New Brief - Strategically Virtual: Implementing Job Search Services in a Virtual Environment
As workforce agencies plan their return to in-person services, the workforce system needs to consider not only the quality and content of its services, but also how to continue on the virtual journey that began abruptly in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Backtracking to in-person-only services will waste what has been learned during the pandemic and agencies will lose out on valuable opportunities to serve more people and provide more effective services.
In Strategically Virtual: Providing Job Search Support in COVID, Michele Martin of the Heldrich Center presented a three-tier model for working with individuals who are unemployed. This model emphasizes expanding beyond labor exchange and basic job search skill development, such as résumé writing and interviewing workshops. It encourages the public workforce system to adopt more human-centered, holistic approaches to working with job seekers that center safety, care, community, and coaching as primary service strategies.
In a new brief, Strategically Virtual: Implementing Job Search Services in a Virtual Environment, Martin shares strategies for implementing the three-tier model in a virtual environment, using technological tools to reach a broader audience of job seekers and leveraging technology to provide the supports that job seekers most need. The brief also discusses some key shifts in service delivery that agencies should consider to support the core needs of job seekers.
In conjunction with the release of the new brief, the Heldrich Center is pleased to offer a virtual conversation with Michele Martin about her briefs highlighting effective job search supports during the COVID pandemic and how the public workforce system can implement these job search strategies in a virtual environment.
The webinar will be held on Wednesday, August 11 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Space is limited and registration is required. Register here today. You can also copy and paste the following URL into your web browser and then register: https://bit.ly/SV_Webinar_0811
Upon registration, you will receive an email with the Zoom link for the webinar along with a password that you will need to enter in order to join the discussion. Be sure to check your spam and junk folders in addition to your inbox for the confirmation notice.
Michele Martin is Director of Technical Assistance at the Heldrich Center, Director of the New Start Career Network, and Director of the New Jersey Career Network.