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

It’s still a buyer’s market. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics show more than 5 times more job seekers than openings. The May Job Openings & Labor Turnover Report showed an increase of nearly 50,000 to 2.7 million available positions in March. That’s good news. Employers are starting to hire again. The report also indicated that the number of people pursuing those jobs grew as well. That’s good news too! Sure it continues to make the competition very stiff, but it indicates that many unemployed Americans who were until-recently so discouraged that they had simply stopped seeking work are searching again. So, yes, the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings remains high, but we’re going in the right direction. You may be seeing evidence of this in your practice or community. Let’s be encouraged and re-muster our resolve to help the people who cross our path in these tough times. Let’s ask WHICH not whether employers are hiring, and WHERE not if there is a place in the workforce for each person. This market allows employers to be exceedingly picky about who they consider and who they hire. Here are some tips to help difficult clients impress employers, based on my upcoming book ‘The 6 Reasons you’ll Get the Job’ (with Debra Angel MacDougall, Penguin October 2010).

There are six reasons a candidate gets the job… conversely, they are also the six reasons a person is screened out. Understanding these six reasons means understanding the employer’s perspective, because every reason employers hire or fire, promote or demote comes down to them. Every interview question asked, whether legal or not, is an employer’s attempt to discover if a candidate meets their needs or causes concern in these six important areas. No matter the job title, all of the employer’s needs and concerns fall into the six reasons. Here they are, along with important tips about how candidates can impress employers in each area.

Presentation – You must prove you will represent the company well to internal and external customers, and it’s not just about the way you dress. You must embody the company image in your appearance, but also in how you speak and how you behave – your voice tone, vocabulary, body language, energy. Discover the company image by visiting the site if possible, and viewing the website and marketing materials. Then, present yourself as you would if you already worked there – dress the part, use their vocabulary, match their level of energy. Prove that you already embody their image.

Ability – They need to know you can do the job or learn it quickly enough (which varies from jobs to job). Whether you have done the job before, done something similar and transferable, or are mobilizing raw talent and non-employment activities to prove it, the employer must know that they will get a return on their investment in a reasonable timeframe. Review the job description or lead for the hard skills needed, but also research what makes someone ‘ideal’ which often comes down to soft skills and subtle dynamics. Consider how this position can increase company profit, and prove you can do it.

Dependability – This isn’t just about being on time and ready when you’re supposed to, but whether you can be trusted to work in the company’s best interest, even when no one is looking. Are you emotionally stable, mature, trustworthy and reliable? Will you choose the company over your personal life when it really counts – staying to finish an important project, doing the extra to fix a mistake or satisfy a customer – because you understand that you aren’t there to simply fulfill your job description but to make the company successful? Prove this with your track-record from past employment, and/or by choosing work that truly interest you.

Motivation – This is a biggie! Of course, employers want employees who do the extra, bring passion, and take initiative, but your ‘extra’ is only helpful when it is directed toward the company mission and goals. Otherwise, it’s not just unhelpful, it’s damaging. You are a loose cannon that must be contained. Discover the company’s missions and goals, and consider how the job function can help achieve that mission and fulfill those goals. Un less they are vying for positions in leadership, management or sales, most job seekers don’t think to discover and articulate how they can further the company mission, meet company goals, and increase profit. Imagine a potential cook, electrician, nurse driver, or trainer using this powerful language!

Attitude – Each company has its own culture; some personalities fit and some don’t. Forty hours a week is a long time to behave in a way that is not a natural to who you are. Discover the company culture, and the personalities that fit by going in as a customer, talking with current employees, and looking at how the company markets itself. Culture and image are closely related. Are they high-end, corporate, conservative, reliable, trendy, edgy, green, family friendly? Every chance you get to market whether on paper, online over the phone or in person, portray the attitude, energy, and personality that shows you are a great fit, and that the team and customers will enjoy working with you.

Network – Work is a group activity, even in jobs that deal only with small groups of ‘internal customers’. Employers need to know that you will attract the right people. This may include where you live or went to school, where you’ve worked and who your references are, the car you drive, how you dress and talk, and more. Use the ideas above to discover the job’s ‘customers’, and find ways to show that those customers — whether co-workers, venders, leadership, or consumers — will believe that you fit into the group, and can attract valued people to the company.

