Business Class

Job development is not on the job description of every employment specialist, and it can look very different across the spectrum of workforce development programs.

In Youth WIA, I've seen job development handled as an extension of paid work experience (or on-the-job training). As a core onestop service, I've seen job development refer to soliciting or receiving job orders. In customized and supported employment, it becomes an intensive hands-on part of most job searches.

The competitiveness of the current job market emphasizes job development as a key element in employment services for job seekers who face tough barriers to employment. Unfortunately, it is harder to be successful at job development than it is to make a good resume or teach a job readiness workshop.

Even for great and experienced job developers, approaching businesses leads to rejection!

Job seekers don't get every job they apply for, but we still encourage them to keep trying. With coaching and practice, they will get a job. Employment specialists need to summon the same courage, take on the urgency of the job seeker, and keep trying as well.

Here are a few links to job development tips & tricks from around the web:

The Toolbox from Cygnet Associates: 23 tips for job development, and other workforce development guidance for general customer populations.

Massworks Tips for Job Development During Tough Times. 5 tips addressing job development in tight job markets. This is a post from Massworks' blog which has a strong focus on workforce development for people with disabililities.

Job development best practices via Powerpoint for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project. Includes basic strategies for incorporating employment into case management, and job development tips useful for working with all job seekers.

Supported Employment job development tips & trends from Canada. The last post is dated 2006, but I didn't see the 3 tips under the heading Relationship-based marketing on other lists.

How To Design and Deliver an Effective Job Development and Placement Program. A Dept. of Housing and Urban Development guide for its Neighborhood Works program. This guide includes telemarketing tips and a sample phone script.

Building Your Pitch, an MS Word outline for an elevator pitch from the Department of Labor's Performance Enhancement Project.