Employer Engagement Partnering with businesses to unlock the hidden job market for our clients

NCHV Homeless SummitOctober 5 & 6, 2015

Terry HughesDirector, National Veterans Training Institute terence.hughes@ucdenver.edu

For editable Microsoft Word versions of the tools in this guide, visit

www.nvti.ucdenver.edu/trainingsolutions/Resources

and click to open the States folder near the bottom of the list of folders on the left side of the webpage and then click on the Alabama folder

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V > TCE:“The Value I can deliver is

greater than the Total Cost of Employing me.”

Research, submit targeted application materials, then wait & hope

  

      

     

      

 

   

  

     

 

  

 

      

 

  

       

         

   

        

                      

 

 

         

             

 

  

  

  

  

        

 

      

 

        

 

    

     

 

 

  

        

 

      

    

   

 

 

     

 

        

 

    

    

 

 

  

        

 

      

Network, research, meet, & deliver targeted résumé before job is advertised

We can partner to open all three doors to employment Customized employment opportunities

Advertised vacancies

Unadvertised vacancies

Lots of research & networking, leading to, “How can we adapt or carve out a position for our clients?”

25-30% of hiring

1-5% (?) of hiring

60-70% of hiring

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Phase 3a. Find overlaps between business

challenges & our clients’ capabilities

Phase 1. Exploration conversations with hiring decision makers (HDMs)

to understand challenges & opportunitiesPhase 5. Follow up

Phase 4. Connecting conversations with

HDMs

Network our way to an introduction

Online and off-line research

Pre-Contact

Phase 2a. Sharing conversations inside agency about job-

seeking clients

The National Veterans Training Institute’s Partnership Cycle

Pre-contact: Prepare to call an employer for the first time

The one question you should never ask an employer or hiring decision maker is “What does your organization do?” Try to locate as much of the following information as possible using the employer’s website, local business directories, or your personal contacts. This information will enable you to have intelligent conversations with key contacts, ask more relevant questions, and earn credibility with the people you meet.

Company name:

Key contacts; phone numbers / email addresses:

Company website:

Locations:

Years in business:

Products or services they provide

Current number of employees:

Job titles / positions employer is typically hiring for:

Job titles / positions employer is currently hiring for:

Previous experiences with our agency:

The employer’s typical customers or clients:

The employer’s major competitors:

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1. Exploration Conversations Depending on the size and type of business we are partnering with, we may encounter three types of hiring decision makers during the Exploration phase of the Partnership Cycle. • Senior Leaders, including owners or presidents of small businesses and managers of local

factories or facilities• Human Resources staff • Supervisors

Each type of decision maker will likely have unique concerns and priorities. The questions in this checklist can help us start, and sustain, productive discussions with each of them.

We should keep in mind that our goal is to have a conversation, and not to conduct an interrogation. Moreover, some of the best information will come only after we probe for more details. Some useful probes include:

That’s interesting; could you tell me more? Can you give me an example? What’s the impact when that happens? What else is important about this?

It’s also important for us to become comfortable with silence; practice waiting at least fifteen seconds after asking a question before giving in to the temptation to fill the silence by re-asking the question in a different way. Some of the most insightful answers come only after we allow the hiring decision maker sufficient time to reflect on the question and formulate an answer.

Since we may learn the answers to some of the questions while discussing a different question, it’s important to be familiar with all of the questions we will be asking and to recognize when one is being answered out of the sequence we’ve outlined here.

Before launching a conversation, we should ask the hiring decision maker how much time he or she can spare. We may need to schedule a follow up visit to cover all of the questions, especially if some of the early questions lead to a rich and lengthy discussion.

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Some topics to explore when talking to Senior Leadership, including small business owners or plant, store, or facility managers Leaders will be concerned with profitability, growth, the over-all competitiveness or performance of their company or facility, and similar strategic or big picture issues. Here are several questions to launch a conversation about the important roles that employees play in the success of their business.

What are the most important opportunities and challenges your organization faces in its quest to continue growing profitably?

What are the key success factors that drive profitable growth here?

What are the key employee capabilities and behaviors that help you pursue those opportunities, overcome those challenges, or reinforce those key success factors?

Do you anticipate that your organization will expand in the next year or two?

If we’re visiting a small business in which the senior leader we’re talking to is involved in supervising employees, especially those responsible for day-to-day operations, we should ask some of the Supervisor questions starting on page 8.

