[Not] Finding A Job in Pittsburgh

My Experience with Pennsylvania Careerlink

2008-03-04T14:30:00.013-05:00

I was under the impression that Pennsylvania wanted to keep its educated workforce from moving to states with better economies.

Apparently I was mistaken.

Here's the letter I sent to a few of our elected officials today regarding my experience with Pennsylvania Careerlink/Pennsylvania Workforce Development officials.

Grab a cup of coffee -- it's a long one.

* * *

Let me see if I have this right: The U.S. economy is in a tailspin, unemployment in America is on the rise, and the United States is either in or about to slide into a recession.

So maybe you can tell me -- an Allegheny County resident who’s been unemployed for TWO years:

Why, over the last five months, have I had to BEG Pennsylvania Careerlink (to no avail) for the job training assistance I need to become re-employed, while at the same time…

43 unemployed college graduates in Pennsylvania -- a whopping 39 of them in Berks County alone -- receive $8,000 each in federal job retraining money toward their masters degrees?

Worse, last year approximately 659 unemployed Southwestern Pennsylvanians received state/federal job training assistance. Of that number, a full 40 percent -- almost half -- of these individuals either did not complete training or were unemployed 9 months later.

Why then, am I -- a motivated, focused unemployed Pennsylvanian who has done the necessary legwork toward being re-employed in a lucrative and high-demand field -- being denied the job training assistance I need?

It’s been five months since I contacted Careerlink about job training assistance. The retail sales job I took at Christmas has long since ended.

Here are the reasons I’m being given as to why I’m being denied job retraining assistance:

At the Careerlink office in Forest Hills, James Hann, supervisor of Intensive and Training Services, told me “there’s no money for job training for unemployed Pennsylvanians with college degrees,” which is obviously not true -- just ask the 43 people getting their master‘s degrees with Workforce Investment Act dollars.

Jim Hann opined I should have NO problem finding a job in Western Pennsylvania and offered me only Careerlink Intensive Services program, which includes offerings such as GED training, job hunt workshops and job counseling.

[I’ve done considerable career research on my own; my job-hunting Website features my résumé and samples of my work; and my blog (http://findingajobinpittsburgh.blogspot.com/) details the innovative ways I’ve tried to find a job in the Pittsburgh area. The steps I’ve taken on my own to find a job are far beyond what Careerlink Intensive Services can offer me.]

After I told James Hann that job training assistance would help me more than Careerlink Intensive Services, Mr. Hann turned the matter over to his boss, Dan Hiwiller.

Mr. Hiwiller also refused me retraining assistance, citing the ‘extraordinary costs‘ associated with teaching job skills to an eligible job seeker. But obviously none of the 43 Pennsylvanians getting their masters degrees with $8,000 each in WIA dollars were denied retraining funds due to ’extraordinary costs’.

I approached Careerlink five months ago, in November 2007, with a plan for innovative subsidized On-the-Job Training in the high-paying and fast-growing field of Internet Marketing. I even presented Careerlink officials with data on earnings and projected growth in this field: (http://www.talentzoo.com/interactivesalaryreport.pdf)

I proposed an OJT because NONE of Pennsylvania’s Certified TAA/WIA Training Programs/Providers offer training in this lucrative and expanding field.

I didn’t care which local Internet marketing firm I worked with; I just knew that such an on-the-job training program would get back me into the workforce AND given me the technological skills I need.

But Dan Hiwiller nixed my innovative OJT proposal. In addition to citing the ’extraordinary costs’ (see above), Mr. Hiwiller also said that I would have to WAIT for an employer to approach Careerlink to set up an Internet Marketing OJT program.

The fact is, in today’s economy, employers are not going to contact Careerlink to set up an OJT in Internet Marketing.

Employers can -- and will -- hire people right out of school or from other states who have the skills they want.

Further, why would ANY employer go through the hassle -- and it is a hassle -- of setting up an OJT with Careerlink unless there was a considerable incentive for them to do so?

This means that if I wait for an employer to approach Careerlink, I’m going to be waiting even longer than I already have been.

Growing increasingly frustrated with the response I received from the local Careerlink staff, I voiced my concerns to Christine Enright, Director of the Bureau of Workforce Development Partnerships in the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry in Harrisburg.

Ms. Enright, in her email to me, supported the decision of local Careerlink officials to deny me job training assistance.

