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March 1, 2009
Silverhill resident Mark Faley worked for six years in medical sales before he was laid off in January.
On Saturday, dressed in slacks and a blue button-down shirt with his initials stitched into the cuffs, Faley waited in line looking for his next job.
The 53-year-old said he has a wide range of skills that include accounting and carpentry.
He believes his maturity and experience will help him find work, but he knows the search will not be easy.
"I'm in that age group that companies are going to be cautious about," he said. "I have to be flexible."
Faley spent part of the day at Mobile's Bel Air Mall, with hundreds of others, walking from booth to booth, presenting his resume and speaking with representatives of more than a dozen companies at the Cumulus Broadcasting Career Fair.
The employers ranged from fast-food chain Hardee's to insurance company AFLAC, from the FBI to the U.S. Navy, from local radio stations to the Mobile County Personnel Board.
One company, PCH Hotels & Resorts, whose local holdings include The Battle House and the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel downtown and the Marriott Grand Hotel in Point Clear, listed 25 job openings on a flier.
But not every company was hiring immediately. Patrice Lemonde, a labor relations specialist for Kimberly Clark, which operates a paper mill north of Mobile, said the company had signed up for the career fair in October. They weren't hiring back then but figured that by the end of February things would have changed.
As he stood behind a table draped in black cloth, Lemonde told the job seekers that no spots would likely be open for the rest of the year, but he urged them to check the company's Web site month to month.
Lacey Clough has been looking for employment since August, when she lost her job as a dispatcher at a trucking company in Mobile.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Clough has donated plasma to help feed her infant daughters.
She has earned a total of $65 each week.
Every Friday, the 21-year-old cleans her father's house, and he pays her $40.
She's separated with no health insurance or dental coverage. She has a GED but no college education.
"I want to go to school," she said. "I want to have a career. I want to further myself."
She hunts for a new job when she can find a baby-sitter.
"One day, with all these jobs," she said while standing beside a booth at the career fair, "and getting my résumé out there, it makes me feel better."
The economic sting is being felt across southwest Alabama. Mobile's unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent in December, the latest month the figures were available, while Baldwin County's was 5.7 percent, according to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.
The stories of job seekers at the mall — recent grads, young professionals, part-time workers and folks in midcareer — reflected the flagging economy.
Kent Payne, a 41-year-old with a wife and a 2-year-old son, was laid off about a month ago from a sales job.
He has a bachelor's degree in political science and nearly 20 years of work experience.
"People get laid off," he said. "It's not anything to be ashamed of. Companies close. It just happens. You can sit back and say, 'Woe is me.' But if you sit down and dwell on that, you're not doing yourself any good."
He believes his prospects will improve. He trusts in God while he searches for work, and he and his family live off an unemployment check and the money he has saved.
"At the same time, you've got to really get out there and do your part, too," he said. "It may take some time."
When James Patterson took a job at Rooms To Go in 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, the commission he pulled down was staggering. In one seven-month stretch, he said, he earned about $100,000.
He quit the job in October because he said his income had fallen so far that it was not worth his effort.
These days, his wife works as a waitress at The Original Oyster House, providing their most steady income.
They don't eat out. They don't go to movies. They don't spend weekend afternoons like this one shopping at the mall. They only buy what they need. Yet Patterson said he keeps a positive attitude.
A few companies at the mall, he said, promised to call him.
"I just feel like maybe today's the day," he said. "Today could be the day."
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