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Is Career Development Viable for Clients with Significant Barriers?
We consult organizations across the globe that serve job seekers with significant barriers. Many face barriers such as felony convictions, mental health problems, and gaps in employment; these individuals also have little work history, less formal education, no career vision… and they need to start working very soon. On top of this, the service providers often have little expertise or training in employment coaching and job readiness training, and almost no exposure to career development. There is concern about whether the job seekers are employable at all, and a common sense that careers are out of the question. But, I know that career development is a viable option even for people facing major barriers, because I see it work its magic all the time.
Chapters
Career Planning
When people facing the barriers mentioned above are offered employment services the focus is often on job start, with anyone who will hire them and “any job is better than no job”. It is uncommon for them to be encouraged to dream, clarify their interests and long-term goals, or do career planning and exploration. The service provider generally begins with the job market, gathering open market leads, then works to fit the client into the openings they might be able to do. Is it any wonder that there is little buy-in from the client, and that resistance and sabotage ensue? Is it surprising that job retention rates are not good?
Imagine the difference if we took a career development approach… beginning with the client, assessing their most important fascinations, skills and values, encouraging them to dream again, re-defining work as something they can delight in rather than simply endure.
Walking these individuals through career planning and exploration and encouraging them to dream big may be met with initial resistance and disbelief by the client, but it’s worth it. I say, “We can help you get a job that’s ‘a job’ that will get you an income or, in about the same amount of time, we can help you get a job that you actually like, that leads to something you care about. Which do you want?”
In every case, the clients admit that if they are going to work, they might as well like it… and we dive into an interactive, ever-relevant assessment process that is clarifying and constantly engaging, even to people who do not enjoy test-taking, self-exploration or anything that feels like school. Here are some specifics.
Re-Define Work
It is said that “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” So, we first help clients cast a positive vision for the role work can play in their lives. We remind them that whatever it is they love to do, would do for free… someone is getting paid to do. Why not them? People get paid to talk on the phone, create, tear things apart, meet new people, be outdoors, read, draw, you name it! Many of these clients have never been asked about their dreams, or never believed they could reach them. For many, “work” is doing something they don’t like, with a bunch of people they don’t want to be with, in a place they don’t like going, for too many hours, and not enough pay. Who wants to work? We begin by shattering the negative rap work has gotten, inviting the client to dream big, assuring them that their next job can move them toward a dream, and acknowledging that work can be a blessing or a curse in their lives, and they get to choose.
Dream Big & Get Practical
As they digest this new definition of work as a positive part of their life, we begin assessing their most important fascinations, skills, and values. We also assess their “killer” or burnout skills, those they have but do not enjoy using, so we can help them actively avoid jobs that rely on them more than 20% of the time. [We do not assess type due to short timeframes, the attention span and processing level of our clients, and the lack of expertise among our service providers. If you have the time, the clients, and the talent to make it valuable, go for it.]
Next, we combine the fascinations, skills and values the client wants incorporated into their career planning process, and identify jobs that offer as many of them as possible, jobs the client may want to do down the road. Often, the jobs we discover at this point seem a far cry from where they are, but they represent goals the client is willing to work for. We call them Dream Jobs (not fantasy, simply the fascinations/skills/values mix they are willing to work toward over three to seven years). This engages the client, but let’s get practical before it starts to feel like a pipe dream and they resort to getting whatever job they can. Next, we take each Dream Job and create several Backward Career Paths by calling and learning the real-life career paths of people who do it. This introduces the client to several ways to get to their Dream Job and lets them discover jobs they can pursue immediately using their current skills which put them on a path to their Dream Job.
