Job Coaching

Location: Open Door Shelter

Date: Monday, June 22, 2015; 6:45-8:30 pm

Once again, Claire had asked me to take over the leadership of this project for the summer.  I had asked for guidance on the lessons, as well as icebreakers, and Claire had invited me to look at the ‘Google Doc’ that she shared with her co-leader.  I sent an email to the volunteers who had signed up, and also included an agenda.  I thought that we could take the youth through the lifecycle of a job hunt process, ranging from “Job Search” to “Resume Building” to “Networking”, followed by the actual “Interviewing”.  The day of the event 4 volunteers dropped off, probably due to the forecast of the impending weather….or maybe it was something I said.  When another one dropped off with an hour to go, I sent an urgent message to Wilson and Amy at Chicago Cares, both of who said they were on their way.  I was looking for nametags in ‘CVS’ when I got a call from one of the volunteers who had arrived early.  Well at least we had one.

By the time I arrived at the location, we had grown to 3 volunteers.  I was telling them about the evening and the place when Wilson and Amy got there.  We talked about the agenda for the evening and while I had typed up some talking points, I told them to let the flow dictate how they proceed.  They asked if we should have some sort of a curriculum week-over-week and that is something I have been a proponent of.  We could design an 8 week course, the flaw of course is that not everyone comes and leaves the shelter at the same time and so there will be some offset.  I told them not to take it personally if some of the youth seem disengaged.  They are going through a lot and it’s just like any of us having a bad day.

We went upstairs and the youth were gathered around the TV.  They did not look too enthusiastic to gather around our table, but eventually they came over and I handed out the name tags.  We had our usual blend of disinterested people as well as the mischievous - there was one female in particular - but all in good fun.  I said that we should do a round of introductions where we say our name and what we do.  I started by saying that I developed products for the energy industry.  At this the mischievous girl said that she wanted to interview with me right there and then.  I said that maybe we could do that at the end.  Our volunteers were from various backgrounds and we noticed that many of the youth had just been laid off.  I said that perhaps we can help them this evening. 

I then assigned numbers to Volunteers and youth and we ended up with 5 groups or pairs.   I asked Groups 1 and 2 to team up and Groups 3, 4, 5 to work together.  Their task was to find 10 things that they had in common with each other, which can be a bit trickier with so many people.  Groups 3, 4 and 5 went to the other side of the room and they were rolling while the other group was struggling.  But it did have the enthusiastic girl and she was coming up with things such as, "Everyone liked 'Casper the friendly ghost' and 'Scooby Doo'”!  Well, at least they were trying to reach 10.  I kept throwing things like “Is anyone left handed” – there was one, so that wasn’t common…or was it?  “Can anyone not swim” – there was one, but that was it.  I got everyone back together and the Groups 3, 4, 5 went first.  They had things like “All of us are human” and “All are from Planet Earth” at which I said that tests on Wilson were not back yet!  Although they did have something interesting, that all of them had gone to Florida.  The other group brought out their ‘Casper’ etc., but at least we had a good group activity. 

I then asked the youth with a number to pair up with the volunteer having a similar number.  Wilson had one, but the rest had 2 youth each.  Everyone spread out and I was going to shuttle from one group to another.  One of the volunteers was doing a great job of making the youth who were with her comfortable.  They were extremely reserved at the beginning, but she kept probing on the status of their resume etc. and then I saw them move to the computer room.  Wilson was totally engaged with his guy and they seemed to be doing well.  I went over to another area where a first time volunteer was with 2 people.  She was chatting with one of them, so I went for a conversation with the other.  This female youth was extremely thoughtful and said that she had been through these sessions 20 times and there was nothing new that I could teach her.  I said she had not gone through a session with me, so she cannot make that determination. 

"Diaper Cake"...maybe something different

I asked what her dream job was and she said that she had given up on her dream.  I asked how she could make that determination when so young.  She said that she wanted to open a "Cupcake and Daycare" facility – together – and even proceeded to draw the building and the layout.  It reminded me of something I had done a long time ago.  She said that it would be a non-profit for underprivileged parents who would drop off their kids and then pick up the kids along with a cupcake.  I thought it was a brilliant concept since it would really put a smile on their face after a hard day – well that and the baby of course.  Although I wasn’t sure about the name that she had selected – “Diaper Cake”, because that could mean something else!  But she said that was her main selling point.  I asked if she had a business plan and she said yes, she had made one but it got wiped out on a computer.  I said that she needed to do her research on funding agencies and ways that she could get it off the ground.  She said that she had done all of that but I wasn’t so sure.  I said that she was going to face a lot of hardship, but if this is what she wants, she should be prepared to fight for it.  I asked what her signature cupcake was and she said “Chocolate with Chocolate Chip frosting and filled with Molten Chocolate”. Well yum. 

I went and joined Amy’s duo and one of the youth with her was very quiet and I sat next to him.  He mentioned that he wanted to go into construction and I asked why.  He said that he wanted to build his own place, which was of course a great reason.  We discussed “Networking” and how he should always be learning from others.  I told him that doesn’t need to know all the technicalities of “Engineering”, but should always be asking why.  We then discussed ‘LinkedIn’ and I showed him how one can use that for as a tool.  He seemed fascinated by that and thought that we could have a session that was completely focused on the use of ‘LinkedIn’. 

Our time was almost over and so I got the entire group together.  I said that I would hand them a candy if they shared what they had learnt this evening – including the volunteers.  Everyone had good insight and I signed off by saying that I had learnt that we are all human and from earth – referring to the answer from one of the groups during the icebreaker.  I held another session of reflection downstairs and the volunteers had good feedback, ranging from having a more organized curriculum to a more hands-on activity.  All were good suggestions and something I said that I would post on the common document that the leaders share.  It was also a good thing that Amy was here to hear all of this.  Speaking of which, I couldn’t thank Wilson and Amy enough for answering my ‘S.O.S.’; and not just them, all the other volunteers had been fantastic.  One new volunteer had said that she didn’t know if she had reached the youth and I said that she had done more than she could possibly realize.