When do you know that you've done everything you can and there's no hope for a client? What are the indicators? Could be that they are not listening or they simply aren't being realistic about their employment chances. Most frustrating is when they've given up looking for work and are relying on their career practitioner to find them a job.
As career practitioners we most undoubtedly reach this point with one or many of our clients. So how do you handle a scenario like this? Perhaps the concept of 'free' is what's standing in our way. There can't be value in 'free' career services, can there?
If you've been conducting a job search and haven't found a job does that mean what you're doing is wrong? Not necessarily. It depends on a number of different factors ranging from the industry you're trying to find a job in to the time of year. When results aren't happening, the job search becomes less fun and starts to suck.
Research on the job search process looks at 3 different areas that must be monitored and managed if success is to be achieved. They are; job search clarity, job search intensity and job search self-efficacy. Let's look at them individually.
If you were ever unemployed you undoubtedly hit a brick wall while conducting the job search. Job search intensity or the level of activity you put into your search has been found to be highly correlated to not only find a job, but doing it faster. Without intensity, the job search may become a long, depressing, drawn out process.
So what to do. The key is remaining busy. Not busy for busy sake but conducting activities that move the job seeker seeker closer to employment. I've written in the past about the need to break down the goal of finding a job into smaller tasks. This is absolutely critical if the job seeker is going to avoid the proverbial brick wall.
Ever since the job seeker from the US purchased Google adwords on 5 people he wanted to work for (and successfully secured 2 interviews), anything goes . What are you doing to separate yourself from the competitive pack?
No longer is the traditional 'submit a cover letter and resume' strategy going to work. It's time to step outside the box and separate yourself from the crowd. Do you attempt to contact the employer prior to submitting your resume to gather more information or have you identified a need an organization has and demonstrate to them how you would be able to address it? Whatever the approach, it's time to step outside the box and demonstrate that you're different.
Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
Jun 8, 2010
Why would an employer want to hire someone who is unemployed? If this is the case what can we do to deal with this 'hidden objection'?
First off, if you're not working right now what are you doing? Are you volunteering, attending conferences, going to association meetings? Ultimately you need to figure out something in order to tell a prospective employer what you've been up to for the last 6 months.
Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
Jun 1, 2010
If you were to describe the perfect career practitioner, what words would you use? In the interest of creating a model for describing an effective career coach, counsellor or whatever terms you use for the position what would you say?
Or perhaps it's a question to ask clients. How would they describe an effective practitioner? Does it come down to one thing, assisting in the transition to labour market?
You went to a conference last year. Met someone who was connected and had access to a lot of information that could help you accomplish your goals. You exchanged business cards and promised to follow up....and nothing.
Sound familiar? It happens to the best of us. We meet someone interesting, connected and willing to help and nothing comes of it. Do we accept that it's just human nature or is there anything we can do about it? What motivates us to want to follow through with the connections we make?
Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
May 20, 2010
Over the next 30 days try and connect with 50 people and share with them one of your goals. Keep track by writing down their name and what their response was to your request (i.e., helped you, referred you to someone else). Share the same goal with all of the individuals to see how many people it will take to get help. Most likely, you won't even reach 50 people.
Remember to keep your help request low-risk so you can reasonably expect some help. For example, looking for a contact name at an organization is low-risk. Asking for a job can be a high-risk request. The level of risk is based on two factors; 1) the complexity of the request, and 2) the strength of the relationship. The stronger the relationship, the riskier the request can be. The weaker the relationship, the lower risk request should be.
I recently came back from India where I spoke to one of the largest IT consulting firms in the world about networking. Apparently they had read a paper I published in a performance improvement journal and wanted to get there organization more connected. This particular organization has over 110,000 employees around the world. Where I spoke, in Bangalore, there were 22,000 employees alone.
So why did they want there employees to be more connected? The main reason was for increased collaboration. Not having to reinvent the wheel each time they worked with a new client was a top priority. Also, the ability to foster innovation and overall connectivity had become high priorities.
Posted by: jphatala in Untagged on
May 4, 2010
Imran (Career Practitioner from Kitchener) and I thought it would be a good idea if career practitioners started to share their experiences of going through the Ontario employment services restructuring. We can learn a lot from each other and share resources to assist us in this major transition.
To add to the discussion, please visit the ContactPoint Career Developers Network by clicking here LinkedIn Discussion.
