Pat >> Hello.

And good afternoon everyone.

Welcome to today's Ticket to Work webinar. Think Outside the Office. Discovering Non-Office Occupations.

My name is Pat Van Nelson. I am also a member of the Ticket to Work team. I will be your moderator today.

We’re really pleased you decided to join us to learn about Social Security’s Ticket to Work Program and how it can help you as you start to expand your path to financial independence through work.

Today, in tradition to talking about the Ticket to Work Program, we're going to talk about jobs that take place
beyond the office.  There are thousands of those kinds of jobs and obviously we can't cover them all today
But I'm hoping that by giving you some examples of the different types of examples, you can

start to think about how one of them might be just right for you. We all have our own paths to employment, and I hope you get some information today that will help you on yours.

Before we get started, it's probably a good idea to review some of the functions of the webinar platform so you get the most out of today's presentation.

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Just highlight the topic you are interested in and then select the browser --the browse to button at the bottom of the pod. If you are listening by phone and not logged in the webinar, you can email for a list of available resources. You may reference your confirmation email for today's webinar to access available resources. Also, please note Social Security can't guarantee and is not responsible for the accessibility of external websites. Today's webinar is being recorded. A copy of it will be available within two weeks on the Choose Work website at http://bit.ly/WISE_OnDemand. This link is also in the web links pod at the bottom right corner of your screen. It will be titled WISE Webinar Archives.

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As I mentioned at the start, my name is Pat Van Nelson and I’m a member of the Ticket to Work team and I will be moderating today.

We are especially pleased to have with us today to have my colleague on the Ticket to Work team, Derek Shields. If you have a tended previously, you might recognize him as the webinar’s usual moderator. Today, however, Derek’s turn the moderator’s microphone over to me.

So let me tell you a little bit about him. Derek spent the nests --last 25 years and disability inclusion, employment, and accessibility. He earned in Masters in Management and Disability Services from the University of San Francisco. In addition to his work on the Ticket Program, Derek is also President of ForwardWorks Consulting and is cofounder and current Board Adviser at
the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. 

During today's webinar, Derek is going to cover a lot. He’s going to talk about discovering nonoffice jobs. Why you might want to consider them? What are their advantages? And he will provide examples of those types of jobs. He will also talk about the Ticket Program
and who can help you to embark on your work journey.

I will be back with you during the question and answer session so remember to put you questions in the Q and A box.

Now, I'm very pleased to turn the webinar over to Derek for discussion of nonoffice jobs. Over to you, Derek.

Derek >> Wonderful. Thank you so much, Pat.

This is Derek speaking and it's wonderful to be with everyone today for this topic of Thinking Beyond the Office:  Considering Jobs Outside of the Office.

Today, as Pat mentioned, we will be exploring  jobs that take place outside the office setting. And in describing these types of job, people often categorize them as what folks call white-collar jobs.

Or maybe you have heard them called desk jobs. And it is true – in fact about 80% of Americans work
in desk jobs. But what about the other 20%?

When we think about the number of American workers, there's about 158-160 million workers.

So 20 percent of those, or somewhere between 32 million and 35 million are performing non office jobs. And we commonly think about those as blue-collar jobs.

The types of jobs where you use your hands or physical abilities to perform the duties. And those jobs can be both skilled or unskilled. They could be hourly or salary.

An example is a blue-collar job are construction workers, machine operators, also plumbers and electricians. Mechanics, landscapers and even delivery drivers. That's about 14% of the American workforce.

However, there's that portion that we haven't covered yet that you might be surprised to know about. We will call them other collared jobs.

They represent jobs in our economy those are the nonoffice jobs that we really want to bring to your attention today.

For an example, there's something called a yellow collar worker. These are folks that are in the creative field. They spend time doing things that are white and blue collar tasks. You can find them in positions like photography, filmmaking, even directors and frequently the editors. The folks that are doing postproduction in  order to produce a lot of the multimedia that we consume.

Outside of yellow collar, blue-collar, there's another sector.  The green economy. Green collar workers. Employed in the environmental sectors. These are folks working in alternate energy Sources like solar panels, wind turbines, that whole growing green economy.

And then there's another collar that started really back in World War II. Pink collar workers. These are service oriented. Personal service oriented positions. These workers are in occupations like retail, nursing and teaching. Some examples include veterinary assistance. Childcare workers. Hairdressers and barbers. Flight attendants. A lot of the dental hygienists and assistants
are also included in the service sector.

As you imagine, these are services that many of us are using every day. These are very common occupations in the country. So, with this in mind, we wanted to talk a little bit about how do you decide what path to pursue if you are thinking about jobs beyond
the office or these non-office occupations?

So, when we consider different types of jobs, you can start by asking yourself a few questions to get a better idea of what's important to
you in the job or importantly in your career.

And so, this is a bit of a self-examination, right?  The better your know yourself, what your strengths are, what you enjoy doing, the better your chances are of finding the right kind of work that will match up for you for your success.

So come on this slide, we have some questions for you to consider.

What I like to do? Often it's important to consider the things that you enjoy spending your time doing. These could be hobbies and it would be important to create a list of things you are passionate about.

Maybe the top three or five things that you enjoy most.

Next, do you prefer sedentary job or do you like being outdoors and moving around? It's important to consider. Do you want to be inside or outside? Many folks enjoy spending their time working outside. 

It's also important to consider do you want to be part of a team or do you like working independently?

If you have worked in the past, did you enjoy having team members as colleagues?

If you haven't worked but you have volunteered,  is there someplace that you volunteered with others that you enjoyed teamwork or do you prefer to get a task an tackle that on your own?

The next question that we recommend considering as you think about these different collared jobs that are out of the office, is really 
do I need training to pursue the job I like?

