Commentary—

2009… And Unemployed In America

By Peter McCarthy

 My brain-clock was functioning too well. Before 5:30 am, it was time to get up. Yeah, get up for what?

Without a job for four weeks, the purpose of getting up had become more a habit than a real necessity. In the basement, the dumbbells rung with a slight “ting” as they rose above my head and crisscrossed past my sternum in rhythmic sequences to my almost out loud counting. This was my way to get a start on a day which was likely to be a clone of yesterday.

After the morning workout, there was a small moment to meditate, write out some messages for my do-to list, check the weather and head for the shower. Wow, 6:47…in my normal day I would have done almost an hour of work. Reading the mail, checking the emails for new opportunities to bid a project, cost-coding the construction foremen’s reports from the day before, and getting the next project ready to bid. In the shower, this yesterday became a hundred miles away from now and seemingly even further considering the present construction market.

 Several years ago, I left a large mid-Atlantic construction company. Head hunters told me that with my resume, I could find work in construction estimating in New England. With a move to the proper company, my salary would increase drastically. The negotiations seemed to go on for weeks. I finally decided to go to a smaller firm that was gearing up for a larger share of the market. There was the possibility of having my own department in short order.

Thanks to my wonderful wife, the move was arranged and done. The moment that I was in my new position, it was apparent that my new company was not as professional as I expected it to be. Even though the new firm was growing, there was always a shortage of money even though we had a large number of contracts. The people to whom I had to report were so new to their position, their managerial skills were lost taking care of the new persons coming into their department. Too often they did not communicate enough to understand the strengths of the new people in their division. Too much politics, too many lost efforts. Another potentially thriving company lost to the “growing addiction.”

Over the next several years, I was employed by companies that too often were the vehicle of dedicated owners all trying to be the rich men with only a small company income.

“Why don’t you tell them what they are doing to their business?” someone usually asked me.

“Sometimes you can’t save somebody from themselves.”

So here I stand, shampooed, showered, and shaved. Did I use too much after-shave today ? Why am I dressing in such good clothes? Everything that I am so used to doing for propriety’s sake now comes down to how much money did I spend today? Soon after leaving the shower, I am back in front of the computer where I visit and revisit all of the special places which seem to have opportunities for Civil Project Manager….Civil Estimating Jobs… Site Development PM … By making the best sites my focus and sending resumes to anything that I could qualify for, the days pass. Filing out the special forms for each site and each contractor quite often takes me until around 5 pm. By then, my energy is gone. My goodness, I say to myself. What is it about this resume that doesn’t get results ? Thirty-six years of site management, experience in several forms of special format estimating programs, experience in several forms of earthwork take-off, several years as a bridge project manager, experience in piling work, paving work, concrete work …What is wrong here ?

 I don’t know what is wrong. There does seem to be an intense appreciation of greed in the American marketplace perhaps starting in the late eighties. Too many CEOs and their direct-reports seem to have a “what did the last 30 days bring us?” attitude as opposed to “where is our business going?” The greed seemed to be compounded by the manner in which we allowed jobs and profits to be sent elsewhere without regard to the long-term effects of that. If we outsource our radio supply for a car to an non-USA subcontractor, soon the folks we employed to build the radios don’t have jobs and can’t buy our car. Simple enough. In the pursuit of profits, we sent jobs, technical assistance, research and development, and compartmental assembly out the door to whomever so that we could to make more profits. In a world market economy, we may have used other ways to cut our costs to competition levels.

So here I am, tied to my computer hoping that the 83rd resume does in fact bring a request for an interview. So many folks…paid the bills…put equity into their houses…abided by the American way of life. Now, foreclosures, loss of longtime jobs, and failure... not by the decisions of the individual. What is wrong? We let profits stand for progress. We believed the politicians about where this added profit was supposed to go (“into new job-producing companies”). We now have to look around and see that we are unemployed with a resume that should get a position in most markets. We are unemployed and no sight of any help to get us a job. We are unemployed and where is the money going to come from to pay my bills?

 Tomorrow... 5:30 am will come soon enough. My weights are waiting for me in the basement. At least for now, most of the bills are as paid as they can be. Tomorrow the endorphins are going to make me feel better about a chance of a job. Tomorrow... Where the dickens will I be tomorrow ?

(Peter McCarthy’s job search continues from his home on Hanover Road in Newtown.)