ARE YOU SPENDING ENOUGH TIME

TEACHING ABOUT THE HIDDEN JOB MARKET?

 

Too many adult and youth job seekers waste a lot of their valuable job hunting time searching for job leads in the above ground job market where they will face the most competition.  The above ground market does represent all the jobs that are available.  Many jobs are filled by employers using their circle of contacts and connections.  These jobs never appear in public.  Workforce professionals often inadvertently reinforce the mistake of too much above ground job hunting by spending too much time in employment counseling and job search workshops giving people techniques for job hunting for visible jobs, while much less time is spent on the benefits of the hidden job market.  Job seekers should spend at least 50% of their time looking for work in the hidden job market.  Make sure your employment counseling spends at least 50% of the time on strategies for uncovering job leads in this underground market.  If you want to learn some new ways to help your job seekers access this important hiring strategy, click here.

ON THE CUTTING EDGE WITH MY CLIENTS

PROJECT YES YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM 

Over the years, I have worked with Project YES management and staff to help them improve their program design, youth engagement and leadership development, work with employers and other aspects of their work. Many youth employment programs offer work experience opportunities to youth and employers. Typically, when work experience ends very few youth get job offers. This does not happen at Project YES. Project YES work experience opportunities lead to job offers for 85% of their youth! This is one of the highest conversion rates from work experience to becoming employees that I have ever seen in a youth employment program in my forty-five years of working with youth workforce organizations across the country! 

The answer to their success comes from a variety of factors. Project Yes Program Manager Dustin Pack has instilled a culture of perpetual program improvement into their organization. Things at Project Yes do not stay the same for very long. Instead of thinking if it is not broke, do not fix it, the culture at Project Yes says, there is always a better way to do it. Dustin is not afraid to take calculated risks to try new things. He also engages his staff at a high level to think about ways to improve the organization. These are the driving forces in the culture that keeps pushing the program improvement at Project Yes. 

When I consult with Dustin, he does not just want to know about how to meet his performance standards. He always wants to know about the state-of-the-art practices in the youth employment field. He uses this information to set the performance bar for his program really high. Another reason for the success of Project YES is that Dustin is also closely involved with businesses and business organizations in his community. He is not outside the business community asking for things, he is inside the business community helping them, which generates a lot of employer connections for his program. 

Dustin also hires great staff. When I train them, I am always impressed with their level of dedication to the work and the insightful questions they ask. The staff understands both the needs of employers and youth at the same high levels. They are very aware of the profit making nature of businesses. This means that they see their services not just from the perspective of how they help youth, but also from the viewpoint of whether or not the youth is performing in a way that adds to the bottom line of the business. To achieve that goal they provide youth with a lot of pre and post placement support. This helps youth become good employees and it is why 85% of them are hired and why so many employers return year after year to become work experience sites. I am very proud to have Project YES as one of my clients! To learn more about Project Yes click here.

  WHAT RESOURCE CAN HELP YOUTH

WITH DISABILITIES BECOME EMPLOYED?

 

This excellent work book was written with a great deal of input from youth with disabilities.  I think a lot of the information will be of help to all populations of youth.  It takes youth through a number of exercises to help them decide what kind of jobs to pursue and how to go after them.  If you work with youth, click here to check out the work book.

  WHEN SHOULD PEOPLE TELL THEIR BOSS

WHERE CAN YOU LEARN ABOUT  BEST PRACTICES TO HELP PEOPLE IN REENTRY?

 

The Justice Center Reentry and Employment Project is an on-going initiative to help improve the employment outcomes of people with criminal records.  Their website is packed with best practice information, reports and resources.  Since one out of three Americans has a criminal record, every workforce development professional should be well versed in reentry and employment best practices.  If you work with youth or adults in reentry, you will also want to look at the Handout section of my website for What Were the Steps on Your Path?  This job seekerhandout is designed to help people understand the things that led up to their arrest and incarceration.  Make sure you check out the other free handouts in this section of the site.  Also, check out my Reentry and Employment Resource List in the Resource section of the website.  To check out the Justice Center Reentry and Employment Project click here.

I have been doing a lot of management consulting and staff and management coaching lately. On the consulting side, I provide best practice information that helps workforce and other organizations improve their outcomes. On the coaching side, I work with individuals to help them improve their job performance, create professional development plans and find ways to become more effective communicators, leaders and team players. These services are highly customized to the organizations and individuals. I always learn a lot from the people in the process as well. Lately I have had the good fortune to do coaching and consulting with the staff of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board this includes Tamara Walker, Honorata Lindsey and Ricardo Quezada. I have also been doing management consulting with Armando Hernandez, the Manager of the Workforce Program at the Unity Council. To learn more about my consulting services click here. 

The San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families  sponsored my training, Is Your Youth Employment Program the State-of-the-Art? I had a room full of very dedicated managers and staff for the session. I also do this workshop in a version for adult workforce programs. This training raises the bar really high for programs and gives people cutting edge ideas for improving their work. I draw on the best practices from many types of organizations including the private sector to give people new insights into the elements that put a workforce program at the top of the field. People develop program improvement agendas by comparing where their organization is at to the ultimate workforce program. For more information on the state-of-the-art training click here. 

The California Workforce Association Spring Conference featured my workshop Have You Transformed Your Organization to Work in the WIOA Way? as a special preconference session. The workshop room was set up for fifty people and we had over ninety in attendance! Some people stood in the hallway to hear the workshop! The room was filled with management and staff of organizations that are funded by the Workforce Investment Opportunity Act. This new piece of legislation calls for major and challenging shifts in the way that workforce programs operate. I took people through the key areas they need to address in order to meet the vision and performance goals of WIOA. This includes how they hire and prepare their staff, changing how they partner with other organizations, moving from job placement to career pathways, shifting from placement to engagement with businesses, serving disconnected youth and a whole host of other transformations that will be required of them. I provided strategies to help them successfully meet the new challenges of WIOA. For a description of Have You Transformed Your Organization to Work in the WIOA Way? Click here.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

LUCK IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PREPARATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY

- Roman philosopher Seneca

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