If senior leaders are directly involved in the hiring process, we can also ask hiring-related questions starting on page 13.

The Fishing Question

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to pursue that are not possible because you lack the people with the necessary skills, attitudes, or capabilities?

And finally, don’t forget to ask:

“Is there anything I haven’t asked about that you think I should know?”

“What questions do you have for me?”

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Some topics to explore when talking to Supervisors The primary concerns of supervisors and foreman typically revolve around day-to-day operational effectiveness and efficiency, and thus the technical capabilities and soft skills of job candidates. They really want to avoid a bad hire, since problem employees can cause them endless aggravation. In a well-run organization, supervisors are usually involved in the hiring process, and often cast the deciding vote.

Here are some questions to uncover the specific needs and wants of these supervisors, foremen, and others who are familiar with the operational side of the business.

Tell me a little about the work that’s done in your department. If you had to pick the four or five most important tasks that are performed here, what would they be?

If you had to pick the four or five most difficult, confusing, or unpleasant tasks, which would they be?

What technical skills or task-specific skills do the people who report to you need to have? Are you satisfied with their level of expertise?

How important is teamwork for getting the job done right? How effective is the current level of teamwork? In what ways do your team members need to collaborate with coworkers? What happens if people don’t function well as a team?

How important is it for people here to use their judgment, improvise, or demonstrate initiative? Is most of the work they do routine and predictable, or is there a lot of variability or ambiguity involved? Do they generally work under close supervision, or do they have a lot of autonomy?

Are the work procedures here pretty stable, or do people frequently have to change what they do and how they do it? Are most of your people open to change and comfortable with it, or do you get a lot of push back and resistance?

How often do your teams members have to learn new processes, how to use new equipment, or how to perform entirely new and different tasks? How does that learning usually take place? Are those learning approaches effective and efficient?

Do the people reporting to you participate in formal or semiformal problem solving or continuous improvement activities? If so, how often? Can you describe how that works? Are you satisfied with the results?

How much do your people use technology? What kind of technology do they use? Is everyone comfortable with it?

Is there anything that frustrates you about the people who report to you? If you could wave a magic wand and change three things, what would they be?

Is turnover a problem? If so, how does it impact you, the co-workers of the people who leave, and your department? And if so, what do you think is causing the turnover?

Is employee attendance, punctuality, or reliability a problem for you? How about some of the other so-called soft skills, like conscientiousness, verbal or written communication skills, and dress and appearance?

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Is safety a problem? Are there lots of opportunities for people to hurt themselves or their co-workers or to damage the equipment they’re using?

The Job Carving Questions

Are there tasks being performed in your department by your higher-skilled or higher-paid

If so, would offloading those lower-skilled tasks mean that the higher-skilled team members would be able to complete more high value work?

Can you give me some examples of lower-skilled work that your higher-skilled team members are doing?

How many hours a day or week are they doing the lower-value work?

Would it make sense to bring on someone new at more modest pay rate to perform this lower-skilled work?

The Fishing Question

Are there any improvements or changes that you think need to occur within your department that are not possible because you lack the people with the necessary skills, attitudes, or capabilities?

And finally, don’t forget to ask:

“Is there anything I haven’t asked about that you think I should know?”

“What questions do you have for me?”

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Some topics to explore when talking to Human Resource decision makers

Because they talk to and advise both the senior leaders and managers, supervisors, foremen, and individual employees, HR staff can often offer you invaluable insights into the strategic and operational challenges facing the business, the individual and organizational capabilities the business needs, and the ones that are in the scarcest supply. In most cases, it will be easier for them to free up a significant chunk of time to talk to you than it will be for senior leaders or supervisors. Here are several questions to begin an exploration conversation with HR staff:

When you talk to senior leaders, managers, supervisors, or foremen, and other decision-makers throughout the company, what people-related challenges do they mention?

Which of these challenges are most critical to the future of the company?

Which challenges are the most difficult to deal with?

Jump to the Hiring-related Questions on page 13, and then return to:

The Fishing Question

Are there any improvements or changes that you think need to occur across the organization that are not possible because you lack the people with the necessary skills, attitudes, or capabilities?

The Job Carving Questions

Are there tasks being performed in any parts of the organization by your higher-skilled or higher- paid employers that could be performed by someone with less experience?

If so, would offloading those lower-skilled tasks mean that the higher-skilled team employees would be able to complete more high value work?

Can you give me some examples of lower-skilled work that your higher-skilled team employees are doing?

