Getting Your Foot in the Door of the Anti-Trafficking World
I was recently asked for advice on LinkedIn about how a recent graduate with a MA in Mental Health Counseling can get her foot in the door of working in the anti-trafficking field. After reading hundreds of resumes, interviewing and hiring dozens of Youth Advocates and working with thousands of professionals I can say, it's not easy.
There just aren't enough paid positions available for all the interested candidates and many organizations I know are staffed more by volunteers than paid workers.
While opportunities may be scarce, though, don't give up hope. Those with a true passion for this field tend to have persistence and resilience, as they should, because you will need persistence and resilience to work with survivors of sex trafficking once you land the job. Here are a few things to consider in your search:
The BEST way to get your foot in anywhere is to donate your time. Be mindful of how you offer your service, however, if it comes with conditions (e.g. only IF I get to have client contact) or flakiness, then you will start off with the wrong foot. The general rule of thumb for volunteering is that you are there to do whatever is needed to enrich the clients’ experience, make the staff's lives' easier and make workflow more efficient. You will fall out of favor when that ceases to be the case.
One of my best advocates volunteered with me 40 hours a week with a MA and a waitress job on the side. She filed and did office work for a few months and when a position opened up I knew exactly who I was going to give it to because, not only did I get to know her as a skilled professional, I saw her interacting with the clients and I knew she would do whatever it took to be a good Advocate for the girls, and I was right. That dedication was priceless.
2) ACCEPT A POSITION YOU ARE OVER-QUALIFIED FOR
The fact is that you are more likely to get paid to be a Case Manager, Advocate or Mentor than a specialized Therapist in this field. While you wait for therapy positions to open up, you should probably learn what it takes to stabilize someone who is just coming out of a trafficking situation. In fact, a great deal of the specialized work takes place at this level, forming relationships and helping kids get back on their feet and resist triggers to run away again. Knowing your front-end work is invaluable and you'll probably use your counseling skills, too. The pay will be less, minimal even, but it's a step up from the volunteer pay of nothing and it's a foot in the door.
The added bonus is that you will get a real sense of the daily crises and issues that arise within anti-trafficking service organizations so you will be certain you are on the right career path as well as be able to show employers that you have had this experience. Being in the mix is much different than one expects as they look in from the outside.
Job opportunities are scarce. Get on some national email lists and be willing to go where the opportunities are.
My best volunteers/interns came to me with a funding opportunity that would provide them with a stipend to either continue working or start a new project. Agencies are so swamped with work, especially grant writing, if you find a source of money that fits what you're doing, initiate it. Easy. Done. No work for us at the agency. Win-win.
(BTW...that's how I started Project GOLD at Kristi House. It's also how I raised myself a full-time salary to organize the First National Summit of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth with GEMS. It works.)
5) START YOUR OWN INITIATIVE
If you can't find a specialized therapist position in an anti-trafficking agency, why don't you ask if you can be the trafficking point of contact within a related agency or even the one you work in now? All the trafficking cases can go to you and you can be responsible for training your staff. It's worth asking for.
Likewise, if you can raise funds to get yourself paid within an existing organization, you may also be proactive enough to start your own independant initiative. If you have a brilliant idea, go for it (hint: ask people where the gaps are locally). There are plenty of resources online to help with that.
6) GET RELATED EXPERIENCE
Hiring managers in this field are looking for the BEST. They want people with the ability to connect with youth, to roll with the resistance, to be empowering, to be professional and collaborative, to know the system and to be strong advocates that think outside of the box to find the right solutions for individual survivors. There are many people looking for work in this field, but not many that are right for it. But how does a manager know this just by looking at your resume? Having related experience makes this process easier.
Here's a secret for you: Any of these buzz words would get notice in my review of any section of your resume or cover letter:
**Trafficking, sexual abuse, child welfare, juvenile justice, runaway and homeless youth, shelters, residential programs, victim advocate, at-risk youth programs, LGBTQ, experience with any of our partner agencies by name, empowerment, trauma, motivational interviewing, substance abuse, incarcerated women/youth, multi-disciplinary collaboration, survivor, flexibility, dedication, proactive, court, name-dropping a respected colleague, domestic violence, positive youth development, leadership, restorative justice, sociology, MSW, women's studies, psychology, criminal justice, etc..**
Yes, we really do skim like that. If you catch my eye with one of those, I'll read further.
Attend and network. Talk to the speakers every time you see them and ask thoughtful questions or contribute to the discussion. These things will help you learn and get you noticed. Take cards, follow up … you know the drill.
The same applies online. Network, conduct regular searches for key words in all the social networking sites and comment and participate in conversations that are taking place. Contribute relevant information, the fresher the better, and get people thinking.
On the flip side, remember that your online presence is as important as your resume. Managers can judge a lot about your character and personality by what you project to the outside world, so add value. Address the issue you are passionate about from a thoughtful and matured perspective and avoid regurgitating the same old “victim” images, questionable stats and emotionally reactive statements. While you’re at it, delete all those half-naked twerking pics.
9) CHECK YOUR OWN MOTIVATIONS
Why are you passionate about the anti-trafficking field? Did you recently learn about it? Think it’s horrific? Are you having a strong emotional reaction to this evil that plagues the earth? Then you may not be ready for direct client work yet. I call this the shock and horror phase (similar to anger in the stages of grief). It’s the period of time when someone is first becoming enlightened about trafficking, often resulting in a state of panic and urgent need to rescue children. This will likely mature into a more objective response that is able to understand the complexity of the issue of trafficking, not just the evil vs. good aspect. Until it does, you are not much good to survivors directly. Just trust me on that one (more about this later). I have rarely hired anyone who has never learned about trafficking or worked in related, and challenging, fields. I just never thought my clients, who were already easily triggered, were appropriate to use as a training ground while their Advocate learned to manage their emotions around the issue.
Getting out there to raise awareness and funds may be a great place for that energy, though. If this is you, just keep learning and getting involved how you can. You’ll get there.
If you’ve managed to knock out several of the above list, you should have the knowledge, network and experience that will get you in the door. Your ability to show your dedication to the cause beyond the shock and horror phase will go far. Use your interview to prove that you are able to connect with a tough crowd of street-hardened kids without being either too authoritarian or too much of a pushover. Know something about youth culture and be mindful of how you talk about youth. Are you being empowering?
Lastly, and I’m going to let the cat out of the bag here, if you’re scared of ME, I’m not likely to hire you. Things get much scarier than a job interview with sweet little me when you are in the field dealing with raging parents, obsessive pimps, detention centers, and kids with anger issues, among other things. This is street-level…if you show your fear; you open yourself up to be taken advantage of. If you’re afraid of ME, I won't trust your resolve. The same goes for being able to use sex and body-part words openly and without shame. I will quiz you in an interview to see if you blush and giggle talking about blow-jobs. I’m just telling you like it is. So put on your best wonder woman pose and get out there and nail it!
If you are interested in resume review and personalized career advice, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
