Snakes
I’m still getting use to the fact that here in Wisconsin snakes aren’t anywhere near the source of concern that snakes in Australia are. When I see a snake here, I now know intellectually that in most cases I have nothing to fear as I watch them slide away. In Australia however, more than half of the snakes I’ve seen in the wild have the potential to kill or at very least require urgent medical attention. I know this and yet in that initial second of seeing a snake here might heart still races just a little.
Maybe you don’t like snakes either, not because you fear they might harm you but because you’ve had a feeling that they are creepy or scary for so long and that’s become your default perspective. It’s not the snakes fault, it’s our conditioned responses and the snake doesn’t have the ability to turn around and explain itself.
This effect happens so frequently with job seekers, through their past experiences they can misperceive those trying to assist them. Even if they haven’t necessarily had a bad experience in the past, their inner dialogue about what it means to be receiving such assistance can evoke regret, fear, shame, pain, sadness and the resulting emotionally charged behaviours.
The difference is we can work with and explain why we are doing what we are doing. We can involve them in how we work and explain why this would be beneficial. We can also stop and try to understand where such fears and concerns are coming from and adjust the methodologies that we might utilise.
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