Everything seemed to be going beautifully for Linda Harrison. The 54-year-old was nearly a year into her new job with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, having been recruited here from Vancouver, Wash., through a national search. She was making more than $112,000 a year as director of large group underwriting, and had snagged a bonus and raise after just a few months on the job.
And then the ax fell.
“We’re going in a different direction,” said the new boss, Steve Martenet, who had called her into his office. Martenet, then 39, had taken over as vice president and general manager of large group sales just over a month earlier.
Harrison was floored. Perhaps she should have seen it coming, given all the company turmoil. Blue Cross’ parent company, Cobalt Corp. of Milwaukee, had been bought out by WellPoint of California in 2003. WellPoint, in turn, was bought by Indianapolis-based Anthem in November 2004, not long after Harrison had been hired. As Anthem started consolidating operations, it began firing some employees beginning in the spring of 2005. In September, it was Harrison’s turn for a pink slip.
But she simply couldn’t believe it was happening to her, not after she had moved out here for this job, giving up her home and her West Coast roots. Not after just 11 months on the job.
Harrison’s case reflects a harsh, ever more pressing reality. With mergers, acquisitions and cutbacks par for the course, there’s no such thing as a permanent job anymore. Even the highest-performing workers are often casualties of the bottom line. It can happen to anyone.
Other recent Wisconsin layoffs include dozens of white-collar jobs at Kimberly-Clark, Reiman Publications and Gareth Stevens Publishing. Over the past 10 to 15 years, the city has witnessed cutbacks through plant closings at manufacturers like Tower Automotive, the acquisition of Miller Brewing Co., bank ownership changes and the consolidation of health care.M&I and Metavante, S.C. Johnson, Rockwell Automation and GE Healthcare have all reorganized or displaced workers from the bottom to upper management levels in recent years. The Milwaukee Public Museum, due to financial mismanagement, let go 23 percent of its staff in May 2005. Other nonprofits, such as Latino Arts Inc. and Mount Mary College, have had personnel casualties due to budget considerations, as have big institutions like UW-Milwaukee. Behind the large-scale layoffs are countless individual firings, nightmare stories which get little or no media coverage.
Today, Harrison’s life is in shambles. “I have nothing left,” she says. “I’m flat broke and stuck in Wisconsin.” She tries to subsist on $155 per month in Food Share benefits and is living off of family and friends. Unable to afford the nearly $600 a month cost for COBRA continuation of her health insurance, she let the policy lapse after six months. Now completely uninsured, she goes to a free clinic for health care, but serious problems landed her in the hospital for a month with double pneumonia, a bleeding ulcer, two subcranial hemorrhages, malnourishment and symptoms from chronic liver disease. She now faces $180,000 in hospital bills she can’t pay.
The road from a six-figure salary and successful senior executive career to stark poverty took only 14 months. For a while, Harrison lived on unemployment benefits, her severance and savings. Then she borrowed money from her brother until he couldn’t do it anymore.
At first, she assumed she would find another job. Harrison sent out close to 100 résumés, applying for jobs as a manager, supervisor, anything she seemed qualified for, but got few nibbles. Because the work she does is so specialized, she knew she’d probably have to relocate if she found a similar job. She got four interviews for director of underwriting jobs across the country – in Florida, Texas, Arizona and Ohio – but they didn’t materialize into offers.
She began worrying when, over and over, she was told she was perfectly qualified, but the employer just had so many other applicants. Soon she was applying for any job, even for a grocery bagger at Pick ’n Save, still with no luck. Late last year, around the same time Martenet was promoted to president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Harrison ran out of money.
So today, Harrison shares a Menomonee Falls apartment with a friend who helps out by paying the rent. She sleeps a lot, has lost a lot of weight, and her hands tremor so badly she has trouble opening an envelope. She says the stress of losing her job played a huge role in her health problems. “I feel like a turd that was kicked to the side of the road. … I don’t know if I’ll ever recover to work again.”
Of course, not everyone who loses a job ends up in as bad a spot as Harrison. The Anthem buyout of Blue Cross displaced many workers, some of whom bounced back within a few months, while others had temporary frustrations but ultimately moved on to other jobs. For instance, 53-year-old Lorna Granger – formerly senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Cobalt Corp. and its subsidiary, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin – found a new position she likes as in-house counsel for ProHealth Care. And Ralph Beck, a former director of product development for Blue Cross, is now director of employee benefits for Maritime Insurance Group.
