Training Seminar:
30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee
Retention and Beyond


"The ability to GET a job has only a casual relationship to the ability to KEEP it. Employers aren't looking for good job seeker. They are looking for good employees. Agencies using 30 Ways to Shine have a unique opportunity to set themselves apart from those who put all their eggs in the job search/job placement basket.  Using this guide, they are offering employers an entirely new level of service, presenting themselves in a brand new light.”

~ Denise Bissonnette


Overview

30 Ways to Shine offers a comprehensive blueprint and a compelling  approach for preparing people for the world of work,   teaching the new employee not only how to survive on the job, but how to thrive in whatever position they hold!  Based on her celebrated guide to job retention, 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee,  this training seminar empowers the employment professional to use the skills, ideas and concepts in the book to reinforce and strengthen workplace etiquette and behaviors in the people they support, before and after they are in the workforce. 

photo of lanternsIn her characteristic style of weaving parables, poetry, and engaging hands-on exercises, Denise brings the “30 Skills” to life, offering myriad ways to use the book in a wide variety of contexts, and with a wide cross-section of individuals and populations. As she reinforces in the seminar, “Even if you don’t have the most qualified applicants, that doesn’t mean they can’t become the most valuable employees! Let’s put less emphasis on creating great job seekers, and more emphasis on developing great employees!” This seminar and the accompanying guide empower people to do just that!

Anyone can pick up the book and read through the 30 skills themselves.  What Denise succeeds in achieving through the seminar, however, is giving the group the heart and mind behind the book, and most importantly, the spirit underpinning the 30 Skills.  To that effect, Denise utilizes a “train the trainer” approach, taking the group through the 30 Skills, asking them to put the concepts to the test in their own work lives.  As such, participants overwhelming report that this seminar is as personally rewarding as it is professionally valuable. 

The 30 Skills Include topics like:

Difference in the one-day and two-day seminar

hand drawn image of the sunIn the one day version of the seminar Denise provides a sound overview and summary of 30 Ways to Shine, as well as an understanding of how she came to select the 30 skills. In the two-day version she is able to go beyond a basic understanding and deliver more “applied applications” of the skill areas, offering a greater depth and breadth of principles, concepts and exercises to support and reinforce the concepts in the book. The two-day version provides a great team/community-building opportunity as participants engage in numerous group exercises.

Materials

The book 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee serves as the text for both the one and two-day version of seminar. (Used as a text for training events, these books are available at a reduced price.)

Who Should Attend

Those who are working to prepare and assist people for the world of work and/or support people once they are on the job, including job developers, career counselors, case managers, vocational rehab counselors, job coaches, employment specialists, vocational instructors, job club leaders,  and employment preparation instructors.

Employment and Training Agencies can use this program to deliver outstanding pre- and post-placement support to new employees and to distinguish their services within the business community. It can be an effective addition to pre-placement job clubs or post-placement support groups.

Employers can effectively use this program to improve new employee retention - particularly for employees who are entering the workforce for the first time. It can serve as the basis for an entirely new company program, or it can effectively supplement and enhance your existing Orientation and Mentoring programs.

More Information On This Seminar...

Interested in having Denise conduct a 30 Ways to Shine seminar as in-service training for your staff? Or as a hosted event for your community? Please contact us for details at info@denisebissonnette.com.

Implementation Resources

Please note that there are also three great (free) implementation guides that can help you to effectively integrate 30 Ways to Shine into your organization or program design. Please see Job Retention Guides.

Participant Comments

"The relevancy was amazing - this workshop is based in the ‘real world of work’, not what we idealize."

"I am looking forward to implementing this program with new employees... and with current employees - to assure ongoing communication and team-building skills!"

"This is the missing piece! I will be able to serve our populations with powerful information that could change their lives."

"This is a very needed component in our Welfare-to-Work program. Now I have an excellent tool to use!"

"As an employer, I am pleased to have ready-made tools to improve retention of our employees with disabilities and Aboriginal persons. Come with an open mind and be prepared to change and grow!"

"I am looking forward to implementing this program with new employees... and with current employees - to assure ongoing communication and team-building skills!"

"As the workplace seems to be getting more and more dehumanizing, it was refreshing to hear practical ways to bring spirit and purpose to one’s work!"

"Be ready for the most amazing seminar – bring nothing but your attention!"

"Bring an open heart and mind and be prepared for a life and mind altering experience. You will never look at your job the same again."

"It has the power to change your life – so be on time!"

"Come prepared to leave excited, enthused and surprised about your own life and all that you will have learned within 48 hours to become and even better you, even as you help others!"

"A light went on for me. Finally I know what I can do to start work on this problem!"

"Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely!"

"Retention has been a big problem for our company. This program really promises to reduce our high turnover!"

"The choices of the 30 skills are inspired. I am so moved and excited to implement this plan!"

"I have already put together a "Job Maintenance Workshop" but was stuck on exactly what to include and how to present it to our clients who really can't articulate why they can't maintain employment let alone fix the problem of not staying on the job.  I've come away with some fun activities and more of a direction on where to take it."

"I thought the training was extremely effective and inspiring. I have been to training sessions where the points made were idealistic and although it was great to hear, it was difficult to relate them in everyday life. The points made in Retention and Beyond were very concrete and realistic. I could relate to them right there and then. Denise also brought her own work/life experience into play and requested the same from us which helped greatly in putting skills in perspective. The poetry, the quotes were inspiring. And of course, her delivery is extraordinary."

"The workshop has helped me bridge my personal/working life. It has also made me realize that I have a lot more skills than I thought and it brought home the fact that I was sometimes overlooking simple gestures which can make a lot of difference in my working life."

"I would certainly recommend this training. I sincerely believe that if all employees in an organization heard and lived by these principles given in this training, the employees themselves would be better equipped to give the best of themselves ultimately resulting in a better organization."

"The training provided great exercises that were simple and easy for clients to relate to, understand and complete. The skills seem to be common sense, but for clients with multiple barriers, it’s valuable to have this practical, hands-on material for them to follow."

"One of the biggest issue with clients I have worked with in the past, especially with Ontario Works clients, is the job retention. This training provided information to us on how to work with the clients and/or employer on retention issues even before the client starts the job."

"The presentation gave us a very good model which we could easily adapt to our own work situations, in workshop or individual format, including a detailed and thorough book and workshop guide."

"Many of us, such as myself, were energized to apply the principles to our own situations. I believe the philosophy and guidelines are of utmost help in regenerating enthusiasm and morale and striving for excellence in just about any situation we find ourselves in."


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Denise Bissonnette
is one of North America’s most
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