I once worked with a man who was 49 years old without a GED. It would have been easy to see him as a candidate for mere job placement, but we are committed to career development. So, we helped him assess his fascinations, skills and values, dream big and choose a job that inspired him to move forward. Turns out, he wanted to be a Pediatrician. Now, here’s the golden moment. How do we respond? It would have been so easy to help him see how “unrealistic” this was (by the way, I had to remove the word ‘unrealistic’ from my vocabulary because too often when I said it, I meant, “I don’t see that happening for you, so choose another goal.” I’m not assuming you do the same, but if you use ‘unrealistic’ in this dream-crushing way, you might want to remove it). So, “Pediatrician… how exciting. What about being a Pediatrician is interesting to you?... the medical field, prestige, helping people, working indoors, the white lab coat, making his family proud, and more. Alright then, you seem inspired. How can we get you started in the field, on the path, using your current skills?”
We took leaps and bounds back from Pediatrician, and within a month he was hired at a hospital as a Groundskeeper. Within less than 3 years, he had completed his GED, met a cool guy in a white lab coat who didn’t have a four year degree, changed his dream, and become a Radiology Technician. Let them dream, get them started in their “field of fascination,” and see what happens!
In a recent training I conducted, I encountered a Job Coach frustrated by a certain client and his dream. “This guy reads at a third-grade level, and it isn’t going to get any better, but thanks to CSI, all he wants to be is a Forensic Scientist. I’ve met with him twice, tried to get him to give it up, and he won’t.” At the end of the training, this coach shared his most important lesson… “For my clients, the Backward Career Path is the way forward. You’ve all heard me complain about a certain client. The truth is, I don’t think he will ever be a Forensic Scientist, but now I am willing to let him have his dream. I realize that he could be a Cleaner at the courthouse and love it. He could courier specimens somewhere in the field and be happy as anything. And he may surprise us all and become a CSI Tech. I’m going to help him figure out how he can use the skills he has in the field he loves.”
Career development, its hopeful spirit and practical techniques, should be offered to more people who ‘just need to get a job.’ When it is, we see wonderful results for the individual whose life will never be quite the same, and we see results in the statistics. Here are few recent examples I have had a hand in.
#1: The largest network of drug and alcohol recovery centers in the U.S. offers a 6-month, residential recovery program. Many of the people they serve also struggle with mental illness and have criminal backgrounds. Like so many agencies, they are very good at their core mission, but lack expertise in employment. We partnered with their west coast team to design and implement a WorkNet career development “re-entry” phase to help graduates catch a vision for how work integrates into their life and recovery, make wise decisions about careers and jobs, become career resilient, and experience a supported transition back into the community and workforce. In the first 15 months, we established re-entry phases at 10 centers. 299 graduates chose to engage, with 71% completing. Of those who completed, 70% were working, with 38 of them in entry-career jobs on a path to their chosen career goal and 15 people having achieved a raise or promotion.
#2: A men’s prison in Florida began offering a WorkNet career development program on Monday nights, which quickly became one of the most popular courses. Within a year, the prison’s recidivism rate has dropped from 68% (within 3 years of release) to 8% (within the first year). This is amazing! Career development, and the faith-based approach the prison is taking, is making an exciting difference! [This prison was one of 8 “faith-based, character-building” institutions in the state which resulted in a dramatic decrease in recidivism. At the time, there are 16,000 inmates waiting to transfer to these facilities].
So, infuse these ideas into your career planning process, even if you or the client think it won’t work. You’ve got nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Career Resilience
I think we would all agree that there are just a few reasons people don’t keep a job once they have it. One, they can’t manage work and life so they quit, resign, or stop showing up. Two, they are fired, let go, or otherwise are asked by the employer to leave because of performance, attendance, or other issues. Three, they resign or move on because they get a better offer. Clearly, the third is the most preferable.
Here are some thoughts and workforce development strategies to cultivate career resilience… even in people prone to the first and second situations above who face significant barriers and often need to work as soon as possible.
Match, Match, Match
Now, I’m not supposed to be focusing on career planning, but on career resilience, but it’s hard to get the second without the first. Clearly, people are more likely to perform well, fit in, and work to keep a job if that job matches them well. So, get them in the right job (skill set, role), in the right field (fascinations, environment), in the right company culture (values, culture) using tips from the above content. Then…
Teach Them Today's Business Culture
Helping your clients become acculturated to today’s business culture is an important step in creating on-the-job and long-term success. This is especially important if you work with people who have had little exposure or success in the world of work. It’s also helpful for clients who have recently succeeded in a job for several years or more, because although they may know that company’s culture they are still likely to experience some culture shock when they re-enter the ever-changing world of work in a new company culture.
