The Origin and History of Job Clubs

In a study in the 60s done by H.R. Sheppard, along with Robert Jones, a psychologist people were asked how they had gotten their jobs. The results were a surprise: 66% of the job leads had come from friends, relatives and acquaintances; in 63% of the cases, the contacts provided information on specific job openings. Few of the job leads came through conventional channels: only 2% came from private employment agencies, 8% from state employment agencies, and only 5% from Help Wanted ads.

This all suggested a whole new approach to job hunting. Building on the results from this and other psychological studies, especially in behavioral psychology, a new method of job hunting was devised. The job-seekers were shown how to make maximum use of their friends, how to schedule their time, ask for an interview, prepare a resume, discover unpublicized job openings — in short, how to make the job search a step-by-step program, from deciding on what kind of job to look for, right on through making a good showing at the job interview. This was how Job Clubs originated. The approach was then tested in different situations.


Everyone benefits from Job Clubs

The first test in developing the Job Club approach had involved 120 people in a midwestem town of 30,000, set in a rural area with little industry and above-average unemployment. Half those people looked for work in the usual way—on their own, without benefit of an organization or special training in job hunting.

The other sixty were divided into Job Clubs of eight persons each that would meet for a few hours each day. An instructor taught them what to do and then helped them do it. They used an office with phones, phone books, stationery, stamps, typewriters, a copying machine, etc. The Job Club members were a cross-section of the population—half were women, 15% were black, and they ranged in age from under 20 to over 55.

After nine months, two out of five of the first group were still unemployed. At the same time, 93% of the Job Clubbers had found work; the few who hadn't, had dropped out of the Job Club.

On average, the Job Clubbers got jobs in one quarter the time it took the first group, and more than six times as many got professional or management jobs. The Job Clubbers' average salary was a third higher than the non-members'.

This study included average people.

People with handicaps and disabilities benefit from Job Clubs

A second study was conducted with people who had severe problems: retarded people, the long-term employed, the very young or old, ex-mental patients, ex-convicts, former alcoholics and drug addicts, physically handicapped people and Vietnam veterans. There were 154 people, and about half were made Job Clubbers.

Ninety-five percent of the Job Clubbers got jobs inside of six months, most within ten days. Almost three out of four of the non-clubbers failed to find work, and, again, the Job Clubbers' average salary was well above the non-clubbers'.

Job Clubs work the magic for welfare recipients

A third test, with a thousand welfare recipients in five cities, from Harlem to Washington state, had about the same result. At follow-up, about twice as many of the Job Clubbers had obtained a job compared with those not using the Job Club.

The conclusion was encouraging: almost anyone who uses Job Club principles to organize his/her time and resources, and sticks with it, can get a job.

This is how job clubs started as one of the best solutions for job hunting.