Ninja Job Acquisition Training

1.        Program Concept

The purpose of the program is the increase the ability of inner-city ex-offenders to get jobs.  The initial program will focus on men between the ages of 20 and 25 who are enrolled in the Island Academy, incarcerated at Rikers Island and about to be released.  The participants will start the program while at Rikers.  The program continues during the job-hunting process when they are released.  The program will not involve work skills training, such as computer skills or mechanics.  We will rely upon the student’s current job skills as well as other community training programs for this.  We also will not be involved in job development.  Again we will use other community agencies for this function.  The program will teach the participants to develop a persona incorporating  the set of skills necessary to convince a person to hire them.  The program is based on the following assumptions

A.     The ability of young ex-offenders to quickly obtain employment is a major factor in stopping recidivism.

B.     Many ex-offenders have the job skills and education to do the job but lack a set of psychic/social skills to easily obtain the job. 

C.     These psychic/social skills are well known and have been identified in a plethora of studies ranging from the latest NLP research to the classic work “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

D.     These psychic/social skills can be grouped into a persona or identity. The individual can learn to utilize this identity to establish rapport and enhance success.

E.      These skills are teachable to our target population.  Once learned the participants will obtain their initial jobs as well as future jobs more quickly.  They will be able to obtain a job that is closer to what they like to do and at a higher salary.

F.      The outcomes above are measurable.

2.        Methodology

There are two basic goals for the participant.  The first one is to teach the student to control what other people, particularly managers, think about them.  This is done through a set of interpersonal skills that we term a ‘Cash Persona’. The second goal is to teach the student how to design and execute a job acquisition battle plan. 

In past days we were taught that speaking proper English was essential for obtaining and keeping a good job.  At the same time, it has been at least a couple decades since ‘proper English’ was identified as ‘cash English’ and the grammatical structure and vocabulary spoken at home or on the street was recognized as being different but of equal value.  And while the ‘separate but equal’ concept may have been more or less internalized by people who communicate in non-cash English, judgments of professional linguists as well as the popularity of street English in modern media has made it obvious that restricting oneself to cash English results in an impoverished range of communication.

Equally important to ‘cash English’ in advancing economically is ‘cash body language’.  How one walks into an interview, the use of one’s eyes, facial expression and hands are more important in getting a job than ones actual job performance skills.  Often the ‘cash body language’ skills are more important in keeping the job than actual performance.   

Coupled with ‘cash body language’ is ‘cash attitudinal expression’.  This involves another level of training in controlling what others think or feel.  This is not rocket science, and any basic sales program teaches it.  It is also extremely valuable in obtaining and advancing in employment.

The student can more easily understand and integrate these ‘cash’ skills by grouping them into an identity or “Cash Persona”. The student is taught to create an integrated interface with the external world that is designed to maximize their ability to establish rapport in the work world.

However, with the need for ‘cash attitudinal expression’ it becomes appropriate to discuss another issue – class-ism and racism; in essence the social/psychological problem with ‘acting white’.  From our perspective being or acting ‘white’ is a class issue more than a color issue.  While the majority of the ruling class in America have light skin, the southern twang, slang and body language of a young man from a trailer park in Appalachia also lacks the ‘cash’ component required for easy access to employment. From our view point when ‘trash’ is appended to ‘white’ the subject is very specifically being excluded from the white class regardless of the person’s shade of skin.   In such cases the individual equally suffers from a lack of a “Cash Persona”.

While we can discuss, in intellectual terms, how ‘cash English’ is equal to ‘street English’ as a tool of communication, most people have been programmed to believe that ‘cash English is superior and the use of non-cash English indicates a lack of intelligence and education.    This is even more so when we speak about ‘cash body language or attitudinal expression”. Not only does the student have to ‘talk white’ but now they have to ‘act white’. In essence we are in danger of showing the participant a method of acquiring a job but at the expense of a profound negation of his sense of self and community.  Unless this problem can be mitigated, either the job will not be obtained or the psychological compromise involved is unacceptable.  We use martial metaphors and framing as a paradigm for addressing this problem.  From that position we introduce our Ninja mental discipline training.