Let's say your hobby is gardening. And you really enjoy gardening. But you don't really have any credentials
or work outside of your hobby. Then you would want to have some specific training. Perhaps if you are into trees, then you would
go and the direction of an arborist credential. If you're going to be into lawns, then you
would want to understand soil. But a credential would greatly help and some training could move you from a passion into
a career.

Next on the list we have do I like to repair or build things? If you are handy around the house, and, with carpentry
or construction around the house, then there's a chance to transition that over to a full-service
sector, construction in general,  a lot of different areas like home remodeling
as well. 

Next, how much money do I want to earn? Of course this is important. We want you to be aware as you look at nonoffice
jobs about the potential for income and how much money that you want to earn. So we want you to consider that as you pursue your path to a nonoffice job as well.

Last, do I have a hobby that could be a job? You know I mentioned that with gardening. Also think that it's really important that
your hobbies you are passionate about them and you could lend those in with a career choice, then you are more likely to be energized and
motivated to take the next step that we will talk about today in pursuing a nonoffice job.

So with that, now I'm going to turn to why should I consider nonoffice jobs?

We will dig in a little deeper in this section, we are going to review five specific advantages
of nonoffice jobs.

While there's a lot of them, we have selected five that we would like to share with you for your consideration today.

As I said, there are five.

The first advantage. Advantage number one is start working without a four-year degree. A college degree really isn't the only option
to get the skills they need to work. As we know, earning a college degree takes a lot of time and could be quite expensive.

Nonoffice jobs often require shorter education and training that you can obtain for a fraction of that cost of a four-year college degree. So we recommend that if that's of interest, if this advantage gets your focus, then we will have your contact your State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency to help explore specific training programs. They are going to provide information, cost comparisons and explore the availability of financial assistance as well. These Vocation Rehabilitation agencies or VR agencies as we call them are
available in every state and provide a variety of services to help you return to work or work for the first time.

That can include intensive education, rehabilitation, career counseling and job
placement assistance.

We will talk a little bit later about how to get in contact with the VR agency.

When you think about this, if you want to reduce your time to work, and start working without that four-year degree, then contacting
your VR agency is a great path. If you want to be a barber, hairdresser, film editor, or how about that dental assistant that I mentioned?

You can access the pink, yellow, green, and blue jobs training with the help and guidance of your Vocational Rehabilitation 
agency. They will help you learn how to access that training you need to access a non office job.

That's advantage number one.

Let's turn now to advantage number two. This is gain experience that can lead to more advanced positions. Maybe you have goals that requires more experience. An entry-level job in that industry is really a great place to start.

It's hard to get to that perfect job perhaps without going through a bit of a career ladder. We are going to start with Position A. Then we will get on the job experience. And learn more about the path that we would like to take. That will afford us the chance to have the skills and experience to then acquire a promotion or that next positions on the career ladder.

You may also learn these in demand skills are going to make you more attractive for those other positions that you are really interested in. that will allow you to frame your career advancement.

It's going to be in the same industry or could it be a transferable skill to another industry. 

I often heard the saying. I really recommend hearing it in mind as you are considering work and you are maybe put off a little bit because

I can't get the exact job I want because I'm not experienced yet. Well, your first job will lead to your next
job. If you are looking to return to work , those experiences that you had in the past will make you be competitive now.

Or if you are thinking about work for the first time, just know that once you acquire that first position, and you gain those experiences,
that will help position you for that next job.

And that might be your real career objective.

What's an example of this?

If you want to be a head chef, is cooking is a passion, and you are good at cooking at home and you say I'd like to do this, well, it's hard to be a head chef right away. You don't have the credentials. You don’t have the skills. But you might have some practices that can turn into that real work experience. Instead of jumping to the large fancy restaurant or the banquet venue , we would recommend you start small. Find a local restaurant. Find someone in that local restaurant that is a head cook or the chef and you could work under them and learn about all of the intricacies that happen in a kitchen and  in a restaurant.

You will learn the basics, yes. You will learn about the commercial kitchen. You can take the skills as you learn forward. Being a chef isn't just about food preparation, it's about a lot of other environmental processes that occur in that business.

Things like logistics, of ordering all the supplies and food that are required based on the demand of the changing menu. That's one great example.

So, being at that restaurants you have a chance to gain the experience and  receive some mentorship from that chef. That will help you position you for not the job you are in, but the job that you want that's a little more advanced. All right.

So that's advantage number two. Remember I said there's five. We are going to move to advantage number three. This one is talking about learn while you
earn with apprenticeships.

Which is a fantastic opportunity. So, apprenticeship programs allowed you to get paid while you gain work experience.

And this can also include classroom instruction and those important credentials that employers really like to see. If you are not familiar with apprenticeships, we are going to give you some resources on how to follow up on this. You can get hands-on experience that leads to future employment through apprenticeships. So, this is a fantastic option for your consideration. Especially if you are just starting in your employment journey or if you are switching to a new field. That's something to consider. As I mentioned, we have some resources here.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with apprenticeships, but they are real jobs.

They allow you to learn and earn at the same time. So even though you might be coming in without the training of the skills, you are getting paid as a standard employee.

And these positions are available in a variety of fields: Manufacturing sector, healthcare, information technology, hospitality, and many, many more, including the media and arts.

On the screen here we have a link to apprenticeship.gov. We are going to tell you how to get access to that in a moment. At Apprenticeship.gov, they tell us 92% of apprentices
retain employment after completing an apprenticeship. 92% success rate. That’s significant and something that we really want you to consider. This includes information at apprenticeship.gov which you can get through that website URL or in the web links pod that Pat talked about.

There's also a resource link down the list for you. They have some options for how jobseekers can apply for apprenticeship programs. They also have a lot of information about the current information about the current programs that are available by sector and that helps track the employers to sign up and participate.

We also have a great blog post about nonoffice jobs. Excuse me. Apprenticeship jobs that we recommend you consider reading. It's called Why Should I Consider An Apprenticeship? That's available on our blog page. So apprenticeships is advantage number three for non- office jobs. We highly recommend you considering those on your path to return to work or to a new field, or to start work for the first time as well.

