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Using employer insights to transform service delivery
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Every day, job developers accumulate new insights into employer preferences, the current economic conditions and the challenges of recruiting and maintaining a productive workforce. In fact, it's possible many job developers don't realize just how much information they are accumulating.
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How many times have you sat down with someone to prepare a resume and you ask them for specific tasks and activities from a job and they are unable to come up with anything more than the most basic information? When we do a job every day, we assume those tasks and activities are obvious, and we can't even necessarily articulate what they are.
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Job developers have a wealth of information they may not be thinking about. Because of their unique relationship with employers, job developers, co-op educators and other employer engagement professionals are able to provide insights back to their team that can have a major impact on how successful our clients or students are in achieving employment outcomes.
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Understanding How Employers Think
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I remember hosting a conference once and a major tech employer said he would never hire someone who used a Hotmail email address. He felt it was extremely basic and spoke to a person's lack of technological sophistication. At that same conference, another employer said he would never hire someone who uses Times New Roman as a font in their resume.
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As I write this, I'll note that I use a very simple Hotmail address for my personal email, but I would never put it on a resume.
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Henry Ford used to test executives he was going to hire. He would take them out to lunch and if they put salt on their food before eating it, he felt they made poor decisions and would not hire them.
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Obviously, these are extreme examples and how could a job seeker possibly know these things before applying for a job?
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If there is a lesson here, it's that employers feel strongly about lots of things we may never guess at or even understand.
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If a job developer considers themselves an ‘employer biologist’, observing employers in their natural habitat, they'll slowly accumulate many insights into the recruitment process they may never have expected.
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One of the most valuable questions you can ask that will frequently solicit answers such as those about Hotmail, Times New Roman and salt is just to ask employers about what candidates have done or typically done wrong when they apply for jobs.
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This way, when you have a candidate who applies for a job, you can tell them this employer is fanatical about customer service, or courtesy, or following directions, and suggest they act or respond accordingly.
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Unique Role of Job Developers
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While your daily interactions with employers may seem pretty commonplace, to your colleagues who spend their days coaching clients or students, it may be a mystery world.
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You have a foot in each world. You know the expectations and approaches clients are taking, but you also have this special subject matter expertise that can only be acquired through daily interaction with employers.
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Do employers prefer a two-page resume or a single; should a candidate apply online or in-person; how should a candidate reflect their availability before applying for a job?
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While these insights are often associated with just one employer, you can eventually see trends. Perhaps retail and hospitality employers typically prefer a one-page resume while those in administrative or technical sectors prefer a two-page resume.
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The challenge is that eventually this understanding becomes commonplace. We learn that employers will often disregard job applications that haven't been filled out completely. Your colleagues may intrinsically know this or it may be news to them. And if you have insights that are surprising to other career professionals, how much more surprising are they to job seekers?
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Supporting the Team
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Whether case managers, employment counsellors, facilitators or resource room advisors, everyone on your team has a role in helping people prepare for effective job search.
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I remember, about a decade ago it was all the rage to prepare portfolios, even for roles that had no aesthetic aspects to them. ‘I'm a dental assistant and here is my portfolio.’
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During that period, I attended an employer panel discussion and among the ten employers present, every single one of them said they were sick of getting portfolios.
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As career professionals, getting insights into employer expectations, helps us develop practices that are truly effective.
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Job developers can help inform this practice by sharing insights during case conferencing or staff meetings.
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I would encourage career development organizations to have their job development staff organize regular training sessions on topics such as employer expectations around resumes, applications, interviews, reference checks and job seeker conduct.
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This allows career professionals go from the theoretical approach to job search, where perhaps portfolios are the nifty new trend, to the real-world or practical application of job search methodology, based on real employer insights.
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Supporting Clients
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Have you ever tried to teach your kids, a friend or your spouse about job search? Have they rejected your insights because your relationship with them is too close?
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I've had this experience a number of times and yet the clients or students you work with every day see tremendous value in your advice and insights.
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Employer insights are the super power of job developers. When you are assisting someone, being able to use phrases like 'most employers think...' or 'I had a client who was able to get a job here...' gives you instant credibility.
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Job seekers know you are communicating with employers every day. If job search is primarily a 'hidden job market', you've got a secret pass.