But the initial impact of a firing can be devastating.
“Most people don’t think about the emotional side effects. You hear numbers on the news. And you don’t think – ‘Oh my God, that’s a lot of Kleenex, that’s a lot of mortgage payments, that’s the scared, knotted feeling of fear in your chest,’” says 32-year-old Tea Benduhn, who was let go from educational publisher Gareth Stevens when it closed its Milwaukee office earlier this year.
Even competent, high-performing people can be thrust into a world of self-doubt when they get fired, and that feeling can stick with them into their future jobs like a looming sense of fear. And those who “survive” layoffs are not exactly lucky either: Often they are asked to double their workload and are left with the feeling the ax could fall on them at any time.
What is the best way to cope in a world where employment security and company loyalty have vanished? Diane Bast, a career counselor and therapist with Trillium Care Group and Rogers Memorial Hospital, says people need to mentally shift how they think about employment. “I still hear people say, ‘I’m looking for a good, secure job.’ I just don’t think that’s realistic. People should think of jobs as more project-based. They should say to themselves, … ‘I’m probably not going to be in this job forever.’” She and other experts point out that, though it can be devastating at the time, losing a job provides an opportunity to re-evaluate your life. Often people will end up happier, whether they change careers entirely or just land in a new place.
The truth is that we all could meet up with our own version of Donald Trump, the words “You’re Fired!” cruelly stamping us as a reject at some future date. Smart workers will be more prepared for the day, more realistic about the permanency of their job, and more resilient in response. They will also take advantage of valuable resources available, from psychological help and job-hunting strategies to legal advice on their rights. Employment today requires a new kind of savvy, one that is ready for the ever-present possibility of termination.
Who Can Get Fired
Fifteen to 20 years ago, Milwaukee employment attorney Jeff Hynes’ typical clients were hourly union workers who had been on their second warning for tardiness or absenteeism when they were fired. Nowadays, most clients are white-collar professionals.
“I’ve got a filing cabinet full of top performers,” he says from his office at Jeffrey S. Hynes & Associates, S.C. “I’ve had to adjust my whole practice to deal with people who’ve never had to deal with failing at anything in their life.”
As pointed out in the May 2005 Fortune magazine story “50 and Fired,” this country has seen “the demise of the safe, secure white-collar job.” Layoffs are increasingly a global phenomenon. Faced with stiff competition and intense financial pressures, companies are finding ways to outsource work, do more with fewer workers and more technology. Increasingly, nonprofit and government employers are following suit.
Often, the highest-paid workers are the most vulnerable. Circuit City made national headlines in February 2003 when it laid off 3,900 highly paid commissioned salespeople in one day, replacing them with newer, lower-paid hourly workers. Another wave of 3,400 hourly workers were laid off this year. A 2006 New York Times story noted the growing wave of laid-off men in their prime working years, many of whom have withdrawn from the workforce rather than stoop to work an hourly job beneath their abilities.
Many of Hynes’ clients got one bad performance review and then were kicked to the curb – after decades as outstanding performers. “They are the survivors of layoffs of the ’80s and ’90s,” he says, “and they’re now laid off themselves. The notion that hard work and loyalty will pay off is not always the case.”
Why are older employees suddenly vulnerable? “If there’s one thing that puts a target on people’s back, it’s age and health conditions,” Hynes says. Though age discrimination is illegal, it’s hard to prove, and most companies keep terminated employees from filing suit by attaching conditions to their severance agreements.
Companies don’t necessarily need a good reason to fire an employee, says employment and executive compensation attorney Laurel Bellows of the Chicago-based law firm Bellows & Bellows. “I could fire you because I don’t like you,” she notes – so long as the firing doesn’t involve discrimination or retaliation for whistle-blowing, and doesn’t violate company rules and regulations. Ultimately, the company doesn’t have to justify its choices to anyone.
Senior executives are particularly vulnerable: The average tenure for CEOs, CFOs and CIOs of public companies is between two and five years, according to some estimates. “Don’t count on the companies to take care of you anymore,” says one fired executive. “You really have got to look out for yourself.”