Okay, onto advantage number four. Start working sooner.

I mentioned this a little bit before we are talking about not needing a four-year degree. But there are plenty of nonoffice jobs that also have a benefit of working earlier without the four-year degree and a much shorter application process.

That really starts you on your journey to successful employment and financial independence more quickly than you would be used to and some of the more traditional office job interview rounds. So, online job boards are available. They are frequently updated with jobs that need to be filled immediately. You can go to a few of them.

There's an example that we share. Career one-stop.org. They have posted jobs in a variety of industries that need applicants immediately.

So, when you think about the service sectors that are inside of yellow and green and pink and blue-collar positions, 20% of the workforce is in these positions and a lot of them need employees and they will have a much shorter application process.

We also encourage you to visit Our Find a Job Page. That's available through the web links pod. There are 23 different job board listings on the Find a Job Page. So you can look up the job board that would meet your interest, so through our page, go peruse the openings there. This would give you a great sense of the different ways to start working sooner through the positions that are posted.

All right. Now, we have made it to the fifth advantage of a non-office job. This one is a good one.  Earn good wages . There are good paying jobs that are considered nonoffice jobs. We appreciate that, but sometimes people talk about office jobs having better wages. The opportunity to earn a good living excess in non-office jobs. So we really need to remove that myth.

According to the most recent data from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, most nonoffice jobs are listed among the industry with the fastest growing wages. And on this slide we have some of those fields included: agriculture, transit and ground transportation, a big one is amusement and recreation, a service field that's growing
quite rapidly. And last, motor vehicle manufacturing. Becoming part of those blue and green collar work. So, there are opportunities to earn good wages.

It's important to think about that as our fifth advantage with the others.

Let's recap here.

Five advantages.

One, start working without a four-year degree.
Two, gain experience that can lead to advanced positions.
Three, learn while you earn through apprenticeships.
Four, start working sooner.
And five, earn good wages.

These are five fantastic advantages and really good reasons for us to consider while we are contemplating access to nonoffice jobs.

So, on the next slide, I'm going to bring up some other nonoffice job examples. You know, we continue to give some examples but It's important to make sure that we are not
missing some sectors. So, we talked about the cooks and the chefs. We have the restaurant industry. And then we have the home industry. On here we have painters. We also have plumbers
and electricians.  Everyone that's involved with the built environment. Whether it's the homes, the apartment buildings, downtown office complexes. They all need the service sector coming out of the blue collar. We have hairdressers and barbers.

Most of us are using these service providers so these positions are also relatively available throughout the country which makes that a skill set that is desired but also flexible so, if you want to move, you can move with your employment too. Welders. This is a good example of an opportunity for an apprenticeship where you would have the ability to have one-on-one
training through an apprentice program with a mentor.

And that way you can also gain the certification. I mentioned that one of the fastest growing sectors is tourism. I think that's an important one to note. With tourism, we have the opportunity to see more positions around recreation, tourism, and amusement. We will bundle these altogether. So tour guides is a great example. I am a bit of a history buff. While I've never been a tour guide, I think of that as an occupation were I could take a passion of mine and bring that into a tourism
industry. And that could be done in a museum or on a tour bus. Or on a river boat. Available in many cities around the country.

This is a variety of non-office jobs that we wanted to give to you today to paint the picture of opportunities when we think beyond
the office. Again, to try and break some of the myths of employment is only available through office positions.

Now, I know I've gone through a lot with the five advantages and some stories about different positions. And this is going to become a little bit overwhelming. But what I wanted to do is just point out what's important is for you to know that there's an employment team that if you're thinking this is the right thing for you, they are there to help.

So Social Security's Ticket to Work Program has a variety of service providers and resources ready to help you get started.

If you think that a job outside of the office is right for you, and you want to look at some of our resources and talk to somebody, you can call us or go to our website or visit us our contact page to receive updates. The Ticket to Work helpline is available Monday through Friday. 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. You can call their at 1-866-968-7842. We also have a TTY number. 1-866-833-2967. So we have associates there that are available 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM to receive your calls, answer your questions about your interests, how to reach out to someone in an employment team, these services providers, and start my process. If you prefer, you could go to our website at choosework@SSA.gov and explore the website.

There's a Fine Help Tool, which we will go over later. There's a Find a Job page which I mentioned has 23 links to job boards, and you have access your employment team, the organizations we will talk about a little bit later, the service providers. We also have the Basics about the Ticket to Work Program. You can follow us on social media or subscribe to our blog, and receive our email updates, and that way you will continue to get our content moving forward.

So, we have gone through the advantages, we have given some definition to nonoffice jobs, and now we have talked about where to go to get started. With that, I imagine we have some questions coming in. So I'm going to pause now  and come back to Pat, and ask Pat if we have any interesting questions
to address. Pat?

Pat >> Thanks, Derek.

That was a great overview of nonoffice jobs and why we might like to explore some of those occupations.  One question we need to address at the very
beginning. Some of our folks of asked about closed captioning. I wanted to reiterate that the captioning link can be accessed in the web links pod under the title of captioning.

So, we're going to try to get to as many questions as possible. But if we run at a time and your question is an address, please consider calling the Ticket to Work helpline that Derek just mentioned. So, Derek, if you're ready, we have lots of questions for you.

Derek >> Pat, that sounds good. This is Derek. I'm ready.

Pat >> First question we have is: What if I'm not sure I want to work in an office or if I want to work outside of an office? Is there someone that can help me decide?

Derek >> Thanks, Pat. That's a great question. The answer is yes. In fact, there so many people that can help, we call that group the employment team. I'm going to talk about them specifically after we get through this Q&A period. When we frame it, it's important to do your homework before reaching out to the employment team because this is a process. We really need to frame it from what you want to do?

