for our next WISE webinar, “What is the Ticket to Work?” We are going to be talking with you again on June 25, 2025, 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. You can register online, or you can call 1-866-968-7842, or TTY users, 1-866-833-2967 to register by phone. And I want to thank Derek for giving us some great information. And I can assure you I'm going to be polishing up my resume real quick and maybe send it to Derek for a quick review. So I want to thank you all for attending and see you next month.