Employment Consultants
Assist unemployed persons to find suitable employment through collaboration with employers and clients and provision of ongoing support.
A week of clients and employers
You are an employment consultant at a community service, helping job seekers and building relationships with local employers. It is Monday morning. You have six appointments booked and an employer who wants to talk about a hiring day. Your first client has not turned up for the third time.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Yeah, sorry I missed the last few. I did not have credit on my phone and then it just felt like too much. I do not think anyone is going to hire me anyway. Can we just skip this?
Tell Dylan that attending is a requirement and he has to try harder or you will report it
Dylan goes quiet, and does not return. You followed the rules and lost the chance to help him. Pressure alone does not move someone who has stopped believing.
Say it is okay to skip this week, since he sounds like he needs a break
He is relieved. The following week he does not come either. Kindness without a next step let him slip away. He might have needed a smaller step more than no step.
Ask what is in the way, then agree a small step he can manage
Dylan says he does not have a way to get here. You offer a phone chat and one small task. He completes it. A smaller goal that he can actually do beats a bigger one he cannot.
I am happy to take your people, but between us, I do not want anyone over fifty. They get sick, they are slow, and they do not fit with the crew. Just keep those ones away from me, okay? You know how it is.
Say you will only send him young applicants, to keep the relationship friendly
You send younger candidates, and it works for a while. Then an older client you did not refer finds out and complains. You have broken the law and your own service's promise to be fair.
Explain you cannot screen by age, and offer to match on skills and fit instead
Wayne is surprised and a little embarrassed. You send two strong candidates based on the role, one of them older. He hires the older one and later calls you to say he was wrong about the crew.
Stay silent on the comment and quietly send him a mix of candidates anyway
Wayne never hears your view, and the next time he says the same thing. You avoided an awkward conversation, and you left a problem in place that will affect other people later.
I know I only worked there for two months, but could you put six on my application? Everyone pads things a bit. My last job did not go well and I really need this one. Please, I am desperate.
Say it is only a small stretch, and put six months on the form so that she has the best chance
Tessa gets an interview and the employer asks her referee, who says two months. She loses the chance and her credibility. The lie you wrote down was your name too.
Tell her you cannot change dates, then help her write about what she learned
Tessa is nervous, but the new version is honest and strong. She gets an interview, and talks about what went wrong in her last job. The employer respects the openness.
Refuse, and tell her that lying on a form is wrong and that she should know better than to ask
It is true, but Tessa feels judged and shuts down. You held the line and missed the chance to help her. Clear does not have to mean cold.
How it went
By the end of the week Dylan had a plan he could manage, Wayne had two candidates to think about, and Tessa had an honest application. Employment consulting is a mix of encouragement, honesty and persistence with both sides of the table. Would you be comfortable holding the line kindly?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The warehouse that said no
A fictional case set in a community employment service in a regional town, with a small team and a busy waiting room.
The situation
Leila was an employment consultant working with a young man named Jamal who used a wheelchair and had a strong record in stock control from a previous job. A local warehouse had a vacancy that suited him perfectly, but the manager said on the phone that the building was not suitable and there was no point in applying. Jamal was discouraged and told Leila he was thinking of giving up on that kind of work.
What they did
Leila asked the manager if she could visit, and walked the floor with him. They talked about what the role needed and what the building did not allow. She explained that small changes, such as moving one set of shelves and lowering a counter, might be enough, and that there is support available for employers. She did not push. She left a one-page summary and asked if he would meet Jamal for a trial shift.
How it turned out
The manager agreed to a trial, and the changes were smaller than he feared. Jamal was offered the job. It took six weeks from the first phone call, and Leila stayed in touch with both of them for the first few months to check that things were working.
What would you do?
- Why do you think a visit worked better than a phone call?
- How would you support Jamal while the employer was still deciding?
- What do you think makes someone willing to change their mind about hiring?