By CAREEREALISM Founder, J.T. O’Donnell
9+ years ago, I made a decision to devote my career to changing the way Americans look at work. Along the way, I sometimes had the bandwidth to provide my career coaching services for free to people who couldn’t afford professional help.
But recently, things changed.
Now that CAREEREALISM.com has grown significantly, I have physically been unable to give away my career coaching. I get at least a dozen or so requests each day from job seekers asking me to work with them free. I wish I could help each one, but it would be counter-productive. Since my goal is to help as many people as possible, I have made a conscious decision to spend all my available time and energy on building up the one-to-many parts of this business (the blog, webinars, etc.), to ensure we can provide cutting-edge information and continue to help the masses.
Still, turning down job seekers in need really hurts! Like this…
Last week, I got the following e-mail in the Customer Service inbox:
Dear J.T.,
I would like to send my resume to you; I’d like to add you on my LinkedIn profile so you can see what I’m doing wrong. I’ve been laid off for a year and have had no luck finding a job. I’ve had a few interviews but no success. I’m always told I’m overqualified and interviewers fear I’ll move onto greener pastures. I’ll be the judge of that! HELP!
As I mentioned, I get lots of requests like this each day. So, I created a solution – a Career HMO that gives these folks the help they need. We launched CAREEREALISM Club in January 2010 so job seekers could get assistance from top career experts for next-to-nothing. There are already over 225 members. Here’s the story of one member who had been out of work 12+ months before finally finding us. He landed a new job after just 2 months of working with our private career coaching network!
However, when I sent her a nice e-mail letting her know I wasn’t able to assist directly, but I had built a support resource she might be interested in, this is the exact response I got:
As a single-parent watching my credit plummet faster than Wall Street’s credibility, it’s infuriating. I’ll continue browsing through your website. Thank you for the reply.
Ouch! I’m a Mom and that hurt. This response kept me up all night. How could I give these folks who can’t afford to sign up for our Career HMO the means to do so? Suddenly, it hit me.
Corporate America: It’s time you sponsor job seekers in need!
I’m looking for forward-thinking CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to help those in need of career support. With the average length of unemployment in America now topping 7+ months, this is a great investment. We can lower the unemployment rate and the costs that go with it! Any company that truly wants to support workers in America should take me up on this offer, right? What better way to show you want to help those in need of work? A great place to start would be all the companies that laid-off 1,000s of workers and didn’t give them any outplacement resources. Or, perhaps you know a socially-minded company that you think would be interested in getting involved with something like this? Either way, I’d love it if our readers would send me e-mails with the names of companies that should take part in this initiative. (Don’t worry, I won’t say who suggested them!)
In return, we’ll let America know what a great company you are!
- Any organization willing to buy 10+ subscriptions for people in need will get listed on EVERY page of our site as being advocates for the worker. With over 66,000 page views by readers each month, that’s a lot of positive PR!
- Those who buy 50+ or more will get an entire post written in their honor and sent out to the 1,000s of readers of this site, as well as top placement on the list.
We promise, if you help these job seekers, you’ll get the recognition you deserve.
E-mail me at info@careerealism.com today to get a private demo of the program and to learn more about how you can donate subscriptions to job seekers in need. Companies will be able to choose who gets the memberships, or they can let us choose.
So, what are you waiting for Corporate America?
Here’s your chance to invest in workers and give them the skills they need to get hired. We look forward to hearing from you!
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4 Comments
Thanks for sharing, Scott!
I could not agree more with your argument that everyone needs to take responsibility for the situation we are now in. We have to change our expectations significantly if we want to see different, better results. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING in life is a choice. Corporations, education, parenting, ourselves – these are all places where simple changes in choice could come together to make significant results. I really hope all the Careerealists reading this see the value in sharing this concept with a company leader they know and respect. I do believe there are companies out there that want to show they are different from Wall St. This is a wonderful way for them to start helping people and rebuilding the employer-employee relationship. It will be very interesting to see which companies are brave enough to take me up on this opportunity to help Americans learn the 'new rules' to staying employed long-term. As we say at CAREEREALISM.com, Every Job Is Temporary! So, why not embrace that fact and teach workers how to transition easily from job to job? Fingers crossed we get some savvy CEOs on our side!
While I agree with you on many fronts, I too would like to see Corporate America take up your challenge. Unfortunately, I feel that many people/organizations are more centrally concentrated on survival and making/keeping their profits. I too, try to help several of my friends who are unemployed or under-employed … even lending some finacial support when I can, knowing that I will be paid back sometime in the future.