Silly but memorable, PADMAN is our super hero who helps us quickly and accurately think like the employer. His name reminds us of the six reasons people are hired or screened out, the six areas in which lie all an employer’s concerns that must be eliminated and all their needs that must be met. If you a candidate is searching without getting interviews, there is an unmet need or unaddressed concern in at least one of these areas. Scour their initial communications (app, resume, phone spiel, online identity, etc.) to find and remedy it. If they are interviewing and not getting the offer, scrutinize their in person presentation, interview answers, follow-up practices, references and anything negative employers may encounter between the offer of an interview and the offer of a job. There are lots of suggestions in ‘No One Is Unemployable’, available at WorkNet Solutions, and ‘The 6 Reasons’ will be available in October.

None of this is rocket science, but landing the job never has been. In this tough market, when employers can pick from among talented, experienced, ambitious people, candidates who get hired are those who reduce the employer’s concerns, speak their language, and actively prove they meet their needs.

Every month in America, millions of people are hired into jobs. Keep your attitude positive, your eyes open and your mind nimble. You don’t need a thousand jobs today, just a handful of good opportunities for the individual sitting across from you right now. Thanks for the good work you do. Keep in touch at WorkNet Solutions.

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org

Photo by Phil Campbell

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

Everyone keeps asking me to write tips on how to complete online applications – yuk! I tried a while back and ended up giving tips about how job seekers can avoid them until they have presented themselves as ‘people that add value’. However, because they seem an enduring reality, I’ll bite the bullet and share my best tips for successfully completing them.

Cheat. Get the Questions Ahead of Time. Each online application is at least a little unique. Before you complete one, learn the questions asked and how many words you get to use in answering each. There are several ways to do this: 1) Ask someone who has already completed it, 2) Have someone who plans to complete it take notes for you, or let you observe and take notes, 3) Have a friend or family member who is more interested in helping you than getting the job complete the application while you take notes, or, 4) Complete it as a fictitious person, so you can make mistakes and do your research as someone else. You don’t have to do this for every application, which is good because they take so long, but do it for 1 or 2 to get the hang of it.

Pre-pare. Create Your Responses Ahead of Time. During or after your research, create a Word document with the common questions, word counts, and your answers. Then you can take time and strategically incorporate all the relevant selling points that will get you hired, and cultivate a key message that is memorable, but not redundant. You can also spell check, do a word or character count if the site limits you (Drop each answer into a separate document In Microsoft Word. Open the document, and click on <File>, <Properties>, then <Statistics>.). Have someone review your answers for mistakes and impact, then edit as needed. Now, you can cut and paste your great answers into the electronic form, which will save you time and help you avoid the frustration of having to start over from scratch because you lost your internet connection or the website ‘timed-out’ before you submitted the data. Even if the site won’t let you cut and paste, you are ready to re-enter impressive information quicker. If you have to re-type them, reread each answer for typos. Again, you don’t have to prepare unique answers for every application, but create answers for a few applications then adapt them for others. The Word document you create is also helpful in preparing for interviews.

Watch Your Presentation. Look for details that could distract employers from your qualifications for the job. If necessary, create an email account for your job search using a free site. Use your name or a professional indicator, i.e., markgoodman@gmail, megancopyeditor@yahoo. If your physical address could cause concerns about distance/reliability or your community/network, use the more helpful address of a friend, PO Box, or job search program (with their permission), or simply give city and state, if the site allows.

Be A Person. Online applications are very far removed from decision makers who can hire you, so do what you can to be a person. If you use an on-site kiosk, dress for success, prepare a strong resume, and start by asking to speak to a manager. Introduce yourself, and share your respect for the company, a selling point or two, and your desire to join the team. They’ll likely direct you to the kiosk. Gladly go, and complete the application. When you’re done, find the manager again, thank them for their time, let them know you submitted the app, and that you look forward to hearing back soon. Return as a customer within 10 days, connect with the manager and inquire about discussing how you can benefit the company. Continue to follow-up as appropriate. If you complete the application from a remote location, call first and introduce yourself to a relevant decision maker — department head, team leader. Again, once you’ve completed the app, call back to thank them, let them know you are truly interested, and continue to follow-up.

One good aspect of many online applications is that they focus on assessing the skills and knowledge needed for the job, rather than just your past work history and formal education/training. This means if you have strong transferable skills, even if they were gained from unpaid or non-traditional experience, it should come through in your answers. You often have a chance to take a test and prove you’ve got what they are looking for. And, yes, I recommend that you cheat and pre-pare for the test using the tips above too.