How it Happens
For attorney Lorna Granger, the ax fell over a dinner at Coquette Café. She thought she was there for a fine French bistro meal and to discuss the strengths of the lawyers she oversaw with Blue Cross’ new owners. But after the entrée, the Anthem counsel told Granger she would not survive the merger. “We didn’t stay for dessert,” she says with an ironic laugh. “I wasn’t happy at that moment.”
For a longtime customer service representative at Reiman Publications, chaos was the clue that bad news was imminent: She walked into work one day to a scene of employees in her 80-person department rushing to gather for an emergency meeting. As soon as the head honchos walked into the room, “my heart just sank,” she recalls. Everyone knew what was coming. “There were boxes of Kleenex all around the room.”
For human resources executive Sarah Oberhofer, the tip-off came when she began getting vague answers from her bosses. Suddenly, her questions were getting replies like “We’re not ready to talk about that right now.” When her superiors finally gave Oberhofer the straight news that she was being let go, it was almost a relief. “I was expecting it, so I wasn’t shocked at all. I thought, ‘OK, now I can go.’”
Handling the Emotional Impact
Shame is often the first reaction to a firing. “There is a tendency for people to think they were fired because of a deficit in themselves,” says Dr. Tim Levenhagen, a psychiatrist and medical director of Adult Services at Rogers Memorial’s Oconomowoc campus. “They tend to personalize it.”
“For many folks, their identity and self-esteem is wrapped up in their job,” he says. “Especially highly educated people who’ve achieved a lot. They don’t think of themselves as having to scramble and get a new job later in life. So it really rocks
their confidence.”
Employment attorney Hynes says many successful people who have been fired exhibit symptoms similar to post traumatic stress disorder. “They look and act like they’ve been through a war.”
The loss of a job can cause a cascade of problems, including financial challenges and loss of health benefits, which can quickly fuel a cycle of debt and despair. Yet a firing’s psychological effects can be profound even for people who don’t face financial hardship.
“People may go through a grief process that is similar to losing a loved one,” Levenhagen notes. “Any traumatic, unexpected loss can cause denial, shock, anger, hopelessness, disillusionment and depression.” Studies have shown the psychiatric effects may last upwards of two years even if a person finds a new job. “That sense of insecurity lingers,” says Levenhagen. “They’re a little more conservative, less creative.”
As one fired executive explains, “When it happens, you get a different feeling of what it means to work for a company. You’re loyal to your company, but if something better comes along, you’re going to take it, because if the situation were reversed, they would do the same.”
Experts say regular physical exercise, proper nutrition and maintaining some sort of structure can help ward off depression caused by a firing. “Structure is the biggest way to keep from being depressed,” says Bast. “That’s why support groups are so great.” Levenhagen recommends getting up, showering, and getting dressed just like you were going to work, to maintain readiness. And seeing a therapist can help confront negative feelings.
Lee Eisenstaedt, a longtime Racine resident laid off by a top Wisconsin company, says it’s important not to blame yourself for the firing. “Most people are let go because of lack of chemistry or a change in management, in philosophy, not because you weren’t good at what you do.” He found books that were helpful, such as When Smart People Fail. And he took advantage of the outplacement firm, Lee Hecht Harrison, provided as part of his severance.
Shame often leads those fired to keep quiet, or worse, to hole up and hide what has happened. Instead, experts say, it’s far better to tell everyone you know to increase the chance that word of mouth will lead to a job opportunity.
And meanwhile, try to remain patient. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” says Eisenstaedt, who ultimately relocated to take an executive position at RSM McGladrey in Minneapolis. “You get a call one day and you think this could be the one. And then they don’t call you back. … You can’t expect them to meet your deadlines.”
When Eisenstaedt got discouraged, he would stop searching for the day to avoid saying something he might regret. “I know guys who would stop for a week. It’s hard to get back to it.”
What if you’re offered a job that’s not really the one you want? Stay patient and wait for the right job to come along, or grab this one?
Levenhagen encourages people to be flexible about their expectations. For instance, he says, maybe they can take two part-time jobs rather than a full-time position. “I tend to tell people it’s good to be out there working if for no other reason than it helps them structure their day,” he says. “That’s from a psychiatric standpoint, not a career
counselor’s standpoint. It’s good for a person’s self-esteem.”