Ms. Enright further justified the 43 unemployed Pennsylvanians getting their Master’s degrees with $8,000 each in WIA funds by stating that “each Local Workforce Investment Board establishes their own Individual Training Plan and On-the-Job Training (OJT) policies.”

Well, that’s pretty obvious -- and patently unfair.

So, depending on the Workforce Investment Area in which a Pennsylvania resident lives, an individual MAY get the training they need to become gainfully employed OR, like me, they may get NOTHING.

Which means that my request for job training assistance is denied, but in Berks County the unemployed get Master’s degrees on the taxpayer's dime.

In response to my concern about the large number of Berks County residents getting their Masters degrees with WIA dollars, Ms. Enright stated that “the Executive Director of the Berks County Workforce Investment Board stated that your information is not correct. No where near that number were funded. I believe he had 5 or maybe 8 get their masters degree.”

First off, it’s not MY data -- the information was taken directly from the Pennsylvania’s Workforce Development System Website.

Second, two weeks after Ms. Enright told me the data was supposed to be incorrect, Pennsylvania’s Workforce Development System Website STILL shows the same HUGE number of Berks County unemployed getting Master’s degree on the taxpayer’s dime.

Third, why are Berks County unemployed receiving Masters degrees at a rate anywhere from 3 to 12 times more than other unemployed Pennsylvanians?

I asked Ms. Enright to briefly detail the official procedure for determining who receives WIA job training assistance. But Ms. Enright stopped replying to my email messages almost two weeks ago.

In fact, I haven’t heard from her or anyone else at Careerlink or the state’s Workforce Development System since Feb 21 -- not even a ‘I’m working on an answer for you’ reply.

To add insult to injury, in Monroeville last week I ran into a male friend who graduated from Pitt five or six years ago and like me, is unemployed. Here’s what he said to me, when I asked how his job search was coming:

“I went to Careerlink’s downtown office last week and asked them about job training. They said they would test me, help me enroll, and then I would be all set.”

It sure doesn’t sound like my male friend had to BEG like a dog to get job retraining assistance.

Taking Inventory

2008-02-08T12:44:00.001-05:00

Let's see...it's mid-February. Let's see where things stand:

Right now I'm living with my father and his wife, an arrangement they're definitely not too thrilled with.
The part-time retail job I took at the mall at Christmas has ended. Business is so slow that the store manager was sending employees home; he certainly wasn't about to put me on the schedule.
I have no health insurance (the COBRA from my last job ended in October). Each day is a gamble; I hope my luck doesn't run out.
In between job hunting and looking for job networking and low-cost educational opportunities, I've been selling my personal items. It brings a few dollars in to help me pay my auto insurance and other bills.
My 10-year old car is a beater. It runs, more or less, but it looks like hell and sounds like a tank. In fact, I've taken to cutting the engine halfway down my street and coasting into the driveway when I come home from the library at night, to keep from waking my dad and stepmother.
I don't watch TV. I don't have the time for it, and besides, I think the cost for cable television/dish channels is obscene.
New clothes? Ha ha ha ha ha. Not likely.

I'm lucky, in many respects. My dad and his wife haven't put me out on the street -- yet. I don't have children, which would add a whole different element to the equation. When I got a flat tire last week, my brother came and got me (and his kids, we were coming home from a family event). And my dad drove me to the tire shop the next day so I could get a new tire for my car. (Dad didn't pay for the tire; he just played taxi.)

But still, I think to myself, this is nonsense. Why am I knocking myself out to get a job here? Why am I living hand-to-mouth here, when there are better opportunities in Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, Austin, Tx, Las Vegas -- even Columbus, Ohio.

You Need to Apply Online...

2008-02-08T02:21:00.000-05:00

Employers don't want paper resumes anymore, I was told. Most employers want potential hires to apply online.

I certainly don't have a problem with that -- especially since my resume and work samples are all online at my personal job-hunting Web site.

So I applied for jobs online, applying anywhere and everywhere I could think of.

I applied for more jobs at PNC that I can count. Even if the jobs were only remotely interesting, I applied for them. I even opened a checking account at PNC to improve my odds of getting a job.

I paid a visit to a restaurant owned by my brother's friend, Jon, a mid-level executive at PNC who has worked at the bank's corporate headquarters for 17 years, to personally ask him if I could list him as a referral on my applications. "Sure!" he said. "Great!" I thought.

But despite the many applications I filled out online at pnc.com, I didn't get a single phone call or e-mail reply.

