Persistence vs. Insistence

I remember learning about motifs in my senior year of High School English.  It is defined as a recurring subject or idea often used to convey the overall theme of a literary or visual piece of work.  In my class, it typically revolved around “good vs. evil” and “fate vs. freewill”.  Years later I am introduced to yet another motif, one commonly found in the workplace: “persistence vs. insistence”.  Persistence is the act of “lasting or enduring tenaciously”, whereas insistence is being “firm in asserting a demand and or opinion”.  Semantically, the two words appear to be similar.  However, the difference lies in the intonation of the individual.  Often subtle enough, a persistent individual tends to exhibit a sense of confidence and knowledge, while one who is insistent conveys a sense of urgency, as well as appearing a bit overbearing, at times even desperate.

When it comes to helping youth find a job, I am constantly asking myself whether I’m being persistent or insistent.  The situation goes a little something like this: Client sits in my cubicle and asks for help.  I disseminate appropriate information, insinuating we maintain contact until successful hiring.  I email potential jobs or suggestions, but receive no response, no other correspondence.  Despite my persistence, our interaction was over before I knew it.

Interestingly enough, it becomes a challenge for me.  How long can I continue emailing and calling with little or no avail?  A lack of response does not necessarily indicate that they’re not receiving my emails or voice messages.  It doesn’t automatically indicate a lack of interest, or does it?  At what point do I stop?  Oh no, I’m beginning to hear a sense of urgency in my voice, my hands are shaking…  There it is!  The sign I was looking for.

Now that I’ve come to realize my persistent attempts to help have crossed into insistent territory, my next step is to address this dilemma.  Do I lighten my communication attempts?  Do I completely halt all attempts to contact them?  Not to say that I sit around all day waiting for my clients to respond to me, but hey, it’s in my job description.  Given my predicament, what is the solution?