Employment services consultants are trying to help jobseeker participants make progress in every 1-2-1 they have. There is one easy thing to implement that can help with this. Affirmations.

What are affirmations?

Affirming is about noticing and commenting on the positive aspects of your jobseeker participant. They can be used to recognise your participants’ strengths, successes, and efforts to improve their readiness to work.

Why use affirmations?

Affirmations are great for building rapport, reducing defensiveness and helping to increase your participants’ confidence in their own ability.

What are some examples?

During 1-2-1 coaching conversations, consultants can practice using affirming statements in response to any positive action taken. Here are six examples of doing just that.

1. “You’ve shown a lot of courage by attending this session today, it must have been difficult for you.”

2. “It’s clear from your progress that you are really trying hard to change your situation.”

3. “In spite of what happened last week, coming back today shows me you’re genuine about finding work.”

4. “You’ve come a long way thanks to your determination and persistence.”

5. “Just the way you’ve handled those setbacks demonstrates your resilience.”

6. “You really had some concerns about that interview, yet you still made the effort to attend.”

The more genuine and specific the affirmation from a consultant, the more power the affirmation has to reinforce the desired behaviour. Consultants should be mindful to use them sparingly.

What consultants can do now

At their next coaching session, consultants can listen out for participants’ strengths, successes and efforts made to move forward and then practice acknowledging them in their conversations.