A.     Ninja Mental Disciple Training

The Ninja’s, unlike the Samurai, were extremely practical.  They were goal oriented and would discard their sword if necessary to accomplish their goal.  They had also developed a number of meditative techniques to accomplish their ends.  The participants are taught these techniques.  The secondary purposes of this training are:

a.       To provide the participant with greater energy and clarify

b.       To provide the participant with a greater degree of emotional control

c. To provide the participant with the ability to see the social programming effecting him

The primary purpose of this module is to create a situation where the participant experiences what might be called ‘fundamental reality’ and the ‘inner self’.  This is the experience of reality beyond thought.  From this position the participant realizes experientially the transcendent equality of everyone.  The experience shows class and race as what they are, fundamentally empty and illusionary.  Most importantly the experience provides a position to neutralize internalized race and class based programming.  At the same time the student experiences an ‘inner self’ separate from thought, a witness beyond persona or identity.  This experience allows the participant that ability to consciously construct personas without confusing the inner self with an external persona or identity.

We do not anticipate that a participant requires extensive practice or a special aptitude to experience this unifying state.  We have developed protocols that allow the participant to access this state of awareness, which is constant and natural, with some, but not a great deal of practice.

Coupled with this the student is shown that we are adding to, not subtracting from his current personas or identities.  A ninja has many personas, we’re teaching the ‘cash’ identity.  The student is taught that using his ‘cash body language’ on the street is a mistake; that he cannot succeed in developing a strong ‘cash’ identity if he negates or sees his other ways of talking and walking as inferior.  Nothing is superior or inferior; everything, linguistic expression, body language, projection of attitude, is more or less useful in its application to specific goals.

It should be noted that this methodology is not dependent upon teaching a religious viewpoint.  It is experience, not faith based. At the same time the experience of this transcendental state is referenced by all of the great religions.  Since many of our participants are either Catholic or Evangelic Christians, our material can be referenced within a Christian framework when needed.

B.     Ninja Psychic/Social training  - the ‘Cash Persona’

We group the various skills associated with ‘cash body language’ and ‘cash attitudinal expression’ in this module.  The student is taught how to manage and project energy. The curriculum consists of role-playing and video feedback as well as other methods of teaching.  The student learns how to dress for power and manage the interviewer as well as other communication skills.  This module includes coaching during the job hunt.  The students’ experiences while looking for a job are incorporated into the curriculum

C.     Battle Plan

We initially work with the student to create a detailed written description of the job desired.  A written strategy is designed for obtaining the position.  The strategy is monitored and revised as it is implemented.  The concern here is that finding a job is like winning a battle; it should not be approached is a haphazard or random manner.

3.        Outcomes

The nature of this project makes measuring outcomes fairly easy.  How many participants got jobs?  How quickly did they get jobs?  What was the salary level of the jobs obtained? How does the recidivism rate of our participants compare to a comparable set of newly released inmates?

4.        Participants

Initially the project will be limited to participants with the following characteristics:

A.     Incarcerated when enrolled in the program with a release date within three weeks of starting the program.

B.     Enrolled as students in the Island Academy

C.     Male

D.     Ages 20 – 25

E.      A stable living situation upon release, preferably located in Northern Manhattan

F.      Intending to actively look for a full time job

It is recognized that these criteria are highly restrictive and we look towards expanding them as we demonstrate the effectiveness of our pilot program. We are particularly interested in expanding the program to include woman.  At the same time by focusing on a smaller population of participants we are better able to control variables and measure outcomes. 

5.        Budget - $63,000

The pilot program will operate for six months and require two full time coaches, a senior coach and an intermediate coach.  The senior coach will also have administrative responsibilities for managing the grant.  A training location will be needed as well as transportation to and from Rikers Island.  Finally a part time meditation aide will be needed.  This individual will also be responsible for record keeping and documentation of results.

The cost is estimated at about $63,000 or, with 30 students, a little over $2,000 per participant.  At the estimated cost of $24,000 per year for NY State incarceration, if we succeeded in reducing the recidivism rate by only 3 participants, the program would more than pay for itself after one year.  For each additional year that these 3 participants remained free, the taxpayers would save $72,000.

6.        Summary

We are proposing a pilot program to enhance the job acquisition abilities of a group of 20 to 30 inmates transitioning from incarceration at Rikers Island to the community.  The program uses martial metaphors to introduce the participants to the science of mental discipline as well as control of body language and attitudinal expression.  The goal is to develop an integrated ‘Cash Persona’.  These interpersonal skills are combined with the implementation of a systematic plan for acquiring a job.  The program utilizes a mixed teaching methodology that incorporates ongoing coaching during the job-hunting process.  Key to the program is helping the participant to gain a deeper understanding of reality through meditative practice.