The EmployAbility Project - Remote Version
Like many of you I’ve been keeping an eye on remote working trends as the pandemic continues its path. I’m curious about how the workforce will shift over time, and personally I believe that the recent shift to remote work will become a beneficial “new normal” for many businesses. This means that some of those just entering the workforce will never have the traditional entry level hiring experience that has evolved from traditional methods. Today everything from preparing a resume, acquiring interviewing expertise and onboarding as a new employee will require learning these same skills but utilizing them in a different way. And, depending on your age and/or perspective, adapting the basics you’ve already learned to a new form of interaction. My observations indicate meeting recruiters and managers via Zoom and other platforms seems to remove a layer of stress from the candidates. And, this alone may even present a more authentic version of those applying, leading to better placements.
At Enterprise Solutions I employ IT consultants. They have been working remotely for our different clients for nearly two years. I’m grateful that the shift to remote was relatively painless and the staff has thrived. To those entrenched in the field, this shift was just one more way that technology continues to enable us to adapt to our environment. As for the staff, their work is and always has been dependent upon good communication skills as well as being tech savvy. Their daily life remains consistent only the location has changed.
So how does this translate to those who are not technology experts? As a business owner, for many years it has been my privilege to support The EmployAbility Project – a 501c3 that assists people with disabilities learn employment skills and connects them with internships. In the last few years our team of experts have been focusing on college students and it has been joyful to watch them develop career paths based on their interests.
When the pandemic hit, we were scrambling to figure out how we might continue to help students build skills and obtain internships when schools and businesses were in such turmoil. Not only were we dealing with people who were not IT professionals; we were primarily working with students who had few preconceived ideas about how to find employment. In addition, the companies we approached to sponsor internships were not primarily IT focused. They represented diverse fields like: Digital marketing, Film production & editing, Gaming, Administrative, Science Labs, Biofeedback and Museum operations.
Fortunately for us, the students were proficient with computers. (This is the generation that literally grew up with computers!) So, The EmployAbility Project team did a pivot to virtual career coaching and like my tech clients, those companies who sponsored internships said yes to remote and hybrid jobs. Doesn’t get any better than that!
Learn more about remote work trends from ebn here: https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/remote-work-trends-are-on-the-rise