Overcoming Employment Barriers (Part 1 of 4)
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
I love the work we do, and for nearly 15 years it’s been my pleasure to help people make employment and career transition… in groups and one-on-one, in one-stop centers and drug rehab programs, from the Silicon Valley to San Quentin prison, in growing and fledgling economies, in big and small towns across the US and Australia… and a lot of places in between. It’s a joy and a privilege to do work so vital to our society, so pivotal for families and communities, and so satisfying to me. What’s more, over the last decade, while serving job seekers and career transitioners, I have developed another, equally exciting, even more powerful body of work… equipping and inspiring employment and career professionals as they serve multitudes of people across this nation everyday. I’m here to serve you, as you serve your candidates.
This work we do is exciting and challenging. And, as often as it’s a joy for which we can hardly believe we’re paid, it can also be downright difficult! In addition to the fact that you serve unique human beings with unique career aspirations, many of the candidates you serve face significant employment barriers. The challenges seem to multiply exponentially, and excitement can become exhaustion! So… although the job search/recruiting process can be long and winding, and although you serve many candidates who each have at least a handful of barriers, let’s make this as simple as possible. I’m going to present our process for identifying and overcoming any and every barrier to employment in three steps. In this article, I’ll introduce the process and key ideas for success. In the next three articles, I’ll add to the process and focus on each step in succession.
First, a bit of good news and a challenge to you. Any barrier can be overcome. Does this mean we can expunge a felony history, make a disability go away, change a candidate’s age, race or gender, or erase a workers’ compensation claim? No. But, there are ways to help a candidate overcome a barrier so they can job search, and work, and achieve career success. This is vital! Our mindset on this is vital! If you don’t buy what I just said, suspend your disbelief for a moment and remember the self-fulfilling effect beliefs have on our reality. If we believe any barrier can be overcome, we’ll be creative, willing and more effective; if we don’t, we won’t! You may want to re-read my last article and replace the phrase “no one is unemployable” with “any barrier can be overcome.” Cultivating this belief and practically equipping it is essential to our success with candidates who face barriers. Try it. What’ve you got to lose!?
Here is our process for overcoming barriers, in three steps.
1. Identify the barrier.
To overcome a barrier, we must accurately identify it. This means thinking like the employer and defining barriers as broadly as they do, because they decide what’s a barrier. It also means dealing with fear and issues the candidate believes are a barrier, even if you don’t think they will be problem. In Part II, I’ll introduce a technique for quickly, accurately thinking like the employer so you can identify barriers (and strengths!). I’ll shed some light on dealing with the Fear Factor, and offer tips on catching whatever may hold a candidate back and prioritizing barriers to keep the momentum going.
2. Get some perspective on the barrier.
This means understanding the perspectives of the two key parties in this process, the employer and the candidate. Understanding the employer’s perspective about the issue helps ensure that the solutions developed will satisfy them. Understanding the candidate’s perspective allows you to maintain the partnership, persuade when helpful, and develop solutions that are true and sustainable by them. This will be covered in detail in Part III.
3. Develop effective solutions.
They key here is to develop solutions that are true and sustainable by the candidate, and satisfying to the employer. To satisfy the employer, a solution must reduce their concern, and allow the candidate to prove they can meet the employer’s needs. In Part IV, I’ll introduce Five Solution Tools for overcoming any barrier, and how to choose and implement them, as well techniques for turning barriers into selling points!
For clarity, we think of barriers in two categories, general and specific. General barriers are those that give most employers pause when hiring for any position, from janitor to CEO. They include being late, being rude, having been fired or quit, having filed a worker’s compensation claim (especially for neck, back, stress or harassment), having a criminal record, and more. Specific barriers pertain directly to the qualifications for the work the candidate is pursuing, such as lacking experience with a specific software program or not having a license/certificate needed to do the job. From the very beginning and throughout the process with each candidate, we can identify and overcome general barriers. As their career direction becomes clear and they transition into the job search, we can apply this process to specific barriers, unique to the jobs they are pursuing.
Another helpful framework to use in getting our minds around the many and various barriers our candidates face is to think in terms of personal barriers, candidate base barriers, and systemic barriers.
Personal Barriers – Some barriers touch on sensitive information, such as domestic violence, sexual preference, body odor or gender issues. These, along with any others the candidate is sensitive about such as age or criminal history, should be dealt with in a personal, one-on-one manner. Clearly, we must manage our time. However, even if many of our candidates face the same sensitive issue and we have developed partnerships and resources to overcome them (see below), individual solutions to these barriers are often developed and almost always applied one-on-one.
Candidate Base Barriers – When the same barrier is faced by 30% or more of the people we serve, we should consider developing partnerships, solutions and resources that can be easily accessed or applied for many candidates. These issues may include lack of interview clothing, disability, criminal history, single parenthood, age, and more. Depending on the sensitivity of the issue, the perspective of our candidates and how we structure our services, solutions for these barriers can be developed and applied in groups (with great advantage to us and candidates), or one-on-one.
Systemic Barriers – These barriers may result in personal barriers for many people we serve, and although we can offer “band-aids,” the real solutions are developed through systemic, community-wide or even legislative change. These issues may include an ineffective public transportation system, lack of shelter beds or drug/rehab programs in your area, a rampant and damaging employer bias in your local job market, lack of jobs, and more. To be effective in our work, we and our candidates must proceed in developing personal solutions (Part IV will give you lots of ideas). Meanwhile, we may also decide to facilitate systemic change. If you think this is too much work or not worth the effort, at least identify someone who is already doing it or a person who does this naturally, joyfully and well, and support them.
I have a colleague, Robert Egger who wrote “Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient, and Rewarding for All” (2004) and started the DC Central Kitchen. He’s always off to do something great, to challenge the establishment and to create a wider path of opportunity for people in his community. I often end my emails and phone calls to him with a line from the movie The Princess Bride… you remember, the scene where Billy Crystal and Carol Kane bid someone good-bye with, “Have fun stormin’ the castle!”
I encourage you to do the same. Go for it! Whether your speciality is working with people in a highly individualized way, or your average day makes big changes that affect many, approach overcoming barriers with purpose and creativity! “Have fun stormin’ the castle!” Apply these tips and watch for the next three articles.
This article appeared originally in the Career Planning & Adult Development Network Newsletter www.careernetwork.org
Photo by Jes (Mugley)
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