If you can help, I went through the questions before, and to go back to the things that I care about, those can passions and hobbies, do I spend a lot of time outside? Do I want to be outside or inside? Do you want to be sedentary, do you prefer something because of whatever reason it's easier to be still. You can be still at a desk job. An office job. Or a non-office job. But it's considering these things that helped create a bit of a decision tree that allows you to rule things in and rule things out. So, the better you know yourself and the strengths
and past experiences, it will help you in framing that. 

For me, Pat, when I was going through my career, I had sales training. I had retail experience in the home improvement industry. That led from a retail service job to a desk job doing sales and marketing. But then I decided that wasn't for me. I said one of the things I was passionate about was I enjoyed working with technology and I enjoyed helping people access employment. That led me to working in assistive technology as an employment support for employees with disabilities. I never knew I was going to do that as a career path. It wasn't what I intended. I sat down with somebody and had a conversation about what are the most important things that you want when you spend your time at work? And what do you want the impact of your work
to be? That let me down those 20 years or so of doing that work. So I had an employment team myself and I bought the homework that we talked about today to them. About my passions. My hobbies. And they really helped me frame what I wanted to do for the next chapter of my work. So I encourage you to do that. Passions, hobbies, skills, and experiences. Write them down, and really think about thatand then reach out to the employment team.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek. This is Pat again. Next question was: I'm interested in training
for an non-office job, are there any organizations that can help me pay for?

Derek >> Yes. This is Derek. Yes, it's a great question. I just want to really emphasize that there are organizations out there.

We call them the State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies and  I will mention them in more detail little bit.

They may be able to really cover those expenses or assist with figuring out how to have them covered or assist in getting you into the training programs.

There's a lot of variables involved. But I think if you're interesting in a nonoffice job, the State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, does have part of their mission and  it certainly needs to be part of the employment team. 

There is another component. We talked about apprenticeships. If you are looking at a nonoffice job and you need training for it, remember “learn while you earn” as part of advantage of the apprenticeship. The organization hires you with the intention of transitioning you out of the apprenticeship to full-time employment. They are willing to train you as you earn.

You have a couple options. We consider the state VR program. I would also consider the apprenticeships options that we covered and that apprenticeship.gov link in the web links pod is a great place to go to look at that.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek.

Next question is --I think it builds on what we were just talking about. I don't have any work experience. Is a nonoffice job a good place to start?

Derek >> This is Derek. Thanks, Pat. The answer is yes. The answers is also, so her office jobs. There is not a wrong way to go. When we think outside of the office, we want to focus on the 20% of positions that do exist. But this is up to you as an individual. If your homework starts to define that nonoffice seems like a better approach for me, then it is,  because this is your choice. The point is that you want to get the work experience and since nonoffice jobs have shorter waiting periods, they don't have, often, three panels
of interviews. You don’t have to send your resume into a portal never hear back. Some of those frustrations can be avoided and that  shorter waiting will  get you to work faster, perhaps with little or no experience. Those are great benefits of starting an office job. 

I heard about 10 years ago there was some research done  and the bottom line of the research was called: Work early, work often. We had people with disabilities who access work And they tried different positions. What we found was hills were developed more and they could transfer into other sectors. With that in mind, if you start in the nonoffice
place, it's a great start. You might try three or four different positions or sectors and you could transfer those into another position. Whether it's non-officer office space. It's a great question. A nonoffice job is a good place to start, but so is an office job. It's your choice.

Pat >> Next question asks is a nonoffice job good place to start if I want to be in a new field?

Derek >> Awesome. So, thanks, Pat. And I'm just going to jump in here. I'm following along on captioning too. Just emphasize here that we have the captioning link in the captioning pod. Sorry. Not in the captioning pod it's in the web links pod. Make sure you go to number five. Captioning for today's webinar. I actually have it open. I'm not reading it because I'm talking. It's working. I encourage you to read that if you need it.

Pat , back to your question, can I get started in a new field with a nonoffice job?

And the answer is yes but  if it's an entirely new field, be prepared to go back to the start. We can't have an expectation to come into
a new field where we know little and be up the career ladder or management chain.

You might find a position that has transferable skills. I mentioned earlier I did that. I had retail experience,  I worked the sales floor for a home improvement store in several different departments. I had really good training. I had a lot of great mentorship from the department managers at the home-improvement stores and those skills transferred over when I worked in sales and marketing at a large IT company. I didn't come into that large I.T. company expecting to transfer in at a higher level, I was back at the junior position. So, that's a way to say I could get started as a nonoffice job but you are going to have to gain those skills and experiences.

Another example. It might be if you had a previous job with management, communication and computer skills, those might be competitive in your nonoffice position. So, somebody might hire you not at an entry-level position because of those. I would ask you to work with an employment team about how to best position those transferable skills and experiences
in your resume and prepare you in an interview to be competitive with that.

And you can think about that if we go back to green positions, environmental sector, or yellow collar positions in  the creative sector. Or even the pink in the service industries, these are all great opportunities. If you want to start in a new field, you can bring transferable skills from your previous work and education experiences to capture your
first position.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek.

Another question we got was: What's the difference between an apprenticeship and other nonoffice jobs?

It sounds like you were describing in home improvement, your weren’t necessarily in an apprenticeship but it wasn't an office job.

Derek >> That's right, Pat. This is Derek. Apprenticeships are formal. In fact there is a certification process for a lot of apprenticeships now. But there's a lot of positions where you can be an apprentice, they might not call you that. That's really what I was in those positions.

I had more experience workers that weren't necessarily my managers in every position, but they were willing to help share kind of their
tricks of the trade and how to make a great customer experience in that store.

Apprenticeships though sometimes have the formality of it, they sometimes have in specific classroom training as well as that on-the-job training. And that's where the difference is. They can include a credential. And that's important. It needs to be somewhat standardized. You can't have everybody saying Derek passed because my standards were met. There needs to be an external standard. And so that credential is valued by employees,  Employers, because of that.

