Department of ERehibilitation Services Councilor Terrible!

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I met with a job councilor and it was really quite discouraging. She had a hard time coming up with anything. I have a dated degree. Newspaper experience from more than a decade ago. Some graphic art knowledge with no working experience, and photography. A meager palate. I was in a bad mood all the rest of the day.

[I even had to spell out the distinction between computer repair, troubleshooting, and web design/development]

My sister responded. "This person (and perhaps agency) does not sound competent. I’d think it would be common for them to have clients whose degrees are “dated” and who don’t have extensive experience in the fields they are educated in. Maybe they mostly deal with people who don’t have a job at all and who would be thrilled to get anything.

You know, job counselors are typically folks who couldn’t get any other job themselves, so don’t put too much stock in what that one person thinks of your education and experience. She probably has at least a high school diploma herself. Seriously, I bet she has a list of companies who will hire people into low-wage jobs to satisfy their diversity requirements, and so she isn’t really equipped to help someone like you who has a good job but is under-employed relative to your EXCELLENT formal and continuing education."

She added later: "I have a "dated" degree - so does everyone who didn't just graduate. Your fields have had a lot of technological change, but so has, say, engineering. David (her husband) used a slide rule in college. Projects that now take a day to complete took weeks then. In my field, economics, everything is different - we didn't have the global economy to worry about; it was a footnote; now it screws up all of the principals I learned.

Degrees give us fundamental knowledge, but most of us learn what we need to do our jobs AT our jobs. Don't be discouraged! "

I e -mailed the counselor firing her saying: "I walked out of your office feeling extremely discouraged, and was depressed for the rest of the day. After coming to you for help.

I feel like you did not grasp my situation as a highly educated person who is under employed. My skills are not as hopelessly outdated as you believe they are. I have not just sat around and vegetated since I graduated, but have continued to study on my own."

I wrote the first lady I talked to at the agency, I guess My "Main" councilor: "I request a different Career councilor than the one you recommended. In fact I already sent _____________ a note saying I was terminating her services.

No one who is qualified for her job should ever make someone who came to them for help feel more helpless upon leaving than before arriving.

Even If I really do have a difficult palette to work with and would be a challenge, she should have emphasized only the strong points and made no mention of her doubts or expected difficulties.

If there is no other councilor available then I will have to seek help outside your agency."

I wrote the lady who diagnosed me: "I may need to seek assistance from some other source than this state agency. So far they have let me down in a big way."

I am indeed high functional, and far from helpless.

Vocational Rehabilitation is one of the worst agency to deal with and truly incompetent in helping people become educated and
employable.

What you should do is, send a letter (or e-mail) to the State Commissioner overseeing your local regional office. Tell the State Commission what your grievances are, about your poor treatment by this particular counselor, that you are disgusted with the way Vocational Rehabilitation is wasting taxpayer dollars and anything else you wish to add. You will get a better response from those in high management positions, not some small district office.

If you truly need vocational services, don't give up! That's what Vocational Rehabilitation wants you to do. Be persistance and put up a fight for the services you need and deserve. I did...and I finally got educational services.

Hello Robert,

I'm very sorry about your situation. I know that just like in any other kind of endeavor, vocational counselors vary in terms of ability.

I wish you the best of luck in finding a counselor you can work with, and then a job you can do well.

I know what it can be like in the job market. A high level of education doesn't necessarily get you the high-level jobs, and it can disqualify you for many lower-level ones as bosses who oversee folks with just high school diplomas/GEDs or associate's degrees aren't sure how well a college or graduate school graduate will fit in.

(For that matter, it also applies in the higher fields - for example, while still a PhD student, having already earned my MA, I applied for a job that required a Master's degree. I got turned down...because the boss [who never finished his doctorate himself] didn't want a PhD student under him.)

Obviously, you know your own situation better than anyone else can know it. I would like to add a few perspectives:

* You may get better results trying to work out differences with your counselor, or through her boss, then by just "firing" her. For one thing, isn't that how you would want to be treated on the job?

For another thing, if you're getting something free or almost free of charge thanks to the taxpayers, people may look askance at your being too selective. If people get the impression that you're firing a counselor just because you don't like her, people may feel about your actions "Well, beggars can't be choosers." It may not be fair, but people feel that way.

* You seem to feel that the counselor should only talk about your strong points, and make no effort to warn you of her doubts or expected difficulties (your words). I certainly understand that the latter may not make you feel good at the time, while you're hearing them. On the other hand, are you sure you want a counselor - or a boss, or a friend, or a partner - to say nothing about possible problems, put the metaphorical penny in the fuse box and just let you crash later on? Wouldn't you feel "If only she'd warned me..."?

(Do you want bosses to think that it's your attitude when offered feedback?)

* Wrt only being offered leads to lower-level jobs: They may be the only leads she has. In this economy* right now, I don't see the job market improving until the summer or early fall of next year at the soonest. It may be that most of the jobs going around these days are low-level retail, cashier, stockroom, telemarketing/survey-taking, dishwashing and similar jobs.

* Or they may be the only jobs she has leads for that you're still qualified for. If you got your degree in certain fields years ago, and haven't worked in those fields since, employers are going to want to know what you've done since then to update your knowledge. That's what it means to have a dated degree.

Some fields have a longer "half-life" than others. According to economist Thomas Sowell, one reason women tend to study English instead of, say, Physics, is that if you take some years off later on - say, if you want to start a family - an English degree won't "decay" quite so much as a Physics degree. According to career strategist Marilyn Moats Kennedy, if you got your MBA 10 years ago, it may as well be 40 years old by now given all the changes in business since you graduated. Whatever your situation, keep these things in mind when looking at your education.

Keep your chin up, Robert. Please drop me a line if I can be of any help. My fingers are crossed for you!

[*] I have a couple of degrees in Economics and I keep my knowledge current. Please say hi to your sister for me!

I have re-anilized the situation and seen that there may have been a problem between the two of us. I did not mention what I have done since graduating. I knew that my degree was dated the day after I received it. I learned Dreamweaver, which was not taught in school, and I have learned Flash. I at least know about things that have come about since.

My "fired" councilor sent me another useless lead, info on a seminar. I think I'll send a note explaining what I'm looking for and see if there is anything she can do that would be of any benefit.