• Programming
• History of Project SEARCH
• Sites and Internships

Project SEARCH Hamilton follows the school year calendar. Interns attend the program for the full school year in the host business.

•   Program Orientation (3 weeks)  
  • Employment training sessions focused on new employee orientation, hands-on skills assessment, and familiarization with the host business environment.  
    
•   Employment Training Sessions  
  • Morning (1 hour/day): 
    • Interns engage in activities to enhance employability and independent living skills. Some of the classroom activities include team building, workplace safety, technology, money management, and social, problem solving, communication, interviewing and job search skills.  
    • Afternoon (30 minutes/day): 
      • Interns review their work and experiences and plan for the next day.   
• Three Internships (10 to 12 weeks each)  
  • Each Internship (4-5 hours/day) 
    • Interns engage in targeted placements where they learn specific, relevant, and transferable job skills. Students also build social, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.
    • Interns work alongside staff employed by the host business.    
    • Interns are supported and guided by the Teacher and Skills Trainers. Ongoing feedback and collaboration with department mentors takes place.  
    • Potential Intern worksites are identified through a continuous collaborative process involving the Teacher, Skills Trainers and host site liaison.     

Employment Planning Meetings

Review meetings are held five (5) times a year. The focus is on talking about the intern’s progress in gaining competitive skills and employment. The purpose of these meetings is to:

Everyone who is actively involved in helping the Intern find employment attends the meetings. This includes:

• • Intern

• • Project SEARCH Instructor
  • Skills trainer

• • Family member
  • Department manager/mentor

• • Job coach/developer

• Other support members