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If you run a job club or other kind of job seeker networking group, here is a forum where you can share some of your most valuable insights. You can build them into PowerPoint presentations and develop resource material around them.
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And while this is tremendously valuable and benefits from continued refinement and improvements, some of your best insights will be shared with clients one-on-one.
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When you are coaching someone on improving their resume, completing a job application or going into a job interview, even if you can't speak to the expectations of this specific employer, you can share sector insights. You can tell them things like: 'most hospitality employers will...' or 'large companies often...'.
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Like a doctor, a lawyer or an accountant, the longer you are a job developer, the more insights you accumulate, the better you'll be at informing your clients and colleagues.
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Organizing Resource Areas
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Resource centres are often organized along the lines of job search, career planning, education, training and community resources.
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There may be self-employment resources, but often they are tailored to starting a business, not necessarily understanding business owners.
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Resource room staff would benefit from working with their employer engagement colleagues to establish an area in the resource centre around employer expectations.
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This would also include websites and online tools discussing the challenges and perspectives of employers.
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A job seeker who can speak to employer expectations in their resume, cover letter, job application, interview or thank you note, is going to go a long way in establishing rapport and respect with that employer.
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Suggestions for Facilitators
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While many of the tools used in a resource centre are going to be tools a facilitator wants to use, the benefit of instruction is being able to use this information in an effective manner.
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Facilitation allows us to practice interviewing, elevator pitches and networking. And while these are done every day in employment centres across the country, how often do we think about what an employer will ask, how they will respond or why they are asking a particular question in the first place?
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If a facilitator is organizing interview ‘role-playing’ for instance, it might be helpful to invite an employer in to observe. At the end of the session, the employer can share observations about what the mock-interviewer did well and what they missed. They can also comment on what the job seeker did well and what they could have done better. It gives you insights from both perspectives.
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Reporting to Funders
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During the pandemic, funders such as Service Canada and the provincial employment services branches, were keen to learn as much as possible about employer trends.
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They wanted to know about whether they were using government supports, providing remote employment, utilizing new technologies and most importantly downsizing.
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In most career development organizations, it's normal to provide a monthly report and meet with funders periodically. In this forum, it's critical to share insights about local employers that are unique to the moment and the community.
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Employers will always be frustrated by the mismatch between the skills people have and the skills they need to hire for but if job development staff are seeing emerging trends such as the need to have skills in certain types of new AI, this can be a great way of demonstrating you are on the pulse of employer needs.
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It also helps the organization demonstrate they are responding to employer needs by creating programs and interventions that address those needs.
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Even program managers and directors will sometimes be detached from this sort of daily interaction with employers so working closely with job developers in advance of preparing reports and meeting with funders is critical. This is just as valuable in advance of preparing applications for funding and responding to 'Requests for Proposals'.
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Keeping the Lines of Communication Open
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While there is a multitude for formal ways job developers and other employer professionals can support their organizations in formal ways, the greatest support they can provide is in everyday conversations and support.
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It's critical that organizations see their job developers as a powerful internal resource. They are the next best thing to have an employer in the room with them.
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This allows an employment counsellor who may not have a lot of experience in a particular sector (such as I.T., health care or trades) to seek out their job developer colleague and gain new insights and suggestions.
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Two of the most common areas of complaint among employers relate to resumes and interview performance. By gathering these complaints and reshaping them into suggestions, job developers can play a major role in helping their colleagues and their organizations provide real world insights that are going to make a difference in whether someone gets the job or not.
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We’ll be discussing the best approach to share employer insights at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday August 11th 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 August 11th 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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'Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Effective Job Development'
WORKSHOP
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We’ve had fantastic interest in our online workshop, ‘Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Effective Job Development’, taking place in five separate time zones, September 8th to 12th. If you haven’t yet registered, we have a 20% early-registration discount, but it ends on August 28th. If would like to know more, just visit: www.jobdevelopment.org/pro-d
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'National Networking Day for Job Developers'
NETWORKING IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES
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We’re still making great progress on our National Networking Day for Job Developers, taking place September 19th. We still have room for communities to join us, but need to close the window on August 20th, to give groups enough time to organize. We would love it if you could join us and if there isn’t a session planned for your community, it’s easy to organize one. To learn more, just visit: www.jobdevelopment.org/sponsors
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