This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: The topic was career transitions on this Tuesday morning in a conference room in downtown St. Louis, where 50 or so business professionals were listening intently to a panel of local human resources managers. There were nuggets to be gleaned, to be noted in memo pads.
- Say yes to LinkedIn.
- Think global and mobile.
- Don’t limit job searches to online jobs boards; networking is key.
In the audience for this weekly session of Go! Network was a group of men and women from diverse business backgrounds, mostly baby boomers, in search of the same answer: How to find a job in this still-struggling economy.
The folks in this room were all keenly aware of the current employment situation. The jobless rate in the St. Louis region sits at 8 percent -- a decline from the nearly 11 percent it reached in early 2010, but still well above the 5- to 6-percent range of 10 years ago. Job growth remains slow, with the region still nearly 60,000 jobs in the red compared to the closing weeks of 2007 when the Great Recession was kicking into gear.
Against that backdrop, participants say they are finding valuable help at Go! Network, a nonprofit that helps white-collar workers re-start their careers. Here they find speakers on a variety of topics and workshops that focus on a range of skills, from resume writing to branding oneself in this new business world, where few work at one company long enough to earn the proverbial gold watch. Perhaps more important, they say, is the opportunity for networking that they find here.
"Go! was a huge help for me. I like it a lot,’’ said Geoffrey Gutenschwager, 56, of St. Louis who joined in November. “It has got a certain energy to it. I like the presentations; they have a lot of useful information. If I get a good job I might stay a member just for the heck of it.’’
Gutenschwager, who recently closed his own business as a franchise recruiter, is seeking help with his second major career transition. Before starting his business, he’d spent 20 years as an electrical engineer but was laid off from that job. Until now, he says, he has never really looked for a job; opportunities seemed to find him.
"It’s difficult when you’re in a position of transition -- whether you’ve been let go or you close your business or, whatever. Especially for a person like me who never really had to think about and develop a work search process. I was like a fish out of water,’’ he said.
Gutenschwager, who has what he describes as an interim part-time job, wants to work in software development.
"I’m trying to find my next passion,” he said.
Among the skills he has learned since coming to Go! are resume writing and how to make networking work.
"You get different perspectives,’’ he said. “And every week you leave with something -- a lot of little things that all add up.’’
Transitioning to help those transitioning
Networking is the trademark of Go! Network, a program that has had to do some transitioning of its own to keeps its doors open. Go! was started as a short-term intervention to help middle managers during the massive corporate layoffs of early 2009. After the program’s original corporate backing dried up, the program restructured as a stand-alone nonprofit organization and came close to shutting down before developing sustainable revenue streams, said executive director Roni Chambers.
Go! recently began charging a $50 annual membership and small fees for some workshops that had previously been free. The organization has about 120 members. The nonprofit has also received education grants from local corporations, such as Bank of America, Centene and Boeing, and has been hired by other local businesses to put on workshops for their employees, Chambers said.
St. Patrick Center, one of the program’s first sponsors, continues to provide free meeting and office space. Even the coffee and bagels are donated by local businesses. The organization has hired its first full-time staffer -- Jason Fry -- as operations manager. Chambers, who had been a full-time volunteer, is now being paid a small salary.
"This is all about funding the mission. Whatever money we raise it’s to be able to keep us working,’’ said Chambers, who at times paid the program’s expenses from her personal funds. “I see lots of really good energy and lot of positive forward movement today. It was always here, but we were sort of slugging through the minutia.’’
Go! still serves out-of-work professionals and middle managers, said Chambers who was a director of human resources at Anheuser-Busch until she was laid off in 2010. She came to Go! as a “consumer” of the program’s services and later assumed a leadership role in helping the organization make its transition to nonprofit status.
Many top corporate jobs lost after the financial crisis of 2008 have not returned, Chambers said.
"Those people are gone -- either reemployed, or they’ve started their own businesses or they’re retired, gone to the beach. Today, it’s the next level down and the next level down being cut. When those initial cuts took place in 2008 and 2009, those jobs were not replaced,’’ she said.
Because of that, Go! has recently seen more younger participants, she said.
"My theory is that as those older, more mature middle managers have left, employers are beginning to transition the cuts into a younger age bracket,’’ Chambers said.
It’s a new world
Even though the economy has improved, Chambers believes that Go! provides a niche for workers who might not find the types of services they need at state unemployment centers.
"We’re not at 10 percent unemployment -- not all of our neighbors are unemployed anymore. That sense of crisis is gone,’’ she said, adding that the unemployment rate does not reflect the numbers of St. Louisans who have given up looking for work or are underemployed.
"Some people have accepted a different way of life,’’ she said. “They couldn’t get jobs, and they’re bagging groceries and selling cupcakes. They’ve become resourceful in how they put food in the pantry.’’
Chambers said there has also been a growth in entrepreneurship -- a trend that Go! has recognized by providing programs aimed at individuals who want to start their own businesses.
"Today, people are not afraid of that. In 2009, people thought they had to get back to ‘the cube.’ They don’t believe that today. They have tenacity,’’ she said.
Embracing the new
Some Go! members say they are embracing the opportunity to find new careers that merge with their personal interests.
Sheryll Williams of St. Louis, who had worked for 20 years in health care, is hoping to find a position with an agency or organization that advocates bicycling and pedestrian programs for recreation, exercise and transportation.
Williams said she joined Go! in January because she knew she needed new skills to find work, given the state of the economy. And she had not done much networking in her new chosen field. In addition to the speakers and workshops, Williams said she has found her fellow Go! members helpful.
"People here are so supportive because they recognize that they are resources, as much as seekers,’’ Williams said.
Chambers envisions Go! as a long-term resource for the city -- one that has already developed a treasury of useful programming and material, including an online library of more than 200 professional development videos. The organization continues to seek new areas for growth and now offers monthly networking events at local companies that are attended by current members, as well as alumni.
Chambers acknowledged that she, too, found a new career at Go! Network, and it has become her passion. She stopped to read an email she had received the night before from a member. It began, "I came to Go! Network as a lost soul. In my mind I had no hope of finding work in the foreseeable future, but with your help and all the contacts I was able to find a great job. I will stay in touch and keep you posted.’’
"How do you walk away from that?” Chambers said.
