Labor Pains

"We have declared war on work..."

I watched this TED video featuring Mike Rowe ("Dirty Jobs" tv show host) a few weeks ago. As I was trying to come up with a way to fit it into a post, last Sunday's New York Times Magazine came out and featured a related story on blue collar work.

In the TED video, Rowe describes things he has learned from interviewing and working alongside blue collar workers. He also discusses the need to promote vocational training in order to supply the next generation of skilled labor. Be prepared for a story about sheep castration (dirty job); the story is told cleanly enough for the professional TED crowd.

The above quote is followed by 4 points from Rowe:
1. Hollywood and other media have a history of devaluing jobs such as plumbing
2. Advertising sells a leisure attitude that paints work as something to escape.
3. Government can promote/impede access or growth of industries
4. Tools (tech) are changing.

In the New York Times story, Matthew Crawford recounts his experiences as a Ph.D in political philosophy who works as a motorcycle mechanic. He also adds to his first person account a discussion of the decline in trades and vocational education.

Along with recent government pushes for infrastructure improvement projects and green manufacturing jobs, it is interesting to see media promotion turning to less glamourous jobs, which is what Rowe calls for.

More Job Development

Here are additional resources from job development consultants, training organizations, and state agencies:

Allen Anderson articles at Dover Training Group & Employment Management Professionals. Check out the whole site. I like this from the DTG-EMP About Us page:

1. Job seekers do not have to be job ready to go to work. Plenty of people who were not job ready are working.
2. A linear path works for the most able and a nonlinear path for the less able.
3. We respond to the job market; the job market does not respond to us.
4. Job development is sales and marketing, not education or counseling, although education and counseling are often sales and marketing.
5. Employer needs are the keys to jobs, not candidate skills.
6. Failing at a job is a good beginning, not a poor ending.
7. The employer is the linchpin to jobs - gain control here and all is possible.
8. The only absolute must in going to work is the motivation to work.

More from Allen Anderson and Employment Management Professionals. (May have duplicate articles.)

Job development powerpoint presentation to Oregon Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (OVRS).

Additional materials from OVRS.

Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) podcast, What Do Employers Want?

ICI article, Increasing Placement Through Professional Networking

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.

Horrible service, with a smile

In recent weeks, I've been in situations as a customer where cheerful and chatty individuals did a poor job of getting me what I needed. The first instance was an inconsequential visit to a deli that had closed its grill, but didn't have a sign saying so and still had its order slips out. Only after I filled out an order did the friendly guy behind the counter happily tell me that the grill was closed. No big deal now that I look back on it, except that it has made me start to recognize similar instances: supermarket cashiers who try to find out what I'm making for dinner, while slowly making an awkward pile of my groceries; low-pressure auto service mechanics who commend our small fuel-efficient sedan, and offer to sell us spark plug wires for a car that doesn't use any.

It's made me paranoid about the quality of service I'm giving, and how it balances with my friendliness. Long-term case management is built upon strong relationships. On one hand, it's important to be warm and engaging. More importantly, though, it's necessary to provide a product that the customer will value. In this case the product is competent advice, practical steps to job search, adequate support services, and accessible, demand-driven training. Job seekers need to trust that they are receiving something that will help them, and that there is a benefit to working with an employment specialist.

Why should someone make regular visits, stay in contact, and follow the instructions of someone who is not helping them, or someone who is telling them things they already know?

By providing quality employment services, an employment specialist can also maintain a relationship when providing feedback that is not obviously "friendly customer service." Sometimes, you need to tell a job seeker something that they do not want to hear. It's easier to take such advice from someone with a track record of providing wise guidance.

How I work towards good service:

1. Complete a tangible activity/provide a meaningful resource during each meeting with a job seeker.
2. Don't get lazy and allow job seekers to use cover letters, resumes, applications that are not perfect. If they resist making edits, try different suggestions.
3. Get job seekers as prepared as possible for talking to employers/interviewing.
4. Give job seekers worthwhile action steps to take following each meeting.
5. Keep seeking out new ideas, techniques, and trainings

All other duties as assigned

There are certain skills and scopes of knowledge that should be expected as an Employment Specialist, including: resume & cover letter writing, job search, job development, labor market information, application procedures, professional dress, and interviewing.

Then, there are those unexpected things that we learn along the way. Here are 4 big ones:

1. Public transportation: I commute by bus or bike, but what has really taught me the local bus system is Google mapping employer sites for job seekers, complete with public transportation directions. Here in Portland, I also have the luxury of using the regional transit's trip planner.

2. Criminal justice system: Working with post-prison reintegration job seekers has taught me about parole/probation reporting requirements, diversion, restitution, and other aspects of the justice system. Also, when I lose contact with someone and hear a rumor about an arrest, I can confirm it through the Victim's Notification Network. In Portland, I can also get information on recent arrests from the Multnomah County Sherrif's Office.

3. Trade/Vocational Education: I can have educated conversations about and provide accurate job search counseling regarding phlebotomy, welding, flagging, bank telling, and other trades that I have no experience in due to what I've learned from placing individuals in vocational training programs. Each job seeker is an opportunity to learn about a new field.

4. Driver's License/ID, Social Security card, Birth Certificates: In addition to the classic employment conundrum, "You need experience to get a job; You need a job to get experience," there is this problem: Lose all your identifying documents. Try to get an ID without a social security card, or a social security card without an ID.

Other things learned:
5. identify theft prevention
6. motivational psychology
7. free email (for job seekers)
8. frugal shopping (support services)
9. background/criminal history checks