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Networking for Job Developers
(Part 1 of 4)
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Hi everyone, I'll be traveling overseas the next three weeks, but I don't want to lose momentum on our discussion topics. We'll be back with live #MotivatingMonday sessions on April 28th.
While we love the opportunity to share information and have discussion topics each week, the other mission of the Canadian Job Development Network is to create more opportunities for job developers to network. Over the next four weeks, we’ll be discussing practical steps for job developers to pursue in getting community buy-in to networking. We hope to take this momentum and over the next four months and create a national association of individual job developer networking groups.
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Establishing a Job Developer Mastermind Group
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As career professionals, we continually discuss the importance of networking with those in career transition; job seekers and when students are completing their studies. Yet, there may be an area of career development where better networking could provide an enormous benefit.
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Across the country, job developers and other employment professionals are regularly meeting to discuss local employers; changes in the labour market; and opportunities to better connect with businesses. These meetings provide a valuable opportunity to network and share information. While they may have many names, they are for all intents and purposes, Mastermind Groups for Job Development.
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If your community doesn’t yet have a job development networking group, the intention of a group is to help build awareness of local employers, the employment services/supports available in the community and a coordinated approach to job development so employers are not left confused about the supports available to them.
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While this discussion topic provides a detailed outline of the benefits of developing a Mastermind Group for Job Development as well as a roadmap for developing one, these are simply suggestions. Our goal is to help you develop a better networking tool in your town or city and we hope you take ownership of this endeavour moving forward.
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What is a Mastermind Group?
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A mastermind group is a peer-to-peer mentoring group used to help members solve their problems with input and advice from the other group members. The concept was coined in 1925 by author Napoleon Hill in his book The Law of Success and described in more detail in his 1937 book Think and Grow Rich. In his books, Hill discussed the idea of the ‘Master Mind’, which referred to, “two or more people coming together in harmony to solve problems.”
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To state it simply, a mastermind group is a support team that meets on a regular basis to provide and receive advice, feedback and ideas.
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One of the first Mastermind Groups included Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs who called themselves the four vagabonds. They would meet up once a year, between 1915 and 1924. Their purpose was to learn from each other. They talked about business, art and current affairs.
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According to an article in Forbes Magazine titled, ‘The Power of Curated Mastermind Groups: Unlocking Success for Business Owners', "business owners and leaders who are dedicated to personal and professional growth, open to feedback and willing to share their experiences and insights with others can significantly benefit from joining a curated mastermind group."
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The Forbes article notes there are four key benefits of participating in a Mastermind Group:
- Shared Challenges and Experiences
- Personal Development
- Networking and Collaboration
- Accountability and Motivation
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Since effective job development should reflect the activities of business owners and leaders, the very same benefits flow back to job developers who participate in a Mastermind Group.
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What are the benefits of a Mastermind Group for Job Developers?
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The four benefits set out in the Forbes article provides a general framework but it’s valuable to explore these benefits further to get a sense of how they can support job developers in employer engagement.
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Shared Challenges and Experiences
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Of all of the roles in career development, job development seems to have one of the higher rates of turnover. It’s quite a bit different from other roles, making employer engagement the central role rather than building services and supports exclusively around clients or students.
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Participating in a Mastermind Group can be an excellent way of introducing job development to someone who is new to the sector but also expanding contacts and your understanding of local employers for someone who has been working in the sector for quite some time.
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Personal Development
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There are a multitude of skills required for effective job development. These can include effective time management; goal setting; employer communications; articulating benefits and supports; strategizing follow-up; sharing subject matter expertise; and professional networking.
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While the Canadian Job Development Network is built on the importance of professional development, a Mastermind Group provides an environment to discuss these supports, share experiences and explore real-world scenarios.
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A local Mastermind Group provides you with an opportunity to apply weekly discussion topics in a group that reflects your local community and the employers which inhabit it.
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Networking and Collaboration
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It is easy for a job developer to work within their own silo and not factor in the other services and supports available in the community around them. If they are only looking at the services they provide and this their understanding of the employment services eco-system, when they are meeting with local employers, they won’t be able to fully articulate the benefits of their services and supports versus others. In fact, they will be blind to how other services and supports may augment what they do.
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Working within a Mastermind Group, a career professional can develop a comprehensive understanding of the full spectrum of employment supports available in the community. Not only will they be able to better differentiate what they are able to do over others, they’ll quickly discover areas where they can work with other organizations.
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You may encounter an employer who needs a very specialized skill set and you don’t have anyone capable of providing those skills but perhaps another job developer does have someone. Alternatively, you may be working with students who are about to graduate and need a work placement but could benefit from working with a local employment service provider after graduation.
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Ideally, within your Mastermind Group you’ll develop a team of colleagues who understand what your work entails. You may discover a common understanding of the benefits and challenges of job development that colleagues within your own organization may not understand.
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Accountability and Motivation
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As with any support group, there is a general understanding that everyone is stronger working together than working apart. While there may be an underlying fear that everyone is competing for a limited number of jobs, since employers are far more likely to undertake hiring without your assistance, if the goal is to create greater awareness of employment supports in the community, every member can walk away with better employment outcomes as a result of working together.
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To foster a spirit of success, it can be valuable to discuss goals and objectives as a regular function of the meeting. This will help develop an accountability framework whereby participants are sharing their success and challenges on a regular basis.
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Working together can provide a spirit of team work and shared effort. Your Mastermind Group may be the one meeting you attend that builds you up, helps you focus and better connects you with the community.
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Building a Network Within Your Own Community
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Over the next four weeks, we will be discussing how to structure a Job Development Mastermind Group, who should attend, the benefits of the meetings and ways to better support local employers. For our April 28th meeting we will return with a LIVE session on Monday morning, at 8:30am Pacific / 11:30am Eastern where I will share our plans for a National Networking Day, providing an opportunity for Job Developers to gather coast to coast to establish Mastermind Groups, develop community plans and seek opportunities to significantly grow the awareness of job development services in the community.
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We’ll be releasing Part II of our four week series on job development networking next Monday April 14th in the Job Development Pulse as well as on YouTube and on most podcast platforms. See you then.
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We'll be sharing these thoughts at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday Apr. 7th 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 April 7th 'Click this Link' to join the session on YouTube. (We're returning with LIVE sessions on April 28th.)
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