Other organizations that I applied to include Heinz Foods, National City bank, Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Carlow College, Blattner-Brunner and many, many others.

So why didn't I try for a job with one of the Pittsburgh area's smaller businesses? Here's why: with a few notable exceptions, most smaller companies are behind the curve regarding technology. My two and a half years at my last job, a smaller Pittsburgh-area organization, left me without the skills I needed to compete in today's workforce.

I really don't want to play a constant game of catch-up for the rest of my life. I love education and I love learning, but I don't want to spend ALL of my free time online or in the classroom learning important job skills that I could -- and should -- be learning on the job.

Thinking Outside of the Box

2008-02-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

Over the last few days, I’ve been reflecting on some of the other ways I’ve tried to find a job here in the ‘burgh. Here's one; I'll share some others in a subsequent post.

I was pretty proud of this particular job hunting idea: the Financial Education Consortium of Southwestern Pennsylvania was holding a Financial Education Fair at the Convention Center downtown. It was free, so why not attend, do a little networking, make some connections?

I was excited, because my last job had been at one of Pittsburgh’s financial institutions, so I had the experience I needed.

True, it wasn’t a ‘traditional’ job fair, but frankly I hadn’t had any luck with those -- and besides, job hunters need to think outside of the box, right?

So, with a handful of personal business cards tucked into my wallet and small stack of resumes in my attaché, I headed for the Financial Education Fair. Stopping at each table, I schmoozed and networked and exchanged business cards with the representatives of the banks, nonprofit organizations and other entities that were in attendance.

At the end of the day, I left, cheered at the prospect of getting a new job.

I followed up with an email to each person from whom I had received a business card, briefly reiterating some of the issues we had discussed at the fair, and attached the link to my resume.

I never heard back from a single person.

Forbes Magazine on Pittsburgh's Job Market

2008-01-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

Last week, Forbes Magazine published its list of ‘Best Cities for Jobs in 2008’.

Taking into consideration cities' unemployment rank, median income rank, income growth rank, cost of living, and unemployment rank, Pittsburgh ranked a dismal 74th on the Forbes list.

That means that almost three quarters of cities in America are a better place than the Steel City to find a job.

Our city’s job growth rank is a particularly frightening 88. Out of the top 100 cities in America, almost 90 percent have better job growth than Pittsburgh.

Update

2008-01-26T17:20:00.003-05:00

It's been several months since I last updated this blog, primarily because I've been job-hunting -- in Pittsburgh and in other regions.

The truth is, I'm not particularly hopeful at my prospects for staying in the Western Pennsylvania region.

Since this is an update, here's what's happened since my last posting:

Ron Painter, head of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, finally replied to my email query -- 33 days after I initially contacted him.

He apologized for the delay (33 days??!!!) and explained in his email reply that the TRWIB dealt with the “macro” of the labor market – trends, data, budgets, and transitions.

Ron asked Margie Lubet, TRWIB communications manager, to contact me and share her insights about finding a job in communications. Unfortunately, her insights consisted mostly of her telling me about job-hunting Web sites that I already knew about.

She refused my offer to converse face-to-face, even though I said it wasn't a problem to travel downtown to meet her. I even offered to buy her lunch. No thank you, she said.

I ended the phone conversation with Ms. Lubet feeling like a complete pariah.

***

I hand-delivered a copy of my resume to state Sen. Sean Logan's office in Monroeville. Although Sen. Logan was not there, I held a brief conversation with the staff person in the Logan's office.

I asked her, "So, do you get a lot of résumés?"

Her reply was quite telling. "More than you would know."

***

I read in the newspaper that the Democratic Committee of Allegheny County was holding a pre-election rally in Harmarville. What a great opportunity to network!

One inside the banquet hall, I worked my way over to and introduced myself to the executive director of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.

I knew there were some difficult races coming up, so after some brief chit-chat, I explained that I was looking for work, but that I would be willing to volunteer on the campaign if he would help me get a job -- not a political job, just a job that paid a living wage -- after the elections were over.

We exchanged business cards and I followed up with an email to him that same evening.

I never heard from him again.

***

I would be remiss if I didn't include my favorite interaction.

In October, Ron Folino, candidate for Commonwealth Court, introduced himself at some political get-together at which I was in attendance. After some brief chit-chat, he asked me what I did for a living.

"Well, I've been job-hunting for a little more than a year. If I can't find a job soon, I'm going to have to move from Pittsburgh; I may end up in D.C."