We teach today’s business culture as if it were a foreign culture, and our goal is to help clients become “bi-cultural” so they can succeed and fit in at work without feeling like they have to sell-out who they are. If a week from Tuesday the client was flying to Japan, they would probably agree that they should learn a few choice phrases, the cultural greeting, appropriate dress, mannerisms, and more so they could feel comfortable and be successful. However, when we suggest that for a client to succeed in an interview or on the job in their hometown that they might speak, greet, dress, or behave differently, they may get defensive. For this reason, we objectify the business culture, teach it as a foreign culture, and remind them that it’s not about being “like us” (we are bi-cultural too, and we speak, dress and behave differently at work than we would on a Saturday afternoon at home, at a ball game, at a family event, or in our worship community). This approach reduces defensiveness and resistance and prepares clients to adopt behaviors that will help them succeed on the job… so they can use work to get what is important to them.
The Grass Is Greener… Where You Water It!
This was the title of a marriage enrichment retreat I heard about a while ago. I like it and, call me a career development professional, but it reminds me of work. So often people think they will be happier if they get a new job, but as is often the case in life, they bring problematic dynamics with them. Perhaps they need to take better care of their current work. It is our responsibility to keep ourselves motivated, focused, and excellent on the job. Help your clients figure out how to make the job they have, the job they love. What tasks and opportunities result in the most success and satisfaction, and how can they maximize the time they spend doing them? What makes the job difficult or un-enjoyable, and how can they minimize, delegate or balance out those things? What can they do to create a better life/work balance, like investing in a hobby, volunteering, or increasing an important dynamic (relaxation, creativity, physical activity, spirituality, socialization) in their off time?
Teach Them to Leave Gracefully
People find themselves in jobs they don’t want to keep, and some of your clients will too. Rather than creating a gap, burning a bridge, or creating something to explain, teach clients how to leave a job gracefully. Offer training and support in the art of searching for a job while you are still working so you have a seamless transition (many of my clients think the first step in getting a new job is quitting the one they have so they have time to look!). And, teach them how to quit a job well by giving notice and getting references before they go (if positive and possible).
It has been fun over the years to welcome a new client or group of clients and announce up-front that our goal is to help them get their first raise and first promotion. I often get concerned looks from people who think I'm a bit confused. “We’re unemployed,” they remind me. “Yes, I know. One of our hopes is that this is the last time in your life that you job search from an unemployed standpoint. We want to help you catch a vision for work so the next job you get put you on a path to something you care about… and even if the boss is a jerk or the car breaks down, you get there anyhow. We’re going to teach you how to be an amazing employee, and how to make a planned career move so that for the rest of your working life you can make work, work for you.” Some clients buy in and like it from the start; others remain skeptical. Over time, as we use the ideas above (we have job seeker curriculum on these topics, if you are interested), most of them see the long-term value and willingly make the investment… which is wonderful, because as much as I enjoy working with a client, I don’t want to do it every nine months. Career development is a viable option even for those facing significant barriers. Offering career planning services and teaching career resilience increase the odds that clients will become contributors to our work and resources to clients in the future, and not repeat customers.
The Creative Job Search
The WorkNet Model is “a model of career development and job search for people with barriers.” It’s a long name, and if we could shorten it we would, but each part is necessary. The revolutionary part, when it comes to serving clients with significant barriers, is the career development interventions. After all, the average unemployed person can find job search support in many places, but few will encounter quality career development. But, we can’t drop the “job search” reference either, for two reasons. First, too often career development services focus on career assessment and planning without becoming tangible enough for so many clients, perhaps especially those facing significant barriers who notoriously struggle to transition theory into practice. The other reason we must refer to the job search from the start, is because difficult clients who need to work immediately are commonly encouraged to job search in a too-traditional way. Here are ideas on making the job search piece effective.
