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Help me! Help You! 5 strategies for working with the client who doesn't follow-through
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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It’s like the 1996 movie Jerry Maquire where sports-agent Jerry, played by Tom Cruise is imploring football player Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., to develop a better attitude, to more effectively engage his coaches and team, the media and the public at large to help make him become more marketable and ensure he signs a good contract.
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Does that sound familiar? How often are we supporting our clients to get out there and make a positive impression. Go market yourself directly to employers. Be proactive in your job search.
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In the film, Jerry is begging Rod to “Help me! Help me, help you,” as if to say, “how am I supposed to do this when you won’t do the slightest thing to help yourself.”
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I was speaking with a job developer last week who was having a great deal of difficulty getting an interview much less a job for his client. It was a compelling case, but I said, “honestly – why do you think your client isn't getting a job?”
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To which the job developer replied, "he’s not going to make his own phone calls so I’m doing them for him."
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Think about it for a minute. If you’re working with a very employable client and you need to exclusively market them yourself, isn’t the employer thinking, “what’s wrong with this guy? Why doesn’t he speak up for himself?”
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I get it! There are a hundred reasons why people don’t want to market themselves that start with paralyzing fear and anxiety and end with absolutely laziness and include everything else in between. At the end of the day, no matter how much you are marketing your client, they have to own their own job search.
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That might include them doing their own job search, with you cheerleading from the sidelines or possibly where you are doing all of the contacting of employers, with them coming in to present themselves as professionally as possible when an employer connection is set up.
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Either way, they need to own their own job search and you’re acting as an agent, coach, consultant or mentor. You might be playing all of these roles at one time or another but at no time are you giving them a job. They need to be the boss and they have to own the outcomes.
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There are five strategies which can assist you in helping set-up your client for success.
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1. Sign a Contract: It’s possible when you meet with a client for the first time, you are saying they need to be active in their own job search but what does that exactly mean?
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A contract specifies what you are prepared to do but also what you expect from the client as well. This is a great tool for getting your client to take ownership of their job search.
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In preparing a contract, specify as many elements as possible such as how often to review job postings, frequency of follow-up with jobs applied for, when a thank you note should be sent, attendance in a job club, etc. By clearly stating what you expect with a contract, it will help ensure the client doesn’t leave the responsibilities to you.
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2. Create a Sense of Value: I’m not saying you should say to you’re client that they are lucky to work with you, but you really should consider telling your client they’re lucky to work with you.
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There are over a million people looking for work right now in Canada and only a small percentage have someone who’s single responsibility is helping them find a sustainable job.
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You likely have only have 35 to 40 hours per week to help people with this task and you might have dozens if not more than a hundred clients or students, so your time is precious.
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When you meet with a client for the first time, make it clear that you are able to assist them and you want to ensure your time is used as effectively as possible, so you have some high expectations.
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If people were paying you to help them find a job, they would be far more likely to communicate effectively and engage in service. Just because you may not be charging them directly for your services, doesn’t mean they are any less valuable.
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When you communicate, build value in your service and underscore the expectation that payment for your service takes the form of diligence on their side.
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Why should people understand they are lucky to work with you? Because they are lucky to work with you.
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3. Address Bad Habits Early: Any company that offers a subscription service will ensure that onboarding goes as smoothly as possible to ensure there are clear expectations moving forward. In the first two weeks of working together, if clients fails to report on their job search, don’t return calls and emails, or misses attending a workshop, if you don’t call them on this, you’re setting up a pattern of inaction.
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In those first few weeks, schedule telephone meetings, ask for specific tasks to be done and conduct text check-ins.
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When clients fails to do these things, follow-up and in a supportive yet firm tone, make it clear that you are really excited about the employment prospects you can pursue together, but you need your client to be as committed to the outcomes as you are.
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Be sure to clarify that your time is really limited and you need them to be communicative and to follow-through if you’re going to be successful working together.
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4. Give Up: In writing about the last two approaches for the client who won’t follow-through, it might seem logical that the last approach is to give up, but I don’t want to end this on a sour note.
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Giving up likely isn't even an option for you. Your employer, if not your funder, expects you to work with this individual and short of some terrible, egregious behaviour, you have to work with them. And not returning your calls or applying for jobs doesn’t really fit within the category of egregious.
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The goal is not to really give up, but to direct your resources and your time where it will get the most amount of traction, where I’m sure neither your employer nor your funder would argue.
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When you have a client who is not communicating or following through, simply go on low-power mode. Certainly, do what is expected of you and respond when they reach out, but don’t constantly reach out when you are getting very little in return. It's actually a huge waste of your time which is the most valuable resource you can give your proactive clients and employers.
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When you do meet with the client, help them understand that this isn’t working for either of you and if they truly want to be successful, they’ll need to step-up their game.
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In the ‘give up’ scenario, the goal isn’t to guilt and shame the client. You want to always be someone they feel comfortable returning to but that you have clear expectations.
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Your communication should always be that you want to support them, but ultimately they need to demonstrate their own commitment to their job search..
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5. Help Your Client Buy Into a Bigger 'Yes': There are really good reasons why clients fail to follow-through in job search. Likely their confidence is shot, they doubt their own self worth, they are intimidated by rejection and they may very well be feeling depressed.
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When someone has developed a pattern of not following through, it’s much more comfortable to continue in those patterns. That's the lesser 'yes'.
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In career development, it’s much easier to focus on the resume, the cover letter, the practice interview and how to complete an online job application.
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And while these skills are important, it’s just as important to spend time conveying to your clients that employers would be lucky to work with them. Skills and experience might get someone an interview but confidence gets people jobs. If people can’t convince themselves that they are employable, how can they convince employers?
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Take the time to help your client engage in visioning. If lack of follow-through is their default, helping them see something far better for themselves can be a big motivator.
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Help you client identify all of the positive attributes that will go along with finding a job whether it’s workplace satisfaction, alleviation of financial stress or returning to a daily routine. Help them imagine their daily routine, what the work will look like and what their interactions with customers or co-workers can look like.
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If none of this appeals to your client, help them imagine what financial stability can furnish. Help them see where this job could take them in life.
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Help your client see this job opportunity as just one step in their life that will lead them to bigger and better things. If job search is not an important ‘yes’, help them buy into a bigger 'YES'.
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If you’re thinking to yourself, I could do all of these things with my client, except ‘give-up’ then your absolutely right. Yes, they do all make sense and they make sense in this order too.
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Most importantly, be kind but respectful; supportive but firm with your client. Just because your services are free doesn’t mean they don’t have value. Help your client understand and appreciate that value.
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We’ll be discussing these changes to the TFWP at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday Sep. 23rd at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Monday September 23rd, 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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