Online applications are a long-shot, but these tips will increase the likelihood that your clients will make a connection, get some positive attention, and be given a chance to prove their value for the job. Good luck!

Keep in touch – Learn more about me and my work at www.worknetsolutions.com. Read articles by me, Debra (Angel) MacDougall, and other WorkNet experts at www.worknet-international.com/WorkNET. Get best practices and emerging trends about ‘Tough Career Transitions’ and other career topics at www.careerthoughtleaders.com. Follow at Twitter, and get linked at LinkedIn. As always, I wish you and those you serve great joy and success!

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org

Photo by Re-entry One Stop

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

A strange thing happens when we begin teaching and helping unemployed people to job search… we forget how jobs are actually found. We teach job search book-smarts, instead of street-smarts. We teach them to search in traditional ways, developed by employers to easily screen out the masses. And we encourage them to search in ways we generally don’t. Think about it? If you found yourself unemployed next week, would you submit resumes, send mass resumes, or respond to open market leads? Me neither. We would start connecting with everyone we know who is well-connected or works for an interesting company, invest in dozens of coffee meetings, and start finding side doors to hidden market opportunities.

Recently, I taught 25 employment coaches in Maryland how to help at-risk youth begin and succeed in careers. I asked them to list their previous jobs on a 3×5 card and gave them 5 minutes to determine the role networking and the hidden market played in landing each job. I had them raise their hands if it played a key role more than 50% of the time; every hand went up. I had them keep their hands up if it played a role 80% of the time, then 100% of them; most of the hands remained. This is how we find jobs because, overwhelmingly, this is how jobs are found, and we need to teach it to our clients. Here are some examples from people I’ve worked with, a few recent reminders, and some tips you can use with your clients.

I worked with a client who wanted to work for a company which happened to use an online application and told everyone applying for anything less than the highest level jobs that they must start there. We knew he could not possibly shine via this medium and had little hope of ever getting a second look. We also knew that within a few weeks the company was doing a day of community service. He signed up and ended up repainting eves and the lines on the blacktop if a local elementary school along with a VP, a couple managers, and several company employees. This gave him fresh, level ground from which to express his respect for the company and his long standing interest in being part of the team. He was invited by a manager to visit the worksite and get a tour. It turned into an impromptu interview. Within a month he was offered a job and had to complete an application as a formality. My best advice about online applications is to avoid them in lieu of something that might actually allow a person to be seen as a human being with talent, and get a job offer – a skills resume, an introduction, going in as a customer, or getting involved via volunteering, an internship or a charity event. If a client chooses to complete a paper or online application, I recommend that they dress for success, go in person, find someone with some decision making power (the manager on duty, department head, owner, etc.), introduce themselves and  few of their key qualifications for the job, allow the person to direct them to the application, complete the application, return to the decision maker to thank them, let them know they submitted the application, remind them of their name and talent, and express their desire to work for the company and hope to her back soon.

I just heard the story of how a colleague’s husband recently secured a dream job. He is an opera singer who was working at a music camp on an assignment that was soon-to-end (he’d interned there in the past). Before it ended, he secured a temporary facility maintenance job in arts department at a university, and began auditioning for opera companies. He also did an informational interview with an opera company director to explore jobs in the field that rely on his operations, teaching, and project management skills. Before his camp job ended, the company director called to say she was looking to hire a new assistant director and recalled their conversation. He got the job. Informational, or as we say ‘investigative’, interviewing is a great tool for career exploration, network building, and interview prep, and our clients have surprisingly good success getting job offers (partly because that is truly not the focus of the interaction). Get your clients out there talking to people doing the work they might want to do. Have them ask how the person got started, what they like best and least, the most important problems they solve each day, how they make and cost the company money, what makes someone great, hear about their career path, and find two other people they can talk to. If people enjoy their work, they like to talk about it so it’s positive interaction. They client may get a tour, meet decision makers, build their network, gain a reference, and even get a job offer.

