Jobseeker at the Center

This is about putting the jobseeker at the center of your services, going beyond being led by programs, to first understanding the needs of the job seeker and then applying, and sometimes creating, programmatic solutions

Maricopa moved from centering their discussions and marketing around individual programs, to presenting that they were there to understand the job seeker’s situation and help them find their correct pathway to a job. The programs were part of the support provided to the job seeker, but were not where the discussion began

El Paso moved from providing “programs” to providing “services"

All job seekers will benefit from this change regardless of their current situation : 

• opportunity youth
• incumbent worker
• TANF recipient, etc. 

Choose a target audience and get started; however, understand the key needs and barriers of that audience , where they currently go for support, and how that fits with your possible solutions
 

• Recognize up front that those with the greatest barriers (5: childcare, housing, food security, healthcare, transportation) could take more time and support before they are successful in a job. However, Maricopa found that a jobseeker’s eagerness to succeed could overcome even the largest of barriers, such as homelessness. Job seekers that don’t have significant work experience and those without a high school diploma are other examples of those that could take more time and support. In addition, Maricopa found that the job seekers with the largest barriers sometimes didn’t exit from WDB services even after six months of employment; that after that time, their success required continued support and services because of their significant needs (timeline graphic)
• There are also many examples were the intake process identified that a few services, such as child care and short-term skills training, enabled a job seeker to quickly obtain a higher-level job and exit WDB services successfully. For instance, El Paso found that raising the hourly rate for eligibility for WIOA and child care services allowed them to support job seekers that were ready to make the jump from an entry-level job to a higher-level job going unfilled at a local employer
• It is important to identify the barriers that most often cause job seeker failure and address those systemically. For instance, El Paso and Maricopa found a wait list at child care (image/graphic of wait list for childcare) was a common barrier, causing delays in the ability to start a job or training. Both found that reducing wait lists positively impacted job seeker outcomes
• Montgomery identified that some job seekers weren’t ready for success in a job, and that their situation needed time and change before job preparation support would be of benefit. The FCC Toolkit has more information on “job seeker readiness for change”
  

https://familycenteredcoaching.org/coaching-toolkit/family-centered-coaching-toolkit-august-2017/ (OLD ONE--- get new one)

Implementations

Successful FCE implementations require solutions and employees that are more flexible than normal WDB programs

• Different job seekers require different discussions and different solutions put together in unique ways. El Paso likened this to creating a bone structure that meets policy, with the remainder of the body being put together in a different way for each job seeker
• It is important to understand which portions of workforce processes must be rigid and which portions seem rigid because that is the way they have been done (change agent image). It is also important to enable WDB staff to conduct business in new ways when change is needed, even when you aren’t sure exactly what the outcomes will be. Maricopa found that monitoring new solutions must be active. You can’t wait for a change to flow all the way through the system before analyzing it, checking it along the way allowing for quicker adjustments

Value Proposition