Best Practice Self-Assessments for Job Search & Reemployment Planning

“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.

Job seekers have more skills than they may realize. A new online tool from the U.S. Department of Labor lets job hunters rate themselves on 40 workplace skills and then learn their best-fit career options.

Called the “Skills Matcher,” the tool gives individuals immediate results to 

• Increase their skills awareness and skills language.
• Find careers that interest them and suit their skills.
• Explore careers they hadn’t considered.
• Plan their career and training paths.
• Learn the wages, education, and outlook for careers that match their skills.
• Target a job search.
• Explain to employers how their skills match a job.
• Enhance a cover letter, resume, and online profile with skills language.

In the Skills Matcher, job seekers rate their level of each skill as beginner, basic, skilled, advanced, and expert. It includes examples of each skill to help with the ranking.

The Skills Matcher compares a person’s skill rating to the knowledge, skills, and abilities of more than 900 O*NET occupations. Try out the Skills Matcher, available on the CareerOneStop site.