With little relief in sight, local unemployed band together With little relief in sight, local unemployed band together (August 08, 2003)

By Julie O'Shea

Larry, a 61-year-old engineer from San Jose, is faced with a difficult situation: He is watching a younger workforce pluck away at the scarce jobs in the Silicon Valley. Most are fresh out of college. They come armed with cutting-edge ideas and a 21st-century knowledge of the tech-world. And they come cheap.

Larry says he can't compete with that kind of resume, and that has him more than a little nervous, especially considering he's been out of work for two years and prospects of finding a new job are grim.

What's worse is that he and his wife, also unemployed, have no nest egg -- so retirement is not an option.

With the state unemployment rate at a depressing high, Larry is not alone. But he's the first to admit how alone he feels on most weekdays.

"I wouldn't say I'm exactly bored, because I know what bored feels like. But it's close," said Larry, who agreed to be interviewed for this story on the condition that his last name be withheld. "I'm a disaster waiting to happen."

In June, Larry decided he needed to get out and start networking. His quest brought him to the doorstep of Mountain View's Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC), which had just launched a weekly unemployment support group for men on Monday nights. (A women's group, started at the same time, meets Thursdays.)

"Each week we have a theme -- stress, anxiety, how it's important to make connections," said group leader Christine Washington.

Washington, who is studying to be a marriage and family therapist, stresses how important networking is but also reminds group members that it is important to relax, take deep breaths, think positively -- "very simple, little things, but when you do them, they can make change," she said. "Taking care of your mind is taking care of your job."

David Rolland also knows well what it's like to be out of a job. While he's currently working on contract at the NASA/Ames Research Center, Rolland has tasted unemployment more than once. Seen as an expert, Washington recently asked the Menlo Park man to come share his experience and insight with her Monday night group.

According to Rolland, finding that next job centers on the resume.

"I never sent the same resume out twice," Rolland said. "Just sending e-mails doesn't work anymore. (Job seekers) need to have something different."

In one instance, Rolland recalled, he managed to get his foot in the door when he dropped his resume off at the desk of a prospective employer.

The man called him a few days later saying, "I don't know where it came from, but I have your resume in my hand. ... Why don't you come on in?"

Things don't always work out that easily, though, Rolland added. "There would be months without any callbacks." It was these long stretches of time which were the most unbearable for Rolland.

"I hadn't realized how depressed I was," he said last week.

It was getting involved in a job networking group that really helped Rolland get back on his feet, he said.

Having a support network is an instrumental part of finding a new job, said Stephanie Giddings, who leads the Thursday night woman's group at CHAC.

Giddings incorporates art into each of her weekly sessions as a way to break down anxiety and help the women connect.

The group is small and intimate, with about five people showing up at any given session, Giddings said. The sessions are free, though some will plunk a few dollars into the donation jar, but "most do not," Giddings added.

The group is scheduled to meet through next week, but Giddings, who doesn't get paid to facilitate the meetings, said if enough people are interested, she will keep it running.

"I really enjoy it," Peggy, a 58-year-old Menlo Park woman, said of the group she heard about through a friend. "I don't have family out here. My kids, they are absolutely shocked."

For Peggy, who wants to remain anonymous, being unemployed was a choice. She was a registered nurse at one hospital for a decade before deciding to quit.

"I got very, very burned out," she said. "I didn't feel like I could do what needed to be done. ... I think I've lived enough years to realize I am not my job."

Peggy has been unemployed for nearly two years now. She said she recently turned down a job because it didn't pay enough.

"The hardest thing for me is finding something that is a value to myself and a value to the community. Something that I feel some passion for. I don't want to settle for less."

"I don't really know what I want to do," she said. "I need some income. I need something. It's very difficult." After a pause she added, "I'm going to have to do something."

For more information, call CHAC at 965-2020.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com