Good news and bad on unemployment front in U.S.

By Kathleen Kenna and Hadi Dadashian

To paraphrase Charles Dickens, it was the worst of years, it was a better year.

It was the worst year, because we’re both still unemployed, despite hundreds of job applications, job fairs, informational interviews and more.

It was a better year, because we resumed full-time job searches after growing our own company, Ocean’s Edge Media.

Good news: Our small business made more money in 2012 than in 2011.

Bad news: Our revenue still puts us below the poverty line — even before expenses.

Best news: We landed our first cover story for a Canadian magazine, and Kathleen landed her first major magazine story (Condé Nast). Our newspaper and online assignments ranged from mental health research to travel stories in California, Arizona, both Washingtons, and Canada.

Our public speaking and photography gigs increased.

It was a better year for three reasons:

1.  We expanded our reach with writing and photojournalism, tapping new markets and making a lot of new contacts. Already, our advance assignments portend a better financial year in 2013.

2.  We cut costs by moving to a smaller city.

3.  Kathleen finished her training as a CTP (Certified Trauma Professional) and became a U.S. citizen.

The latter is key, because she began to get interviews from dozens of job applications after her citizenship ceremony. In the previous 18 months as a Green Card holder, Kathleen had only a couple of interviews in her rehabilitation counseling field, despite more than 200 applications.

Investment in lawyers, paper work, etc. for Green Card and citizenship: About $7,000.

How we know the economy is really recovering

We both had more serious job interviews in the past four months than we’ve had during job searches in the past two years.

Kathleen was so excited after an Oregon state interview for vocational rehabilitation counselor, she posted at living in gratitude that it was “the best job interview in my life.”

Hadi is encouraged that there appears to be more growth in his field, optical, possibly because Americans are feeling confident enough to spend money on their health and eye care again.

(While some analysts were heartened by a dip in consumer spending on health care during the recession, we suggest it’s because people who are unemployed stop spending money on doctors, medical tests, dentists, and filling optical and other prescriptions because they’ve lost insurance. Other essentials — like food and shelter — claim any household funds before health care. It’s astonishing that 47 million Americans survive on Food Stamps, a U.S. record.)

The White House soothes some Americans with the news that the economy is recovering, and our success in landing more interviews confirms that it’s improving.

But it’s such a slow improvement that we believe the U.S. is still in a recession — a psychological recession. GDP growth of 2-3% makes us, as President Barack Obama likes to say, “cautiously optimistic.”

At job fairs this fall, we spoke to other job seekers in our age group (40s, 50s), and realized that long-term unemployment is, sadly, far too common still for people who have worked decades without ever being jobless. (In Hadi’s case, that’s working decades without any sick days or “personal time” off!)

So we’re encouraged that the national unemployment rate has dropped to 7.9% after starting 2012 at 8.3%. As we’ve written many times before, however, those stats don’t mean much to people who haven’t collected unemployment benefits and aren’t on national rolls.

Those stats don’t reflect so-called “discouraged workers”, who aren’t conducting full-time job searches either. Washington defines discouraged workers as people who have stopped looking for work. Since the Labor Department also defines discouraged workers as people who haven’t looked for work in four weeks, we don’t fit that official definition either.

Judging from the comments of other job fair participants, we’re all discouraged — no one is filing job applications full-time when they land freelance work (like us) or temporary, under-the-table work (like many engineers, carpenters and others finding sporadic work as housing starts improve). Even 23 million unemployed Americans have to pay their bills somehow.

Unemployment has decreased to 8.4% in our state of Oregon, so we’re at #40 in the U.S. All the new jobs are in the midwest, from the Dakotas to Iowa and Wyoming. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, at 3.1%, followed by Nebraska at 3.7%.

Worst unemployment? Nevada still leads the country at 10.8%, followed by Rhode Island at 10.4%, California, 9.8%, and New Jersey, 9.6%. Our state, Oregon, is ranked #40 out of 51, with an official jobless rate of 8.4%.

Corporate cash stockpiles at $5 trillion

Given the severity of this country’s continuing high joblessness (it was only 2008 when the U.S. rate was 5%), we had hoped the November election would help calm markets and spur corporations to start creating jobs with their estimated $5 trillion in cash stockpiles.

But “fiscal cliff” negotiations have agitated markets and affected consumer and business confidence. At Hire Your Neighbor, we want to be certain that unemployment benefit extensions are approved for those who need them most.