There is a lot of talk about using social media to get jobs. Here are a coupe links to articles that purport real life examples of how people have Tweeted their way to jobs. It occurs to me that they were all searching in fields that use social media heavily – recruiting, marketing, advertising, software development, etc. Yet, as Henry Ford said, ‘whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.’ Someone is doing it, so your clients can too. http://researchgoddess.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/yes-–-twitter-works-for-recruiting-i-have-proof and http://www.fistfuloftalent.com/2009/10/a-success-story-using-social-media-to-recruit-and-there-are-more-final.html

A final reminder that as dismal as this recession has been, there are jobs out there, and employers are hiring every day. In February 2009, one of the deepest points of the recession, 4.3 million Americans got jobs. Don’t forget that. There are jobs but they have gone underground. In my town, employers are getting 240-400 applicants when they advertise a job, so like many employers across the nation they have wised up, stopped advertising, and are relying more on networking. In good times and bad, it’s the way to go. Get your clients out there. Joy and success! Keep in touch.

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org

Photo by Doug Bowman

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

Increasingly, American adults are managing employment, raising children, and caring for aging parents simultaneously. The Sandwich Generation, we’ve been called. It’s nothing new. In fact, this is the long-standing reality for many providers around the globe, and until the early 20th century most people in the western world juggled these responsibilities. However, wanderlust, a spirit of individualism, and the ease of relocation has fractured families, at least geographically, if not relationally, adding the difficulty of distance. Currently, the recession has most of us working harder than ever to simply maintain our income, or striving to exist on less, even starting over completely. Overlay that with our decreasing tendency to live in multi-generational configurations, participate in communities of faith, and befriend even our nearest neighbors — any of which could offer some support in the midst of this responsibility — and it’s no wonder we’re exhausted. Sure, it’s all very current and exciting to regularly tweet or text your BFFs in Germany and Singapore – except when you need someone to watch your kids for 19 minutes while you run to the market for a pound of ground beef because you forgot to thaw some before rushing out this morning. This year alone, I missed being there when my father came-to after surgery that successfully removed lung cancer, because I was 3,000 miles away birthing a bouncing baby boy, and covertly running my company from my hospital bed on a smuggled laptop– btw, NHCRMC in Wilmington has wireless internet access throughout. And, recently, I left my faithful stay-at-home-dad husband and three lovely children for nearly two months to care for my parents who, in separate incidents, ended up in the hospital within four days of each other, allowing my two local siblings to focus on their children and careers – btw, OCMMC in Orange County has internet too. With many Americans sandwiched between caretaking those who came before and after us, while attempting to earn a living and save for retirement, you must be seeing more clients who are struggling with this.

One of my big lessons, which can help your clients, is about ‘hope management’. Sometimes in parenting, always in job search and too often in caring for parents, we move quickly between receiving good news and bad news, feeling hope and frustration or sadness. Like some of your clients, I am a hopeful person. This gives me a special kind of energy and resolve in difficulty, but it also means I have farther to fall when I finally give in to a sad reality. I am shocked to admit what others have already begun to accept – I didn’t get the job or the contract and no amount of effort can change it, my mother will not get better no matter what, my child truly does have needs and limitations beyond other children. I recently heard a report that Norwegians are the happiest people on earth, but it is due in great part to the fact that they expect life to be difficult and full of hard work, so things many might consider basic entitlements or minor news exceed their fairly low expectations. In the same way, you have clients who tend to assume the negative. This means they are rarely disappointed and can, seemingly easier than the rest of us, slog through the numbers game of the job search and the ups and downs of caretaking. But they can also get stuck in minimal activity, sabotage and an ‘I told you so’ attitude, or get down. In either case, ‘hope management’ is helpful.

The sand beneath our feet, in terms of employment and caretaking, can shift quickly. The highs and lows can occur suddenly and sometimes endure for shockingly short periods of time. It is wise to avoid standing too firmly in one spot or another – getting too excited or too devastated before we know. How we respond is a function of our personality and our experience, so it’s hard to adopt this attitude at the beginning of a job search or the onset of a family incident. It often develops after we become exhausted from the ups and downs, and resolve to stay in the middle. In my very recent situation, it only took me a few days to decide that middle ground was the safest emotional place to be. Encourage clients who are being battered by these highs and lows not to count their proverbial chickens before they hatch – feel good about a second interview, but avoid getting too excited or gushing to too many people until the offer is signed, or conversely, not to assume they won’t get the interview or the job because of XYZ, but give their best and hold out hope until the verdict is in.  Here are some resources for juggling careers and caregiving… for all of us:

