This time, recession hits white-collar workforce

Sonya Fitzpatrick was planning to buy a house before she got laid off in October 2001 as an advertising and marketing executive. Instead, she and her 3-year-old son are living with her mother, and Fitzpatrick, whose unemployment benefits ran out in August, has taken an internship as a business manager for the Chicago Board of Education–earning $20,000 less pay with no benefits.

“I have absolutely no health insurance. I’ve just been blessed not to get sick and have to go to the doctor,” said Fitzpatrick, 33, who hopes the internship will lead to a new career.

Just two years ago, employers had to offer signing bonuses, competitive salaries and generous benefits to lure college-educated professionals. Today, it’s an employer’s market. Jobs are scarce, and countless displaced white-collar workers are adjusting their career goals. Some are willing to take whatever they can get.

“It may not be, in terms of career paths, the best decision, but it may be the only decision for many people,” said Heather Boushey, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. “A lot of folks have been unable to find jobs in the occupations they left. For most households, remaining out of the labor force is not an option for an extended period.”

The re-employment rate among white-collar workers is significantly lower than it was following the downturn of the early 1990s, Boushey said. A biennial survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of displaced professional workers between January 1999 and 2001 found that out of 739,000 surveyed, only 461,000, or 62.4 percent, were re-employed in the same occupations they had left.

“The relatively low unemployment rate (5.7 percent in September) is masking underlying difficulties some people are having,” Boushey said.

As job leads turn cold and savings dry up, many job seekers are looking at different careers, said Norma Williams-Marshall, president and CEO of NJW & Associates Strategic Staffing Solutions in Chicago.

“I see (job seekers) willing to make a career change. They’re also being extremely flexible. I think they are greatly compromising their salary requirements,” Williams-Marshall said. “There aren’t as many jobs.”

Hiring and job creation is forecast to remain stagnant at least through the middle of next year. In the current environment, a single job listing might attract hundreds–even thousands–of applicants.

“I receive about 4,000 resumes a month just for management positions,” said Heidi Martin-Gilanfar, vice president of recruiting for The Cheesecake Factory, which has 57 restaurants nationwide. “My recruiting costs are way down. We’re getting a great, great flow” of applicants.

The quality of applicants also has increased, including some MBAs, she said. But Cheesecake requires that managers have at least two years’ restaurant experience.

“They’re going to have to start entry-level. We promote from within. They can’t just come in with an MBA and start as a manager,” Martin-Gilanfar said.

On the flip side, unemployed professionals desperate to pay bills may be rejected for even the most menial jobs because they are “overqualified.”

“I don’t think this position will be very challenging for you,” mimicked Eric Harrell, 32, of Chicago, who earned a master’s of science degree in media management from Boston University in May 2001.

After being rejected by RadioShack and Kmart, Harrell was hired as a sales associate for Carson Pirie Scott in the Ford City Shopping Center. He recently marked his one-year anniversary there.

“I’ve unfortunately begun to despise my master’s degree,” Harrell said.

Employers tend to shy away from overqualified candidates because they believe they’ll move on as soon as things get better, said Lenore Erickson, a human resources consultant in Chicago.

In some cases, rejection might be for the job seeker’s own good.

“It’s not so much the money. They get frustrated with the job. They know they could be doing more. They could be in their boss’ job,” Erickson said.

The tricky part, she tells clients, is not to exclude applicants who truly want a career change or who have been in higher-level positions but don’t want that anymore.

Stacy Dunn, 35, of Chicago was laid off in May as an engineer for Qwest Communications, a telecommunications company, the day she returned from unpaid maternity leave. She took a $50,000 pay cut to work as a contract procurement management for Sears in Hoffman Estates but says her new job fits her lifestyle.

“The industry I came from was for people in their early to mid-20s. Their perspective on what to do after work is different from someone who is 35 like me. I need to be out of here and see my husband and baby,” Dunn said.

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Many workers are simply biding their time in low-paying jobs until things get better and swallowing their pride.

When Doug Lage’s plans to become a high-paid commodities trader fell through in June after he was laid off as a clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he moved back to the St. Louis area to live with family. Since July, he has been waiting tables at Yia Yia’s, a posh suburban restaurant, and saving money.

“I felt like I was giving up. I wanted to do it on my own,” said Lage, 26, who quit a good-paying job at a Chicago freight company in January to learn the ropes as a low-paid clerk at the Mercantile Exchange. He took a huge pay cut but considered it a temporary sacrifice for longterm gain.

Lage has put his big-money dreams on hold. He said he wants his next career to involve fewer risks. These days Lage, who has degrees in economics and English, is cultivating his writing talent.

“I’m writing short stories now,” he said. “I’m not actively looking. I’ve taken the stress off myself.”