Stigma in a labour crisis.

The groups of people I work with are marginalized.?

The people who live on the fringe of society. Those who are so heavily stigmatised that often their personal identity and self value is entwined with these stigmas and expectations of ‘them’ (them* being the group / culture / cohort of people that they identify with - not them as the individual).

The people who are accustomed to being treated poorly and have mostly come to expect to be treated this way, by any ‘outsider’.?

The people that wouldn’t get a look-in-sideways in a graduate program or be connected to anyone who could help them out on a “its not what you know, its who you know” basis.?

The people who have experienced life in a way that many of us wouldn’t even be able to start to imagine would happen ‘out there’, let alone in the own backyard of our very own first-world-Australia.?

With this context, most of the foundational work which is done in our first few days of workshopping, is building a basic element of psychological safety so that we can start peeling back the layers of natural resistance to the woman in the front of the room sharing stories and asking uncomfortable questions.?

I expect resistance. I expect trepidation, when I welcome each person into the room and introduce myself one:one and ask their name. But once this basic element of Inclusion and Belonging in the intimate group has been established - the outward expressions, levels of engagement in conversations and demeanour of every single person in the room shift rapidly and drastically.?

Suddenly, amongst the official training content delivery, we’re hearing lived experiences from participants; life stories demonstrating transferable skills and strengths that would never. EVER come out in a traditional interview.?

The industry idea that this person ‘doesn’t want to work’ is so far from the truth when working with marginalised groups.?The truth in the matter is, this person doesn't know how to fit into your corporate world of interview questions and charm in answering right from wrong. This person is physically capable of doing the labour you need done and this person is desperate to work. This person has also suffered society, so instinctively will not be as warm and forthcoming as you wish them to be.

In a labour shortage crisis like we have in Australia now - it's the organisations who have not invested in emotional and cultural intelligence training for their Recruiters, Talent Acquisition Teams and Hiring Managers that will suffer most.?

Gone are the days of box-ticking and hiring industry-only-experienced.?

To truly thrive through the changing labour markets now, you need to be human-centred when hiring. You need to see past the stigma.?

You need to connect, in order to truly evaluate someone’s suitability to your roles.?

This is the begining of Diversity & Inclusion - the very first impression your business has on a job seeker.