Parents play a critical role in assisting their loved ones with finding, obtaining, and sustaining meaningful employment. As a complement to our current job seeker resources, OAR will develop resources to help you assist your loved one through the employment process. As we move forward, we will create  additional resources focused on pre-employment skill building and strategies for workplace readiness. If you are looking for a good place to start for thinking and preparing for the employment challenge, we encourage you to check out OAR’s A Guide for Transition to Adulthood.

We will release sections of the Parent’s Guide to Employment in stages throughout the next year, so we encourage you to periodically check back or sign-up for the OARacle newsletter to learn when we release new sections.  

Here is the current list of topics we plan to highlight in the future: 

  • Pre-employment training and development
  • Career exploration
  • Essential social skills for the workplace
  • Job searching and interviewing
  • Self-advocacy and accommodations 
  • Disclosure
  • Managing anxiety and rejection
  • Transportation planning
  • Job coaches and state-level support

If there are topics that you would like to see included in OAR’s A Parent’s Guide to Employment, we welcome your feedback and suggestions.  Please send them by email to . 

Parent Resource

A Parent’s Guide to Employment: Resumes and Cover Letters

As a complement to our job seeker resume and cover letter guides, we have created A Parent’s Guide to Employment: Resumes and Cover Letters to provide you with advice on how to best assist your teen/young adult newly embarking on a job search. We encourage you to use this resource to help them create the best resume and/or cover letter they can without the need for it to be perfect. We will help with that part!

Download the Guide

Job Seeker Resources

A Guide to Resume Writing

A Guide to Resume Writing provides you with a step-by-step walkthrough on how to create a resume. This resource will help you to understand the following topics, including:

  • The role and importance of a resume 
  • Parts of a resume
  • Basic resume formatting and design tips
  • Examples and explanations of how to write each section 
  • How to use keywords to get your resume past computer screening systems
  • A resume template to get you started

Download the Guide

A Guide to Cover Letter Writing

A Guide to Cover Letter Writing walks you through how to build a compelling and professional cover letter. This guide will provide you with tools to effectively create a cover letter to accompany your resume when applying for jobs. This resource will help you to understand the following topics, including:

  • The purpose and importance of a cover letter
  • Formatting guidelines and key elements checklist
  • Tips on how to write each paragraph
  • How to incorporate keywords in your cover letter
  • A cover letter template to get you started

Download the Guide

Other Resources

Looking for more information? Here are a few other resources to check out:

Reproduction Policy

These guidebooks are available for use by all those whose lives are affected by autism. In keeping with OAR’s mission, the information included in these books may be utilized for personal use, teaching, research, for IEP meetings or any other capacity in order to facilitate the dissemination of information. You may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) these materials without prior permission for non-commercial purposes. If used professionally, we ask that the you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies. Parties interested in translating the resources may request a license agreement.

For other uses of materials or for more information, please contact us at .