As depressing as it may sound, everyone who serves dislocated workers should Google job loss and death. You will find an endless amount of entries and studies that show how job loss is a killer and will shorten people’s lives. I can guarantee you that this understanding will make you better and more successful at serving these customers.
Depression, frustration, chaotic thinking, trauma, substance abuse, domestic violence, thinking about suicide, and self-blame are all very powerful barriers to employment that come from job loss. They block motivation, make decision making difficult, cause people to not interview well, drop out of training, quit jobs, and lead to a whole host of problems that will prolong unemployment.
While we often focus on the loss of a paycheck as the most important thing that comes from being laid off, for many dislocated workers, the bigger loss may be the loss of support they will get from their workplace family once they lose their job. In many cases, the workplace family is often a stronger support system than people’s actual family. Most people will spend more time with their workplace family than with their actual family. Workplace families are in a unique position to help people deal with many of the crises and challenges in their lives. When people are dislocated, they not only lose the vital support system of the workplace family, they also quickly find out that the traditional ways they deal with difficulties may not be numerous or strong enough to help them cope with the profound challenges of being laid off and the challenging job search that often awaits them.
Run Employer-Specific Career Clubs
One strategy that can be very helpful to address this issue is to run weekly online and in-person Career Clubs and recruit people to them who have worked in the same company. These groups should have the elements of a support group, a source of labor market information, and a place to get career counseling and job search strategies. They should help people overcome common employment barriers and feature presentations by employers and people from organizations that can be of help to people in the group.
Career Clubs should be co-led by your staff and someone from the rank and file who got laid off from the company, has leadership skills, and is a person widely known and respected by the workforce. While you should let attendees in the Career Clubs vent their frustrations with being unemployed, keep the conversation focused on making progress, and do not let it disintegrate into a depressing complaint session. Get rounds of applause and give certificates of recognition for people who do things that will shorten the period of their unemployment. End the group with people saying what they got out of the session and what they would like to have happen in future sessions. These groups can help people develop new support systems and learn from each other.
You can have a topic for part of each group session, and also allow plenty of time for people to raise their immediate concerns that they need to address. Some of the topics that have proven to be of interest in Career Clubs include the following:
What Can I Do to Help My Family Survive My Job Loss?
What Can I Do to Maintain High Levels of Job Search Motivation?
How Can I Live on Less Money While I am Laid Off?
What Types of Jobs are Growing and What Types are Disappearing?
Should I Consider Starting My Own Business?
Is Skills Training the Right Strategy for Me?
Using Your Program Alumni As Role Models
A very popular feature of a Career Club can be a panel presentation composed of people who were laid off, faced numerous challenges, and are now employed. They may be able to participate on their break or day off. You can also use cellphones, FaceTime, Zoom, or other methods to facilitate their presentations. You want to ask people to be in the conversation who have faced and overcome some of the difficult types of challenges that are common among dislocated workers.
Dislocated workers desperately need role models to help them believe they can find a good place in the world of work. Oftentimes, people start on a downward spiral because they can’t believe someone like them can survive this job loss. While our programs give people plenty of information (often too much), we typically do not give them role models, which is what they desperately need. Guest speakers in Career Clubs who are your program’s alumni can provide that kind of inspiring, transformative role model that people need to hear and talk to.
Make sure you use an anonymous evaluation form at the end of every Career Club to find out how to improve them. Also, conduct one-on-one interviews with people to get their feedback. Ask people for ideas, topics, and what types of presenters they would like to see. Use the principles of Human Centered Design to make the groups more meaningful and effective. If your attendance is shrinking, don’t keep doing the same kind of group. Change the content, leadership, location, time, format, how you publicize, and how much you publicize the Career Club, and other things until you find what works to attract the most people.
If you find a way to run successful Career Clubs, they will not only help you exceed the goals of your program they will also help cut the amount of time it takes for dislocated workers to become successfully employed. Without any exaggeration, that will also help them live longer and more fulfilling lives. It will also have a positive impact on their families, loved ones, friends, other people in their lives, the economy, and the quality of life in the community.
Larry Robbin, Executive Director of Robbin and Associates, has over forty-five years of experience in workforce development. Larry has extensive personal and professional experience with dislocated workers. He has written and trained for NAWDP many times over the years. To get a free copy of his Dislocated Worker Program Resource List, email him at mailto:larry@larryrobbin.com. For more information about his services, go to http://www.larryrobbin.com. Don’t miss the next article in this series! This is another benefit of your NAWDP membership!
