Take a Chance on the Unemployed

The results of a United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll were just released and they are surprising to read.  Americans appear to have mixed thoughts about helping their fellow Americans. For a country that prides itself on its generosity, this survey may indicate how secretly selfish we may be.  If a discussion is to continue about the future of a social safety net, there must also be a discussion about what to do with those utilizing that safety net.  It’s time to talk about hiring the unemployed.

Let’s face it; hiring any new employee is always risky.  A candidate can tell you anything she wants as to why she is leaving her current organization (no room for growth, seeking more challenging work, etc.) in an effort to shed the best light on herself.  That’s obvious.  Yet, for all you know, her boss was on the verge of firing her for a consistent lack of productivity.  Although your organization tries to establish a process to mitigate hiring risks, it’s never a perfect formula and your process may likely never uncover that she was a poor performer, but you’ll hire her anyway because of her eager attitude and impressive titles.

If the circular file is not an official part of the selection process for unemployed resumes, being unemployed surely holds a negative bias in our collective brains.  It is often equated to being lazy, lacking drive or having a preference to ‘mooch’ off the system.  These are just a few characterizations and judging by the reaction of the audience at Republican debates in response to jabs by the candidates at the unemployed, many 

Americans agree with them. 

It’s time to throw out the stereotypes!

Today’s “unemployed generation” is NOT lazy.  It’s frustrating to hear those who talk about a friend of a friend who once “loved being unemployed for 8 months.” I don’t love it and reading stories like these lead me to believe there are millions of others who don’t either.  I, like the millions of others, have gone from a credit score in the 800s to complete ruin through bankruptcy and foreclosure.  We have applied to the online ads, attended the networking events, used social media and crafted multiple iterations of our resume based on each new blogger’s opinion.  There are even those of us attempting to gain additional skills.  We’re eager and ready to get back to work.

I can attest first-hand to the determination of the unemployed as a participant in the Chicago Career Tech program—a retraining program that includes both classroom training and hands-on learning experience, initiated by former Mayor Richard M. Daley and supported by the business and non-profit communities of Chicago.  My colleagues in this program are just like me and we all hang our hopes to  this program to give us the valuable skills needed to meet the demand of today’s workforce.

At first we were encouraged by the words of Shelley Stern, Citizenship Director for the Microsoft Corporation and Chair of the CCT Board of Directors, who recounted how CCT was born out of a realization by the business community that many jobs, including at Microsoft, were going unfilled over the past few years, despite high unemployment.  This was not due to a lack of labor, clearly, but rather a lack of necessary skills on the part of that unemployed labor.  This program seeks to supplement the already valuable skills possessed by the unemployed for high-demand industries.

Despite the efforts of CCT and our new skills obtained, we continue to find it difficult to land a position.  The rejection continues for a lot of previous participants and despair is setting in.  We ARE trying and we ARE being interviewed, but we continue to be told that we do not have enough or the “right” experience.

Instead of a discussion about removing or reducing the social safety net, thereby creating a deeper problem, let’s talk about how we all can help Americans get back to work.

Here are my challenges:  First, I challenge the President and Congress to re-enact the tax cuts to businesses for hiring the unemployed. Although we are no longer in an official Recession, there are millions of Americans who have been unemployed longer than 8 months.  That’s an awfully long time to go without work when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed.  This may help alleviate long-term joblessness.  If it doesn’t, businesses can no longer complain that they pay too much in taxes, if they pay them at all.

Next, I challenge the Republican nominees to do more than talk.  They are out there each day shaking hands with the unemployed.  Has one of them offered to put them in contact with their influential friends who are likely to be hiring managers with open positions?  If they want us to vote for them and believe they are the one to get the country back to work, start showing us you have experience doing it.

Third, I challenge business owners, HR managers, hiring managers and decision-makers to re-think the old notion that someone who has been unemployed is lazy or unproductive.  Take the risk; you may be pleasantly surprised with the results!

Finally, I challenge all Americans to help their fellow unemployed American.  Patriotism isn’t just putting up a flag on holidays and singing the National Anthem at sporting events. Patriotism is also supporting your fellow citizen.  .  FDR wrote: "In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people. "

President George W. Bush was criticized for not asking Americans to participate in the “war effort.”  So here’s how you can participate in the “unemployment effort:” Check your company’s website to find out what positions are available.  Post them to Facebook or Twitter (use #jobs, for example).  Forward replies to your HR department. This is just one of many examples easily implemented and that helps move us all forward together.

