I learned that with a new employer, it's important to wow them with a very strong candidate. This suggests to me that our program needs to grow the number of candidates we work with to be better able to have the right candidate to match with the right employer.

I learned to reframe objections as needs that you can help meet. So if an employer says we aren't hiring, I can follow up by asking for more information and identifying a different need such as "yes, I know many businesses are fully staffed or even needing to let people go right now. When business next ramps up, do you already have a plan for how you will scale up quickly to meet the moment?"

The idea of researching to be able to blend in with the norms of an industry stood out to me. However something I'm still wondering about is how best to do that in some situations. Many of the industries my job seekers are interested in are ones where there's nothing I can say or do to avoid standing out as being part of the out-group. No matter how much I learn or try to speak the lingo or dress the part, I will still come across as an outsider.