Has anyone been in a vocational Rehab program before?

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Im new on here and this is my first post so here it goes, i have been working at a Kroger grocery store for 6 months then quit cause i wasn't treated fairly and have been unemployed for almost 8 months and i've been applying for over 50 something jobs online and most of the jobs are minimum wage type of jobs and i've only gotten 6 interview calls in those months and could only go to 3 because the others were further than i thought. I tried the vocational rehabilitation program and at first this lady said she'd call back but never did after our meeting then when we tried to talk to her again a few months later, she put me on this volunteer program called Odyssey services and im suppose to volunteer for 3 months so i just started doing that a week ago. They'll eventually help me find a job after they figure out my skills but i want to know if anyone has had succes with VR services or has been in vocational Rehab and how did it go for you?

I've been in a vocational rehab program. It lasted for 6 weeks, half-days, Monday to Thursday. It was mostly CBT but with employment in mind. It was very useful, not so much for finding a job, but as a way to think in general.

What is the volunteer work you are doing?

Well i am doing volunteer work at a thrift shop. Im wiping down furniture and dusting shelves and knic knacs, cleaning windows and mopping floors. Things like that. Not so much interaction with customers. It's to keep me busy and see how i am in the work environment and see if i can attend every day on time and how appropriate i dress for work. I get 30 minute breaks too.

Yup, for nearly a year lol. I finally got a job recently. It was a long time and was pretty much entirely my efforts but I did get a lot out of it, especially in terms of learning to act more neurotypical.

I wish they offered that where I live. All we get is a bunch of people standing around watching us log on and look for jobs, occasionally asking if they can help us. I haven't yet mustered up the courage to reply that yes, in fact, my ass needs scratching.

I did the Voc Rehab offered by the Dep. of Human Resources. I have 2 experiences with it, with 2 different offices. The first experience was bad. All they did was give me a bunch of quizzes to find my "dream career" and then pawned me off at a domestic sweatshop for disabled people, who then proceeded to cut my hours to hire on the managers pot grower fulltime (this was before the legalization here). The place was civil rights violation galore.

The second time was at a different office and they were amazing. They hooked me up with a great job developer, they helped me sort out my resume, taught me how to interview, helped me pay for interview clothes, applied for jobs for me, and actually hooked me up with a pretty good well-paying job with decent hours. I once got a surprise interview call at 6pm and I was able to reschedule. My job developer allowed me to call her afterhours and to give me interview tips and the downlow on the company.

It's really just the luck of the draw. My protip; if you can pick an office, try to pick one in a more liberal area. They'll have better funding... hopefully.

They help you more in preparing you for interviews and trying to find jobs but you're better off finding an actual job yourself.

Yea if it doesn't turn out well, i'll probably apply for jobs in a couple weeks. I just started at the end of August but i won't have a normal schedule until sometime next week. My dad wants me to try it for a couple of weeks first then i can apply for jobs on my own if i don't like it much.

I feel really discouraged tho. Before i went into their program, i applied for different places for months like 5 months and got a few interviews but didn't get hired so im worried this program won't make me employable. I feel like i'm gonna have to be one of those people who struggle for 6 years to find a job no matter how hard i try.

You're probably much better off trying to find a job on your own....Vocational rehab helped me get a position working alongside staff with all sorts of disabilities, but the job didn't work out and they had to let me go. The job I have now I found myself and applied online and finally contacted me and voila! I was hired a week later.

Can a mod please close this thread?

I voc councilor kept telling me to assert myself instead of doing anything to actually help me find a job.

I was for a little while. Took about a month before I found a job. They would then just send someone to watch me on the job which I hated, it made me feel really awkward and the co-workers began teasing me about it. After about a week of it, I told her one day that i felt comfortable on my own and she never showed up again.