We’re optimistic that 2013 will be a better year for us and other under/unemployed workers seeking real jobs. We’re not so optimistic about Washington overcoming its partisan divisions to tackle the real issues affecting job growth in this country: deficit reduction, government spending, and significant tax reform.

We are certain that the next debate, about the U.S. debt ceiling, will do little to calm fears of Americans, employed or not.

NEXT: The good news about full-time work after 3 years of unemployment

Down-sized but not down: ‘Better days are coming,’ says Boston medical librarian

By Kathleen Kenna

Peter Droese was “down-sized” last spring, but he’s not down.

Peter Droese

The 39-year-old medical librarian has overcome so many challenges in his life, that he’s viewing unemployment as an opportunity.

Droese has returned to school to get a degree in vocational rehabilitation counseling, to work with returning veterans and other people with disabilities.

He’s had a strong career as an information resource specialist as the University of Massachusetts Medical School, senior faculty at Cambridge College‘s grad school of management, and health policy librarian at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

“I need a real job, just like everyone else,” he says from Boston. “It’s been tough these last few months. My unemployment will run out … and I don’t know how much longer I can drive.”

Yet, Droese emphasizes, “Better times are coming.”

There’s no particular reason for this optimism, except Droese’s strong resilience.

Born premature, he had open-heart surgery at only 10 months of age. He was very ill before he learned to walk. His family was cautioned that cerebral palsy would prove so limiting, that Droese wouldn’t be allowed to go to school.

“My mom led a campaign for educating children with special needs,” Droese recalls.

Such tenacity is obviously in his genes. As a youngster, Droese dreamed of becoming a Boy Scout, despite multiple incidents of detached retinas that threatened his vision, and an early diagnosis of hydrocephalus, a potentially brain-damaging condition.

“My only dream was to see Eagle Scout,” he says.

Droese reached that goal by Grade 7, the highest honor for any Scout.

“I did it because I wanted to prove I could do anything,” he says, adding that his greatest high school achievement was going to Russia as an exchange student.

Considering his family was warned that Droese wasn’t worth educating as a boy, he went on to earn degrees in human studies and human services (Bradford College), then a Masters in library and information science (Simmons College).

Yet college was interrupted by a traumatic brain injury and infections as a result of the hydrocephalus, and Droese had to learn to talk again. His solution? Toastmasters.

“I went to Toastmasters as part of my rehabilitation. I used public speaking to retrain my brain,” Droese says. “I used it to practice for job interviews.”

His determination paid off: Droese became so skilled at public speaking, he was asked to deliver the keynote address at a national library science conference.

“It is what it is,” Droese says matter-of-factly. “You just go forward.”

After losing his job at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in April, Droese says he applied for the Masters program in vocational rehabilitation counseling at Assumption College because “I’m ready for my next challenge.”

He adds, “I view it as a protective measure, to deal with the layoff.”

Droese recalls meeting someone professionally who had been involved in one of his brain surgeries, and realizing what a difference that one specialist had made in his life.

“There are so many veterans returning from war with hydrocephalus,” Droese says. “If I can make that kind of difference in just one life, it would be worth it.”

He’s seeking work in vocational rehabilitation as a result, that combines his skills in case management and project management, information services and career counseling.

Droese admits that a job search can be discouraging in a market like Boston, despite sending out resumes and cover letters, and tapping his network daily.

“It’s been a roller coaster these last six months,” he says. “This recession we’re in now is just as bad as the last Depression. My students would tell me there are no bread lines, and I would say, ‘it’s just hidden.’ ”

Job searching is more difficult now, “especially because employers are looking for the perfect candidate,” Droese suggests. “They don’t know what they want — maybe the last person in that job. He doesn’t exist anymore.”

Droese credits his optimism to a good support network of family and friends. Married eight years, he has one son, six-year-old Luke, and says having a close family “has really been amazing.”

See Peter Droese’s profile at LinkedIn.

Ask a job counselor: Is volunteer work good or bad for your resume?

By Kathleen Kenna

I have a one-word solution for everything:  Volunteer.

Fed up with the state of schools in your neighborbood?  Volunteer to help students learn to read, write, find their way.  If you really want to make a commitment that helps, become a Big Sister/Brother.

Ticked at government?  Volunteer for some community service that taxes no longer cover but people really need.

Does your community need a clean-up?  Do it, and others will join you, voluntarily.  It just takes one to start.