In any job search, there are four important steps to getting a “yes”… know what job you want, avoid being screened out, prove you are a great match for the job, and get to the person who can hire you. Here are some tips for avoiding the traditional traps and staying creative with people who face significant barriers and need to work immediately.
Clarify the Job Target
As always, I start with thoughts of career planning (see above). Quick Tip: Don’t get stuck on skills! Assess not just current skills, paid work history, and formal education, but the client’s fascinations, values, unpaid and natural skills, and non-traditional or unpaid experience. People bring more than just the work they have been paid to do and the classes they have taken. The employer gets it all, so assess it all. Then, identify not just the job title (skill group) they will target, but the fields, industries, and company cultures they will focus on, based on their fascinations and values. A Receptionist job in a social service agency, a luxury auto dealership, a family-run plumbing company, and a long-haul trucking firm are very different jobs, so knowing the skills and title isn’t clarifying enough.
Avoid Being Screened Out
Hiring employers get lots of responses for each job they advertise. Their first question is, “Who can we get rid of?” More than 60% go in the “no” pile, and the others in a “maybe” pile. The next question is, “Who else can we eliminate?”, and another 20-30% are tossed. The employer has spent less than 90 seconds per candidate, screened out 90% of them, and still has no “yes” pile. Only when they have their top 3-5 candidates does the question become, “Who would be best?” and “Why should I hire you?” For most of the process, candidates are being screened out, not hired.
Reduce time and frustration by discovering anything employers may use to screen the candidate out before truly exploring their strengths or making a connection with them. Look for barriers and distractions about their ability to do the job, but also their presentation, attitude, dependability, motivation, and other concerns. To reduce or eliminate each issue, clients can use the solution tools presented in No One Is Unemployable and The 6 Reasons You’ll Get the Job — change where they look for work, access a resource, learn a skill, adjust their own outlook (or the employer’s perception), and craft a good answer.
Prove They Are A Great Match for the Job
Jump into the employer’s shoes and discover their top 10-12 needs, including the abilities and experience they are looking for, but also what makes for an ideal candidate in terms of presentation, motivation and other areas of “fit”. Then, help the client prove they can meet each need and are a great match overall.
Here’s a tip! Pull from their entire life experience and all their skills, whether they have ever been paid to use them. Many people I work with gained their best skills and most qualifying experience in unpaid or non-traditional settings — hobbies, family responsibilities, prison, as the oldest of six or the mother of four, in an addiction treatment program, etc. But the employer gets it, so we use it. Again, there are lots of strategies and examples in No One Is Unemployable and The 6 Reasons You’ll Get the Job. The proof you gather becomes stories, demonstration, quantified selling points, and credible references that they use to market themselves on paper, online, over the phone, in person, and via referrals.
Get to the Person Who Can Hire You
90% of candidates are screened out before interacting with anyone who has the power to say “yes”, and people with barriers go first! If you want to help your difficult clients skip the screen-out process and go directly to the hiring process, teach them to use side doors while their competition is still waiting in the lobby.
Side doors are techniques for meeting and talking with the person who makes the hiring decision before you submit your resume or application. Many of us have gotten interviews and job offers before submitting an application, and our clients can too. Help them find ways to casually meet and talk with the business owner, Manager or Department Head as a customer, the friend of an employee or associate, a volunteer, a fellow member of an association, a person doing research, a participant at civic events, or in dozens of other ways. This takes a bit more planning, creativity and guts, but it reduces job search time (see samples in The 6 Reasons You’ll Get the Job). In fact, it’s the way most people, including you and me, tend to find work.
Built upon the ideas I shared about career planning and cultivating career resilience, these tips can help even our most difficult clients get the job. I hope this article has inspired and equipped you to make career development a reality for even your toughest clients.
As always, thank you for your good work and for letting us help.
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