2 Years and Stalled

After my own layoff in 1993 I always tried to help others who were looking for work. As I wrote Hired! this past year I was stunned at the increasing number of people I encounter each month who have lost jobs. If the government says the recession ended a couple of years ago, apparently the economy did not get that email. I continue having now weekly encounters with people on the verge of, or over the edge of, unemployment.

Yesterday I stopped at a grocery store after playing soccer. A woman being checked out made a nervous comment to the cashier about not being able to find a job. I was in line and mentioned I had just written a book about this very topic. She latched onto me. I was happy to talk with her so we rolled her cart out to the sidewalk. Her name was Mary. Mary is in her 60s and has been looking for work for 2 years to no avail. She is a tenacious, feisty woman and I liked her right away. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered she has been making many basic mistakes in her job search:

•     She has sent out "a thousand resumes" and gotten little or no response,
•     She is looking for only one position - a job of "general office worker," and
•     Her resume is in the format that was appropriate 20 years ago, but not today.

Anyone could tell Mary was discouraged and fearful. I spent about 20 minutes going over each of these missteps, and her eyes kept getting wider. She understands now that she is not a title of "general office worker" but a possessor of skills that can be applied in many different contexts, not just in an office. She had a copy of her resume with her (I was impressed that she carries it with her) and standing on the sidewalk I marked it up with what to remove, what to include and what to rewrite. Her resume will be much stronger and she knows she needs a cover letter (which she did not think about before) specific to each position she pursues. One of her biggest concerns was her age. I told her, yes, age does make a difference but many times being older is an advantage for the job hunter. I told her how the drugstore chain CVS has a bias toward older workers so their staff better reflect the demographics of their customer base.

When we parted Mary was like a new woman. She had been so negative and beaten down when we started talking. I just felt grateful that I could help a person who was afraid about her future. That was what motivated me to write the book. And it's Christmas, a time to give gifts, even little ones on sidewalks.