Help a person, help a family, help the country; gamble on the Unemployed!

Visit Del's website for more information about Reframe Shame.

Today's Reframe: Corporate America

Last Friday I attended an orientation session for a program into which I've recently been accepted.  The program is run through Chicago Career Tech and supported by large corporations, the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois.  Although I haven't even started the program yet, this orientation was a real turning point for me on my unemployment journey.   I felt it important to share with everyone out there, especially those going through this same journey.

This is a program initiated by organizations like Microsoft, Charter One and other large corporations about 2 years ago in the middle of the Great Recession.  According to the presenters, these business leaders realized a real need for a program like this as a result of a labor shortage.

Labor shortage, you ask?  But, there are millions unemployed and looking for work, you say!  Yes, but many of these organizations cited statistics of large numbers of unfilled vacancies within their organizations.  These position remained unfilled not because there aren't millions of people looking for jobs, but because the millions unemployed do not posses the skills necessary to do the job.  There is a huge skills gap for so many unemployed people despite the organizations that crave to hire more employees.

This explanation was a real positive moment for me.  Throughout this Recession, and my unemployment journey in particular, there has been a lot of negativity:  rejection to the thousands of resumes sent out, rejection from in-person interviews, politicians who blame the unemployed for being unemployed, articles about how companies are actually advertising that the unemployed "need NOT apply" and, most damaging, my fellow employed citizens who comment on stories all over the internet calling us names like lazy, mooching off the system and so on...

Having worked since the age of 14, sometimes at 2 jobs, having gone to college and having done all the 'right' things, everything has felt so incredibly wrong. 

But to hear organizational leaders recognize that the unemployed are not lazy, but ready and willing to work given the right opportunities and given the skills to do the jobs that are in demand actually got me choked up.  I felt that someone "got it."  There are companies who 'want' me.  All the companies out there don't scoff at something that was beyond my control.  They realize that we, the unemployed, are eager to get back to work and get on with their lives!  It was inspiring to hear examples of companies that took on 40+ interns during the program and then offered all of them jobs at the end of the program!

So I begin my program in just over a week in Social Media Marketing at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy.  At the end, I am expected to obtain certifications in Google Adwords and SEO.  I'm so very excited because I love social media and I have always loved marketing.  I am also excited because this is the "now" and this is the future.  I'm excited that I'm entering a (hopefully) stable area of the market so as to avoid ever having to endure unemployment and all its challenges again.

On a side note, this program is being constantly evaluated and studied across the country.  It is being looked at as a potential model for other states to get people back to work.

I would like to encourage you, especially if you are in Chicago, to mention this program to your company.  Your company can be part of the solution to getting America working again.  They may not be able to hire a student after the program, but the experience gained during the internship will be so important to the student and a stepping stone to get them back to full time work.  Please consider passing along this site to your boss or HR department and encourage them to participate!

Be a Part of the Solution

Recently I've heard a lot of everyday Americans ponder the question: What can I do to help the unemployed.  There's a good chance that if you're reading this post you are either unemployed or know someone who is.  If you ARE employed and have friends or family members who are unemployed, you likely feel powerless and frustrated seeing your loved ones go through such difficult times.

So, what can you do to help?  I have a few suggestions that do not take a whole lot of effort on your part, but could make a huge impact.

If you live in Chicago, I'd like you to check out the Chicago Career Tech website.  I learned about this organization a few months ago via a WGN news segment.  Being unemployed myself, I contacted them and went through the process.  I'm happy to announce that I've been accepted into their program to earn a certificate in Social Media Marketing! 

The organization offers certification courses (at many city colleges and other accredited institutions) and the chance to work hands-on with a company in the target field to prepare to re-enter the job market with improved, updated skills.  What an opportunity! 

So what can you do?  Well, while you may not be a decision-maker at your organization, you CAN pass this site along to your manager or HR department and encourage them to become a partner with CCT.  It's an amazing and positive PR opportunity for your company to be one of the few being a part of the solution to our terrible unemployment situation in our country!