employment specialist

support specialist

community support specialist

coach

developer

Work Opportunities Unlimited

Work Opportunities Unlimited is a company that works well with team members who are flexible, love change, can work autonomously and as part of team, are goal oriented, have a strong ability to multitask and want to make a difference in the world of work.  Team members must be solutions based, be able to overcome various daily challenges that come with the focus to support people to obtain and maintain employment.


There is room for advancement and if you are doing a good job; then you will always be busy. It's a good busy; boredom/being stagnant shouldn't exist if you are successful here.

You will work hard and be rewarded by the impact you have supporting individuals with barriers to be gainfully employed.

You will be a change agent; teaching employers about how to best work with individuals (youth and adults) with various challenges/barriers to work (e.g. no work history, poor work behaviors/history, mental or physical barriers, etc) as well as teaching the job seekers how to successfully obtain and retain employment.

If you like the opportunity to work in a community based environment, enjoy teaching/training, can create and manage your own schedule, meet program expectations and enjoy the flexibility to create new opportunities in the workplace everyday; then Work Opportunities is a great place to work.

Management is very supportive and is able to work with a wide variety of team members in 8 states; there is a focus on professional development and growth if a team member wants that.

Be ready to think on your feet, be an excellent communicator and work with various funding sources (eg Vocational Rehab, Transitional Services, High Schools, youth agencies) and be rewarded with the ability to create a flexible work schedule and the ability to take time off to balance work and life.  

Turnover happens and as a hiring director who interviewed many many candidates over my 10 years here, I encourage candidates to fully understand the job and its requirements. It's not for everyone. That's ok.  WOU provides a lot of training for multimodal learners (on the job training and computer based training).  WOU strives to see their team members be successful and retention is a focus company wide. 

I had a wonderful experience working for this family owned company for over 10 years. It was a great work environment and I felt totally supported and cared about as a employee and a person by the management and administrative teams. I was able to make a difference in the world and that was important to me. I was given clear direction of what was expected of me and then I was able to implement that plan with the support of my team; utilizing our ideas and creativity. I really liked that freedom to lead a team using my skills, talents and abilities. 

Thank to everyone I have worked with and for.....every single person I have crossed paths with; whether it was a youth, a parent, a teacher, an executive director for another agency, a corporate human resource team for a major retail company, a Career Resource Specialist, or a store manager at a local pizza place; everyone brought me some lesson to learn. I have been "well schooled!"

I am grateful for this company and highly recommend working here.

If you value job security, I do not recommend applying to Work Opportunities. I had a very horrible experience with this place. From the very start, I noticed some red flags I should have listened to. The first was when they posted the job at 21.18 per hour, then told me that the offer was actually only 21.00.  I regret to say I still accepted, and even gave up my higher paying role in my home state to accept their offer because I was  interested in a career change. Another thing I noticed later on: they are paying new hires more than people who had been there for years. Things really got bad after moving to the Work Opportunities location in Providence from 4 states away, because my start date got delayed for over two weeks. For those of you who know how crucial funds are when coming from a distance, you can imagine what happens next: I had already left my previous employer, and had to use my entire savings account having to backpay living expenses because I could not start working as initially stated. When I finally did start two weeks later, I had this weird sense that something wasn't right. People kept talking about "supportive culture" and how much Work Opportunities "cares about their workers."  I gave the benefit of the doubt... and wish I hadn't. This is usually an indicator that you are expected to be a doormat if things go awry.  I felt no direction or support as to what my job duties were, just being thrown out in the field to observe and do. When in training, I was "moving too fast." If I took my time like I was told,  I was "not engaging enough." Neither effort seemed to be good enough, they would say one thing and then expect the opposite. Things started getting weird when the supervisor was suddenly calling me every morning and I felt as if I was being monitored. Then came the biggest blow: I was terminated after only 1 week. I knew something like this was going to happen, and I feel stupid for giving Work Opportunities the benefit of the doubt. I am now losing my home, my vehicle and everything I own because my savings is completely gone after moving all the way to Providence to work here, only to have the rug pulled from underneath me. I will never recommend this place, I'm  ashamed to say I even accepted a position here.

I seriously overstayed at this position due to my attachment to the clients I worked with.  My 4.5 years there were an eye opener.  While working with the clients was rewarding at times, it was often a grind.  Typical situations included:

Driving 100 miles per day to meet client schedules and cover for coworkers who had meetings or called out sick.  Daily schedule and who you had for clients could be changed on the fly and usually was.

Being asked to break ratios of 3 clients to 1 staff member (often having 5 clients at a volunteer site)

No real knowledge of the individual clients' needs or background -  I had a client who became violent when his tablet was taken away....but of course nobody mentioned that.


Being asked to work with two clients in wheelchairs by myself, without adequate training about transferring them, toileting, etc.

Very unrealistic expectations about placing individuals in jobs - while the company mantra is "everyone can work" and that is a laudable goal, clients with erratic behavior or a total lack of job skills are nearly impossible to place.  One staffer would end up doing the clients' work for him which was definitely not appropriate.

The clients are typically the best part of the day, but you become their confidantes and, for lack of a better term, their friends.  Many of these individuals have difficult family situations or are placed with care providers and the details can be very exhausting.  

Time off was difficult to secure and was always subject to change.  Team leaders took care of themselves first and doled out time off in an unfair manner (i.e. don't  cross them or you'll never get your requested time approved).  

All in all, there is a tremendous amount of risk and responsibility heaped on the staff.  Between the demands of the job and the risks of working alone with certain clients, this position is woefully low in pay.  Unfortunately, the risks outweigh the benefits.