Though it can seem humiliating to take a job for which you’re overqualified, sometimes a little creativity can lead to positive results. Dennis Cherne, president of the 40+ of Southeastern Wisconsin job-seekers’ support group, took a seasonal part-time job at Best Buy for $9/hour after he lost his corporate development position at Trak International in 2001. A balding, upbeat man with a friendly smile, Cherne has been through so many layoffs, he seems a model for job resiliency. After 23 years at A.O. Smith, he “got a Merry Christmas” pink slip in December 1987. Six months later, he was hired by Brunswick, only to be terminated less than a year later. While at Best Buy, he also did consulting for Goodwill Industries, which helped him get his current job as director of commercial service at the Milwaukee Center for Independence.
He talked his way into the job after encountering some initial skepticism at the nonprofit organization. “They said ‘We can’t afford you,’” he recalls. “But I said, ‘Let’s see what I can do for you.’ I’ve been with them for one year now, and they can’t believe the kinds of changes I’ve brought in just the past six months.”
Severance Package Strategies
A severance package can cushion the blow of losing your job by providing a temporary paycheck and short-term continuation of benefits. Companies are under no legal requirement to provide this, yet many will offer anything from a week’s pay per year worked with the company to several years’ salary for high-level executives.
Why the generosity? “A severance package is like a big fat insurance package against litigation,” says Hynes, who serves as co-chair of the Wisconsin Employment Lawyers Association. “It lobotomizes the employees and forces them to say only good things about their employer.” Standard clauses like a waiver and release agreement are written into severance packages, whereby employees agree not to sue the company for wrongful termination, discrimination or any other reason.
Severance can also include a retention provision, which means employees won’t get severance if they leave before the company wants them to. And clauses such as non-competes, non-solicits and trade secret agreements can restrict terminated employees from working for a competitor, soliciting customers or employees from the employer, or divulging industry information. Such restrictions are becoming increasingly common across the country, says Chicago-based employment attorney Eugene Jacobs of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Some companies’ non-compete clauses now last a year or more, and cover the national or even global marketplace.
Because these non-competes can box people into a corner, many terminated execs are forced into early retirement. Others choose to switch industries or do something more entrepreneurial.
But employees may still choose the severance agreement to get the monetary payment, medical benefits and/or outplacement services (ranging from executive services to group-oriented job fairs and résumé-writing workshops). “It can be a win-win,” says Hynes. Yet it’s important to understand what you’re giving up in signing a severance agreement. Seeking legal assistance may be smart, especially for people in executive, management or sales positions.
“Too often these settlements are skewed in favor of the company,” says Hynes, “because it happens at an emotionally vulnerable time for the employee.”
For instance, he says, in more than 90 percent of cases, the employer gets the employee to sign confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses, while in only 25 percent of cases, the employee gets the same protections.
This “gag order,” says Hynes, often prevents the employee from disclosing the terms of the agreement to anyone, including fellow workers, the media, friends, even spouses, leading people to act “like Stepford Wives” at social gatherings, unable to say the least discouraging word about their former employer.
The waiver and release could also give up class-action rights, even in a pending case the employee didn’t know existed. “Occasionally, people say, ‘I’d rather have my rights,’” Hynes says. “My view is, unless you’ve got a slam-dunk lawsuit, take the sure thing. You can attempt to sweeten the package rather than roll the dice with a lawsuit.”
Experts say the best time to negotiate a severance package is while accepting a new job. At that point, you can try to negotiate for non-disparagement and confidentiality agreements to be mutual, getting a positive reference from the company, avoiding the most restrictive of non-compete clauses, negotiating the bonus for the year of termination, getting appropriate outplacement services, and protecting and maximizing stock, equity and profit sharing.
If you are still in a job and suspect a problem coming – you’re not getting along with a manager, you start getting bad performance reviews, or you’re being asked to meet unrealistic expectations – you should be checking in with a lawyer, even on a limited basis, for your own protection, says Bellows. For instance, it may be wise to file a written response to a bad performance review.