There are some differences between apprenticeships and just informal mentorship, but they are both really important to have. So, I would suggest if you can't do one, then
try to find the other. Another point about the apprenticeship that's really important is if you enroll in one of the programs, you can go through apprenticeship.gov,
you can also even get access towards college credit. Again, it's more formalized than the informal.

But because of that structure, that's where we are getting that 93% of apprentices who get three their programs are getting full-time employment. Well, the model works. What we want to, and the Department of Labor has worked hard on this, that would include Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities.  So, it's a great program. Nonoffice jobs might not have as much of the formal training, but through the apprenticeship model you  get there. If you go without the apprenticeship you can get the on the job training from  from your employer like I did in that home improvement environment.

Pat >> Sounds good, Derek.  So, how long are apprenticeship programs? Do they take a long time?

Derek >> Yeah. This is Derek. That is a good question as well.

It really depends on the industry or the segment of the economy. We have talked that apprenticeships exist in many sectors, like manufacturing, healthcare, IT. Um, and then you also have the on-the-job training. But the on-the-job training is kinda embedded. which is an ongoing process. And it isn't one that occurs quickly.

But if you are in an apprenticeship program, it's learn while you earn. It's not about this speed of it that matters as much, because you have employment. So, each sector is different. They aren’t quick programs, but as you do accomplish, as  93 percent are accomplishing employment as the outcome, you have the employers processes and procedures down, you may have the credential, you may have some college credit. You will be positioned differently in the labor market. I would encourage you to think about it is employment. It's not about how quickly I get through it. It's more important about the skills and experience that are required and more formalized training that they offer.

Again, I haven't been in a formalized apprenticeship program. I've worked with folks that have been. I encourage you to explore this in more detail through a friendship.gov if it's of interest to you. There's a lot of examples that on the website. You could explore the type of work that you would be interested in through brief search on the website by sector.

And those program descriptions will get into the details of how long they are and what type of training might be involved.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek. I think we have time for just one more question. A lot of the examples you share require people to be active physically.

Are there any jobs outside the office that would allow me to sit down?

Derek >> Yes, thanks, Pat. This is Derek again. That's a good question. Not everyone wants to be active. Not everybody can be active. There are you know physical requirements for a lot of service sector jobs.

However, there plenty of them, when, we are talking about thousands of thousands of them, that do have less activity. We brought up the idea of the entertainment, I’m sorry, the tourism sector. And so, a museum is a great example. You have an information station for customer service at museums. That is an opportunity where you can sit or
use a stool. There's also other positions like up bookstores or in libraries that have similar front desk situations.

You can think about the service industry, like going to the gym. There's always a front desk there. And they need folks. Just because you work at the front desk at
the gym doesn't mean that you have to be the strongest person at the gym. You are there is a customer service agent to assist.

There are some examples. The hotel sector is a massive industry. There's a lot of front desk operation there.

In fact, I travel a little bit. There's one global hotel brand that's doing a fantastic job of employing people with disabilities.

And they have lowered the counters at the front desk to comply with accessibility laws. In the beginning, that was for their customers. Well now, it also allows them to hire more people
with disabilities that can work behind the counter. I've been delighted to be able to go to some hotels and be able to served by agents that people with disabilities behind the desk.

You know, I mentioned barbers and hairdressers, Pat. The whole beauty industry is an inside service industry with a lot of people that are no  mobile. I think that's a good sector to consider as well. So anywhere you get greeted. You can also be a bus driver. Accessible buses don't require a lot of working, or a truck driver. That's a huge industry as well. Not quite as active as some of the other.

Pat >> All right. Thank you. Looks like we should probably turn back to the presentation now. Will have another chance little later to answers more question.

Derek, over to you to talk about the Ticket to Work Program and how it can help folks looking for nonoffice jobs .

Derek >> All right. Thanks, Pat. This is Derek again. Appreciate the questions and we’ll keep moving here. We explored the career paths that include the nonoffice work.

We have discussed the changes from what used to be hands-on careers or the blue-collar to entail a lot more of opportunities that are inside
of these other service areas and that would be great opportunities for job seekers with disabilities.

Now that you mourn --know more or perhaps a few more advantages or different ideas about the nonoffice, we want to take a look at how you can find a job that fits you specific work goals and interests. We are going to do that looking at Social Security's Tickets to Work Program.

And to talk about that, it's really important that we need to know about the two types of and if it's that you received from the Social
Security Administration.

There are two types that are available to receive.

The first one. The Social Security Disability Insurance Program. It's exactly what it says. It's an insurance program. As you have worked in the past or begin to
work, there are FICA taxes that are withheld from your paycheck or your salary. You are actually buying insurance through Social Security. Part of that insurance is disability insurance. So, why do you do that? If you have disability insurance and your acquire a disability, you may be able to draw from the insurance program if you worked long enough. Because of that, really everybody's benefits are different. Everybody works a little different amount. We can't say there's an easy answer.
Everyone that does participate in the disability insurance program, that program also comes with Medicare. So, that's SSDI. 

The other benefit we’ll move to is the SSI program, or Supplemental Security Income. That is not an insurance program. This is providing benefits to individuals with disabilities who haven't worked enough or haven't worked it all and  really the notion of SSI is to bring recipients up to a minimum level of income to meet their basic needs. So this program has some work incentives.

SSI has work incentives that want to consider either returning to work or working for the  first time. And SSDI also has work incentives. For SSI, that program comes along with Medicaid. That’s not insurance like Medicare is for SSDI. It's more of a needs-based health program. Much more expansive than Medicaid. But these are available out there. So, Ticket to Work is available for folks that have benefits, SSDI or a SSI. There's a lot of differences,  so we have benefits planners that need to be
part of your employment team to understand you return to work or going to work for the first time and  the impact it will have on your benefits.