http://stanford.wellsphere.com/wellpage/managing-caregiving-and-your-career

http://www.thesandwichgeneration.com/

http://campus.digication.com/careerandcaregiving/Welcome/

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org

Photo by DieselDemon

My guess is that you are encountering more unemployed people now that you did a year ago, and that more of them could be considered “difficult”. That happens when so many people are out of work, overwhelmed, and desperate for income. People have been asking me lately what I think are the most important job search activities, and the best ways to get a job now. So, I’ve been thinking about it. Many of us employment/career professionals are removed from the struggles our unemployed clients are facing. It’s been a while since we job searched. We work for large organizations or we are self-employed, and we are teaching clients to do what we have not done in too long. Recently, I took a few days to job search, just to remind myself what it feels like and how it works right now. Here’s what I learned and confirmed.

Step away from the computer – Even though I was searching locally, the internet was a great way to find and research companies, and locate contact information very quickly. I also used my PC to draft a resume and other marketing materials. Beyond that, I found my computer to be a great distraction. I recently joined LinkedIn and Facebook, and have invitations to twitter, plaxo, and otherwise commune which I can’t get to. True, I’ve had a ball re-connecting with high school, college, and professional buddies across the globe. I now know the details of their lives, and a lot of the minutiae too. I have learned the literary and historical figures we are most like, and discovered that, if he were a color, my nephew Travis would be green. In 20-or-so-minute increments 3-or-so times a day, I have frittered away hours of my life I will never have again. It’s the perfect escape. Social networking has its uses, but too many people are burying themselves in front of the screen and need to step back.

Market yourself so employers see the value – I made a list of all the top qualifications for the job I was targeting by stepping into the shoes of hiring employers, using my experience and a bit of research. Then, I set out to prove I’ve got those qualifications. I developed a brief phone script that allowed me to get the name of the person I wanted to talk to and presented, in less than 20 seconds, my name, length of experience (I used “more than … years” to avoid dating myself), two selling points that highlighted things they needed, and inquired whether they are looking for a … like me.” My second selling point shared my commitment to making my employer a lot of money. It felt a little strange to say, but when I considered the employer’s needs for the job (really, for almost any job) it was at the top. I made less than a dozen calls and got four positive responses. Ramon said he was very interested and that, although they had no openings right now, he is always looking for people who can build his business. He invited me to submit an application which he would put in a pile away from all the others it wouldn’t get mixed-in. I scheduled an interview with another employer, and agreed to stop by, introduce myself, and leave a resume with two more. Not bad in this economy. In a bittersweet admission, one man said his business is picking up because some of his competitors have folded. Two days later, dressed and ready, I stopped in with Ramon and one other on the way to my interview, which included a spontaneous second interview.

Be a person – In a world where we DVR our favorite TV shows and watch them sans commercials at our leisure, and we screen and respond only to emails when we want to, fewer and fewer people pick-up the phone or take a meeting with someone they don’t know. That said, if your client is pursuing a job with a customer-facing company, the phone it is still one of the best ways to go. At the very least, the client gets to work out the bugs in their script, and doesn’t waste time. If they are going for a job that requires in-person presentation, then dressing for success and getting there in the flesh can be just the thing to prove they are what the employer wants, get an impromptu interview, and become a person. This all takes more time than sending electronic correspondence, but clients get to no and yes quicker, and I find that employers do take calls and introductions when they have a need they believe the client can address.

Call everyone you know – As competition for jobs mounts, clients need to connect with anyone and everyone they know, from the workforce center, to church, and their kid’s school. This is where we tend to find jobs. I once heard the story of a man who paid a firm several thousand dollars to help him get a better job. One the first day he arrived for services, he was given a pad of paper, a pen, a list of categories, and desk to work at. His task was to write down everyone he knew. Several hours later, when he thought he was done, they asked a few questions to prime the pump and sent him back to list some more. At the end of the day-long “session”, they declared that his job was right there on the list, and they would help him find it. My coaching experience bears this out. Even when working with people who have a limited network or who focus on the open market, when an offer comes, it is generally associated with their network. I used this approach in my “search” as well, calling and pitching myself to a few people I know who work for or run businesses I respect. It was fun, and felt less under-handed than my cold-calling exercise. I met with one colleague to see if he could use me. In the end, I admitted I wasn’t really looking for work, but keeping my job search skills sharp and doing a bit of research. He’s a good guy, and I bought his coffee, so he wasn’t too mad. We had a great discussion about being a business owner, finding the right people, and the current economy. Believe it or not, I started working for him two days later on an interesting project… Hey, the economy is affecting all of us. It’s interesting work I can do in a few off-hours each week, and I can use the extra income.