If you feel you’ve been wrongfully terminated as a result of discrimination (including factors such as age, race, religion or disability), you can file a claim with either the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If you are being retaliated against for whistle-blowing, contact the Department of Labor, the EEOC, or consult with a lawyer. And if the company didn’t follow its own rules and regulations in terminating you (available in a handbook through the human resource department), you may have a case as well. Time limits may apply, so act quickly.
Government Benefits
Whether you have a fat severance payment or are cut off without warning, all terminated employees should check if they are eligible for unemployment insurance. This is available through the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (www.dwd.state.wi.us),generally for a maximum of six months if you qualify for full benefits. Weekly benefits range from $53 to $355, depending on wages earned, and you must file for the check each week by calling or filing online (800-822-5246 or ucclaim-wi.org). You should file the first week you are unemployed to avoid a loss of benefits. Exceptions include people fired for misconduct. If there is a dispute about the reason for termination, there is an appeal process.
The food stamp program is now called Food Share Wisconsin. Information about eligibility and applying for benefits is found through the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
(dhfs.wisconsin.gov).
Networking
In the cold, cruel modern workplace, everyone should prepare for a possible firing, no matter how safe your job seems. Try to save money. Make sure your skills are marketable and applicable to other industries. And the most important thing: Build up a positive network of people in case you lose your job.
While federal law requires a company to give workers 60 days’ notice for large-scale terminations, sometimes a worker will be told to leave the premises immediately, without being able to retrieve any information from his or her computer. So it’s a good idea to maintain a separate address book or database of contacts at home.
“I can’t stress enough the benefits of networking,” says Oberhofer, who says a personal connection helped her get her foot in the door at RBC Dain Rauscher.
“When people lose their position, they’re embarrassed and don’t want to tell people. You should call everyone you know. You never know what door will open.”
Attorney Granger became a networking success story without ever having planned it. After she was let go as general counsel for Blue Cross, she decided to approach ProHealth Care, which had been a client before her time at Blue Cross, when she was in private practice with Michael Best & Friedrich.
During her previous work with ProHealth, she had left that relationship on good terms, and the company remembered. They didn’t even have an in-house counsel, but when Granger approached them about the possibility, they decided to give it a try. “It’s all about never closing doors,” she says. “It’s good business sense in addition to being good human conduct.”
Networking can also help if you’ve been fired for performance reasons and need recommendations to overcome that fact. A personal referral can go a long way toward even getting an interview, notes Bast.
Eisenstaedt, an executive who networked with more than 300 people in the 13 months it took him to find a new job, says this is no time to be shy. “You’re going to get much more help from strangers than friends.”
As for making cold calls to companies, he says that it’s never comfortable but gets easier with practice. “It’s like calling up a girl for a date. Seven to eight times out of 10, I’d get an appointment.”
Job Hunting
In addition to networking, the savvy job-seeker should be researching jobs through Internet search sites (such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Milwaukeejobs.com),newspaper classifieds, business and industry publications and membership associations. “You need to be doing everything,” says Oberhofer.
Yet large Internet job sites can get flooded with applicants, cautions Thomas Bachhuber, director of UW-Milwaukee’s Career Development Center. “The hidden job market is the best way to go,” he notes. It’s smart to directly approach companies you might want to work for, even if they don’t have a posted opening.
Outplacement services may be provided to you as part of a severance package, which include the opportunity to network and meet one-on-one with counselors to critique your résuméand offer emotional support. And the state Department of Workforce Development offers free services through its Job Centers (wisconsinjobcenter.org), including information on job openings, résuméwriting, assistance with interviewing skills, career guidance and job-search tips.
Another resource: Many college career centers offer services to alumni. UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University both hired alumni career counselors in the past few years, and UWM began offering an online career transition course through the School of Continuing Education. Try your alma mater, even if it’s out of town. With electronic communication, geography is not a boundary anymore. And your fellow alumni may want to help you.
“People have a loyalty to their institution,” says Linda Conklin, manager of Alumni Career Services at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, one of the flagship programs of its kind. “The fact that I’ve got 5,500 alumni volunteers willing to talk to complete strangers speaks to that.”
Career counselors are up to date on job-hunting strategies and best practices. “The way to obtain a position has changed dramatically over the past 10 to 15 years,” says Greg Krejci, career services director for UWM’s business school career center. “Sending a résuméthrough the post office, that might not get you a job.”
