Jerome Wszalek was head of Tata Consultancy Services' training center when the company closed the Buffalo operation earlier this year.
But Wszalek is not the type to sit around and wait for another opportunity to pop up. He is actively networking, making contacts and chasing down job leads, aiming to build on what his resume offers.
"It's meeting the right people so that the piece of paper has a personality to it," Wszalek said.
The same goes for the 20 or so other unemployed professionals whom Wszalek joins for a weekly meeting at the Erie County Community College One Stop Center in Orchard Park.
They have a common desire: to get a job in a tough labor market, where even people with lots of experience in leadership roles are struggling to get hired. Buffalo Niagara's unemployment rate in September was 8.4 percent, according to the state Department of Labor.
The group is known as Professional Organizational Development, or POD, tailored to high-level unemployed professionals. The members have backgrounds in sales, manufacturing and information technology, to name a few fields. (A similar group meets downtown at the Buffalo Employment and Training Center.)
The members use their weekly meetings at the Orchard Park site, which began about two months ago, to trade ideas for uncovering job openings and stories about their efforts. They also like the camaraderie, connecting with people who instinctively relate to their experiences.
"If you're going through this by yourself, that's the worst possible thing," said Susan Lerczak, a group member.
When someone brings cookies to the meetings, it is a good sign. It means that person has found a job or won an award, and the members celebrate each other's successes, giving them a collective sense of hope. Wszalek, for instance, recently learned he was named winner of an alumnus of the year award from Hilbert College.
The group members have channelled their knowledge and energy in a unique way, by creating a Web site,
www.wnyexecutivecandidates.com, to promote themselves.
The site contains links to each of their resumes. A prospective employer can also type in keywords, such as "service," to zero in on people with specific skills.
The group did not stop there. They created a list of major employers that they want to market the site to. Business services specialists who assist the group will visit those companies and make a presentation about the site, urging them to consider the candidates on it. Group members are also having business cards printed up that they can hand out to promote the site.
Leading the discussions at the weekly meetings at the ECC One Stop Center is Robert Durante of the Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Development Consortium.
Durante said he wanted this to be more than just a networking group. A project like the Web site puts the POD members' ideas to work and gives them a direct hand in the job search, he said.
"I think these are very highly talented, highly qualified individuals who would bring a lot to an organization," he said.
John Slenker, a regional economist for the state Labor Department, said groups such as POD play a important role both in uncovering job prospects and providing a support network.
"The higher level of skills you have, the less likely you are to become unemployed," Slenker said. "So when you become unemployed, it really shocks you." Groups like this, he said, reinforce the message that they are not alone and should not get discouraged.
Nationally, the jobless rate for managers and professionals in September was 5.2 percent, lower than the 9.8 percent overall rate but up from 2.8 percent a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the POD meetings, Durante offers the group members job-hunting suggestions, along with some perspective.
Don't take a layoff personally, he tells them. And don't feel overwhelmed by the larger economic picture of Western New York. "How many jobs do you need? One."
The quest for that one job unfolds in a variety of ways. Checking for job postings online is one method, and many employers accept applications only electronically.
Using Web sites such as LinkedIn creates social networks that can uncover other openings, Durante said. But he urged the group members to think beyond the computer, as well, since many jobs are not advertised.
Billy Heywood, an unemployed sales executive who lives in Orchard Park, has taken that approach. "I contacted everyone I knew," he said. "I dug deep. I was dealing with people I haven't seen since college."
Networking with professional groups and volunteering with organizations also build contacts, Durante said. "You're taking control of the process. You're not sitting and waiting for an ad to appear."
Lerczak, a Snyder resident, has been a volunteer for seven years with Ten Lives Club, a nonprofit cat rescue and shelter adoption group. She recently spearheaded an adoption event that also involved other organizations.
Lerczak's fellow volunteers at Ten Lives Club know about her job search, and they have seen her work ethic and abilities firsthand. They have copies of Lerczak's resume and became an extension of her job search, looking for opportunities that might be a fit for her.
Don't hesitate to spread the word you are unemployed and searching for a job, Lerczak said. "You never know where those leads are going to come from, and you can't be embarrassed about being unemployed."
Lerczak had business cards printed with her contact information. The card identifies her as a senior analyst, with experience in market research, competitive intelligence and
project management.
Lerczak and other unemployed professionals say volunteering is valuable for a few reasons. Not only is the work rewarding, volunteering helps build connections that could lead to a job and bolsters the resume while the job search is under way.
Lerczak spent 27 years with Fisher-Price before she was laid off last year. Now she has a tentative job offer from a government agency. "I'm thrilled to have the opportunity just to get back to work and back into the work force," she said.
Amid all the job-search advice dispensed at the meetings, one quality keeps coming up in the discussion: keeping a positive attitude. Durante said that attribute serves the group members well.
"They're very resilient," he said. "That's a good professional skill to have."
e-mail:
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