It doesn’t really matter how good a candidate is if an employer will not hire them. If you work with people who cannot find jobs on their own, they will need someone else to help them get a job, hence the need for “job developers.”

Job Development needs to be strategic; it is not a natural event. It needs to be organized. It needs to be skilful. It needs to make a difference for everyone, especially those with the most significant employment barriers.

There are 3 common reasons job seekers are unable to find their own jobs:

• Visible employment barriers – not selected
• Unable to practice effective job seeking skills – not selected
• Poor local employment conditions – no jobs available

Visible Employment Barriers

Visible employment barriers frequently prevent employers from perceiving job seekers as viable candidates.

This includes:

• People with disabilities
• Disadvantaged youth
• People on welfare or receiving TANF
• Older workers, new immigrants
• Non traditional genders for certain jobs
• Ex-offenders or felons
• People with mental health issues
• Minority races, nationalities, cultures

Question – What strategies, skills and techniques does an organization or a job developer need to use in order to gets jobs for people with visible employment barriers?

Answer - Employ strategies, skills and techniques that will manage the employer’s perception of the visible employment barrier. Managing perceptions gets jobs. (See our job development workshops, skills training and articles on job development)

Unable to Practice Effective Job Seeking Skills

People in this situation are not practicing effective job searches, or are ineffective during interviews, or are simply unable to be sufficiently persistent.

They may also have invisible employment barriers (mental health issues that cannot be seen, such as depression), but it is the individual’s presentation that is preventing them from getting a job, not the unseen employment barrier. Again, the issue is employer perception but in this case it is a result of self-presentation, not an employment barrier.

Question - What strategies, skills and techniques does an organization or a job developer need to get jobs for people who cannot practice effective job seeking skills?

Answer – Again learn to manage the employer’s perception. If a job developer can manage this challenge, the job seekers will go to work. (See job development workshops)

Poor Local Employment Conditions

This reason is usually flawed. It is more often used as an excuse for poor job development results rather than a real determining factor.

In every local economy there should be a fair representation of your clientele within those employed. If there isn’t, your group is being excluded and you must make planned and concerted job development efforts to overcome this exclusion, unless there are no jobs.

There can be catastrophic impacts creating huge job losses, or rural circumstances with scarce employment opportunities. In these cases, people must face the economic reality and decide if they are prepared to leave the community to seek employment. This will involve an examination of their personal motivation to work.

Question - What strategies, skills and techniques does an organization or a job developer need in the event that clients are facing a limited or weak economy?

Answer – Employ effective job development skills that can penetrate local employers and achieve job offers in the face of competition. (Job Development Skills)

Or, an examination of the motivation and the desire to work will be required if there is a need to leave the community for work. (Motivation Skills)

DTG-EMP values and solutions

At DTG-EMP, we believe and know:

1. Typically people try to find their own jobs. Generally people with visible employment barriers fail at finding their own jobs. Job development is the most successful strategy at finding people with employment barriers jobs.
2. Most people are employable, regardless of visible employment barriers, if they can be MRD - Motivated to go to work, Reliable to show up every day, Dependable to stay on the task.
3. The employer’s decision to hire is based on her or his perception - not in knowing the candidate’s actual performance.
4. Getting jobs for people with visible employment barriers is achieved by managing the employer’s perception of the barrier.
5. People with visible employment barriers have a harder time changing the employer’s negative perceptions of the barrier than does a third party like a job developer.
6. If the candidate with the visible employment barrier can do the job, they are no different than any other candidate with or without visible employment barriers. Therefore, the issue is not eliminating the employment barriers but eliminating the employer’s negative perception of the employment barrier. Manage employer perceptions and you manage employment outcomes.
7. Perception is managed through marketing and selling skills. Marketing and selling skills specifically designed to address employer’s perceptions are the foundation of getting jobs for people with visible employment barriers.
8. Employment programs must incorporate these skills. Organisations must know how to identify and manage them through vendors and contractors, or know how to build the skills in their employees. The more effective a program is at marketing and selling, the greater the number of people the organization can serve and the greater the number of quality jobs they can get.
9. Job development skills move from basic through to advanced. The degree that they are understood and used will determine the employment outcomes.
10. A successful employment program has the following characteristics:

• Senior management strategy leading job development marketing and selling activities
• Ongoing improvement in staff’s job development skills
• Management and line staff interpreting market information and recalibrating strategies
• Continuous improvement in job development market penetration efforts.

To improve your organization’s employment outcomes look to our job development management and skills workshops.