So, with this in mind, these two benefit programs in mind, knowing that we are going to explore Ticket to Work a little bit more, before we do that, I just wanted to bring up the importance of signing up for a my SSA Account. You can have your personal my Social Security account and that gives you access information on your earnings history along with interactive tools that allow you to customize your experience. My Social Security accounts are out there, I've had one. In fact I went out checked it out today since I knew I was going to talk to you about it. It allows you to look at your earnings history as I mentioned. But there's a lot of other important information there to and  you are going to want this information.

If you are going to talk to your benefits planners. They are going to ask you: Have you had income in the past? What's your earning history look like? All this information, if you create a my Social Security Account, is available through that tool. You can also, if you need to, request a replacement Social Security card,  that's available right online. Or how about getting proof of income? If you need a proof of income letter, you can print that out or requested. Or you can actually print a screenshot of it if that can help.

You can also estimate your benefits. There is an option to apply for benefits, too. In case you are not currently on benefits. So all of this is online, it's a great place to self manage your Social Security information,  and you don't have to go to an office. I think that's a key. You have to wait in line. I encourage you to do that. I did a while ago and it allows me to check on the earnings history, kinda plan for my benefits future.

Okay, now that we have covered the two benefit programs and how to sign up for my Social Security Account, I want to move towards starting the
Journey, your path to employment. This is really your personal choice.

We are offering information today of thinking outside the office with these nonoffice occupations. It is really only you who can decide if work is the right choice
for you. And working for the first time, It's a big decision. The choice is yours.

Today we are going to give you some information to help inform that choice.

About nonoffice jobs, but about the process of potentially returning to work or working for the first time. So, with this, we are going to start out with
looking at Why Choose Work? So, earning a living is not available to everybody.

It doesn't mean that you are not a great candidate for work, you just have to determine what your specific capacity for work is.  That's what your passion and desires are along with using some of the free services and supports that are available through the employment team that we are going to review. Most people are going to find out that the
risk of losing some benefits is not going to be very much compared to the potential to earn more money now than your benefits provide to you. We really want you to consider that in partnership with your benefits team.

So, in considering that, we want to now explore the Ticket to Work Program.

Ticket to Work connects you with free employment services and  It's a voluntary program to help you decide
if working is right for you. It also helps you prepare for work  and maintain success while you are working.

Importantly, everyone age 18-64 who receives Social Security Disability Insurance and/or Supplemental Security Income. Those are SSDI and SSI, the two benefit programs. Whoever receives one or both of those benefits, because of their disability, is eligible to participate in the Ticket Program.

Again, it's free and voluntary and that's really important. That choice is up to you. When you feel comfortable with it, then it's
the thought right thing to pursue. There's not much risk there. Again, we want you to consider it.

You choose to take advantage of it when you are ready and prepared for the idea of going to work or returning to work. We have this employment team that I talked
about that would help you through the benefits of the program and these specifically are laid out here. Four specific benefits that we want you to consider.

If going to Ticket is going to help you decide if working is right for you. And as Pat brought forward a question earlier, if nonoffice jobs are right for you. So you can have a discussion with he employment team if deciding if work is right. And what kind of work? Office jobs. Or nonoffice jobs, like the 20% of positions we talked about today. That's a pretty big decision. Our employment team members are here to help you with that.

Next, how about preparing for work. Do you need a new resume? People always need resumes. and not everyone is an expert and you can work with a professional who will give you
feedback on what to do during periods of time you weren’t working, or how to take those skills that you have developed
through maybe hobbies or nonwork-based activities, and portray those on a resume that employers will find as
desirable skills they can use in the workforce. 

Next, how about finding the job?  You know, we have a network of Employment Networks that we are going to talk about and we have these job boards that show the
positions all over the country. Sometimes navigating that when you are not used to it can be a little overwhelming.

What we like, are employment team partners help you navigate that. If you are looking at those nonoffice job, these are the sectors that are currently hiring, and we have relationships with some employers. And it's those relationships that would afford us a chance to get you in for that interview. Remember that advantage that we talked about
for nonoffice jobs. It's a shorter application process. Use your employment team to help find the job and really to find the relationships that can lead to the job.

And the fourth area is important as well, Succeeding at work. The employment team doesn't leave you when you are ready. You have transitioned into the new position. You are doing well. But maybe there's a need for a discussion and  you can have a job coach help you understand the culture at your new employer. Or maybe there's some employment supports,  like reasonable accommodations that are needed. Again, your employment team will be there in helping you succeed at work. 

Here we have a third slide on the Ticket Program. Really this one is just encouraging you to learn more about the Ticket Program. We have a fact sheet. This is a good one. What is Social Security's Ticket to Work Program? You can access that on our website. Also through the web links pod. I have said a lot. I know I we have gone through it quickly.

We really want to ensure that you have a chance to follow up. Your employment team can in explain the Ticket Program. You can also go online and look at Social
Security's Ticket to Work Program through the fact sheet. So, I've been mentioning this employment team.

Today we talked about nonoffice jobs. I feel like one of them on the employment team should be our apprenticeship partners. I just want to reinforce that if you're interested
in apprenticeships, that apprenticeship.gov is, out of the Department of Labor, and the Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration work closely.

If you go to the web links pod, it's item number eight. They can be part of your employment team too. So, I encourage you to consider going there to learn more. Alright.

How can we get our employment team to help you achieve your work goals? We have five different symbols on the slide. We are going to go into some detail on the
Employment Networks,  The Workforce Employment Networks and the  Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies in a moment, three critical partners in your employment
team. Before I go to those, I want to just talk briefly about the other two.

The WIPA, the green circle there, and the PABSS, the purple diamond shape. The WIPA, Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Programs. We call them WIPA's. I believe there 74 of those across the country. This is where you would go to get that counseling support. Benefits counselors that are well trained in understanding,  Return to work or eeking work for the first time,
wow will that impact my benefits and  when will impact my benefits? So we encourage you to use the benefits counselors at the WIPA's to really navigate some of those important discussions and decisions.

