44 NACADA Journal Volume 31(2) Fall 2011 Advising Students to Value and Develop Emotional Labor Skills for the Workplace Jacqueline M. Zalewski, West Chester University Leigh S. Shaffer, Downingtown, Pennsylvania Emotional labor, the sociological term for the vocational use and suppression of emotion, represents valuable human capital in most occupations in the new economy. However, Millennials often fail to recognize emotional labor as a transferable skill necessary for acquiring and succeeding in future careers. We explain the concept of emotional labor, describe the skills necessary to properly control and express vocationally appropriate emotions, explain the reasons that emotional labor is important in postindustrial labor markets, and make recommendations concerning the ways academic advisors can help Millennials to respect and deliberately practice emotional labor in advising, academic, and customer service work. KEYWORDS: accidental careers, career advis- ing, customer service work, horizontal labor mar- kets, human capital, transferable skill, VUCA environment In fall 2010, one of us (Zalewski) read the fol- lowing excerpt from a student’s class paper, where she described the gendered division of labor at a retail employer, and was struck by the student’s description of customer service work as “mindless” (emphasis added): I work as a bather at a store for animal prod- ucts. Through my observation I’ve noticed that tasks in our workplace are often separated by gender….When it comes to assigning an employee to the register, a mindless task, a woman is always selected irst, and when no woman is available a male employee is then selected…. This example is instructive. The student describes the experience of working the register and check- ing out customers as void of emotion and thought, requiring little in the way of skills, and attributing little beneit or satisfaction to the customer ser- vice worker. No advisor should ignore the general apathy Millennials often give to the emotional per- formance involved in many customer service jobs (Payment, 2008). Less than enthusiastic approach to this work underscores, for advising purposes, a lack of respect for the social aspects of emotional skills as well as little foresight about how learn- ing to use the emotional territory of these jobs can improve students’ affective acumen and help solicit job prospects that yield more choices in future careers. Sociologically, the required emotional perfor- mance in customer service work has been con- ceived as emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983). NACADA members who attended the 2010 Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, witnessed a irst- hand demonstration of a fully trained, emotionally skilled workforce: the employees of Walt Disney World. Disney employees are considered the world’s best-trained exponents of emotion labor skills (Bryman, 1999). Disney, the organization, has become the eponym for training in emotionally skillful customer service, conveyed when sociolo- gists refer to the imitation of Disney’s training tech- niques as Disneyization (see, e.g., Bryman, 1995, 1999). All service workers are held to a standard in which service is delivered with a friendly smile and an apparent desire to please each customer. While the emotional tone of various service jobs differs from that of the theme park, all service-worker training inculcates the willingness and the skills to meet customers’ needs. At irst glance, the skills of emotional labor might appear to be necessary only for the most rudimentary types of service work. However, recent sociological research has documented that these skills are critical to success in a variety of professions and paraprofessional occupations, including medicine, law enforcement, and emer- gency response (Tracy, 2005). In addition to con- trolling their own emotions, professionals often need skill in helping their clients manage their own emotions. Commenting on professional training in dangerous occupations, Scott and Myers (2005) noted that employees who work in emotionally-charged human service occupations not only labor to manage their own emotions, but often emo- tions of their clients in their efforts to comfort, seek cooperation and compliance, or provide advice and treatment, frequently in the context of life-threatening and tragic events. (p. 68)