Over the last two years, I have been working with two colleagues and a pair of brilliant editors on a book that combines today’s job hunting advice with collaborative negotiation theory. Our vision is to create a resource that will give people a structured way to approach finding work and developing their careers that is both collaborative and empowering. Pickett fund has generously agreed to fund a pilot of the training version of the book with young adult Friends in the Philadelphia area.
Much of the underlying methodology of the our career development process has been informed by my experience as a Quaker. Our model is based on the idea that each person has an opportunity via their career to seek fulfillment through creating a positive impact on the world and their community. Our process draws on the clarity and direction that come from engaging with other people to support us in our process of advancement within the professional world. I believe that through this kind of meeting with others people have an opportunity to get in touch with their truth, and with this clarity gain direction and power to manifest that vision in the world.
The writing process is cruising along. I just returned from 3 months of travel for work and was able to meet with the writing team in person (after so many Skype meetings). We are wrapping up the final chapter of the body of the book and are moving onto introduction, acknowledgements etc. This shift is creating the space for us to begin our design work around the training for the PYM YAFs.
A few weeks ago I had a meeting with the YAF coordinator for PYM. We decided to run the first part of the pilot at the fall YAF retreat at the beginning of October. I am currently in the process of interviewing retreat participants in order to design a workshop that will best meet them where they are. With that information we will make any needed adjustments to our focus, which for now is on how, through collaboration, young adult friends can negotiate for careers that are both personally meaningful and fulfill their commitments to stewardship and service. The training will be a mix of minimal lecture interspersed with exercises that will allow people to practice implementing negotiation skills in the context of their career development. We plan to have a mix of both pre-designed role-plays that simulate challenging job hunting moments and also have participants bring their own scenarios to the training.
Last Thursday I was able to interview two members of the Philadelphia YAF community about what they would find most helpful and am currently making adjustments to the plan based on their valuable input.
More updates to come once we have had a chance to run the pilot. If you want to learn more about this career development methodology or check out the book you can find out more here: http://www.endthejobhunt.com/
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