The first in AccessATE and DeafTEC’s “ACE It!” tip sheet series, Advocating for Students, discusses the importance of being a good advocate for your students with disabilities when working with industry partners and employers. Below we will expand on how to promote the good work of your students, via routes such as writing a solid referral, or talking to potential employers to give them a deeper understanding of the student’s skill set.
Tip Sheet: Advocate for the Student
It can be difficult to decide which of your student’s skills to focus on in your discussions with employers. We’ve all been in the position of not knowing how to describe ourselves in a job interview, and it can be even harder to do so for someone else!
No matter the field, most of us split job skills into categories, with a common distinction being hard skills vs soft skills. Hard skills, of course, are technical skills; specific knowledge likely learned in class or in previous jobs. Welding, process automation, coding, data analysis, and benchwork are all examples of hard skills. Soft skills, on the other hand, have more to do with the student’s ability to work with others, manage their time, adapt to...
