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Larry Robbin Webinar Series

Workforce Development Program Improvement Specialists

Larry Robbin, Executive Director of Robbin and Associates has over forty-five years of experience in workforce development as a direct service provider, manager, program designer, consultant, trainer and keynote speaker.  He is widely regarded as a national expert in the workforce development field.  Larry has played a leading role in the design of more than 150 programs and projects that served people with multiple and severe barriers to employment.  He has experience with all of the populations served by workforce development programs.

Larry has trained more than 100,000 people across the country and presented at 500 conferences.  He has done more than 300 webinars for a wide variety of sponsors.  His services have been used by over 1000 organizations including the Department of Labor, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, America’s Job Centers, programs serving people in poverty, nonprofits, government agencies, schools and disability service providers.  His clients also include TANF programs, programs serving immigrants and refugees, youth programs, programs serving people who are homeless, mature workers, Wagner-Peyser programs, schools, training providers, businesses and other entities.

Larry has trained many times in Oregon for a variety of organizations.  Besides training for the Rogue Workforce Development Board, his services have also been used by the Department of Human Assistance, Worksystems Inc., Portland Community College, Oregon Employment and Training Association, Goodwill of Southern Oregon, Oregon Rehabilitation Action Network, Oregon Center for Excellence, Chemeketa Community College and other organizations in the state.

Larry’s training is known for being very practical and relevant for the needs of people providing workforce services.  He field tests all of his ideas by doing many hours of volunteer work with people with challenging barriers to employment.  The strategies presented in the upcoming webinars will be helpful for any type of program serving any population that has employment as one of its goals.

For further information about Larry, his services and clients go to http://www.LarryRobbin.com.  You can sign up for his free workforce newsletter on the website.  The newsletter is read by more than 25,000 people in workforce development.  You will find a lot of helpful information in the more than 500 articles from back issues of the newsletter that are posted on the website.  On the website, you can also download free handouts to use with your job seekers.

Webinars

April 22, 10:30-12:30

ARE YOU SAVING LIVES BY DOING COVID 19 INFORMED EMPLOYMENT COUNSELING?

The pandemic has changed all of our lives, but outside of working remotely job and career counseling have stayed basically the same.  This is a deadly mistake. This webinar for managers and staff will show you how to reinvent your work so you can help youth and adults not only get into or back into the workforce, but also do it in a way that reduces the risk of them getting or spreading the virus.  Some of this work we can do ourselves while other parts of it require new partners. This webinar will show you the kind of partners you need and what roles they will play in reducing the spread of the virus.

We need to reinvent the way we help people decide what job and careers to go after to make sure their employment plans include an assessment of the benefits of that choice along with the risks it brings in terms of getting or spreading the virus.  This is done by incorporating the innovative Risk and Reward Analysis into our employment counseling. This analysis will help people evaluate the health risks versus the rewards of different types of employment so they can make the best decision for their situation. A unique aspect of this webinar is the concept of a two tiered employment strategy that may be the best option some people. This involves taking a low risk job now and then pursuing a better opportunity when the risk of the virus subsides. As people start work, we have to prepare them to have a safety mindset.  This means that we or our partners need to work with them so they can figure out how to do their jobs as safely as possible on an ongoing basis. If the workplace is unsafe or becomes unsafe we need to help people figure out their options and next steps.

If we are not incorporating the virus as an element in how we help people go to work, we are putting them and others more at-risk for getting the virus. When this model is fully implemented it reinvents employment counseling so it becomes COVID informed.

At that point, you and your program will play a critical life saving role for our customers, the other people in their lives and our communities!

June 15th 10:30-12:30

TRAUMA! THE MOST POWERFUL HIDDEN BARRIER TO EMPLOYMENT!

YOUR ROLE IN HELPING PEOPLE HEAL AND MAKE EMPLOYMENT PROGRESS!

The majority of the customers served by the workforce system are trauma survivors, but the workforce development field has not done enough to equip staff with the information and skills they need to work effectively with these customers.  This training will show you the definition of trauma, what causes it, the symptoms of trauma and give you a wide array of strategies for making your program design and direct services trauma aware so you can help people heal. Without this information, well intentioned people can easily do things that trigger trauma instead of helping people cope with it. You will also learn how people heal from trauma and your role in that process.  Get important information about making referrals to mental health and other resources so you do not overstep your place in this process.  Get a list of reports and other information about trauma and best practices in workforce development.  Make your program part of the healing and trauma survivors will be successful not only with employment, but in many other areas of their lives as well.

July 15th 10:30-12:30

HOW TO IMPROVE VOCATIONAL SELF-EFFICACY

Vocational self-efficacy is one of the biggest obstacles to success in the world of work. This is the inner voice that tells people how they do or do not fit into the labor market now and in the future. When we help people get jobs or go into career pathways with low vocational self-efficacy their inner voice doubts their ability to be successful and they often self-destruct and quit the job and the pathway.  This explains why we often think people are on the road to progress, but then things go wrong and they are unable to live up to their true potential.

Vocational self-efficacy is much more powerful in blocking employment progress than many of the other barriers that we address.  This is because when people go to higher levels of vocational self-efficacy it gives them the motivation and drive to overcome their other barriers to employment.  Transforming vocational self-efficacy is the key to unlocking success in the world of work, but until now the workforce system has lacked an understanding of vocational self-efficacy and the strategies to make it stronger.

This webinar takes a multi-faceted look at the things that determine vocational self- efficacy.  This includes not only personal characteristics, but also the many powerful influences of social forces, class, the media, family, community, friends and other factors that are often left out of the employment counseling conversation.  As customers develop an understanding of how they got to their place in vocational self- efficacy they can begin to proactively rethink their self-identity in ways that can release a powerful force for employment progress.  The webinar provides a framework for understanding the four types of vocational self-efficacy and shows staff how to assess for them.  It includes a wide range of strategies for laying the ground work to help people improve their vocational self-efficacy.  If you want people to make more employment progress in less time, you need the tools in this webinar that will help you show them how to get to the level of vocational self-efficacy where they believe in their ability to be as successful as possible in the world of work!

August 12th 10:30-12:30

RECRUITING POPULATIONS YOU HAVE NOT SERVED BEFORE! BUILDING PATHWAYS TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION!

While the workforce system is serving a lot of people, there are groups of people that we are not serving or not serving in ways that actually reflect their degree of need or their numbers in our communities. We need to figure out who these people are and why we have not served them.  The question addressed in this webinar is who are we serving, who are we overlooking and how do we become more diverse, inclusive and equitable in who we serve?  If we don’t address this problem, we cannot claim to be running diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce programs.

This webinar will show you how to identify underserved groups of potential customers and how to analyze why they have not been served by your organization.  You will learn how to develop partnerships with organizations that are serving these customers or create relationships with individuals that have expertise with customers and can help you connect with them.  Find out how to become a student of diversity, equity and inclusion so you can learn how to eliminate the barriers to equal access and meaningful engagement with your organization.  Discover how to avoid the common mistakes organizations make in the process of trying to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive in terms of who they serve.  Get a list of best practice reports and resources that will help you jump start your efforts. If you can transform your program into a pathway to diversity, equity and inclusion, it will benefit the underserved customers and it will also be a beneficial and transformative force that will make your organization, workplaces and your community better places for everyone!

Register for a Workshop