Friday, March 12, 2010

Things They Should Invent: translate criminal skills into marketable job skills

Inspired by a text I was working on, it occurred to me today that some of the skills involved in being a drug dealer could be useful in the straight job market. Drug dealers need to build a client base, market themselves appropriately, anticipate and manage supply and demand under constantly shifting market conditions, and keep overhead down. They have to have people skills, negotiation skills, business planning skills, and networking skills. They're franchisees or entrepreneurs working on 100% commission.

I can't do all that, and I have a respectable, socially-acceptable grownup job!

I wonder if they take this into account in criminology? I know one thing the corrections system does is try to make offenders into people who will be productive members of society once they're released, which includes making them employable. I wonder if they take into consideration how their criminal skills could be rebranded as marketable job skills?

3 comments:

Hershele Ostropoler said...

I actually saw something about a guy who did this in the NY Times ... er ... once. He'd been a drug dealer, and turned to, like, logistics.

laura k said...

I've read stories about this kind of thing, too. Part of the trouble is most fields need formal credentials these days (as compared to 30 years ago), and those credentials require language skills. A lot of people with underground-type skills are highly intelligent but uneducated. Many are illiterate or barely so. It would be a long, tough slog.

impudent strumpet said...

I actually saw something about a guy who did this in the NY Times ... er ... once. He'd been a drug dealer, and turned to, like, logistics.

I like that :) It's literally the next logical step.

A lot of people with underground-type skills are highly intelligent but uneducated. Many are illiterate or barely so.

That's the weird thing about literacy/language/communication skills. Their absence is a huge negative, but their presence isn't much of a plus. If you don't have them, that blocks you from getting jobs. But having them isn't enough to get a job. That's gotta be discouraging.