Improving Success at Step 5: VE Guide to ORS in Live Hearings – 2026 Spring National Conference – Track II (Presented by National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives)

John Yent, MA, CRC, ABDA, CPWIC, Executive Director, Recovery to Work Disability Services; Vocational Expert | SSA Office of Hearings Operations

John Yent is a rehabilitation counselor, vocational expert, and disability services entrepreneur with nearly four decades of experience in the disability rehabilitation industry. He has been in private practice since 2003 and serves as a Vocational Expert contractor for the SSA Office of Hearings Operations, having testified in more than 10,000 disability hearings since 1997. In 2017, he founded Recovery to Work Disability Services, a national Employment Network under SSA’s Ticket to Work program, and in 2024 co-founded. WorkscapeAnalytics.com, a vocational software company. He is a co-founder of the Social Security Vocational Expert Section of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP) and has presented at national conferences including IARP, ABVE, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the Association of Administrative Law Judges, and NOSSCR.

• Education & Credentials

John holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Sociology, and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from La Jolla University. He holds multiple professional certifications, including Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), Diplomate of the American Board of Disability Analysts (ABDA), and Community Partner Work Incentives Counselor (CPWIC), the latter reflecting his specialized training in Social Security Administration disability benefits and work incentives advising. His credentials span rehabilitation counseling, disability analysis, and SSA benefits planning, providing a multidisciplinary foundation for his work as a vocational expert and disability services leader.

• Recognition & Leadership

John is one of the co-founders of the Social Security Vocational Expert Section of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP) and has served as Section Board Member and Past Section Chair, a leadership contribution that has helped shape the professional standards and community for vocational experts practicing before the SSA. His founding of Recovery to Work Disability Services in 2017 and co-founding of WorkscapeAnalytics.com in 2024 reflect an entrepreneurial career defined by building institutions that advance the disability rehabilitation and vocational expert fields. He has been a featured speaker at IARP, the American Board of Vocational Experts, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the Association of Administrative Law Judges, and NOSSCR.

• Professional Involvement

John’s professional involvement spans vocational expert testimony, Employment Network leadership, software development, and national conference speaking. As Executive Director of Recovery To Work Disability Services, a national Ticket to Work Employment Network, he helps Social Security disability beneficiaries pursue employment and self-sufficiency. Through WorkscapeAnalytics.com, co-founded in 2024, he is advancing the use of technology and labor market data, including the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) and Occupational Employment and Wage Survey (OEWS) to improve vocational analysis in disability adjudication. He has also presented an ORS webinar series for NOSSCR, extending his expertise to claimants’ representatives nationwide.

• Experience

John Yent’s career in disability rehabilitation began in 1986, and he has been in private practice since 2003. Since 1997, he has served as a Vocational Expert contractor for the SSA Office of Hearings Operations, accumulating testimony in more than 10,000 disability hearings, an extraordinary volume that reflects both the longevity and the intensity of his engagement with the Social Security adjudication system. His expertise in the Occupational Requirements Survey and Occupational Employment and Wage Survey positions him at the forefront of the evolving use of labor market data in SSA disability determinations. In 2017, he founded Recovery To Work Disability Services to extend his impact into the Ticket to Workspace, and in 2024 co-founded WorkscapeAnalytics.com to bring vocational software tools to practitioners across the field. His leadership in founding the IARP Social Security Vocational Expert Section further cements his legacy as a builder and shaper of the vocational expert profession

I. Improving Success at Step 5: VE Guide to ORS in Live Hearings | 2:00pm – 3:15pm

The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) is the most comprehensive occupational data set ever, commissioned by SSA, developed and maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). VEs use ORS to estimate the job numbers. Each medical factor in ORS is a percentage that reduces jobs. VEs can calculate estimates of you include all medical evidence. Workscape Analytics software does these calculations for you, live at the hearing, and in seconds. Attorneys can easily cross-examine VEs with data at your fingertips, validate calculations, and introduce any ORS factors from medical evidence. Use this tool for success at Step 5.

Attorneys need a way to evaluate VE testimony live at hearings. Demonstrating the effectiveness of Occupational Requirements Survey software makes that process easily available in seconds. The session is about ORS principles, software to do calculations instantly as well as instant information for cross-examination of Vocational Experts.