AMERICAN DREAM TURNS INTO NIGHTMARE FOR MAN WITHOUT JOB

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993                   TAG: 9301260237
SECTION: ECONOMY                    PAGE: EC-12   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
AMERICAN DREAM TURNS INTO NIGHTMARE FOR MAN WITHOUT JOB
When Albert Schoester left the Netherlands in 1976 bound for the United States, he arrived with a suitcase, a used one-way ticket and an abundance of dreams and ambition.
He landed a job with Roanoke's Krisch Hotels Inc. and eventually became vice president of sales and marketing. He married a Roanoke woman, bought a house in Southwest County, and began raising a family.
Life in Roanoke was the essence of the American dream.
Then, in November 1991, Schoester lost his job. It was one of what would be a series of layoffs which ultimately resulted in eliminating the company's sales and marketing division.
Today, his wife is working part time. And Schoester's made a full-time occupation out of finding a job.
Last year, he made more than 1,000 phone calls; mailed more than 800 copies of his resume; contacted 32 cruise lines, 30 executive-search firms and 30 hospitality-industry recruiters.
He even wrote George Bush a letter, imploring him to make the economy a bigger priority.
"I wanted him to hear from someone who is a victim of the economy," Schoester said.
When he finally landed a job this past summer with a Smith Mountain Lake resort community, Chestnut Creek, things were looking up. Still, he was underemployed, working for 45 percent of his previous salary.
Just several months later, due to cash flow problems, that job also was eliminated.
"I spend my time looking at every angle, trying to cut corners anywhere I can," he said of life in this stringent economy.
It took a dozen years to build up a savings cushion that he's watching crumble.
Sooner or later, Schoester figures, he'll have to uproot his family and leave Roanoke. "There's just no growth here," he said.
When he hears about the problems of other local businesses and industries, he sees a lot of parallels to those of Krisch Hotels.
"Times have changed, but companies here continue doing business like they did 10 or 12 years ago," he said.
Schoester considers his marketing knowledge transferable. But when he interviews for marketing positions outside of the hospitality industry, firms are reluctant to interview someone from outside their specialized field.
"The '80s were a very excessive time," he said. "There was a lot of waste and glitter and glamour, and now we're paying for it."
With Krisch, Schoester considered his income and benefits good for this area.
"I'm not looking to get it all back," he said.
He says he took the second layoff less personally than the first. But this time around, Schoester finds himself more short-tempered with his children, taking out his frustration more often on his family. When the bills come around, he admits to feeling "creepy."
This month he enters his second year of unemployment. Schoester still begins each day with just one goal.
"I will find a job," he said with resolve. "It's hard to find work today doing what you really want to do. But I will find a job."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB