CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

Meet & Greet

Jordan Kalie was referred to New Horizons’ Customized Employment program through her Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) counselor and shortly after the initial introduction, our Customized Employment Specialist, Larry Thouin, began to work with Jordan. Larry met with Jordan and her family to determine her interests for future employment opportunities, also known as Discovery. Jordan’s interests included: photography, reading, and cosmetics.

Customized employment is a process for achieving competitive integrated employment or self-employment through a relationship between employee and employer that is personalized to meet the needs of both.

Building a Relationship

As Jordan and Larry worked together to better understand her goals, Larry began to realize that Jordan was a quick learner when it came to utilizing technology and editing; she had learned how to do some basic program coding. Along with the coding, Jordan was also writing online reviews for books she had read. This empowered her to proofread reports and projects that her friends worked on, helping them to be better writers.

Breaking Employment Barriers

Jordan stayed positive throughout the process of looking for employment and eventually came across The Library Network. Jordan and Larry met with Steven Bowers, the Executive Director, who was quickly impressed by Jordan’s professionalism and attitude.

To determine if Jordan would be a good fit at The Library Network, Steven invited her to assist with electronic and physical filing.  Jordan excelled in digitizing the important documents and was offered a temporary 6-month position in October of 2023, through a grant that The Library Network received. Jordan accepted the position immediately with the hopes of being hired permanently.

Shortly after Jordan’s 6-month temporary position concluded, she was offered a permanent position 3-days per week. As the new Office Associate, Jordan not only filed, but took ownership of The Library’s Networks social media accounts and began learning a new software platform called Canva to create documents, advertisements, and marketing material to grow the library’s audience. Within no time, Jordan had become one of the office experts on using Canva!

Jordan has become a valued member of The Library Network, and we congratulate her on being awarded the Customized Employment Employee of the Year!