Local Job Seeker Struggles in Slow-Growing Economy

We first met Elaine Kauffman at a Redwood City job-hunting seminar for “over 40” workers. The public affairs director at a Bay Area nonprofit for the past six years, Kauffman had been told her hours were being reduced. At the end of May, the part-time work was terminated.

“I’m fearful of the job search, because I just know there’s so many people out there, so many younger people who are willing to work for a lower salary, and have the latest skills,” Kauffman said at the time.

Last Friday’s national jobs news – only 18,000 nonfarm jobs were added to the U.S. economy in the past month – was the worst labor report in nine months. Sound bites from economists littered media reports with pessimism. The U.S. unemployment rate inched up, from 9.1 percent to 9.2 percent. In California, figures for June show the unemployment rate is 11.7 percent.

Now in the job hunt since June 1, Kauffman turns the glass over, and looks to her employment future with optimism.

“I’ve had several phone interviews, several follow-up interviews, and I’m still in that process with at least one position, so I feel really good,” says Kauffman. “The job market is kind of slow, although it is picking up, at least for nonprofits where I’m looking. For awhile, I didn’t see anything, but now I’m seeing things open up; a couple of the situations I’ve found have been new positions, so that’s very exciting.”

Kauffman has made good use of a Bay Area nonprofit group called Phase2Careers. It provides work-seekers with advice on how to get back into a job market of which they’ve long been a part.

The stated mission of Phase2Careers is to “assist the ‘over 40’ worker with finding new career opportunities through job search/career development workshops, networking/recruitment events, and special career presentations.”

Ron Visconti is the executive director of Phase2Careers. “Phase2 is all about helping people have more tools, helping them re-think how they package themselves. It’s being able to network with people differently,” Visconti says. “Just seeing how things can be done in different ways. It’s a combination of things.”

“The seminars really helped me look at my skills,” says Kauffman. “How to develop a structure for how I would approach the job hunt, write a resume, and get back into a feeling of ‘Yes, I can do this.’”

Phase2Careers will be holding a free orientation session Tuesday morning, July 12, in San Mateo at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation‘s San Mateo Conference Center, 1300 S. El Camino Real, Suite 100. (Registration is suggested; click here to register.) The nonprofit is also offering July programs in Foster City and Belmont with topics like “Beginning LinkedIn” and “Strategic Career Change: Your Next Phase.”

“The workshops happen on a regular basis,” says Kauffman, “and getting out and meeting with people who are in the same position, it just feels good to know that we’re all in this together.”

We asked Elaine Kauffman what it’s like to get up in the morning, knowing she was not going to work. “That is tough sometimes,” she says. “I get up, I go out for a walk, and that gets me thinking and gets me energized. I come back, I sit down at the computer, and I just keep telling myself something will come along. There are a lot of people out there, they’ve been out there a long time, but I’m still at a point where I’m handling it OK.”

Her advice for others facing the uncertain job market? “Be persistent. Do your best to keep your spirits up, but just constantly be looking for what’s available. Be flexible in what you think you can do and where you want to go, and do networking. Networking itself is a really good way to stand out yourself.”