How many hours a day or week are they doing the lower-value work?

Would it make sense to bring on someone new at a more modest pay rate to perform this lower-skilled work?

And finally, don’t forget to ask:

“Is there anything I haven’t asked about that you think I should know?”

“What questions do you have for me?”

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Hiring-related Questions

Depending on the size of the organization we’re visiting and the responsibilities of the people we’re talking to, we may want to ask these questions of senior leaders and supervisors as well as human resources or personnel staff.

In general, what skills or traits do you look for in most new hires? Which of these skills and traits do applicants most often lack?

For each specific vacancy you currently have, or anticipate having over the next year or two, what are the desired or required:

o Basic skills? (reading, writing, math, etc.)

o Technical or occupational skills?

o Soft skills?

o Credentials or certificates? What training institutions do you accept credentials from when hiring?

What process do you normally use when there’s an open position you need to fill? How do you attract or find prospective employees and evaluate them?

Do you feel there is an ample supply of qualified workers to fill your vacant positions? If not, what are the specific gaps?

What are the your most common entry-level positions you hire for? Which are the most difficult to fill? What are the pay ranges and benefits for these positions?

What are the most common skilled positions you hire for? Which are the most difficult to fill? What are the pay ranges and benefits for these positions?

Do you ever experience seasonal hiring surges that place a burden on your normal system for recruiting, selection and hiring?

Many businesses are surprised and quite pleased to learn that an American Job Center / Career One Stop can help them save hundreds of hours of work and avoid thousands of dollars in hiring and training costs. Would you like some examples of how you might benefit from these services?

If the employer is a Federal Contractor

Do you have any concerns about complying with the Federal Contractor Job Listing and affirmative action requirements?

If the employer participates in apprenticeship programs:

Do you have any difficulty attracting and selecting highly qualified people into your apprenticeship programs? Could you introduce me to the members of the Joint Apprenticeship Committee(s) you work with?

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What to look for

We should recognize that there are some businesses and workplaces that are simply more compatible with the challenges and constraints many of our clients may be wrestling with.

If we’re having candid conversations with our agency colleagues about the barriers or employment issues facing some of our Center’s clients, we will be able to make a more accurate match between employers and their workplaces, and our clients.

Ideally, we’ll ask and be given a tour of the workplace. Here are a few of the indicators we should be paying attention to.  

Is the workplace located near public transit lines, making it accessible to clients without reliable transportation?

Are there affordable day care facilities with vacancies nearby, which would be a help for single parents struggling to juggle work and family responsibilities?

Does the employer have an Employee Assistance Plan that provides support for employees struggling with a range of personal issues?

How are employees dressed? How much interaction do they have with customers or the public? Are there parts of the business – back offices, loading docks, service bays, repair shops, or so on - where a polished personal appearance or refined social or interpersonal skills may not be a critical prerequisite?

Are there certain positions or jobs within the company that can accommodate a degree of flexibility on the part of employees when it comes to attendance? For example, if one of our clients needs to come in late or leave early several days a month to meet with a parole officer, mental health counselor, or medical care provider, can a supervisor flex his or her schedule without disrupting operations?

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2. The Sharing Stage of the Partnership Cycle

Once we understand what an employer is looking for, we should meet with our colleagues who are working with veterans to help achieve a match between the skills, attitudes, traits, and aptitudes that the employer needs, and the capabilities that our agency’s job-seeking clients possess.

By describing the challenges or opportunities a specific business or operating department faces, and the working environment an employee can expect to find in that business, we can help our colleagues working with job-seeking veterans to: Discover

More accurately assess the veterans’ strengths, assets, and barriers to employment, relative to that specific employer and position.

Analyze the clients’ previous military and civilian experience to discover the most relevant capabilities they have and the contributions they can make to the employer.

Develop Create more targeted Individual Development Plans with job-seeking veterans that

address relevant employment barriers. Clients and employment specialists will be able to more accurately identify the additional coaching, workshops, formal training, or assistance from outside agencies that will best prepare the veterans for the particular employment opportunities we have discovered.

Have better productive and supportive “tough issues” conversations with clients about behavioral matters such as substance use, personal hygiene, personal appearance, anger issues, punctuality, and reliability.

Describe More effectively describe how clients can make the employer more successful, and how

they can focus their cover letters and résumés, and their answers during job interviews, on what matters most to the hiring decision makers in the business.

