Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Employment specialist, unplugged

The New Yorker is emerging as my main source for ideas that can be adapted to workforce development. It's fitting since I love Malcolm Gladwell.

This article by John Colapinto (also good), "Brain Games, The Marco Polo of neuroscience," is a fun look into contemporary research on autism, atemnophilia (a compulsion to amputate healthy limbs), and other conditions. The research is described as evidence of the brilliance of Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran. He is certainly smart. The details of how he works are the most interesting part:

"Ramachandran listened closely as Jamieson talked about his condition. In a specialty that today relies chiefly on the power of multimillion-dollar imaging machines to peer deep inside the brain, Ramachandran is known for his low-tech method, which often involves little more than interviews with patients and a few hands-on tests -an approach that he traces to his medical education in India, in the nineteen-seventies, when expensive diagnostic machines were scarce. 'The lack of technology actually forces you to be ingenious," he told me. 'You have to rely on your clinical acumen. You have to use your Sherlock Holmes-like deductive abilities to figure things out."

Job seekers need computers: resumes and cover letters, craigslist, indeed, employer websites, email contact, linkedin, etc.

Employment specialists need computers: tracking databases, matching job seekers to openings, skills assessments, reading blogs, etc.

But can we get by without them?

Now that I'm working in Supported Employment, I'm encouraged/required to get out of the office and work with customers in other settings: meet with employers, going out to submit applications together, onsite job coaching. It's still hard to get away from the computer, and I realize there are things that I do in my cubicle that don't have to be done there.

Employment plans, reviewing job leads, resume reviews, mock interviews, counseling... Really, if a jobseeker is computer literate (word processing and internet), all employment specialist-job seeker interaction can take place without a computer nearby. The exception would be assisting individuals who cannot edit their own resumes or submit online applications (even then there are other options for applying). The only currently essential task that requires computers is data entry for internal program reasons, not for direct services.

By interacting with the jobseeker free of the computer distractions, one of Ramachandran's techniques pops up: you can listen more closely.

Getting away from the computer also prevents one of my professional fears: that my role as an employment specialist becomes simply a middle-man for craigslist posts and support services.

Something else came to mind as I reread the piece for this post. Ramachandran frequently uses mirrors to manipulate how a subject perceives him or herself. I wonder how having mirrors present would affect discussions about the proper way to dress for job searching and interviewing. Mirrors may also have an impact in building self-awareness and hopefully self-esteem.

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