By Youth, For Youth: How to Find and Keep the Right Job

Planning for the future can be both thrilling and overwhelming for anyone. For young adults with disabilities, it can be especially helpful to hear from peers about their work experiences. Peers can share how they moved from school into the workforce with a sense of confidence, and a desire to keep learning and developing new skills. Young adults with disabilities can also benefit from their peers’ experiences with successful job search strategies, techniques for keeping jobs, excelling at work, and achieving greater independence. 

Peer resources

Meet Larry from Virginia, a young disabled adult who used the Ticket to Work program to prepare for job interviews and find successful and rewarding work.

Larry’s Success Story
 

Social Security’s Ticket to Work program supports career development for people ages 18 through 64 who receive Social Security disability benefits (SSDI or SSI) and want to work.  The Ticket to Work program is free and voluntary. It helps people with disabilities move toward financial independence and connects them with the service and support they need to succeed in the workforce. 

Another helpful resource is By Youth, For Youth: Employment – a comprehensive guide that offers youth with disabilities resources, checklists, and dos and don’ts to help them find and keep employment. 

In this downloadable PDF, young adults with disabilities share their advice and experiences with employment resources, how to write a resume, and how to prepare for a job interview. The guide provides valuable insights into the benefits of having a mentor, and the need to continue to grow and develop job skills. It also offers helpful, relevant information about vocational rehabilitation and transportation.

By Youth, For Youth: Employment was co-written by youth and adults involved in the National Youth Action Council on Transition (YouthACT). YouthACT is a national initiative to engage more youth with disabilities and their allies in partnerships with adults and youth-serving organizations to help improve youth’s chances for success. YouthACT is led by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth at the Institute for Educational Leadership with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

If you’re a young adult age 18 or older ready to explore work, contact the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 (Voice) or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY) Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET. Ask a representative to send you a list of service providers. You can also search for providers online using our Find Help tool.

For more information about Social Security’s Ticket to Work program, visit www.choosework.net.