Looking for a new job or career is difficult for most of us. This task gets even more difficult for us as our responsibilities grow. Deciding what is a good fit for us, deciding where to look, and how to look, writing resumes and cover letters, practicing interview skills, learning new skills, and having the confidence to stretch to more challenging work; is challenging.
Fortunately, job seeking is a learned skill and although few of us do it well we do improve with practice. A surprising number of people, myself included, don’t realize they don’t have to do it alone.
Like most people I have been through this process several times and found it frustrating, stressful, and although ultimately successful, not a process I enjoyed. Although at some level I knew about employment agencies (EAs), I never understood the process and never asked. Maybe it was pride, perhaps it was the stigma of accepting help, it doesn’t matter, I never bothered to find out how they worked. My bad, until eight months ago I had no idea I had been doing job seeking the hard way.
In my community, like yours, there are employment agencies that could have, were willing to, and have always been there to help people like me. What they do isn’t well known, nor is who they will help; I wrote this post about 10 things I didn’t know about employment agencies as a way to share what they do.
Not all Employment Agencies (EAs) are the same – There are “for-profit” head-hunters that look for specialists which most of us have heard about. There are employment agencies that search for employees on behalf of regular employers. Some work with regular people and are funded by the government. Within this latter category, there is a special group that works with people who help people who experience barriers to finding employment.
Employment Agencies that work with people experiencing barriers are not well known – Until recently I had no idea these types of EAs even existed; however, the work they do is the focus of this post.
What are barriers to employment – Employment, the desire to provide for yourself and/or your family; to contribute to our society; and to earn an income; are all things that most of us take for granted. What many of us don’t realize is that these things are not universally available because of employment barriers. A barrier might be physical like someone who is disabled might encounter; a barrier could be cultural or religious; a barrier might be due to language, stigma, age, sexual orientation, misinformation, or ignorance; a barrier could be because of past history or mistakes; a barrier could be lack of education or training; a barrier could be age discrimination; and there are many other barriers as well. People looking for work might also experience multiple barriers to employment.
The number of people experiencing barriers is staggering – According to the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability 27% of Canadians aged 15 years and older, or 8.0 million people, had one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities. By comparison, 22% of Canadians, or 6.2 million people, had one or more disabilities in 2017. In addition, these figures do not include many of the other barriers listed in the preceding paragraph.
It’s much more than just helping to find a job – Although trained to help with employment, in underserviced areas, the staff at employment agencies help their job seekers overcome barriers to life stabilization by connecting to community resources for housing, mental and physical health, food security, and clothing, and with organizations that can help the job seeker to advocate for themselves. Often many people experiencing barriers are not aware of the services available to assist them.
Accessing multi-tiered government resources – As many of these agencies are funded by different levels of government, usually, there is funding available to support their job seekers. Although the goalposts (government funding criteria) always seem to be shifting, with approval money can be allocated for re-training, new training, clothes to go for an interview or to start work, in some cases “tools of the trade,” and assistance to get the job seeker solidly on track in their new job or career.
Tailored Job Seeking Skills – Part 1 – Marketing vs ATS resumes – These agencies will work with each individual job seeker to develop a personalized action plan to find a job or career that matches their skills and desires. EAs don’t necessarily do placements, although mentorships are encouraged; rather, they help develop the skills to help their job seekers become successful – “they teach them how to fish.” For example, EAs will help create resumes both for handing out (Marketing resumes) and for applying online (ATS resumes).
Tailored Job Seeking Skills – Part 2 – Cover letters and interview practice – A key strength of EAs is their preparation to help job seekers stand out to employers by having a tailored job cover letter. Equally important practicing interview questions and answers that clearly demonstrate the strength of each job seeker for the job or career they are interested in. In my experience far too many people do not prepare adequately for interviews and also fail to consider how their answers ultimately could make the difference between being hired or not.
Search for jobs – According to employment experts only a fraction of the possible jobs are ever advertised, as many as 80% of jobs are part of the hidden job market. Employment agencies encourage job seekers to be very public with their search. By letting everyone know they are looking for work and networking, job seekers increase their opportunities dramatically. In addition, employment agencies also actively approach employers for specific job seekers, to match their skills to employer needs.
Mentorships – Certain employment agencies participate in federally sponsored Mentorship programs which allow a job seeker to “test” work with an employer for a few hours or more to “try out” a job. The program has been very successful and there is no risk or obligation to the employer to hire the mentee and they are covered by the insurance provided by the employment agency. It is a great opportunity for a job seeker to learn more about jobs they are interested in and for employers to find potential hires for their organization.
Employer awareness training – As an organization dedicated to helping alleviate and overcome barriers for its job seekers, some specialized employment agencies work with employers to educate their leaders and staff on disability awareness and confidence training (DACT). By tearing down myths and misconceptions through education these agencies help to expand the opportunities for job seekers experiencing barriers. Often tailored to their specific business sector, these meetings can be offered in a variety of forms from short “over lunch” discussions to online webinars.
Ongoing support – Seeking initial jobs or seeking a new job after leaving an employer can be very stressful and can erode confidence; employment agencies can help a job seeker navigate the process, build and reinforce their confidence, and be there for the job seeker as they experience orientation, onboarding, and establish new comfort zones. Certain employment agencies also continue this support for upwards of a year after the job seeker has found a job and they continue to assist with other barriers as they arise and also to help their job seeker advance in their career.
Success is more than just a job – For employment agencies that work with job seekers experiencing barriers, success cannot simply be defined the same way as for other employment agencies. Success according to the funder’s criteria does not apply to everyone, a person with severe barriers may only be volunteering or working as little as 10 hours per week but for them that is a success. Employment agencies who work with people experiencing barriers define their success through the perspective of their job seeker as much as possible.
There is no cost to our job seekers or the employers we work with – Unlike some of the employment agencies in the marketplace, employment agencies like the one I have been describing are funded by various levels of government and there is no cost to the job seeker. The people I have met are super-dedicated, passionate about what they do to help their clients and communities, and motivated to make a difference for the people they work with. Why wouldn’t someone work with an employment agency like this?
I am naturally biased towards these types of employment agencies because, at this point in my life, this is my chosen career. The eight months I have been doing this have been a revelation. My background as a leader in retail operations, and project management, as an advocate for food security, and as a small/medium-sized business consultant; has only helped me adapt to this role. Even before becoming a career advisor, my passion has been and continues to be helping people find and keep jobs and build their careers. I encourage anyone who is looking for a new job or career to approach an employment agency to learn about what they offer and what they can do to help their job/career search, I believe you will find it more than helpful as collectively we will teach you the skills you need so you can fish yourself with confidence and support.
Good luck,
Paul