Best Practice Self-Assessments for Job Search & Reemployment Planning

Even in a good economy, it’s easy for the unemployed and dislocated workers to feel stuck. Many reasons can contribute to this state of mind, such as the following:

• Coping with shock and anger after a layoff
• Not knowing how to start a job search
• Blaming themselves or others for their situation
• Struggling with their identity, self-confidence, and self-esteem
• Losing interpersonal connections from the workplace
• Wanting to change careers but unsure of their career direction
• Wanting to change careers but not sure how
• Not having skills for today’s workplace
• Feeling paralyzed by thoughts of today’s impersonal job search process
• Feeling overwhelmed by the need to create a resume, write cover letters, network, and interview
• Feeling too old or unqualified to start something new
• Feeling concerned about finding a job as good as what they had
• Not knowing how to use computers, the Internet, social media, and other technology
• Wanting to go back to school or get training instead of finding a job
• Feeling overwhelmed by financial worries
• Not getting support or encouragement
• Dealing with health issues, family problems, emotional issues, and other barriers

All of these anxieties are common with the jobless. As their worries and fears accumulate, the unemployed may have difficulty sorting through their questions, options, and concerns. Creating an action plan for their next steps may be overwhelming. The situation may cause critical delays in seeking help and in being proactive on job search, training, financial, and personal fronts.

Fortunately, there is a self-guiding, three-step assessment from Career Action Resources that can help these job seekers. Called the Layoff-to-Employment Action Planner (LEAP), this paper-and-pencil resource provides unemployed workers with a vast amount of eye-opening information in a quick, easy-to-read format and pinpoints the reemployment help and other resources each individual needs most. It’s a useful process for helping the unemployed clear their heads and focus on an action plan for reemployment. The LEAP can help people find jobs faster because it accomplishes the following:

• Lessens time for immobilization and confusion
• Addresses an individual’s unique situation and needs
• Provides proven job search and career guidance
• Advises individuals to create a reemployment plan
• Recommends the assistance and services that will most benefit the individual
• Encourages individuals to use the free services of American Job Centers
• Helps career coaches and workforce staff address each client’s needs in a personal yet efficient and consistent way
• Requires no special training or extra time for workforce staff to administer
• Comes with a complimentary LEAP Administrator’s Guide in PDF on effective use

The LEAP is used across the nation in a wide range of workforce programs. A U.S. Department of Labor report calls the LEAP an innovative best-practice in reemployment. If you are a workforce or career services professionals, please request your complimentary review LEAP review sample from Career Action Resources. 

“This Jobs Program Just Might Get People Back to Work” is the title of a recent Pew Trusts article that describes the success and expansion of the U.S. Department of Labor’s RESEA (Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment) program, particularly in Nevada.

The story details how Nevada’s RESEA program has the best results of all the states studied, saving more than four times the RESEA costs and shortening participants' unemployment insurance benefits by approximately three weeks.

Nevada’s RESEA program “significantly reduced the amount of time people received unemployment benefits,” states the Pew Trusts article by staff writer Sophie Quinton.

Nevada uses Career Action Resources assessment guides with its RESEA participants. In particular, our Layoff-to-Employment Action Planner (LEAP) is described in the first RESEA (then called REA) study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor as an “innovative self-assessment” that helps claimants identify their needs.

The USDOL report also states LEAP is useful to workforce staff by helping them better refer claimants to much-needed services. Nevada is now using Your Employment Search (YES) in its RESEA program. Read more about the RESEA research.

Need proven tools to guide UI claimants, job seekers, and staff? Request a complimentary review sample of LEAP and YES.

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Do you have job seekers who can't seem to get hired? They may appear to be doing everything right, but they may actually be passive job hunters, according to the Editors at Career Action Resources. Here are 3 signs that individuals are being passive in their employment search.

1. Only applying for job after job online. Online job applications are a key way to apply for jobs. But online applications have pitfalls. First, if a person's skills and experience do not match the opening, an application may be automatically rejected. Second, if an individual is applying for many jobs, chances are he or she is not a good fit for all of them. Third, they are missing opportunities to job search in more effective ways, such as networking with people who can connect them to hiring managers. Encourage job hunters to target their search and go beyond online applications.
2. Not tailoring a cover letter and resume to each job. Using the same cover letter and resume for each job is easy; it is also passive. Instead, ask job seekers to take some time match their materials to the job opening. It may help to emphasize qualifications that especially fit the opening. This approach makes it easier for employers to see how an applicant meets their needs.
3. Spending just a few hours a week on their job search. Suggest that job seekers create a schedule of job search activities, including applying for jobs, networking, researching and contacting employers, and practicing interview skills.

The good news is, all job hunters can become more active in the search for employment. With an active job hunt, they'll be more likely to get hired quickly in the right job.

Need help explaining to your job seekers how an active employment search works? Consider using Your Employment Search (YES). a best-practice tool for tailored job search guidance, in your career centers. Workforce development professionals can request a complimentary review sample of YES from Career Action Resources, LLC.