The last organization on this is the PABSS. That stands for something called Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security. I know that's a bit of a mouthful. We call them the PABSS. It's important, partners on the employment team too. SSDI and SSI recipients, who want to work but need some barriers removed, should consider the PABSS as part of their employment team. Specifically, if you are looking at protecting legal rights to employment. When we think about that, the PABSS are more
of a legal partner. Those could be things like reasonable accommodations and trying access work -- or work tasks. It could include things like transportation, accessible transportation to access the workplace. And it even involves some assistance on round housing. There are a lot of things that PABSS can offer that really related to legal rights attached
to the Americans with Disabilities Act, they are part of your employment team too. 

Okay. I've talked about the employment team. Now, we are going to move to a keystone partner in your employment team, those are the Employment Networks. We call them ENs. That's an Employment Network. The Employment Networks have different types. and on the screen we have the blue triangle and the pink triangle. There are many Employment Networks that are workforce entities or what are called American Job Centers. You can receive employment support services
from one of these employment service providers at a EN or a Workforce EN.

Both of them are going to be to provide important services to you. Let's talk a little bit about the ENs themselves. A big part are these ENs  and the ability to support you in your past
employment. It's a private or public organization that has an agreement to provide those services and supports to you  at no cost to you. Being eligible between 18 to 64, as long as you are receiving SSDI or SSI, With that, you become eligible. These agencies are really good. They have people that are trained in supporting you in navigating the get prepared and find
the job that you're interested in, applying, get prepared for the interview and  experience that interview. Their track record is one of helping people find work.
We encourage you to consider reaching out to the Employment Networks to do these things. As I mentioned, some ENs have broad reach.

In these service areas, they could help you prepare for an interview, and then interviewing is a tough thing. I mentioned before building and writing your
resume. I really want to talk about preparing for interviews. If that's something that makes you nervous, and your considering transitioning to a nonoffice job, I would urge you to think about working with an Employment Network and preparing for your interview.

This is somewhat like role-playing and the EN will help you think through, well the employer is likely look for these skills and asking you these questions.

Importantly, the end of that, the Employment Network can help you think about questions that you should be asking the employer. This will help competitively position you In that interview. This candidate really wants this position. They've done the research. They are asking the right questions. They really engaged with me in this interview. Let's put them into that position,  give them the on the job training that we offer. So, that's an important service. They have other job preparation services that can include talking about what can a job training is needed. And importantly, if you require reasonable accommodations, how you going to ask employer or a prospective employer about reasonable accommodations? If you are disclosing your disability because you have a need for reasonable accommodation, then you could walk through with the EN how you're going to describe that, how you can do the essential job function with the reasonable accommodation, and how you would bring productivity to their team through that process.

At the end, there's a lot of other support and services that are available. Some Employment Networks even have benefit planners
on the staff. You might not have to reach out to that WIPA, the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Organization.

If the EN doesn't have that in a benefits planner, they will help connect you with one. So, this employment team is going to help you proceed in your path employment. The Employment Networks are really critical partner.

Now, a word about the State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies. I mention the State VR Agencies a few time.  Just to reiterate, they are an important partner on your employment team. They can offer benefits counseling but They can also help around vocational rehabilitation, training and education. Specifically on training and education, we think about nonoffice positions, accessing the skills, training, and the credentialing that could be needed for those blue or green collar positions like we were talking about before.

This could be an important partner. In some states, it's important to note that those VR agencies may have a separate agency that supports individuals who are blind and visually impaired. So you want to investigate in your state what the services are there and what  is right for you.

Okay. We have covered your employment team. We talked about nonoffice jobs. What we like to do is bring it all together with somebody that's gone before through a success story.

Today, we have a success story from you. Manufacturing a promising future. This is a story about a guy named Josh.

Josh is at the age of four, was hit by a car and experienced a traumatic brain injury. and that injury affected his cognition and mobility. So, this is at the age of 4, so time passed and around the age of 18 Josh began receiving Supplemental Security Income. Josh was around the age of high school graduation and he started to think about his future and wanted one that included work. So he started mowing lawns and made some other relationships and had some volunteer work that developed his skills. With those skills developnent, he started to
frame that he wanted an active career where he could earn a living and really contribute to his community.

He worried about how work and earning money or income would affect his SSI benefit. Um, that was the problem and Josh needed some assistance so he reached out to an Employment Network in his community. Josh's employment story started with his employment team helping him frame his identity with work goals and really looking at internship opportunities. With those internship opportunities, he couldn't get there without some help. So he received skills assessment, career counseling, help with his resume, interview coaching, and assistance navigating the job hunt. And, after he got the job, job coaching. That's a lot of services that Josh was receiving to support him to employment. So, the great news of course is that Josh went through this program and he found a position as an intern with a company that was an aluminum manufacturing facility and he was paired with somebody to help move move packages and dye aluminum strips.

This was his job and  he had an odd the job trainer. Internship worked out really well and Josh accepted a full-time position at the
company . He currently works there and he has this sense of accomplishment. I love this quote. Josh's supervisor speaks really highly of
him. The supervisor said: “Our motivation for hiring Josh came from his ability to fill a valuable role. He is able to do the job and as capable as
any other employee.”

So, Josh's employment story is one that had the right support, his employment team included an EN, and he found his path to a better future. And, it just so happened to be with a nonoffice
job. So, how do you find your service provider so you can think beyond the office and find a nonoffice job that's right for you?

We encourage you to go to our Find Help Tool.

This is on our website at ChooseWork@ssa.gov. If you visit the find help tool, you can create a search by ZIP Code, services offered, disability type, languages spoken and also by provider type. If you are really interested in contacting an Employment Network, like Josh did, then you can go in put your ZIP Code in, put your disability type in, and then select EN and it will give you a report.

