MyGoals for Employment Success: Implementation Findings from the Evaluation of Employment Coaching

This report describes MyGoals’s design and goals, the target population and program participants, the implementation of coaching, and other services available to program participants. The findings are of interest to practitioners and policymakers considering implementing or supporting coaching interventions and will provide important context for understanding and interpreting the findings from the MyGoals impact study. The findings will also support future replication of employment coaching interventions.

Key findings from the implementation study are:

• The MyGoals coaching model is complex, with a 12-step process, a nested hierarchy of goal levels, and four domains for goal-setting. Coaches initially found it difficult to master all components; additional training and technical assistance helped coaches understand the model and its flexibility.
• Coaches reported that the MyGoals coaching tools were helpful. In line with the program design, coaches used some tools early in the coaching relationship and others in later sessions.
• Per the MyGoals design, coaches discussed self-regulation skills explicitly with participants.
• Coaches focused on developing strong and trusting relationships with participants; many participants reported positive relationships with their coaches.
• While coaches were generally nondirective, some coaches struggled with this aspect of coaching.
• MyGoals coaches had four-year degrees and prior experience in social services. Additionally, most had experience in coaching (though not always employment coaching). Their qualifications and the training they received from program designers contributed to their ability to learn and implement the complex model.
• In alignment with the design, participants and coaches had monthly contact; by month nine, about two-thirds of participants were still participating in MyGoals.
• Coaches and participants had mixed perceptions regarding the value of incentives; coaches expressed that incentives encouraged participant engagement by covering costs incurred by attending sessions but that incentives were not the reason participants engaged. Some participants said incentives motivated program engagement while others said incentives did not motivate them to engage.
• Participants reported receipt of referrals and other supports, but some indicated more direct employment assistance, such as concrete job search resources, would also be helpful.

The data sources for this report are in-person interviews with MyGoals staff and coaching observations during site visits to offices in Houston and Baltimore; a staff survey; participant demographic, economic, and educational information collected in a baseline information form when participants enrolled in the study and from administrative data collected by the public housing authorities at the time the participants last certified for housing benefits before enrollment; in-depth, in-person interviews with a sample of MyGoals participants; video recordings of coaching sessions; service receipt data from the MyGoals service tracking system; and discussions with program designers and technical assistance providers from MDRC. These data were mainly collected in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report includes a text box that summarizes how the program has operated in the context of COVID-19, based on information collected during additional discussions with MyGoals staff. Additional data sources include program documents and secondary data on local economic conditions.

Correne Saunders, Karen Gardiner, Kristen Joyce, and Sheena McConnell (2022). MyGoals for Employment Success: Implementation Findings from the Evaluation of Employment Coaching. OPRE Report #2022-250. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.