Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403150168
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Out there'' is the job market, where the 44-year-old Salem woman has been trying to find work since being laid off in January by her employer of nearly seven years.
She has sent out 80 resumes. There have been a grand total of eight responses, all negative. One company returned her resume with a terse form letter.
``We do not accept unsolicited resumes,'' it said, avoiding even the courtesy of a ``Thanks for your interest.''
On a sensibility still aching from the layoff, the icy note landed like a physical blow.
``Oh, wow,'' said Flagg, recalling the impact. ``Hurt me again, will you?''
Besides placing her in financial jeopardy, the layoff by an employer she liked hurt Flagg emotionally.
``The depression was terrible,'' she said. ``It was like going through a divorce or a death or something.''
That's more or less behind her now, Flagg said. She was able to laugh frequently during a conversation about her predicament.
Flagg was an administrative assistant in the purchasing office of a Roanoke Valley manufacturer. She's found nothing in purchasing, which she knows best, nor in the field in which she has a special interest - recycling - nor in anything else.
``I've applied for a variety of jobs,'' she said. ``I've blanketed the area with resumes.''
Flagg began her working life as a secretary/receptionist but soon decided the work didn't offer the kind of future she wanted. She quit and went to school - while raising a daughter - and in 1987 earned a degree from Northern Kentucky University.
She moved to the Roanoke Valley and found the job that she held until being laid off soon after the first of the year.
Working against Flagg, she believes, are her age and the income she is accustomed to - and needs in order to sustain herself as a middle-class property owner. The job market is brisk for entry-level workers, who typically are half Flagg's age and make about half what she was paid, but tougher for middle-aged workers who have college degrees and higher salary expectations.
She has reluctantly considered one of the most widespread entry-level jobs - waiting tables - but has noticed that restaurants usually advertise for experienced people only.
``Here I am a professional, and I can't get an unskilled job because I don't have experience,'' Flagg said.
She is hurt, too, by having allowed her computer skills to rust a bit. Though willing to take a course, she doesn't have a home computer to practice on. Without a job, can't afford to buy one.
``I finally got my college degree and now it's not enough,'' she said.
Flagg's photograph, qualifications and job preferences will be broadcast soon as part of Blue Ridge Public Television's ``Video Classified'' service. Tens of thousands will see it and perhaps a potential employer will be among them.
In the meantime, Flagg will press the job search and continue to cope with the fallout and occasional indignities of unemployment: the loss of company-paid health insurance, the reluctance of a merchant to take her check and so on.
``I don't ever want to go through this again,'' she said. ``This is not fun.''
by CNB