“It works if you work it, and it won’t if you don’t, so do it!” is what they say in the 12-step programs. Getting a job now is not about what you know, or even who you know. It’s about what you do. The electronic age has made us a bit lazy about doing the footwork it takes to market all of who we are and what we bring to employers who have lots to choose from… which is a real opportunity for the person willing to get out an do it.

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org

Photo by Colin

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

As you read this, the holiday season, with all its joy and mania, is coming to an end… but as I write, I am nestled in that last pocket of solace before it comes in to full swing. Today I am thankful, thankful for the difficult clients I have worked with over years and for the important lessons they have taught me.

My early experience was serving difficult clients in a tough economy (shelter-dwelling welfare moms, in the recession of the early 1990s). In those years, out of need, I cultivated a mindset that is relentlessly hopeful, a practicality that gets results despite unemployment numbers, and proof that people with significant barriers can find good work even in a recession. I didn’t have the distraction of having worked with easier clients in easier times, so it was years before I realized the value of that time. You see, there are lessons we can learn and qualities we can develop ONLY through difficulty. Patience comes only when we are forced to wait, to put others before or above ourselves. Compassion is cultivated when we must deal with people who are in a place of weakness and need for what we offer. New perspective is gained once we step (or are forced) out of our own experience. My I am thankful for the patience, compassion and perspective I have gained from mentors in the form of my most difficult clients.

My dear friend and colleague Vicki says, “Difficult people are a gift to me. They allow me to learn and grow in ways I couldn’t otherwise; and often they are a mirror showing me the very things I need to deal with in myself.” When asked to share the lessons they have learned from difficult clients, here is what some colleagues shared:

Maggie is thankful to have learned that, “We can’t pretend to have been in our client’s shoes if we haven’t, but we can meet them where they are and establish trust that overcomes the distance between our circumstances and histories,” when a client told her that he liked his career coach but couldn’t work with her because, “she has book learning, but she hasn’t walked in my shoes.”

Cori has developed the skill of not judging and staying aware that everyone has a different value system and different work needs, and that her role is to help people discover and articulate their values and needs so they can find a career they are passionate about. This was tested recently when she was told by a particularly bright and motivated, and very pushy, job seeker who claimed she ‘needed’ to make at least $45,000 a year so she could continue to eat organic food! Cori, who was supporting herself and her partner (who was in graduate school) on less than $40,000 a year, had to keep from judging.

Vikki believes that the toughest clients are those who don’t believe they deserve to dream again and therefore refuse to set a goal or pick a career field. A lot of prayer and listening to what may seem like inconsequential statements have led to her greatest breakthroughs. Feeding into client’s spiritual needs with the constant assurance that God still has a plan for their lives (to give them a hope and a future), allows that door to new vision to open wide once again. She has had at least one candidate in every group for whom the need for God’s love to be shown was the key to that door. She says, “I have been so blessed to be a part of that process.”

Mary Ann, who transitioned from a university career center to a community program, has learned to use her experience when it’s helpful, but to easily adapt if her approach isn’t working. She assumed the resume creation process would be routine, but quickly discovered that her new clients needed a patient, caring, and supportive environment to walk them through the entire process.  She says, “I no longer simply ‘critique’ resumes or I have clients ‘fill in the blanks’ to write a resume. We work together to create the individual summary of their work experiences and goal for the future.  My greatest hope is for that future to include a long, happy, and satisfying career for our clients.”

Deb has learned to identify transferable qualifications, not just “skills”. Max was a successful Lawyer, but his Paralegal who solely served their Spanish-speaking clients, got caught swindling hundreds of customers out of money. The Paralegal fled the country, and Max was held responsible. His law license was suspended until he repaid the money. Deb met him at a homeless shelter two months later. They looked at his transferable selling points. His greatest asset was his network, which had helped him build a large personal injury firm. He contacted any friendly competitor who would love to have his contacts, and proposed that they hire him in a non-licensed position and pay him a percentage of what he brought in. They got a trained Lawyer to do paralegal work, and within 6 months he had paid-off enough of the debt to get his license back.

