Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Wed, Feb 26 1992 Date: Wed, 26 Feb 92 06:30:01 EST Message-ID: 02-26 0000 BONUS: Job seekers support one another USA TODAY Update Feb. 26, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Irving Hook is booked for job-support groups the first Saturday of the month, every other Tuesday night and an occasional Thursday morning. Recently, the unemployed credit manager of Stamford, Conn., braved a bitterly cold Wednesday night to attend the support group at St. Leo's Parish Hall. Hook, 62, who was laid off in January 1990 from a high-tech firm in Norwalk. He lives in Fairfield County, the wealthiest county in the state and one of the richest in the country. And it's done more than any other region to provide emotional support for the victims of the recession. WHAT ARE THESE JOB-SUPPORT GROUPS? At last count, there were 29 free job-support groups offered by 50 churches or synagogues in the area. Some have speakers, some hold workshops on resume writing, interviewing, becoming an independent consultant or starting a business. And some simply offer the jobless a place to network and commiserate with others in the same predicament. WHO'S OUT OF WORK IN FAIRFIELD? White-collar jobs - in finance, insurance, real estate and high tech - are Fairfield County's bread and butter. The recession has hit white-collar workers harder than any time since the Great Depression. Many have never had to look for a job. "The world has changed," Willy Sander, 54, a former director of engineering for Dictaphone Corp., tells the St. Leo's group. He left almost a year ago with a generous severance, hoping to start his own venture. It never happened. "Before this, the longest I've ever been out of work was four days." HOW BIG IS CONNECTICUT'S UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM? Connecticut's unemployment rate was 6.8% in December - up from 4.7% in December 1990. Only 12% of the 550,000 job losses in New England since 1989 have occurred in Connecticut, compared with 60% in Massachusetts. But two recent developments - President Bush's announced cuts in defense spending and United Technologies' plans to cut 6,400 jobs throughout the state - will devastate the area. And Fairfield County has another problem: Many residents commute to work in New York, where job losses the past few years have erased virtually all the gains of the '80s. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ATTEND THESE SUPPORT GROUPS? When the first support groups started in Stamford three years ago, they attracted mostly men - middle managers and high-level executives older than 50. Now, the cuts hit everyone - young, old, male, female, secretaries, factory workers, CEOs. On Saturdays, as many as 200 people attend the job-support group in Ridgefield, some from as far away as Boston. WHAT EXPLAINS THE EXPLOSION IN THE NUMBER OF GROUPS? One reason for the explosion in the number of groups: Companies that used to offer outplacement services such as job-search and secretarial help no longer can afford to. Outplacement isn't necessarily the answer, either. It didn't help Dave Wolfe, former director of financial analysis for Bristol Myers, find anything close to the $80,000 plus bonus and benefits he was making. He lost his job after 17 years when the company merged with Squibb two years ago. Since then, he has had two nine-month consulting assignments. Savings are gone, and college costs are steep for one child already in college and two more to go. IS DAVE WOLFE BITTER TOWARD THE COMPANY THAT LAYED HIM OFF? Wolfe's new business, a handyman:painting service called Cry Wolfe, is taking off. He likes being his own boss. "You go through a period where you say, `It's their fault,' " says Wolfe, 51, who occasionally attends the St. Leo's group. "But if you think more positively, it's a good thing it happened. It made me refocus on my life, what I should be doing. You tend to get lazy in the corporate environment." ARE THE ATTENDEES AGGRESSIVE JOB SEEKERS? It's easy to get lazy off the job, too. As the recession drags on, support-group leaders have noticed a few of the jobless who make the rounds but never seem to progress in their own job searches. After one too many gripe sessions, one leader required group members to report how many contacts they'd made and resumes they'd sent the previous week. Attendance suddenly dropped 75%. HOW DO SUPPORT LEADERS DISCOURAGE LAZINESS? Chuck Brittenham, one of the support leaders at St. Leo's, warns his Wednesday-night group not to fall into that trap. "Be careful. You can become a meeting junkie," he tells a dozen men and two women sitting around a conference table. "You could go to a meeting every night in this county - but don't think going to a support group (is the same) as doing something to get a job." WHAT DO SPEAKERS TELL GROUP MEMBERS? The scheduled speaker for the session is John Sweeney, an executive recruiter. He's pitching a computerized data base - The Executives Network, which matches financial-services professionals to job openings. He's also giving advice. Don't include a job objective on your resume, he tells them: "A resume should raise as many questions as it answers." Though many advise against it, he says to go ahead and list interests and hobbies. "Give 'em enough to know you're real." Don't answer salary queries. And wait at least 10 business days to answer a help-wanted ad so your resume won't be lost in the initial crunch. WHAT ELSE HAPPENS AT THE GROUP SESSIONS? Later, business cards are exchanged. A United Way booklet, "Help for Hard Times," is passed around. Paula Jellinghaus, a well-dressed woman in her mid-40s from Greenwich, grabs a booklet: "Does it have any food stamps in it?" She's only half-joking. Her unemployment benefits run out this month. It's been downhill since the summer of 1990, when she was laid off: An entrepreneurial venture fell through; temporary jobs paid only $6 to $8 an hour; even working as a waitress at a French restaurant in Greenwich she used to frequent when she had a job didn't pan out. They told her she didn't have the skills. "I was crushed," she says. IS THERE A BRIGHT SIDE? When you're out of work, it can take all your energy to look at the bright side. It may sound crazy, Sweeney tells the group, but "this could be a wonderful time in your life. A lot of people who are working are so darn unhappy and miserable. Use this chance to ... reassess." Paul Retter, 38, leaves the room in an upbeat mood. He lost his marketing job the Monday after Thanksgiving when his employer, Pitney Bowes, eliminated all 30 people in his group. "For some reason, I'm not mad," he says. "I don't know why. I'm looking at it as positively as I can." Bonus Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM