News

7/20/2009 — DIS and JSP in the Detroit Free Press 7/19/09

Learn to adapt job skills to a new field

Back when I was working, I had a membership at a health club that shares a parking lot with a state job-training office in Traverse City. The irony often struck me: People driving newer vehicles trotted into the gym seemingly energized, as others, out of work and with often not-so-new cars, streamed into the Michigan Works! office.

Unemployed for several months, I have since found myself in the latter group.

I didn't qualify for unemployment benefits because I left a longtime newspaper features and food editor job willingly in early 2008, having made a smart business decision to open a little deli in what turned out to be the start of a great recession. As time went on, the combination of running out of capital and the realities of day-to-day restaurant ownership prompted me to sell.

And so marked the beginning of my job search .

A former coworker told me about training opportunities at Michigan Works!, and I went. So when someone else told me later how great it was that I had "humbled" myself that way, I was surprised and asked one of the counselors about it. She said that, in the past, visiting the office most likely meant you had minimal skills and education. Now, it's everybody.

Not working when you want and need to be, at a living wage, with benefits, like you used to enjoy, is one big roller-coaster ride. Some days are upbeat and hopeful. Others? Not so great.

It can feel isolating. For me, getting down to just two keys on my keychain -- house and car -- was symbolic. Where before you were competent, valued and respected (and carried a bunch of keys), it's easy to feel now that you are just another face in a sea of jobless people.

Which you are.  According to Todd Palmer, who runs a job-search seminar out of Diversified Industrial Staffing in Troy, there were three candidates to every opening a year ago. Now it's six or seven.

The last time I went job hunting, I was in my 30s. I got interviews for every application and an offer after each interview. Seventeen years later, it is the rare newspaper that is hiring. Since I have public relations experience, I widened my search to that field. Nothing.

It occurred to me that age could be a factor, though a headhunter I know told me it's not about age, but about being current and forward-thinking.

 

I learned quickly that you don't apply for one or two jobs and see what happens. You apply for as many as possible.

I also started volunteering and took a lower-paying part-time position so I could upgrade skills I didn't use at the newspaper. I made appointments with a few people to get ideas to improve my marketability, and reached out to organizations where I believed I would be a good fit.

Yet, after applying for at least 80 jobs, I saw few responses. When there were, they turned out to be jobs I couldn't afford to take. After a great conversation with an editor in Illinois, I learned the pay was half my previous salary.

But I am an optimist. All it takes is one offer to turn everything around. In fact, I just got one. It's not quite full-time, and it's in a different field, but it has terrific potential to be rewarding -- and it has benefits.

I guess that's the other thing about being unemployed today. You may not get the same type of job you had, but instead have to figure out how your skills can be adapted to another one, then sell it to an employer.

Meanwhile, I've grown to appreciate people who are willing to help along the way. Many are. I won't forget. And when I am once again working full-time and able to help those who aren't, you can bet that I will do the same.

Kathy Gibbons is a Traverse City-based freelance writer. She can be reached at gibbonskath@yahoo.com.

Learned along the way

• Don't shoot yourself in the foot by aiming too high on salary. I think I botched a few excellent job possibilities by addressing salary up front. It wasn't that I was aiming so high -- just near what I used to make. But an executive search professional I know told me you get them on the hook first, then talk salary. The salaries I thought were low before appear a lot better now.

• Observing in Todd Palmer's Job Search Process seminar reinforced another thing I learned: Most jobs aren't posted. According to his "85% rule," only 15% of available jobs ever get advertised publicly. So after you've responded to ads, check company Web sites. Network. Get yourself on Facebook, myspace and

linkedin.

 

• Palmer also offers a solution to the problem of keeping straight the dozens of jobs applied for over weeks and months. You don't want to mutter, "Uh, what job was this again?" if you get called by a potential employer. Maintain a spreadsheet listing each company, job, date you applied, name of the contact person, phone number, short description of the duties, and dates and notes.

Kathy Gibbons