The job application process has moved online in many instances. Applicants are asked to e-mail their résuméor go to a corporate Web site. “The initial recruiting process is probably more impersonal than it used to be,” Krejci says. “It’s also faster, and easier to transmit résumésamong people.”
Krejci has been with the UWM center for 11 years, and before that, he worked in personnel in the private sector doing college recruiting. He’s seen a definite change in attitude among graduates entering the work force. “They see so many people laid off these days that young people are not entering the workplace with a sense of loyalty,” he says.
The flip side is true as well, Krejci adds: “Employers used to say, ‘I need someone who will develop.’ Now there are some like that, but there are many who say ‘I hope they’ll be here five years.’”
Does this mean the old-school corporate culture is dead? Perhaps. The smart employee should be prepared for anything.
After Rock Bottom
Today, Linda Harrison looks like she has been through hell. Clothes hang off her body, evidence of the 30 pounds she lost. Bald patches dot her head, reminders of where the doctors shaved her during treatment for the subcranial hemorrhages. Yet she still has a sense of humor and a resilient spirit. “I’m so fortunate to be alive,”
she says.
After spending a month in the hospital this past spring, the worst may be behind her. She is working with a social worker and has applied for Medicaid and disability benefits. While she doesn’t blame herself for losing her job, she’s not sure she’ll ever work again. Her life, she concedes, is a warning to any employee to be prepared for a firing. It could happen to you.
Legal Resources
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division. www.dwd.state.wi.us/er/.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
eeoc.gov.
National Employment Lawyers Association,415-296-7629, nela.org.
Wisconsin Employment Lawyers Association, contact attorney Jeffrey S. Hynes, 414-774-2920, hyneslawfirm.com.
Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Inc., 414-727-5300, lasmilwaukee.com.Starting in October, provides free legal help on unemployment compensation hearings and some discrimination claims for people who meet income guidelines.
Black and Blue
Layoffs have haunted the life of Jeffrey Speller. After working as a manager with Tower Automotive for two years in the late 1990s, Speller recalls being told, “Jeff, your next assignment is to find another assignment outside of the company.” (Tower officials didn’t respond to requests for a comment.)
A few years later, at GE Medical Systems (now GE Healthcare), he was told he didn’t fit in with the GE culture.
An engineer with more than 15 years of manufacturing and supply-chain business leadership experience, Speller has lost his job multiple times as manufacturing companies have closed plants and moved operations elsewhere. Yet he suspects his job troubles also came from not fitting into the “good old boy’s club.”
“I am not allowed to make a mistake, whereas my white counterparts are,” says the African-American 48-year-old. “Even the perception of a mistake on my part can be catastrophic.”
Spelling says that he was uncomfortable with certain corporate practices, such as when managers had to rank all the workers that reported to them with a mandatory bell-curve distribution, 10 percent at the top, 10 percent at the bottom, and the rest in the middle. He was also friendly with the blue-collar workers, regularly stopping to talk to them each morning, something the other managers did not do. And at one job, he was asked to fire someone, but refused.
In 2002, he got a job as Wisconsin’s service general manager for Sears Product Repair Services, yet was let go 14 months later when his district was consolidated with the northern Chicago region. He began working as an independent business consultant and a subcontractor for an information technology support firm, all while continuing to apply for jobs.
Last summer, he had a series of six interviews for a district manager of distribution position with Target Corp. in Oconomowoc. Yet after returning from what he felt was a promising interview, he got an e-mail telling him that the company didn’t have a job that would fit with his qualifications. “This is an automatically generated e-mail,” it read. “Do not respond.” He suspects the company did a credit check on him (Target did not respond to a reporter’s questions), and since he’s not been in a salaried position for several years, he knows his credit is poor. “How is an unemployed person supposed to have good credit?” he asks, insisting his credit doesn’t reflect his ability to function as a fiscally
responsible manager. “I’ve managed $200 million budgets, and exceeded revenue-generation targets every year.”
He has continued to pursue professional development and networking opportunities, like the Associates in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) program at Marquette University, which aims to help minorities pursue professional careers in commercial real estate.
