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August 19, 2009
Chris Sembrot saw the writing on the wall.
He had worked as an art buyer at Red Tettemer for about five years, pricing and buying illustrations and photography for the Philadelphia-based advertising agency. But the company lost a few clients, and about a dozen coworkers had already been laid off.
"It was time to go," says Sembrot, 29. So when the ax fell in March, he was ready for the next stage of his professional life: funemployment.
Yes, you read that right. The catchword describes what everyone says to do (but never does) after a layoff: Make the most of it. Instead of weeping and wailing about a lost job, the young and jobless are taking time to visit friends, travel, and explore new career options.
"We're talking about people who are more accepting that their job can disappear at any time," says Gayle Porter, professor of management at the Rutgers-Camden School of Business, who studies workaholism. "It's not as shattering."
It's also easier to accept losing a position when today's twenty- and thirtysomethings have never come to expect a lifelong job. They are accustomed to the idea of skipping around and being adaptable, said Sara Clemence, who cofounded Recessionwire.com when she found herself funemployed in December.
Clemence first heard her laid-off friends using the term funemployment in early 2009, but Recessionwire.com officially defined it in April: "A period of joblessness that you actually enjoy - maybe you get to lay out, sleep in, work out, read up."
The Web site does recommend having savings or an unemployment check to help pay the bills, although it's precisely their fewer obligations that make the concept more tolerable for young adults - they likely don't have a mortgage or children yet.
The concept also is more acceptable to employers. With such a far-reaching recession, companies are more understanding about job candidates who have been laid off - so the pressure isn't as great to get any job just to avoid a resume gap.
"It used to be a stigma, but that's just no longer the case," Porter said. "Companies have had to trim some of their best people." That means those same best people are taking time off to reevaluate, breathe, and maybe try something new.
For Sembrot, that meant finally becoming a freelance photographer. He had photographed a few of Red Tettemer's campaigns, and his work on the agency side gave him crucial knowledge about how the business worked and how to price projects.
Because he had a premonition that funemployment was coming, Sembrot jumped at the chance when a few photographers and graphic designers talked about creating their own working space that they could share. In July, five collectively opened Suite 79 at the Piazza at Schmidt's in Northern Liberties. It has desks with computers, photography studio space, plus a gallery where they can show and sell artwork.
It helped that Sembrot made the transition from employed to funemployed with clients in hand - he had already lined up work with his former employer and with Bicycling magazine.
Amanda Mello, 25, though, started from scratch. She is using a severance package and unemployment benefits to make her unemployment funemployment, and to help her explore what she really wants to do with her life.
"It's the first time I haven't worked since I was 15, so it's been nice to take a break," says Mello, who was laid off in March.
She had been working as a printer for a Center City investment firm, printing sales materials and pitch books for meetings with Fortune 500 companies.
"My family was expecting me to break down and be totally lost, but my initial reaction was 'Oh, good,' " says Mello. "Now I have time to kind of relax and do something that I want to do."
She wants to open her own small press, so as part of funemployment, she is taking a print-making class at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, and will travel to Two Rivers, Wis., for two weeks in September, in part to visit the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum.
Had the layoff never happened, "I would have just kept putting it off," Mello said of owning a press. "I think about doing things and instead of actually doing them, think 'Oh no, I'll do it next time.' "
She's also spending more time with family and friends, and has connected with other funemployed people via Twitter. In addition to her own account, she runs twitter.com/funemployed. The group periodically meets to share advice and support.
Anna Goldfarb, 31, entered funemployment after earning a master's degree in journalism from Temple University in 2008. Despite having worked in magazine publishing in New York before entering grad school, she faced a nearly impossible job market.
So for money, Goldfarb works as a substitute teacher. She's using her free time to grow and promote a blog she'd started as a lark in January 2008: Shmittenkitten.com. "It's about dating and how terrible I am about dating," says Goldfarb with a laugh. It's also funny, edgy, and specifically about the Philadelphia scene.
In September, she will start a Shmitten Kitten speed-dating series - mostly targeted to those who read her site - where she will generate money by charging $5 per person. Her first speed-dating night will be Sept. 10 at the Khyber, where music by Dinosaur Jr., Teenage Fanclub, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Pixies, and Weezer will play in the background.
Writing a dating Web site and running speed-dating sessions were not activities she would ever have considered had she not been forced into funemployment.
"If I had a real job that required more of my energy and time, it would be really hard to do this at the same time," she said. "It's the upside of funemployment - we get to pursue things because of our situations."
She's pursuing another career, too: Goldfarb just passed her Praxis exam and hopes to move from substitute to high school English teacher.
For those forced into unemployment, Clemence has one word of advice: enjoy. Having just been offered a full-time job in publishing, she somewhat regrets putting so much energy into Recessionwire.com, even though she values the experience.
"I wish I'd goofed off some more. I wish I'd traveled, swapped my apartment and lived in Paris for a month," Clemence said. "I tell my friends: Don't freak out. You've been a successful person and you'll have a job again. . . . You might not have another period of time off like this for years."
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