by Elaine Durbach
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

August 20, 2009

While economists warn that unemployment is still likely to worsen, those facing the hard task of finding new jobs report a glimmer of improvement. At an Aug. 17 seminar for job seekers in Elizabeth, a number of the 16 participants said the market in their particular field has begun to open up.

That was the feeling of a man looking for work in the financial services industry, and of a woman who was in commercial lending and is now exploring the nonprofit world. Others in areas like information technology, title insurance, and home furnishings said prospects “aren’t great,” but they agreed that in a time of extraordinary change, there are also new opportunities opening up.

The gathering was the first of a weekly series of workshops and networking events for job seekers hosted by the Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey, as part of an economic assistance program funded by the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey.

Social worker Carol Einhorn and career specialist Sheri Brown will be holding the events on Monday mornings from 10 until noon at JFS headquarters in Elizabeth, and on Wednesday evenings from 7 until 9 at the JCC of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains; they also offer one-on-one counseling. All are welcome, and the events — like the counseling — are free.

‘Selling: society’s lubrication’

At this first event, sales trainer Gene McLoughlin welcomed any signs of optimism in his audience.

“Attitude is everything,” he told the attendees. “If you can’t get excited about you, how are you going to get anyone else excited about you? You are what you think of yourself.”

McLoughlin, president of the McLoughlin Advisory Group, urged the participants to sell themselves the same way they would sell a product they are passionate about. Selling, he said, “is the lubrication of our society” and with the right approach they would sell themselves “into their next job — a better job” than the one they lost.

One person said that he was embarrassed by the number of jobs he has had in the past few years. McLoughlin said there is no longer any stigma attached to such a resume, with so many people out of work or changing jobs. But if they don’t want to be out of a job again in two years, he urged the participants to focus their efforts, to do careful research and planning, and to take time to decide what they most enjoy doing, what they do best, what they should do, and then, what they will do.

Boris “Dov” Kogan of Elizabeth echoed a theme mentioned by a number of people. Kogan, who emigrated from Moscow in 1981, has been out of work for a few months. He is looking for work in which he can use his skills and experience in information technology and documentation, graphic arts, and/or Russian-English translation. He would like to teach history, but that would require taking the GRE — Graduate Record Examination — which, despite his abilities, he has found difficult to pass.

He said that as concerned as he is about income, the time he has spent unemployed has had its benefits. He and his wife, who is a school psychologist, have four children, the youngest of whom is two.

“I’ve had time to spend with my little one, so it hasn’t been wasted time,” Kogan said. “Actually, with each of the four, I’ve been out of work for a while, and it’s given me a chance to get to know them, and to really bond with each child.”

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