Serving people with disabilities over the years, Steve has learned patience and creativity, and that building business relationships and joining local professional organizations is important. He once worked with a slow, but bright young man with Down Syndrome who wanted to file in an office. While they practiced interviewing, Steve found a Bank on the bus route and approached HR about his services and client. The young man interviewed, tested, and was offered a job as a File Clerk. To succeed, he simply needed a list of clear expectations each day. With support and positive encouragement, the he worked at the bank for over eight years.

Rebecca is thankful that she has learned to deal with client fear, and to trust the process even in the midst of great resistance. She served a female client who had never been employed, had been incarcerated for the last 20 years, and was resistant in every way possible.  The client feared the whole concept of career coaching and getting a job. As Rebecca walked her through WorkNet’s career development journals and maintained constant communication, she started to trust the process. When the journals addressed fear, it brought up all that the client was feeling, but she kept showing up and doing what needed to be done. She is now a proud Server in a good restaurant and has been for the last 3 months. She is their newest Server, and the only one they kept when they did lay-offs. She is now able to live on her own, bought a reasonable vehicle, and is successfully off parole.

I am keenly aware that many of my most important lessons are the result of working with difficult clients. I am a better coach, consultant, and person because of what they have taught me. I can only hope that my effect on them has been as positive, profound and long-lasting as their effect on me. My wish for you, as you move in to a new year in which you will surely have opportunity to serve difficult clients, is that you welcome it and absorb the vital lessons only they can teach you.

This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org

Photo by Ed Hall

During his research Gottman has come to claim that there are four emotions/actions that are more damaging to relationship (in his case he was studying couples) than any others. He calls these the four horseman:

• defensiveness
• stonewalling
• criticism
• contempt

The most damaging he has found is contempt and he defines contempt as an action/emotion that belittles the person’s value. He has seen repeatedly cases where even in rational conversations with little apparent heat on the surface that the sender’s inner thoughts that their person is of lesser or little value are betrayed.

I should add that I don’t believe that these are  deal breaker emotions that will destroy a relationship as they may flare up in many circumstances of anger or they may be an inside joke for some people. Rather, they a sign posts that something is wrong and will be very destructive if repeated too often, with too much intensity or without proper balance from positive emotions (I’ve heard the ratio 5 positive emotions to every one of these negative ones balances things out in seminars before).

So what has this got to do with working with out customers/clients? Well, a relationship is a relationship and while our relationship with clients is not as intense or important as a relationship with our partners, the same issues can break down respect, trust and communication.

So why not take a minutes to think through your week:

• Did you have any of the 4 horseman emotions/actions toward someone (even for a short time)?
• How is that relationship going?
• Is it possible that where it’s not going so great it’s cause they have picked up on that emotion from you?

Picture by Rich Man

Relationships

Free will is essential for good relationships. Except in extreme cases, true connection, kindness, love, etc. between people can only be fostered and developed where the individual feels that they have a choice in the matter. Any other option may generate compliance, which at times may be necessary, but it will never develop a trusting and safe relationship. The question is whether or not compliance or trust is most needed at this point with any particular client.

Action

When free will is taken from an individual they may comply, faking the necessary actions at worst or, at best, completing the task begrudgingly. Even if the task was completed satisfactorily a person forced into action will not gain the benefit of an action, merely the result. As such, forcing an individual to make x number of phone calls will mean that they might make the phone calls but either do them badly or not learn from the actually process even if they do reap something beneficial from the results.

I must mention that I see following directions or instruction as different from forcing someone. When you have an individuals respect you can instruct them to make x number of phone calls and while they don’t like it they may still do it and do it with similar benefits of it being a free choice. The difference is when that respect, awareness of why, etc. is missing that it becomes forced and feels as though the free will is taken. I do also feel that at times compliance is necessary but it should not be the first attitude we aim to cultivate.

Rewards/Achievement

Rewards are enjoyed much more when the person freely chooses to participate. The individual can then take pride in their actions, can account to others about the effort they put in to gain the achievement or reward, can balance the equation of ‘effort=result’ that many of us are taught. Where an action is forced this is often taken away from an individual as they feel that they can’t take as much credit, if they do happen to be successful. They did the action but they haven’t participated mentally as deeply as someone who acted out of free will. Hence they can enjoy the achievement but can sometimes find it hard to claim the ‘effort=result’ equation as their effort and force of mind was probably moving in the opposite reaction.

