Good jobs are hard to find; that’s no secret to most people. Talking to my employer friends, they say good employees are also hard to find. Why the mismatch?

Last week, I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker for a class held at Granite State College, for unemployed and under-employed adults. I was impressed with the quality of some of the students and with the quality of the training material provided. Frankly, most employed people and their management could use some of this training.

The course is three weeks of full days in the classroom, put on by WorkReadyNH (WRNH). This is an initiative of the Community College System, the Office of Governor, the NH Department of Resources and Economic Development, and the NH Department of Employment Security. WorkReadyNH is offered at all seven of the NH Community Colleges, including White Mountain Community College, which offers the program at the Granite State College campus.

They cover the usual work on resume writing and interview techniques, but then they go into the really good stuff like conflict resolution, communication skills, team building, customer service, problem solving, meetings, and generally, what I consider the Emotional Intelligence topics. These are the skills that employers hire trainers like me to teach the
already employed. Many managers I know have never had formal training in this area either, so I find it particularly heart-warming to see the unemployed building these skills.

For those of you who think this is all just touchy-feely stuff, I have two points – one, how we “touch” and make our customers and co-workers “feel” is about the most important part of most jobs. Top human resource directors at Fortune 500 companies around the world agree that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ, when predicting the success of leaders. Secondly, the Work Ready NH program is not all soft-skills; they actually start with assessing skills in applied math, reading for information and locating information.

Graduates who come to you with a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) have proven themselves ready for employment and promotion by testing successfully in the aforementioned areas. The NCRC can reduce hiring
time and costs. Improvements in the skills documented by the NCRC improve the quality of new hires, reduce training time, reduce turnover, and increase productivity.

WorkReadyNH helps job-seekers and career builders improve their skills and add two nationally recognized credentials to their resume. WorkReadyNH helps companies foster a skilled workforce, and find qualified applicants and employees. As of the end of February, WorkReadyNH has 2,065 Registered Students, 987 Graduates and 184 active participants.

I encourage anyone unemployed or under-employed, to look into this. I also encourage employers to give a second look at applicants that are being proactive, taking personal responsibility and bettering themselves with these
important skill areas.

Don’t you just love that conversation about the best meal on the planet? Everyone gathers around dropping names of the fanciest restaurant they ever experienced – each trying to outdo the other – oh, if you think that’s something, let me tell you about the Ocean Grand in Palm Beach… no, no, no, the L’Auberge de Sedona… no, no, no, OMG, have you been on a cruise where you can upgrade to the private 5 star dining room? Oh, wait – that time we were in Vegas at Joël Robuchon’s place inside the MGM!  Having spent over ten years in the retail travel trade, at the time, I very much enjoyed being spoiled aboard luxury cruise ships and in in 5 star resorts. Today, I prefer home cooking. I have perhaps only once or twice splurged with my own money to experience the best, so while I am too cheap to show off my culinary adventures, I can promise you that I am familiar with, at least from a travel consultant’s point of view, what a great dining experience involves. It is always about the atmosphere, the company and the true nourishment of the experience.

A little background before I share my secret to my best lunch ever. Recently, while visiting Long Beach, CA, I had the honor of being part of a five-day transformational training program with Jack Canfield. Yeah – the Chicken Soup for the Soul Guy.  About day four, following a guided group meditation, we were taking turns sharing our experiences and feelings from the meditation. Folks would stand up, declare their  feelings and sit down. That seemed safe enough, so I stood and shared. When I finished, Jack asked me to stay standing.  Mind you, there were one hundred of us in the room, each paying Jack $1,000.00 per day for this workshop. I did the math; when the world’s #1 success coach, and a talented psychotherapist in his own right, grossing $100,000 a day wants to give you a some personal attention and spend time with you, you figure he must know something you don’t. A little nervous, I did as I was told.

Jack proceeded to ask me personal questions.  Within a minute, he had me mentally standing in a house I hadn’t seen in 43 years, feeling exactly how I felt at the time. He walked me (and a hundred of my closest friends) through the process of undoing a memory, replacing the memory with a preferred experience, and solidifying the new experience at the cellular level in my body. Essentially, he used the RIM method (Regenerating Images in Memory) which is a modern and unprecedented scientific inner technology that reconstructs affirming images in cellular memory. This is all still a little Greek sounding to me, but it has something to do with neuroplasticity and creates subconscious changes for both emotional and physical wellbeing. Not the point of the story anyway, but you can visit www.riminstitute.com for information on this fascinating science.  What does this have to do with lunch?  I thought you would never ask.

The next day, I met a woman who, in total silence hugged me. Without a word spoken, we had what seemed like the longest hug. When we separated, we were both in tears and she never knew why. For me, she represented the missing image from my guided meditation. I felt I had come full circle; until lunch time the next day.

Enjoying a day off, we were walking the pier, enjoying a little California sunshine before heading back to New Hampshire. Early in the morning on this pier, most locals are older, homeless men, who sleep on the benches along the pier. They are very nice, will converse if you like, and ignore you otherwise.  Then I met Robert. Robert looked up at me and asked if I would buy him lunch. He quickly went into his pitch that he didn’t want to scare us – I suspect many people respond with fear when the homeless speak to them.  I have never done this, but something compelled me to sit by him and with my hand resting on his arm, I listened to his story.  Then he changed the subject to tell me about what God tells us in Philippians I. Now, I am not a big Bible-quote person, perhaps because so many people use Bible quotes to judge and bash others with whom they disagree. However, I will admit the Bible is full of great wisdom and hope. Robert tells me that God promises to never leave us alone. I do not think he was saying God is like a pesky salesman - I’m sure it was meant in a good way – we never need to be afraid of being alone.

If the woman I met was the missing image from the guided meditation, Robert gave me the missing message I was guided to hear, and simply did not. Now, my week was complete. I am not sure I ever felt any more connected to another person as I did to Robert the homeless man on the pier who needed lunch.  My cynical readers will say I was taken advantage of. I say I got a free life lesson, a new friend I will always remember and great content for another article. All this, for one crisp Jackson. (Note to self - carry smaller bills if you’re going to buy lunches for the homeless). To make sure I added value for Robert, to whom I owed so much, I asked him to buy lunch for a friend as a favor to me, then he would have the gift of giving – perhaps the only gift I was qualified to provide such a rich man.