Our colleagues, in turn, can tell us about: Their clients who have the capabilities that match the challenges faced by the hiring

decision makers we’ve met Any employment issues each client faces The kind of working environment that will enable each client to be most successful

The worksheets on the following two pages may help us frame these sharing conversations.

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Making the match: Capabilities

Employer Outreach staff (including LVERs)In column A, list the capabilities, qualifications, duties, and responsibilities desired or required by an employer that you’ve learned about during the Exploration phase of the Partnership Cycle. If there are specific vacancies the employer is seeking to fill, complete a separate worksheet for each vacancy. Share this worksheet with your agency colleagues during the Sharing phase of the Partnership Cycle.

Staff assisting job seekers Help a job seeker to list, in column B, the relevant skills or experience he or she has acquired, and the relevant results he or she has achieved that can be highlighted (perhaps in the form of Situation-Action-Result (SAR) statements in a cover letter, resume or application form, or during interviews).

Company / Organization ___________________________________________________

Hiring decision makers ___________________________________________________

AWhat hiring decision makers are

looking for

BMy relevant capabilities, and results

I’ve achieved

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AWhat hiring decision makers are

looking for

BMy relevant capabilities, and results

I’ve achieved

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Making the match: Neutralizing barriers or employment issues

With the job seeker, list in column A any issues that could interfere with a successful job search, or success on the job. In column B, list any strategies and/or resources you and the client agree to use to neutralize the barriers. If there are any issues that can be partly or fully managed by finding a workplace or employer with specific characteristics (see the examples below), and if the client gives you permission to reveal those barriers to the outreach staff, create another version of his worksheet, list those barriers, and brainstorm strategies with your outreach colleagues.

APotential employment issues

BStrategies for managing it

Unreliable transportation

Need a low-stress workplace to do my best

Look for employment opportunities in locations near public transportation

Seek out workplaces with low-stress conditions

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4. Connecting Conversations

Here’s a phrase should strive to use frequently: “I can’t make any guarantees, but I think it would be a good investment of 30 minutes of your time to talk to this person, because I think he can make a valuable contribution to your business.”

Key talking points when talking to hiring decision makers about an individual veteran:

Technical, occupational, or task-related knowledge, skills, and certificationsBe prepared to list these and explain how they will enable the job-seeking veteran to contribute to the company’s ability to address challenges and pursue opportunities we identified in the Exploration stage.

Soft skills, traits, and aptitudesDescribe to the hiring decision maker how the client’s soft skills, traits, and aptitudes match those needed by the employer.

Examples, brief stories, or Situation-Action-Results (SAR) statementsProvide evidence of the kinds of contributions the veteran has made in the past.

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More tools

Your priorities (Adapt and use this tool when meeting with employers) Our goal is to connect you with the people who can help you and your business become more successful. Reviewing this list, and selecting your most pressing priorities, will help us identify prospective employees who will best meet your needs.

Attract and keep more customerso Identify customers’ unmet needs, poorly-met needs, and as-yet-unrecognized needs that

represent opportunities for us

o Expand or diversify our customer base by developing new products and services or reaching out to new groups of potential customers

o Ensure that current and prospective customers choose our products or services over those of our competitors by maximizing quality and value

o Increase customer loyalty by consistently delivering customer interactions that are efficient, convenient, pleasant, and respectful

Boost the performance of our team memberso Leverage the advantages that flow from having a diverse workforce while reducing the

interpersonal friction that often occurs when people with different backgrounds and personalities work together

o Lead, manage, supervise, and support team members in ways that boost morale, motivation, and commitment

o Instill leadership at all levels of the organization, in ways that fully engage all employees and unlock their discretionary effort

o Promote creative thinking, innovation, and problem solving among all team members

o Shift all employees into “continuous learning” mode, so that they are always seeking to increase their competence, skills, and knowledge in order to perform their current tasks better and take on new roles and responsibilities

o Increase the effectiveness, focus, and application of formal training, self-directed learning opportunities, informal coaching, and mentoring

o Cross train employees so that they can pinch hit for each other when necessary

o Nurture team work and collaboration that allow us to achieve things together that would be impossible for us to accomplish separately

o Improve our ability to share the lessons we’ve learned across teams and departments