Picture by Gisela Giardino

No, I’m not talking about my house or my backside. I’m talking about the word I’ve heard and have been using with my clients that I never imagined I would use—it’s okay to “settle” for less! In the old days, the days where jobs were easier to come by and people could hold out for their “dream” job, I would rarely encourage people to “settle” or take a job just to take a job. With the economic downturn, employers becoming lean and mean, the job search process becoming longer and tougher, I don’t encourage my clients to turn down a job offer when it isn’t in their area of interest or the “dream” match. If it means they keep their house or car and have to work a job that may not be the best match, I vote with keeping the house and paying the bills. I don’t like it but I like even less the idea of my clients going deeper in debt while they wait.

So what can we do to keep the dream alive when the client may have to take a survival job?

• Help clients discover positive support groups to join.
• Encourage them to engage in some type of healthy activity that allows them to give back or help others.
• Do things to stay healthy—it’s tough to job search and maintain employment when you’re sick.
• Hold them accountable for their job search and don’t let them slide just to be nice.
• Discover ways to help them think outside of their box or industry.
• Tap into other agencies that can help them retrain or go back to school. There’s pockets of money out there for people to return to school. Find them.
• Teach them how to use LinkedIn or other networking sites that can link them with industries or people that can help them discover job leads.
• Help them identify their network. They may think they don’t have one, but they do.
• Teach them how to use their network.

One last thought, maybe “settling’ can actually turn into a dream job. If clients take a “settle” job, help them see the positives in the job and how they are gaining new skills that will make them more employable when their industry recovers and things turn around—as they will.

What are you doing to help clients get through these tough times?

Photo by Bernard Pollack

]]> http://www.worknet-international.com/WorkNET/settling/feed/ 0 http://www.worknet-international.com/WorkNET/what-next/ http://www.worknet-international.com/WorkNET/what-next/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:40:50 +0000 Chris Webster http://www.worknet-international.com/WorkNET/?p=1232 The idea for this post actually comes from my husband. As I’ve posted before, he has been unemployed since June 2008. Just so you don’t think he’s a slug, he has been unemployed as an artist in the giftware/greeting card industry for over 30 years. He’s never been unemployed before. His previous employer did a company reorg and his job was eliminated. He knows his industry and is quite talented. So does he take just any old job? My answer—not if he doesn’t have to! But he’s getting a bit discouraged.

The idea for this post actually comes from my husband. As I’ve posted before, he has been unemployed since June 2008. Just so you don’t think he’s a slug, he has been unemployed as an artist in the giftware/greeting card industry for over 30 years. He’s never been unemployed before. His previous employer did a company reorg and his job was eliminated. He knows his industry and is quite talented. So does he take just any old job? My answer—not if he doesn’t have to! But he’s getting a bit discouraged.

Here’s his question—When he’s tried everything the “experts” have suggested and still nothing works—what does he do next? Keep in mind he’s married to me and I’ve offered my share of advice! To give you a sense of what he HAS done…here’s the list in a nutshell…made cold calls to employers, gotten names of hiring managers when a position is open and made a “sell yourself over the phone” call, attended many seminars on successful job searching, had experts review and update his resume, has a pretty good LinkedIn profile that he’s actively using and been to a workshop in upgrading those skills, attends a weekly job search networking group in his field, returning to school to upgrade his computer skills, tailors all correspondence to specific job. There’s more, but you get the idea. His isn’t just sitting around waiting for the job fairy to show up! He feels stuck and out of creative ideas.

Believe it or not—I’m a bit stumped myself. That’s why I thought this was a great subject for my post this week. He has a couple of big things that are stopping/hindering his process. 1)  The giftware industry is at a virtual standstill. Nobody is buying cutsey dust catchers—they’re paying their mortgage and buying food for their family. 2)  He’s no spring chicken. Do the math. He started working straight out of college and has been employed for over 35 years. Before the economic downturn, he was seeing retirement in less than 5 years. He fears he’s being discriminated against and that’s tough to prove. He’s smart, articulate and interviews extremely well. He’s kept in great shape and has outside interests that keep his energy and enthusiasm high.

I admire him as he has kept a fairly positive attitude through all of this. I must admit, it has been nice to come home to a lovely meal I didn’t have to fix and to have extra help with chore around the house, but it’s important he continue to feel like a productive contributing member of the family and society.

So what does he do when all the expert advice he’s received doesn’t work? Your ideas?

Photo by Divya and Deepak (Nimbu)

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