Beautiful Portugal-Exploring the Land of World Explorers

Kent at Ponte de Piedade, Lagos..Where Portugal Navigators Trained

Cuba, Portugal, a small town in the Alentejo claims to be the early home of Columbus and just a few miles from here we encountered the burial vault of Vasco de Gama. What more can we say about the early Portuguese adventurers that proved the world was round and courageously crossed the forboding oceans. Today Portugal is crossing another great ocean, the ocean of debt as one of the European nations facing a "Crise" ...Crisis financially. It has a huge impact on the laborers (as in many countries worldwide including the US) with high unemployment. This puts Eileen and I in the path of many people desperate to find work; any work that will put food on their table. Our efforts span much more than getting a job today. We are focused on career development that brings about a plan for today and for the future. Our thoughts today will focus on what is actually happening as we try to help these wonderful people become productive and self sufficient with the added hope of having a career plan that integrates with their family and life plan.  The goal is always to teach a man to fish, and fish successfully. We offer several quick examples that might serve to put our volunteer efforts as part of the Church´s Portugal employment effort into perspective.

Céu teaches Portimão, Algarve, with 40+ hungry to learn

Travel barrier: The first challenge is getting the unemployed to the center for career planning, training and practical job hunting. Even though the cost might be as low as $3 to take the bus or train to the center that may be prohibitive. We have gotten creative in figuring out ways to help people make it to the center if they don´t have a local LDS church leader to help them. The first way is to take the center to the people (talk about that later). For a number of people we have personally set aside some coins to quietly pass along to those most desperate to make a trip to or from the center. For several we have come up with ways for them to earn there way (wash our car in the parking lot, clean the center, clean the grounds, clean our apartment, etc. all things we could do for ourselves but it seems practical to allow them a way to earn a little cash to help them along).
Low self esteem: Many arrive jobless and skill-less (if there is such a word). Skills are different than abilities. We carefully explore with them their abilities and then help them describe their abilities in such a way that they can demonstrate real value for the employer. We call these a personal commercial which includes a foto and some professional touches. We print up 10-20 and teach them how to deliver them to employers where they would like to work.  It works! They leave with more confidence and employers have a better new employee option. 

Two leaders (Stake Presidents-Porto) learn about networking

Exploring a network approach: 65% of new jobs are found through networking (talking to friends and friends of friends and going directly to desired employers). Such an effort requires great courage, commitment and hard work. Most unemployed opt for internet searches and periodically ask others if they know of work. Successful job hunters build and grow a list of people and companies that can help them in their search, continuously communicating with them until they find a good fit. This is by far OUR GREATEST CHALLENGE. Teaching and motivating unemployed to use their networks is the most difficult. Recently Costin nailed a job through his networking efforts, encountering a job through a contact at his boxing exercise club. We were so excited for him we took a party to his house to celebrate....including the announcement that his wife is expecting. Two great things at once.
The world is flat: After helping create a pristine Resumé and cover letter we see candidates send out old draft versions with lots of errors by mistake. Others show up at the center with virtually no PC skills. Emailing a CV to an employer with no intention of watching for an email response is a waste of time. 20% of those that come don´t have email addresses and even more have addresses and don´t know how or never check their email. Almost half are not skilled in searching for jobs on the internet. In these cases we work as coaches, sitting by them and walking them through each step.

Building a Personal Commercial can be of great help!

 Legal traveller, illegal worker: Many have come to Portugal legally but have no legal documents to get a job. This is a sensitive subject so we help point them at associations and their embassays that can be of the best help. Some get illegal work but the pay is poor with no pension or healthcare benefits. We have heard of many illegal schemes, some that are surprising like working in place of someone that is legal and then that person takes money off the top and gives the worker part of the pay. (The legal person gets all the benefits and some of the money for doing nothing). We are focused on abiding by the law of the land and encourage all to do the same. The most common way for a person legally in Portugal to become work-legal is to have a contract with a company for a significant period of time which would be cause to apply for legal papers. No one wants to sign a contract with a future employee if they are not already legal, a catch 22. One young man has been coming to the center for many months trying to overcome this obstacle....looking for a company that will contract with him. He has a degree as a teacher in mathematics and has a terrific CV.

Augusto and Celina Banza looking at farming options

Travelling workshop: At times the intensity of the unemployment is such that we do small groups of candidates (unemployed folks) in outlying cities. Sounds good until you plug in the Kent factor. I can speak somewhat but I cannot understand enough of the very fast native speakers and some of the folks from other places like Cabo Verde. For a great training session it is important to have good two way communication. I was trying to help a laboratory technician out of work and had a really tough time understanding some of the technical apsects of what she was looking for and wanted to do. That tends to be a roadblock as these candidates need real positive help and that means understanding what they are saying. Neither Eileen or I can overcome that hurdle at this time.

Beja folks at focused workshop in Alentejo

A final note on this edition of our Portugal voyage. A dynamic and very talented fellow from Angola, legal in portugal, was at a job interview and told the employer how badly he needed the job since he had been out of work for 5 months. After the interview he came by the center to pick up his "personal commercial". I asked him about the interview and if he had given specific ways that he could help the employer if he were hired. His response, "No, I just want them to know how badly I need the job." I asked him to practice an example of the value he would bring to the employer. After a few minutes the light went on in his head and he said, "Wow, this is what I should have said." That makes the center worth it, when we have that kind of response. Now we just hope Dinis gets a job on his next job interview with his new found strength.

Successful Machado family, Floréncio-Tile Layer to Licensed Security Guard