FINDING DISCOURAGED JOB SEEKERS

One of the objectives of this project was to develop a plan for service providers to find Discouraged Job Seekers (Refer to Appendix A for the list of project objectives). In the chapter describing how we found participants, i.e., Discouraged Job Seekers, we indicated that we experienced the most success by going to places where they already went regularly and felt comfortable. We tried to develop relationships with possible participants by beginning that relationship in a location that they identified as ‘safe, and ours’. We obtained reasonable success in recruitment with this approach; overall it was the most effective method. We also identified being known previously by the participants as effective.

In this report, we use the term ‘bridge builder’ to describe the function of a staff person engaged in furthering our recommendations. We use this term to communicate the collaborative, facilitative and respectful approach that we learned is essential when working with Discouraged Job Seekers. Bridges are the underpinnings that overcome barriers and lead to resources. Bridge building with Discouraged Job Seekers could assist them in navigating their way by giving them support, not imposing a solution. We refer to the person with the mandate to build bridges as “Pathways staff” and the organizations that want to reach out to Discouraged Job Seekers as “Pathways”. It is not expected that all the recommendations be developed under this aegis, but for ease of understanding in this report, these are the terms used.

We identify the need to create a sense of community with people in Kings County who are involved in job finding and have also developed a descriptor for this community, i.e., “the job finding community.”

We recommend that the plan for Pathways staff to recruit Discouraged Job Seekers needs to focus on building bridges in two areas: a) with community organizations, and b) with individual Discouraged Job Seekers. Bridges need to be built with community organizations first and then individual Discouraged Job Seekers.

The remainder of this chapter consists of:

1. Plan for finding Discouraged Job Seekers within existing organizations
2. Plan for finding individual Discouraged Job Seekers

1 PLAN FOR ORGANIZATIONS                                                                            

We recommend Pathways staff start the recruitment of Discouraged Job Seekers by:

  Building bridges. We found similarities among organizations some of our participants came from: organizations that participants identified as ‘safe, and ours’. Briefly, the similarities are:

o  an underlying structure with gentle and clear leadership,

o  leadership that listened to the participants with respect,

o  leadership that frequently implemented participants’ suggestions,

o  clear communication that participants are accepted as they are.

We suggest using these criteria to identify organizations that have Discouraged Job Seeker among their members and reaching out to them.

  Describing the Pathways organization’s goal to recruit Discouraged Job Seekers to the leaders of these organizations.

  Become visible to Discouraged Job Seekers within their organizations. Pathways staff need to become known to Discouraged Job Seekers by being visible in the organizations.

  Developing credibility within organizations. Pathways staff need to be flexible in scheduling and attend organizations’ events. They could offer to support the organization in whatever manner would assist the organization in meeting its mandate. The intention being to develop respectful and useful working relationships with the organizations valued by possible Pathways participants. This bridge building would be done in a transparent manner, identifying the goal of developing incremental trust and partnership between the successful organization and Pathways.

  Enhancing the organization’s understanding of work issues. The Pathways staff could offer to put on workshops and answer questions about the workplace and the Kings County labour market in whatever way fits the mandate of the organization the Discouraged Job Seekers are part of.

  Enhancing the organization’s understanding of problem solving information and crisis response resources in the county.

  Collaborating with the organization’s leadership regarding the most respectful and effective ways to recruit possible Discouraged Job Seekers into Pathways.

  Establishing a confidential space for the development of individual or group relationships with Discouraged Job Seekers.

  Reaching out to other organizations to find possible participants as trust and credibility develops in a small number of organizations.

  Using a networking approach. Asking Discouraged Job Seekers what organization(s) they use or have friends at where they feel Pathways staff could meet other possible Discouraged Job Seekers.

Discouraged Job Seekers have disengaged from the job finding process. We noted that every participant had a vision of what it would take for them to successfully enter the workforce. That is, the discouragement could be a temporary condition if the Discouraged Job Seeker were to believe that there is a likelihood of being able to work effectively towards becoming employed. It is natural to expect that for a Discouraged Job Seeker to make such a commitment it would take time, and that trust would be a component.

Recruitment of individual Discouraged Job Seekers requires an integrated approach. The Discouraged Job Seeker must feel safe, and believe in Pathways ability to offer the support they require to envision themselves in the workforce. The chart below indicates the psycho-social interactive dynamics that should establish the type of relationship that would help create a confident job seeker.

Credibility of Pathways staff is fundamental to developing the trusting relationship needed by a Discouraged Job Seeker. Credibility would be enhanced by:

• Simultaneously following the plan for working within organizations.
• Having up-to-date information available to assist potential job seekers, i.e., the location of food banks, transportation options, and other information needed by people living on low and fixed incomes.
• Having an office for meeting with possible job seekers. The office needs to provide a welcoming and comfortable space, be centrally located, and be fully accessible[1].