Hope & Practicality from Elisabeth - Elisabeth (Harney) Sanders-Park is co-author of No One Is Unemployable, The WorkNet Model and the WorkNet curriculum, and President of WorkNet Solutions

So often, unemployed people with significant barriers to are offered quick job placement, with anyone who will have them, and “any job is better than no job”. In my last article, I challenged that approach, as I do in my daily work across the nation, and shared some thoughts and strategies for making career development a viable option for them. I think there are three vital problems in employment services offered to these difficult clients: 1) Lack of time given to high-quality Career Planning, 2) Lack of training and support to create long-term career resilience, and 3) Lack of creativity in the job search as they pursue a position that puts them on a career path. In my last article, I focused on the Career Planning piece. Here are some thoughts and strategies to cultivate career resilience… even in people who need to work as soon as possible and face significant barriers.

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 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… but you are not reading this article to affirm your success with “easy clients”. Here are some ideas to help people prone to the first and second situations.

Match, Match, Match – Now, I’m supposed to be focusing on career resilience and not career planning, but it’s hard to get the first without the second. Clearly, people are more likely to perform well, fit-in and work to keep a job that matches them well. Get them in the right job (skill set, role), in the right field (fascinations, environment), in the right company culture (values, culture). My last article offered some practical ideas on how to do this.

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 or no exposure or success in the world of work. It’s also helpful for clients who have recently succeeded in a job for more than four years, because although they may know that company’s culture they are likely to experience culture shock when they re-enter the ever-changing world of work in general. 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. If a week from Tuesday the client were 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 successful. However, when we suggest that for a client to succeed in an interview or on the job in their home town they should speak, greet, dress or behave differently, many 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, or in church). This approach reduces client defensiveness and resistance, and prepares them to behave in ways that will help them succeed on the job.

The Grass I 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 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 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 unenjoyable, 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 realize they don’t want to keep, and some of your clients will too. Rather than creating another gap, burning another bridge and having more 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 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 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 puts 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. I wish you joy and success!

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter

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