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player ready...Adaptability. Flexibility. Rolling with the punches. Settling for less.
These are the personal characteristics that will get you through today’s uncertain job market, according to Antoinette C. Ewing, clinical section administrator for general pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Chicago.
And she should know:
She’s been there, done that–and emerged on top.
In 1990–also a time of rising unemployment–Ewing was laid off from the University of Chicago, where she had worked for 14 years.
“It was the first time I had ever lost a job, and I was stunned,” Ewing said. “I had been part of a financial team so I had a sense of impending doom and had job feelers out–but there was nothing available.”
She also was held back by a lack of academic credentials. One of the things she knew she could do was to complete her undergraduate work.
“I wasn’t being considered for certain positions I felt I was well-qualified for because of my lack of a degree,” she said. “Employers wouldn’t consider life experience–which I had a considerable amount of. So I enrolled in college while unemployed and got my bachelor’s degree in organization management in 1992.”
She continued to apply for jobs at the university because it is, she says, “an excellent employer.” And during one of her interviews there, she learned an important lesson.
“I poured my heart out, with all the attendant pain and anger, to a human resource person who suggested I had a chip on my shoulder and had to revamp my behavior,” said Ewing. “I asked her what was I supposed to do, become a cheerleader? She said yes, to become a cheerleader for myself.”
After that meeting, Ewing said, “I went into each interview with an upbeat attitude, knowing I was well-qualified, enthusiastic and could do the job.”
It still took her a few months but she finally got a job as a secretary. She previously had been an administrator and her new job paid only two-thirds of her former salary. “It was a job,” Ewing said. “It helped me pay the bills and rebuild my self-esteem, which was badly damaged from almost nine months of unemployment.”
But she continued to apply for work at the university and in 1991 was re-hired. “I was glad to get back, even though the job was totally different from my previous one here,” said Ewing.
Because she was so adaptable, she worked for various departments doing a variety of jobs. “It took time to bring my salary up to the level it was at when I was laid off, but I did so in 1995 and have well surpassed it.”
She was promoted to her present job, which includes handling faculty appointments, research grants and community outreach programs, in 1998. Her office is in the University’s Children’s Hospital and four people report to her.
“I was ecstatic because it was several salary grades higher and I have more responsibility, authority and opportunities,” Ewing said.
Still, she remembers what it is like to be jobless.
“Never give up,” she advises. “Never doubt your self-worth. Don’t get despondent. There is work out there. There are opportunities out there. And you’ll find yours.”
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Carol Kleiman’s column also appears in Tuesday’s Business and Wednesday’s Working sections. Watch her Career Coach segments Sunday and Tuesday mornings on CLTV. Send e-mail to [email protected].