I’ve volunteered most of my life because that’s the way I was raised:  Give back.

My first volunteer job, at 15, was writing for a local newspaper.  It was so much fun, and so well-read (we lived in a small farming community), my weekly column was soon picked up by another paper.

Volunteering then taught me critical lessons I needed for the rest of life:  How to meet a deadline. How to show up on time.

Forget the fancy stuff, like creative ideas — that first volunteer job taught me the most basic rule of working:  How to be dependable.

I never forgot my editor storming down to the track where I was training for an 800-metre race.  He was steamed because I had missed my first deadline.  (I was too busy training for a track meet and, as a self-absorbed teen, didn’t bother to call him).

Too bad.  He had a space to fill.  That space had my name on it.  And I wrote my piece, post-deadline, to fulfil my obligation.

Never missed another deadline.

As a rehabilitation counselor, working with people with disabilities, I always recommended volunteer work for job-seekers.  As a job counselor, working with people with all kinds of disadvantages, I always suggested volunteer work as a way of building a resume.

My advice?  Do whatever you are able, as much as you can, wherever you can.  I guarantee you’ll take away more than you give:

1.  You’ll learn new skills.

2.  You’ll meet new people.  This is good for socializing — especially if unemployment is making you depressed — and it’s good for networking.

3.  You’ll explore new work environments, whether it’s at a non-profit or office or government.

4.  You’ll boost “soft skills”, such as getting along with others.  Hopefully, you’ll improve executive skills, such as problem-solving, perhaps in a crisis.

5.  And you’ll fill unemployed time with productive work.  You’ll feel more useful; you will be more useful, to many others (likely more than at a paid job too).

This is great for some resumes.  Do a good job as a volunteer, and you’ll get good references.

Do a great job, and it might lead to a paid position.  My two-year newspaper volunteering helped land my first salaried job, at 17, at a larger paper.  That was the modest start of a successful career in journalism.

My second volunteer job was as a nurses’ aide at a seniors’ home, during my first year of university. I learned two things:  (a) Many elders are wonderful, warm people with the greatest stories to tell; and (b) Many old people scare me. (I was 18.)

After university, I volunteered as a writing tutor, “big sister”, soup kitchen worker, and a food bank runner.

These last two jobs were something I did when I was earning my highest salary. I worked so many hours at my salaried job –and exercised so much to stay fit to work so many hours — that I figured volunteer work outside my comfort zone would be a much-needed diversion.

I wanted to give back more when I was getting so much. I wanted to do something physical (hefting food boxes, for example) that would help my community.

I learned more about other people, working in a soup kitchen and a food bank, than I ever did at my high-pressure, high-paid job.

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of volunteer work, in several countries, so I created a separate, volunteer work resume. I put one discreet line at the end of my “awards, achievements” section, indicating this other resume was available.

No one has ever asked to see it.  No interviewer has ever asked about the lifetime achievement award I received from a national non-profit.

And no one, at a non-profit, or government, or business, has ever asked me about the value of volunteering.

The only ones who have asked?  Workers who need jobs.

Confessions of an unemployed counselor, writer

I sit around all day and watch Ellen and Dr. Oz.

This is good for my character development and my health.  I’m a huge fan of Dr. Oz — if more Americans listened to him, we wouldn’t be so fat.

Why are one-third of American youth obese, anyway?  It can’t just be the high fructose corn syrup and GMO wheat.

I suspect it’s unemployment.

Sitting around all day, watching soaps and snacking, can’t be healthy.

Kathleen Kenna: unemployed counselor, writer

Being jobless is my new weight loss plan:  I’ve dropped more than 20 lbs.

I try to stay healthy because I’m ineligible for health insurance in the richest country on earth.  (I have a “pre-existing condition” known as disability-as- a-result-of-war-wounds, so insurance firms have rejected me).

So, I exercise.  Mostly hiking, uphill both ways, through the woods.  (We have 20 miles of trails near our Oregon apartment; see those lovely trees in the photo?)

For the past two years, I followed my own advice as a rehabilitation counselor:  “Looking for work is a full-time job.”

When I’m not submitting online applications, paying for university transcripts, paying for background checks, and more, I write.

It’s therapeutic.

It pays some bills.  It doesn’t pay the rent.

How I returned to journalism, after a bomb tried to end it

Blame it on a panda.

Saw a news clip about the first baby panda being born at the San Diego Zoo, and figured that would make a good story.

