Seven months ago, Bill Araiza wasn't sure what his next move would be; Eric and Saya Scott were looking for a way to get out on their own again; and José E. Colón was in the midst of more than a year's search for a job in his field.
Today, each of these people has found a new path. And while their job searches were longer than they had expected, in the end, all say they have found a good outcome on the other side.
After Araiza had worked 25 years in telecommunications sales and marketing and experienced a series of layoffs, he realized he needed to follow the dreams of his youth. On Wednesday, Araiza enrolled at Washburn University to pursue his master's degree in psychology -- 15 months after being laid off from Birch Telecom in Topeka. He is leaving his ultimate goal open-ended and he plans to take the LSAT, complete the law degree he once started at Washburn University and possibly find a position in public administration or counseling.
"I really think this is the route I should have gone to begin with," Araiza said. "I figure if I can't make money, then I might as well do something I'm happy at."
In June, Araiza was one of several who shared the stories of their job searches with The Topeka Capital-Journal. Araiza said his perspective had shifted radically over the past several years, from focusing on a job because of the money and material things it could provide to focusing more on his own happiness. He said he often thought of returning to school, but his attention on dollars had kept that goal on the back-burner.
Since August, he has been working at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City, Kan., as part of the 40-person sales staff in the appliance area. He said many in his department are in the same boat, searching for their next move, and a number are former Sprint workers that have gone through layoffs at that company.
Initially, Araiza's goal was to move to Kansas City, but after failing to find much better opportunity in his field there, he decided to stay in Topeka.
"I knew in the Kansas City market it was not going to be easy, but you know, I finally decided that what I really wanted to do, what I really needed to do for me, was to go back to school and get out of technology all together," he said. "I've given up looking for another position."
New frontier
Araiza's experience mirrors what Jack Porteous, Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce workforce development manager, says more and more Americans are going to find in the coming decades.
He cited Topeka's Goodyear Tire plant as an example, noting that in 1979, the plant produced about 1 million pounds of tires per day and employed 4,400 people.
"That plant still produces a million pounds of tires a day and does it with less than 1,700 people. but it's because of the computerization and the automation and the robotics that have increased productivity," Porteous said. The new jobs that switch has created are high-paying, technical jobs, requiring people who can troubleshoot and fix complex machinery and robotics.
"The problem that we see now and that we're going to continue to see is that the jobs that are being created require more skills," Porteous said.
He said that disconnect between the jobs available and the skills of workers in the marketplace already can be seen in fields such as health care and manufacturing.
"Where we're going is a scary place, because the jobs that are being created -- and they're being created very fast -- require a lot more skills than the jobs of the past," he said. "In addition to that, we're going to have a war baby bulge start to retire in the next three to five years, and as those people leave those skilled positions, there's going to be a void."
Neil Fisher, vice president and co-owner of Kansas Building Systems Inc., said he is working to change the perception that a college education is the only path toward career success.
"There's fewer and fewer young people coming into the marketplace. When you talk about construction skilled labor, it's becoming a pretty scarce commodity," he said. Meanwhile, journeymen in his industry are making about $40,000 a year.
Through his work with the Workforce Development Committee, Fisher said he has been working with counselors and educators.
"We've got construction education programs going at Topeka West and Perry-Lecompton high schools over at Perry," Fisher said, describing one school-work partnership. "That's one instance. That could be done in any industry."
The right fit
José E. Colón, who had moved to Topeka from Vermont in July 2002, talked in June about seeking out more computer training. He was frustrated in his search for positions in the computer programming field that could draw on his experience with mainframe computers. He took a part-time job doing marketing and pricing at Sears while he continued his search.
Three weeks ago, Colón said, he took a job with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, in computer programming. Colon said the job so far was a good fit. His search, which extended 17 months, led him to the conclusion that today's job market is no less difficult than it was seven months ago.
He said he continues to work at Sears part time on the weekends.
Eric and Saya Scott reached a turning point during the summer. Both young professionals who had returned to college, they had graduated only to find the offers of which they felt assured to be few and far between. Eric Scott, who received degrees in physics and mechanical engineering, was working 40 hours a week through a temporary service with EDS, processing insurance claims for Medicaid.
They had returned to live with Eric Scott's parents and felt stymied by job offers that wouldn't pay relocation expenses, or required applicants to already live in the area.
Saya Scott, who graduated with her English degree, said she found temporary work at Sprint in Kansas City, Mo., in June. During one two-week period, she devoted nearly all her energy to her husband's job search, sending out 80 resumes targeting companies with entry-level engineering positions that would pay for relocation. Of those, three called back.
Her secret: "We both agreed we would take anything anywhere in the country as long as it paid enough," she said.
In late August, the couple were relocated to Gainesville, Ga., by Eric's new employer, Wayne Farms, a poultry operation that supplies chicken to the Campbell's company. After several months there, they relocated to Decatur, Ala., just outside Huntsville, where Eric is a continuous improvement engineer in the Wayne Farms plant supplying Campbell's.
"It's a really great position for him because he's the first engineer they've had placed in one of their facilities," Saya Scott said. "There's almost limitless possibilities."
She said Eric Scott is employed by Campbell's, which eventually would like to have engineers placed in more of its distributors' facilities.
For her, she is just now starting to focus on her own job search. She said Huntsville, Ala., is a perfect place for a technical writer and editor -- her interests -- because of its concentration of space and defense companies. Ultimately, she is working toward returning to school for her master's and doctoral degrees in English, with the goal of becoming a professor one day.
She said while their story has had a happy ending, she knows many of Eric's friends who have graduated this December are running into the same roadblocks the Scotts did.
And she is skeptical of news that the economy is starting to take off, because she doesn't see the jobs following.
In December, the national unemployment rate was 5.7 percent, down from a June high of 6.3 percent. The average number of weeks a person spends unemployed, however, is again at 19.6 weeks, the same level as June, but down slightly from 20 weeks in November.
"I'm actually in the trenches. I'm out there looking," she said. "I still maintain that all of the stories about the economy, they really represent just a tiny fraction of the story."
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