In some ways, he says he’s lucky. He’s been in outplacement firms with people whose wives have left them after they lost their jobs. “For 25 years of marriage,” he says, “my wife has been by my side.”
Speller does his best to be philosophical about his troubles.
“The world of manufacturing I grew up in doesn’t exist anymore,” he notes. “A lot of plants have moved out of this area.” Yet he also believes Milwaukee falls short in the hiring and retention of African-Americans. He’s concerned about his sons, 17 and 22, who watched their father go through a number of job losses, even though he worked hard and has a college degree in electrical engineering. Because of his sons, he’s all the more determined to not give up.
“I choose to be philosophically positive,” he says. “I want them to see their father get up when knocked down.”
Changing Careers
The sun was shining on the day that Carolyn Kott Washburne, then 39, was laid off from her position as a social worker. “I walked out into this dazzling, bright day,” she recalls, “and I thought, ‘Now I can be a writer.’”
It wasn’t easy. She was a single parent and lived off unemployment for six months while, as she puts it, “I wrote my little buns off.” To make ends meet, she took a part-time legal secretary job, where she had to make coffee for people who called her “Hon.” But she gradually built up expertise and business, becoming a nationally published freelance writer and part-time instructor at UWM. Her business, Washburne Literary Services, handles everything from marketing, communications and news releases to editing and ghost writing. In 24 years, she’s never missed a mortgage payment.
“It never crossed my mind to get another job as a social worker,” she says. “I probably should have been a writer from the beginning.”
This change of heart is not uncommon. Job loss can be devastating, but can have a silver lining. “It’s a prime opportunity to take a look at your life,” says Diane Bast, a 47-year old career counselor and therapist.
North Shore resident Sarah Oberhofer, who lost her job in human resources at 49, decided to pursue a career as a financial consultant. Though she had to study for
exams and work hard to build up her client base, she found the change exhilarating.
“I believe all things happen for a reason,” she says from her office at RBC Dain Rauscher in a high-rise downtown building, the glass walls overlooking Red Arrow Park. Photos of her kids and neat piles of papers and files sit on her dark maple desk.
“I wasn’t angry or bitter. I looked at the situation as an opportunity. I know it’s up to me now to be successful.”
Networking and Job Seekers’ Groups
Department of Workforce Development.Government-run job centers provide free help at locations throughout the state. To find the nearest one, visit wisconsinjobcenter.org/directory/, or call 888-258-9966.
Dr. William Needler Job Forum (40+ of Southeastern WI). Meets every Wednesday at different locations around town. 262-783-1810, 40pluswi.org.
Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, greater Milwaukee chapter. Aims to help cultivate the next generation of nonprofit leaders through networking and educational events. ynpn.blogspot.com.
Financial Executives International, Milwaukee chapter.Fee-based group with regular networking meetings.
fei.org.
FUEL Milwaukee (formerly the Young Professionals of Milwaukee).An initiative of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Regular events provide opportunities to network and “spread the Milwaukee love.” fuelmilwaukee.org.
Family Values
Ralph Beck turned down a position as a regional director of product development with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio after the company’s consolidation eliminated his Milwaukee job in January 2006. The Ohio offer was very tempting, and a big step up. He would have been supervising operations in five to six states, and he was told that in two years, he could be a vice president. He wanted the job.
But his wife saw it differently. This would have been the family’s third relocation in seven years and would have been hard on their kids, who are 10 and 13. And she asked him, “What if they reorganize again? What would you do?”
Beck ultimately didn’t take the job, and in hindsight, it was for the best. The company did reorganize again, so Beck may have been displaced or reorganized several times by now. Instead, he went back to the job market and is now director of employee benefits at Maritime Insurance Group in Sheboygan.
A Singapore native in his mid-40s who met his wife, a Wisconsin native, while attending UW-Eau Claire, Beck has been in the insurance industry for 17 years. But he has been careful to develop skills he can apply to other, complementary industries in case another layoff comes. “When your company grows, you become a potential target for acquisition,” he says.
“The world has really changed,” Beck concludes, “and I don’t take any job for granted anymore.”
Milwaukee Magazine contributing editor Julie Sensat Waldren can be reached at julie.waldren@milwaukeemagazine.com.
