The One-Stop Holiday Season

Here we are at Thanksgiving week. If you live in the Northeast, the weather is getting colder and colder, leaves have fallen from the trees, and people are getting into the holiday spirit. This includes large festive meals, events with families and friends, and exchanging gifts. If you are anything like me, all this added stuff in my routine is overwhelming and stressful, even if it is festive and fun! I work full time and have a family, so adding anything seems like too much. Then, add a party or two and it is a formula for a breakdown. Although I work, I feel the added stress of  the holidays and the approaching winter on my finances.

Now imagine adding the pressure of a holiday if you suddenly did not have a job. I find that the holiday season is one of the most stressful times in the One Stop Career Center.  The people that are using the centers want to provide festive meals, warm beds, and gifts to their loved ones like everyone else, but in many cases their situation may be very different than it was one year ago.

§  Imagine being a single mother on TANF assistance struggling to provide food and shelter for your family every day, never mind new toys for her children.

§  Imagine you are a dislocated worker, about to exhaust your unemployment at the end of this year, and not sure if you will be able to heat your home.

§  Imagine if you are unemployed and not able to maintain your home for yourself and your family and you will be either evicted or foreclosed on and not having a place to live… in the winter.

Would you be stressed out? Now add the pressure of providing festive holiday times for your family. Of course you would be stressed out.

What can we do? Although employment is our expertise area, we need to keep in mind the resources in our communities and refer people there. It would be best practice to remember that for some people asking for help may be difficult, so having a pile of handouts with the local resources available where people can help themselves may be a good idea also. Someone may have a hard time calling and asking for an appointment, so being able to make the call for an appointment from the office with support may be helpful.  The kind of resources to help people may vary from area to area, but being aware of preparing for referring may be a good place to start.

Additionally, job seeking can seem more frustrating. Human Resources and other folks in charge of hiring decisions may be in and out of the office, companies may not be ready to hire because of year-end budget issues, or there may not be as many positions posted to apply for. As workforce development professionals, we need to remind our job seekers of all the things that they can still do to help their job search that does not involve sitting home and being depressed. For example taking workshops and seminars on job seeking topics, volunteering, and participating in networking are all great things to help with job seeking and can be positive experiences.

The most important thing to remember is that empathy is important.  Try to remember that the job seeker in front of you faces the same stressors of the holiday season that you do and also faces the stress of being unemployed or under-employed on top of it.

I want to wish all my readers a safe and happy holiday season staring now. I wish everyone glad tidings and cheer throughout the upcoming season and all through the year. Finally, I want to say that I am thankful for every one of my readers. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com. If anyone has any tips to share on ways to help our job seekers through the holidays, please feel free to post. ~ Karen Cirincione