The Recovery Employment Journey

This course guides you through rebuilding your life and career after addiction or criminal justice involvement. You’ll gain tools and confidence for job searching in recovery. Start by visualizing your goals and how you’ll achieve them, setting the stage for a journey of self-discovery, skill enhancement, and practical strategies.

Recovery is personal and varies for everyone. It might mean abstinence or harm reduction. This lesson explores different recovery approaches and helps you determine what works best for you. Understand your recovery needs to shape your job search and career path effectively.

The "Three P’s"—Product, Promotion, and Place—are key to your employment comeback. You are the Product; Promotion is communicating your value, and Place is finding the right job environment. This lesson teaches you how to understand, articulate, and target job opportunities that align with your recovery and career goals.

The ABC Employment Journey is a structured path to career success in recovery. Start with "A" for Any Job, progress to "B" for Better Job, and reach "C" for Career. This lesson outlines how to navigate each stage, leveraging your experiences to build skills, credibility, and a fulfilling career.

An Any Job is your first step, helping you re-enter the workforce, build your resume, and earn references. Think of it as a recovery job that supports your sobriety and provides stability. This lesson covers how to choose and use an Any Job as a stepping stone to better opportunities.

A Better Job offers improved working conditions, better pay, and more skill development. It’s the next step after an Any Job, helping you bridge the gap to a Career. This lesson guides you in identifying and securing a Better Job that aligns with your growing skills and goals.

The final step in the ABC Employment Journey is securing a Career that offers stability, benefits, and growth opportunities. This lesson helps you define your ideal Career, identify opportunities, and prepare to take this significant step in your employment journey.

The ABC Employment Path helps you build your career gradually, reducing the risk of relapse by avoiding overwhelming responsibilities too soon. This lesson explains why following this path increases your chances of long-term success in both your career and recovery.

Recognizing your skills is essential for communicating your value to employers. This lesson helps you identify both traditional job skills and survival skills developed during recovery. Through self-reflection, you’ll gain clarity on the unique abilities you bring to the table.

Your survival skills are valuable in the workplace. This lesson teaches you to reframe past experiences as strengths, recognizing how they can enhance your employability. By viewing these skills as assets, you’ll better communicate your worth to potential employers.

Employers look for three key skills which are related to reliability, communication, and a positive attitude. This lesson explains why these skills matter, how to demonstrate them in job searches and interviews, and how to develop them to enhance your employability and job performance.

You need self-management skills, transferable skills, and job-specific skills for work. This lesson helps you identify and develop these skills, ensuring you’re well-equipped for the jobs you pursue in your recovery journey.

Build your value as an employee by staying engaged in recovery, gaining work experience, enhancing skills, and securing recommendations. This lesson explores practical ways to increase your value to employers, preparing you for more significant opportunities.

Staying engaged in recovery is key to long-term success. This lesson emphasizes the importance of ongoing recovery as a foundation for building your value as an employee. Learn strategies to balance recovery and work effectively.

Getting an Any Job is more than earning a paycheck; it’s an opportunity to build work history, gain new skills, and collect positive references. This lesson focuses on using an Any Job strategically to advance your career.

Enhancing your skills is crucial to moving from an Any Job to a Better Job and eventually a Career. This lesson explores ways to build your skills through work, volunteering, and education, positioning you for advancement.

Strong recommendations are powerful endorsements of your abilities and character. This lesson teaches you how to ask for and use recommendation letters effectively, strengthening your job applications and bolstering employer confidence.

Promote yourself by effectively communicating your value to employers through resumes, cover letters, and interviews. This lesson focuses on self-promotion strategies that highlight your skills, experiences, and recovery journey, positioning you as the best candidate.

An employment portfolio is a collection of documents showcasing your skills, achievements, and readiness for work. This lesson guides you in creating a comprehensive portfolio, demonstrating your professionalism and commitment to potential employers.

Your resume summarizes your skills, experience, and education in a way that appeals to employers. This lesson explores different resume formats—chronological and functional—and helps you choose the best one for your situation.

A cover letter introduces you to potential employers and explains why you’re the right fit for the job. This lesson guides you in writing a compelling cover letter that complements your resume and strengthens your job application.

Recommendation letters validate your skills and character, especially if you’re re-entering the workforce after recovery or have a criminal background. This lesson helps you request and use recommendation letters effectively in your job search.

Additional documents, like certificates and awards, can strengthen your employment portfolio. This lesson helps you identify and organize these materials, ensuring you present a comprehensive and professional portfolio to potential employers.

A Letter of Explanation (LOE) addresses your past, providing context for criminal records or employment gaps. This lesson covers the basics of creating an effective LOE, helping you take control of your narrative and present your story to employers.

This lesson dives deeper into crafting your LOE, including explaining what happened, what’s different now, and how you’ve improved your life. You’ll learn how to reassure potential employers of your readiness for work and future success.

Tailor your LOE for different job applications, addressing specific employer concerns. This lesson covers how to integrate your LOE into your job search strategy, ensuring you present a consistent and positive narrative to employers.

Prepare to discuss your LOE in interviews, practicing clear and confident articulation of your story. This lesson helps you handle tough questions about your past, turning challenges into opportunities to demonstrate your growth.

Effective interview preparation is key to success. This lesson guides you through researching the company, practicing common questions, and managing interview anxiety. You’ll learn to present yourself confidently and handle potential challenges.

Timing your transition from an Any Job to a Better Job, and eventually a Career, is crucial. This lesson helps you assess your progress, identify opportunities for advancement, and make strategic decisions that support your goals and recovery.

Choosing the right work environment is critical to your recovery and career success. This lesson helps you evaluate potential employers based on their culture and support systems, ensuring your workplace aligns with your recovery and career goals.