Job Searches Take New Tack
By Dave Melendi Staff Writer© Pasadena Star-News. April 2002
Aggressive networking seen as most effective way to find employment.
With the nation's economy still shaky at best according to many experts, job hunters are being forced to work harder and smarter to find that perfect fit.
Gary Kaplan, president of Pasadena-based Gary Kaplan & Associates, an executive search firm, said there are an inordinate amount of local executives, particularly upper middle management and senior management workers, who are out of jobs right now.
"I do a great deal of counseling and speaking to these people," Kaplan said. "Normally I can come up with viable and constructive ideas for these people. But this has been one of the most frustrating experiences."
"Even though (Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan) Greenspan declared that the economy has improved, until we have a couple of successive quarters with positive earnings, most hiring executives are so gun shy right now that hiring is not going to pick up."
Cathy Brooke of South Pasadena was the regional director for the Arthritis Foundation before she and several others were laid off several weeks ago.
"This was a start-up office and they found they needed to cut $1 million, so they closed a couple of offices and laid off nine people. My job disappeared. I think a lot of it was fallout from Sept. 11.
"My philosophy is, this is nothing to be ashamed of. This was strictly a financial decision. It wasnt anything I did wrong."
Now, Brooke is using her local Rotary Club to network, and keeps in touch with a manager who was laid off along with her.
"It's tag-team unemployment," she said.
Brooke's former boss will tell her if he comes across a job that may be better suited to her, while she does the same for him.
"The traditional ways I don't think are as useful now," Brooke said.
"I think it is imperative," Kaplan said, "that these people be as aggressive as possible in networking, to really consider being in touch with anyone they have known who might be able to introduce them to other people that can open doors for them."
If networking is the key to finding a job, Brooke should find work soon.
"You never know of all the people that you run into who is going to have a lead for you," she said. "I was having some work done at my mother's house, shooting the breeze with my plumber and it turns out that he was active in church and his church had a listing of nonprofit jobs."
Kaplan said that kind of networking is what many fail to do.
"People need to be more resourceful than ever in terms of seeking out opportunities, whether it be the Internet, seeking professional associations, even giving creative thought as to what markets are up."
Kaplan said it would be an "adventure in futility" to look for a high-tech or e-commerce position right now because those sectors are "in an incredibly steep decline that hasn't bottomed out yet," but there may be jobs to be had in other industries, such as health care, pharmaceuticals and bio-technology.