A typical day of work begins with checking morning emails for any updates, requests, opportunities or a positive share from the company page, our director or our coworkers. We celebrate every success! You may stop by the office for tasks, a meeting or head to a worksite scheduled on your own calendar, providing quality client supports or a volunteer community site.   You support your client to have a day of work in which they feel successful, capable, encouraged and connected to their managers, coordinators and coworkers. You use positivity, creativity, critical thinking and challenge solving. You connect with others who also support your client. Ending your support, you likely are off to your next client. There may be a meeting or an opportunity for new growth training. A day may include some time to work on documents and independent activities. I've learned how to manage time so well and have immense improved confidence in myself communicating with others.  The work culture here is mutually supportive. There is no level of management that isn't completely opwn and welcoming to answer questions and have open comminication.  We don't hoard great success methods. We share them and learn from them and from each other.  Challenges may come with newly encountered experiences and it can feel the hardest when we are in unfamiliar waters. This is where we grow. Client successes are the most amazing and rewarding part of this role. It never gets old when we celebrate a client loving their work and coworkers, their community group, their independence!

Look, the company has a great mission and I loved working with my clients. What I didn't like was the for-profit nature of the company and the way we were treated and paid. 

There wasn't enough initial training to begin with and the company was so desperate for help they pushed us into the field as fast as they were allowed. I'd constantly get lectured over every little perceived shortcoming, but then be told I was doing a great job. My boss could be late or blow off meetings with me, but once literally drove by where I was assigned to yell to me that I needed to go in ASAP...at a site that didn't require constant supervision and that I had literally just parked at and was wrapping up some time-sensitive paperwork. She lectured me about following the schedule but got upset when I was at a location on time because she needed me to drive to a different spot last minute. 

The pay was dismal, the benefits were ridiculously expensive (more than half a check to cover a spouse and child on health insurance) and our mileage reimbursement was a joke.  Half of my co-workers were burned out, others did the bare minimum just because. The staff was generally very kind to one another. 

It was a foot in the door for human services, but I would love to see them pay their staff, provide better benefits and staff properly.

This job is truly the best company management and culture I have experienced. Management is always available for questions and concerns. They care about employee success and are willing to make changes to your caseload/schedule if you request it. The environment is very supportive and collaborative. Management does not act superior to others and they are willing to take your ideas and suggestions. Management tells you often that you're doing a good job or they appreciate you. It definitely goes along way!

The interview process can be long but it is to make sure you would like the job and that they think you would be a good fit!

The day to day schedule involves meeting clients at their work site or out in the community. You get to make your own schedule and hours. If full-time, as long as you hit 40 hours between Monday-Friday you are good. You can work 12 hour days one day and five the next if you choose! The work life balance here is great. The job also reimburses you for a lot of expenses like driving to clients and your phone bill. Every day is different here but you still know what to expect and what is expected of you!

Save the week of so called training, no other quality training was offered. The "manager" couldn't be bothered to show more than once a week and was spread so thin that she barely had time to consult with while there. 
I knew the turnover was extremely high going into the situation, and within weeks understood why.
There is no true support offered. Leadership is replaced with micro-management and criticism.  
Basic Office supplies such as tape were not provided and instead is left upon the employees to purchase and be reimbursed for. The worst was the handling of  candidate's personally indentifiable information; which was routinely kept in unsecured locations or scattered around the office. Suggestions of improvement were flatly ignored. 
Very disturbing experience, however, my one takeaway is that I learned a lot about what I will tolerate and will not tolerate in a professional environment and look forward to taking my new found career passion to a company who adheres to organizational integrity:

I did not enjoy my time at WOU Worcester/Fitchburg. The culture was cliquey, and difficult to break in. Training was unorganized and meant to be completed at your discretion, however my manager would not allow me to complete most trainings during work hours. I shadowed some of the CRS' in the Worcester/Fitchburg offices and would not recommend them to be working with people on disabilities; I found them to be unsympathetic to the men and women they worked with and saw that relationship between them and their clients as a real power imbalance. Many CRS' were more concerned with catching their clients in the act of not doing their jobs instead of properly guiding and educating during job hours. In observing both the manager of the Worcester/Fitchburg office and her CRS' I was disappointed to notice that there was a serious lack of training and education in advocating for those with disabilities and I struggled mightily with the inappropriate interactions CRS/managers had with clients. I would not recommend this company to those seeking employment, nor would I recommend this company to people seeking job placement resources.

Human services is not for everyone. This type of work can be very demanding emotionally and involves a punishing amount of driving. It's also highly rewarding. The company culture is fantastic and management is highly supportive on all levels. Pay is fairly abysmal for human services as a field, but Work Opportunities pays a useful wage, even at entry level. Moving up in the company isn't straightforward or intuitive, so you will need to discuss paths towards a career with your director, or gain critical experience in Vocational Rehabilitation through this job to leverage it into working for a state/other agency. The younger you get into this job, the better, as your life/financial requirements will not be to the point that you can't make a career of it--you need to invest time in Human Services for it to be lucrative.

•	Assist clients in finding and maintaining meaningful employment consistent with their goals.
•	Follow internal protocols for delivering services, including intake processes, development of individual plans, youth development plans, EPA processes, discrepancy analysis, business development procedures, and client outcomes.
•	Work closely with families and referral sources of clients to provide communication about each client's progress in achieving his/her work goals.
•	Maintain working relationships with staff of referral agencies, employers, home care providers, and families through scheduled, on-going contacts.
•	Maintain on-going contact with current businesses to ensure quality services are being delivered, and to develop additional business opportunities.
•	Prepares and maintains written and online case files, records, reports, and forms accurately and completely, and keep them up-to-date at all times.
•	Perform case follow-up, and perform other administrative tasks as required and on time.


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