I also blame parts of the situation on the government as well as ourselves. The government, for letting us down in the form of education and the ability to compete in the world market.
I blame ourselves for not holding the government and business accountable. I also blame ourselves for allowing the education system slide. And I blame ourselves as parents for not taking the time or interest in our childrens' education. It may not be you, personally, but in general. You could be the best parent in the world! But not all parents take such an in depth interest in their children. I have known some parents who are great – taking the time to help with homework, running their children to 'practice', etc.! And I have known parent who believe that they “did their job” by having children and that it is society's job to raise & educate their children and teach them morals – no joke!
We need to take responsibility of our present to ensure our future. The end result is that we are reaping what we have sowed – like it or not! I recently heard of a book “A Nation At Risk” written in the 80s. Even though I have not read the book, I heard about it and have reserved a copy from the public library. The book is a report to the US government, funded BY the US government regarding the current (the 80's) US educational system and their recommendations. The book is about 30 years old and little of the reccomendations have been enacted.
Being half Canadian, I have heard a lot of things about my country-folk. While Americans may make fun of Canadians, the Canadians DO have some valid points. One is the philosophy of “Canadians first” and what they have left they will share. Maybe we should adopt some of that philosophy. We have many of our own people in need – let's help them!
I am a firm believer of Karma and try to generate as much positive Karma as possible. I help train some of my co-workers, lending materials that they may need to pass certifications. I know one co-worker to whom I have lit a fire and is now on his way to pass his third certification. I constantly search for jobs for my friends while offering any help or guidance on their resumes or interviews. If we would stop and help each other, then maybe we can turn this country around! But it all has to start somewhere – why not start with ourselves?!?
While I agree with you on many fronts, I too would like to see Corporate America take up your challenge. Unfortunately, I feel that many people/organizations are more centrally concentrated on survival and making/keeping their profits. I too, try to help several of my friends who are unemployed or under-employed … even lending some finacial support when I can, knowing that I will be paid back sometime in the future.
I also blame parts of the situation on the government as well as ourselves. The government, for letting us down in the form of education and the ability to compete in the world market.
I blame ourselves for not holding the government and business accountable. I also blame ourselves for allowing the education system slide. And I blame ourselves as parents for not taking the time or interest in our childrens' education. It may not be you, personally, but in general. You could be the best parent in the world! But not all parents take such an in depth interest in their children. I have known some parents who are great – taking the time to help with homework, running their children to 'practice', etc.! And I have known parent who believe that they “did their job” by having children and that it is society's job to raise & educate their children and teach them morals – no joke!
We need to take responsibility of our present to ensure our future. The end result is that we are reaping what we have sowed – like it or not! I recently heard of a book “A Nation At Risk” written in the 80s. Even though I have not read the book, I heard about it and have reserved a copy from the public library. The book is a report to the US government, funded BY the US government regarding the current (the 80's) US educational system and their recommendations. The book is about 30 years old and little of the reccomendations have been enacted.
Being half Canadian, I have heard a lot of things about my country-folk. While Americans may make fun of Canadians, the Canadians DO have some valid points. One is the philosophy of “Canadians first” and what they have left they will share. Maybe we should adopt some of that philosophy. We have many of our own people in need – let's help them!
I am a firm believer of Karma and try to generate as much positive Karma as possible. I help train some of my co-workers, lending materials that they may need to pass certifications. I know one co-worker to whom I have lit a fire and is now on his way to pass his third certification. I constantly search for jobs for my friends while offering any help or guidance on their resumes or interviews. If we would stop and help each other, then maybe we can turn this country around! But it all has to start somewhere – why not start with ourselves?!?
Thanks for sharing Scott!
I could not agree more with your argument that everyone needs to take responsibility for the situation we are now in. We have to change our expectations significantly if we want to see different, better results. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING in life is a choice. Corporations, education, parenting, ourselves – these are all places where simple changes in choice could come together to make significant results. I really hope all the Careerealists reading this see the value in sharing this concept with a company leader they know and respect. I do believe there are companies out there that want to show they are different from Wall St. This is a wonderful way for them to start helping people and rebuilding the employer-employee relationship. It will be very interesting to see which companies are brave enough to take me up on this opportunity to help Americans learn the 'new rules' to staying employed long-term. As we say at CAREEREALISM.com, Every Job Is Temporary! So, why not embrace that fact and teach workers how to transition easily from job to job? Fingers crossed we get some savvy CEOs on our side!