You can also find your benefits counselors through the WIPA search or legal advice through the PABSS.

If the Internet is not for you, please call the Ticket to Work helpline for a list of service providers at 1-866-968-7842. Or Via TTY at 1-866-833-2967. The Ticket to Work helpline.
We have team standing by ready to assist Monday through Friday. 8:00 AM to eight p.m. Eastern time.

With that, believe we are back for maybe a couple more questions and I will turn it back to you, Pat.

Pat >> Thanks, Derek. You have covered a lot of ground in this segment so  you won’t be surprised we have more questions
for you. This is pretty interesting one. I'm really interested in a nonoffice job. I think I might need to take extra breaks to take the medication.

Can a EN help me figure this out?

Derek >> Thanks, Pat.

I think that's a really important question,  and it's not just limited to medication and  I will tell you why. First, the answer is yes. and Employment Network is a great part her in thinking through such questions. Taking breaks to take medication based on --connected to a disability, that's a reasonable accommodation. So the Employment Network would help frame how
that request could be asked and potentially they would already know if they had a relationship with an employer, who is the right person or department?

Knowing in the employer processes is part of what some ENs can help with. They would assist an individual in that process or potentially partner in actually doing
it. And it's your right to request such a reasonable accommodation. That could be adjusting a break time or potentially a lunch time or start time,  that allows individual to take medication.

I mentioned it's not just medication because it is the question that is important for other forms of reasonable accommodation, too. And  your Employment Network is a great resource. We also highly encourage you to use the Job Accommodation Network. That's available. It's called JAN. You can find JAN online at askjan.org. The Job Accommodation Network, you can use their online database to search for reasonable accommodation ideas that would meet your specific accommodation needs. Or, if you don't want to search online commune
call one of their Human Factors Consultants through their free eight hundred number. I use them all the time for recommendations and they are fantastic partners. So Employment
Networks and JAN, I would consider them both part of your employment team.

Pat >> Great. Thanks, Derek. Here's another one. People are asking. I heard I will lose my benefit if I go back to work. Can Ticket to Work help me?

Derek >> Yeah. Those are good questions. This is Derek. The first part is you will not lose your benefits right away. So, there's a lot of different milestones in the return to work or going to work process that need to be met  and it takes a long time to lose the benefits.

What we recommend is working with the employment team to look your specifics. How long would it take me if I was earning a certain amount of money before it would impact my benefits?
And there's partners out there that can help you navigate – those -- somewhat complicated discussions. We encourage you to work with the employment team and navigating that. That was the first of the question. Pat, was the second part?

Pat >> You got it all. Quickly, can I work with the VR agent and an Employment Network?

Derek >> This is Derek. Yes. You can. What normally happens is you don't work with them at the same time. You might go to your VR agency as part of
your employment team for that training and education we talked about.

And then let's say you go to work. Normally, 90 days after you work, the VR agency will close your case as your Ticket was assigned
to them and  then it would become available for you to assign to an Employment Network of your choice.

That EN could then provide a continuum of Support, we call that Partnership Plus.  Sometimes that's a formal agreement in states between the Vocational Rehabilitation agencies and Employment Networks.

What's important to know is that you can leverage both support services to help you determine the best path for you.
We encourage you to work with both. Normally it's VR first and then EN next.

Pat >> Thank you, Derek. Looks like we are at a time for questions. I would really like to thank you for providing this information about nonoffice jobs, about the Ticket Program, and how people can take advantage of all the program has to offer to take people on their path to employment. Before we end the call, I want to take a couple minutes just to share some ways that we all keep connected with each other and you can stay up to date with the Ticket Program.   

We have a variety of ways to stay in touch. If you would like to know more about her monthly
WISE webinars, you can subscribe to our email list or sign-up to receive our text messages.

The webinar are usually held on the fourth Wednesday of each month. By subscribing, you're going to know what the topics are going to be. To learn more about the Ticket Program and other topics relevant to employment, you can subscribe to the Choose Work blog to get weekly updates sent directly  to your email inbox.

Both of these links can be found in the web links pod, under WISE webinar subscription and Choose Work Blog description. Yet another way to get encouragement and read
stories about people who achieve financial independence with help from the Ticket Program, just like Josh did, is to opt in to receive our text messages.

Text TICKET to 474747. Standard messaging rates may apply.

It's important to note that if you need to contact Social Security Ticket to Work Program, which is managed by Social Security's Office
of Employment Support, we asked that you do so electronically instead of by postal mail. You can email us at support@choosework.ssa.gov.
Please don't include personally identifiable information.

Or as Derek mentioned several times, you can contact the Ticket to Work helpline. That's 1-866-968-7842. Or for TTY, 1-866-833-2967. That's Monday
through Friday, 8 to 8 Eastern time. We would like to have you join us for our next webinar in September. September 28th from 3:00 to 4:30 Eastern time.

How will work affect my Social Security disability
benefits?  Something that Derek just mentioned in that Q & A session.

Registration will be available soon at choosework.ssa.gov/WISE or call the Ticket to Work Helpline and 

I'm not going to repeat that number again.

Another program that we want to bring to you attention is called the Affordable Connectivity Program. That program is the Federal Communications Commission benefit program. that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband that you need for work, school, for health care. The program provides eligible households with a discount on broadband services and devices.

It provides discount of up to 30 dollars per month for the Internet for eligible households and up to  $75 the month for homes on qualifying Tribal
lands. If you receive SSI, you automatically apply for the program. To find out if you are eligible and discover how to apply please go to fcc.gov/ACP.

Finally, really, finally, we want to know what you think so we can plan future webinar topics. We ask that you provide feedback by taking our survey, it will pop up, there’s a link will pop up after the webinar, or you can find the survey at the web links pod or by visiting the Ticket Program website at choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/WISE.

Thanks for attending today to learn more about the program and services and supports that are available to you. Please note there are supports and people that are ready to help.

This concludes today's webinar.