Virtual Training Helps Vets with PTSD, Mentally Ill Nab More Jobs
From: Wirelesss Design & Development - 07/01/2015

Finding a job is difficult for veterans with post traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and individuals with severe mental illness, who have high unemployment
rates even though many want to work.

The job interview - especially hard for those with mental illnes - can be a
major hurdle.

A virtual human - based on software originally used to train FBI agents -
helped vets with PTSD and individuals with severe mental illness build their
job interview skills and snag significantly more job offers, reports a new
Northwestern Medicine study.

Participants in the training practiced repeatedly with the virtual character,
a human resources staff member named Molly Porter. They spoke their responses
to Molly's questions using voice recognition software. A job coach in the
program gave them immediate on-screen feedback as to whether their responses
helped or hurt their rapport with Molly. The interviews got tougher as they
progressed.

Vets with PTSD and individuals with severe mental illness who took the
training were nine times more likely than non-trainees to get job offers in a
six-month follow-up after training. The more training interviews participants
completed, the greater the likelihood of receiving a job offer and in a
shorter amount of time.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2015/07/virtual-training-helps-vets-ptsd-mentally-ill-nab-more-jobs

Links:
Job Interview Training with Molly Porter
http://www.jobinterviewtraining.net/

Matthew J. Smith, PhD
http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/faculty-profiles/az/profile.html?xid=18455