Called a friend at my old paper — I left journalism after the Afghanistan bomb attack — and he agreed to take a short bit.

Followed the pregnant panda; did a follow-up story when the baby was born.

Became a travel writer.

This satisfies my passion for discovering new places and people.

It also allows me to work with my husband, freelance photographer Hadi Dadashian.

The pay isn’t great, but the fringe benefits — priceless.

I was a political journalist most of my life, so “been there, done that.” (Covered the White House, Congress, the United Nations; worked overseas; covered the Afghanistan war …. )

I’m focusing more on public policy — the environment, social justice, disability issues.

Tough to sell anything on disability, however.

As one of my closest friends, a social worker, says, “No one cares about the disabled in a recession.”

I do.

I am — I was — I hope to be again — a rehabilitation counselor.

My specialty?  The one for which I’ve had post-graduate, clinical training, and four years of experience?

Working with Iraq and Afghanistan “wounded warriors”, especially those with TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

Can’t be any jobs in that field in this country, surely.

Message from a jobless job counselor: Get Occupied!

My name is Kathleen Kenna and I’m a recovering job counselor.

Kathleen Kenna, recovering job counselor

I’ve helped dozens of people get jobs, from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans to laid-off grandmothers.

Today, after two years and more than 200 applications, I am officially no longer looking for a job.

It isn’t there.

I’ve worked for income since I was 17.

I have a strong resume — two degrees, post-graduate clinical training, national awards, two careers — and a solid volunteer work resume.

As a rehabilitation counselor working with people with disabilities in two states over the past few years, I’ve helped others write resumes; coached them on interview strategies; helped them research career options; and much more.

But I don’t have any ideas anymore for anyone about how to get a job in this economy.

I’m not spending any more money on job applications.

I can’t afford the background checks, fingerprints and drug tests that applicants must pay, in a bid to get ever-shrinking social service jobs.

I can’t afford to waste any more time on futile job searches, either.

I need to stay healthy, because when we lost jobs, we lost our health care.

So today, I’m doing the best thing I can for my mental and physical health:  I’m creating one job in the United States of America.

MINE.

I join my husband, Hadi Dadashian, who lost the best job of his life last year.  (It was, BTW, close to minimum wage.)

Hadi Dadashian

Hadi is creating a second job in the United States of America.

HIS.

And our nephew, Hoover Wind, also under-employed, is joining us in launching a national venture:  Hire Your Neighbor.

This is not a political campaign.  We’re not endorsing any political party.

But this is a campaign.

A serious, loud, in-your-face campaign asking Americans important questions.

Like this one:  What kind of country do we want?

This is not an anti-government or pro-government campaign, nor an anti-business rant.

It’s a conversation.

Our mission is to put a face to the people who are out of work across America.

Like the three of us.

Hoover Wind

We’re not lazy; we’re educated; we have a strong work ethic; we can’t get work; and — message to Herman Cain — IT’S NOT OUR FAULT!

Let’s stop blaming each other.  Stop the name-calling.

Stop the noise that goes nowhere.

Let’s have a national conversation about what we ,the people, are doing to help we, the people, become fully employed.

We’re journalists and artists — on stage, online, and more — and we’re determined to stay positive.

We are positively determined to Get Occupied!, creating jobs in this country, one little job at a time.

We don’t have much money.

But we have enthusiasm, ideas, and lots of determination.

Hire Your Neighbor is on WordPress because it’s an international platform for sharing stories.

We’ve been using it for months to showcase our freelance work and our daily blog of thanksgiving.

We like WordPress because it has helped us connect with lively, engaged citizens across America, and all over the world.

Hire Your Neighbor will share stories of unemployment, and dispel some myths.

Myth No. 1:  It’s not 14 million out of work in America; it’s more like 25 million.

That’s the size of Texas.

(Trust me on this; I used to be a job counselor.)

Consider how much better the economy would be if the three of us and the other 24,999,997 had living wage jobs.

So, if you have an income — especially a high income — ask yourself this question after Thanksgiving dinner today:

What am I doing to help my neighbor?

Because, after all, we’re neighbors, and this historic unemployment is our collective burden.

If you’re part of Corporate America, sitting on more than $2 trillion in capital, what are you waiting for?

We really want some answers.

TOMORROW:  Hadi Dadashian, after one year of unemployment

… With thanks to Trader Joe’s, for the brown bag we recycled …