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Increase operational excellenceo Create new products & services at least as quickly as competitors

o Maximize our speed and responsiveness as individuals and as a team

o Maximize the quality of the products and services that we deliver

o Maximize our productivity, devising ever more creative ways to accomplish more with less

o Develop process and systems that help people perform a task flawlessly every time

o Trim all forms of unnecessary cost from every corner of the business; eliminate waste, errors, or variances

o Evaluate risks we face, and develop and implement measures to reduce, control, or manage those risks

o Improve safety and reduce accidents

o Reduce breakdowns and expensive repairs; increase smooth, reliable operation of all equipment

o Quickly solve problems, and then prevent them from occurring again

o Increase our capacity to adapt to rapidly-changing environments and circumstances

o Plan how to handle surges in traffic, cargo, and newly-hired personnel

o Improve our preparation for unexpected developments, challenging deadlines, and rapid response or emergency situations

o Reduce the risk of illegal or criminal acts by employees or members of the public

o Ensure compliances with legal, environmental, and other regulatory requirements

o Detect opportunities that are hidden within threats, risks, or problematic situations

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(Note: Many of the positions our clients will qualify for may be little more than an opportunity to join the ranks of the working poor. However, virtually every job can serve as the first or next in a series of stair step positions that lead to a job providing a living wage, adequate benefits, and decent working conditions IF the client makes the most of opportunities we describe below. We encourage you to adapt this document as needed and use it with clients, both during their job search and after they begin working.

As we meet with employers, we should emphasize that our agencies encourage our clients to acquire new skills, take on additional responsibilities, and establish an exemplary track record.)

Not just a job, but the next step on the road to self-sufficiency

As we search for jobs, we may find that many available jobs will be on at the lower end of the scale, in terms of pay, benefits, and working conditions.

If this is the case, we should think of these positions as stair step jobs that can lead to better paying and more satisfying work.

Here are some principles and approaches that turn a low-wage job into a stair step position.

First, realize that every job provides at least four forms of compensation.

1. Pay and Benefits. This is an obvious one, and while compensation is important, in the long run the size of the paycheck in a stair step job may matter less than the next three forms of compensation

2. Learning. Stair step jobs provide the opportunity to strengthen or acquire new occupational knowledge and skills that qualify us for internal promotions, pay increases, or better paying jobs with different employers. In addition, these stair step positions may lead us to discover additional skills and interests we were not aware of before, and this may encourage us to pursue a wider range of jobs or a different career path.

3. Work Record. The opportunity to improve our track record at work is a major benefit of stair step positions. By focusing on creating a list of accomplishments, establishing a record of consistent attendance, or otherwise demonstrating commitment and competence, we can accumulate a compelling list of bullet points for our resumes, as well as examples to share during interviews or networking conversation. For those of us burdened with a poor work history, this opportunity to wipe the slate clean and begin anew may be the most valuable element in an entry-level job.

4. Networking. Even in entry-level jobs, we can expand our professional and personal networks. Personal contacts are a key to finding and pursuing unadvertised employment opportunities, and the networks of contacts we develop at work can multiply our connections to better positions.

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Second, while working in entry level jobs, we should take notice of positions we would like to move up into, and then identify the steps we can take to build a bridge to those new positions. These steps may involve mastering specific skills or gaining certain kinds of experience, or creating a favorable impression with the people either inside our current organization or in outside companies who have the authority to promote or hire. The most direct way to identify the steps is to observe and talk to the people who currently occupy the desired positions, to learn about the tasks they perform, the skills they use, and the ways they moved into those positions.

Third, we need to recognize that the path to advancement does indeed involve steps we need to take; it is not an escalator. We need to recognize opportunities to acquire relevant skills, to establish an excellent track record, to identify what types of jobs appeal to us, or to expand our present network. Then we need to take advantage of those opportunities.

For example, we might:

Ask a more experienced coworker to share insights or techniques, or demonstrate how to operate a new piece of equipment.

Volunteer for new assignments that will involve learning new skills or meeting new co-workers, customers, suppliers, or others who can become part of our network.

Begin to think in terms of the results we produce and not merely the tasks we perform, record these results, expand them into Situation-Action-Result or SAR statements, and imagine ways we might, in the future, make similar contributions to other employers.

Brainstorm ways to improve processes, customer satisfaction, or other aspects of our work, and share our ideas with supervisors, either through a formal suggestion program, if the company has one, or informally if it does not.

Commit to achieving an excellent attendance and safety record, high customer satisfaction ratings, or other evidence that will persuade the next hiring decision makers who interview us that we will be a risk-free and valuable addition to their workforce.

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