"Oh!" he chirped. "Do you have any idea where in D.C. you're going to live?"

Was this guy THAT clueless?

"Um....I'm not sure," I stammered.

"Well, hey...I sure hope you stay in Pennsylvania long enough to vote for me!"

And with a quick handshake, he was off.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

2007-10-10T02:02:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to the wonderful people who have commented on my blog. One person's comments really resonated with me:

From Conway1:

I am in the same position as you. I relocated to Pittsburgh earlier this year after several years of experience in a major cosmopolitan city. Although I have a graduate degree, many years of experience, and cutting-edge tech skills for our field, my best offers have been for salaries in the $30s. Some observations on top of what is already in your blog:

* I was told by an employer that although many corporations and PR firms have left Pittsburgh over the last 20 years, many individuals have stayed behind to do freelance work. Obviously, this gums up the market on the demand side of the equation and depresses salaries and opportunities.

* An observation on PR/marketing/communications executives in Pittsburgh -- while I have been proactively building skills and experiences, almost every executive who has interviewed me has never left Pittsburgh and has been squatting at his/her company for 15 or 20 years. Their skills are at least five years behind and they don't demonstrate an understanding of larger trends happening in the world outside of SW PA. Somehow, someway, PIT still seems to allow sentiment and status quo to trump talent and intellectual ability.

I could share more, but I will be direct in how I feel about PGH: I love Western Pennsylvania and its people; however, that strength is also its weakness. Pittsburgh has not adapted and is not adapting to the rapidly changing global economy. I don't buy the sloganeering by politicians and economic development organizations. I know what I have experienced in and out of Pittsburgh and what I read in the media and blogs.

While I had expected that my background would get me a reasonably good job (I had adjusted my expectations ahead of time to PIT conditions), I greatly overestimated the health of Pittburgh's economy in regards to our field. I don't understand why the city keeps erecting taxpayer- and resource-draining sports stadiums when there is a clear shortfall in talent, opportunity, and other essentials needed in the 21st century global competition. Economically speaking, Pittsburgh is a backwater and people aren't willing to make the sacrifices to change that. That goes for the politicians and those who elect them.

Perhaps the best approach is indeed to go to another city and get Pittsburgh out of your mind for a while. Then, someday, perhaps you'll either catch lightning and get that rare, quality Pittsburgh job in our field or you'll find that there are a lot of other places and people out there that can make for a nice home as well.

There are many elements of this person's comments that I agree with.

When I relocated to Pittsburgh four years ago, I was astounded at the number of business professionals I met who had NEVER lived anywhere other than the Western Pennsylvania region. After high school, these individuals attended a local college -- Pitt, Duquesne or maybe WVU -- and then, upon graduation, obtained a job at at XYZ Corporation, working their way up from grunt to supervisor of grunts to vice president of grunts.

What kind of worldview do you get if you've never left the area, except for your family's one week sojourn to Ocean City or Myrtle Beach?

I also concur with Conway1's statement that: "[These managers'] skills are at least five years behind and they don't demonstrate an understanding of larger trends happening in the world outside of SW PA."

Just five years behind??? Ha.

My last place of employment is a perfect example of what Conway1 says. The company CEO, bless his heart, was just not comfortable with technology -- especially the Internet. Same with the top managers. Their aversion to technology, coupled with the CEO's excessive frugality, means that this company will fall further and further behind. And as this business moves increasingly to the Internet, my former company will continue to lose ground to its competitors.

I give my former company five years, if not less, before it is taken over by a bigger, more technology-savvy organization. The top brass will retire happily with the funds from their stock options, golden parachutes and proceeds from the sale of the company; many of the rank and file workers will be out of luck.

My observations

2007-09-19T15:11:00.000-04:00

Writing about my experiences trying to find a job in Western Pennsylvania has been a real eye-opening experience.

I assumed I'd get a lackluster response from some of our elected officials when I contacted them. I just had no idea just HOW lackluster this response would be.

According to the U.S. Census, the Pittsburgh metro area lost 60,000 residents in the period from April 1, 2000, to July 1, 2006. If these folks' job hunting experience was anything like mine, I know why they're gone.

I personally can name at least ten people, including my two younger brothers, who have left Western Pennsylvania for opportunities elsewhere. Given that it's been a year here with no job prospects, I don't anticipate staying here much longer myself.

Careerlink

2007-09-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

What's my problem with Pennsylvania Careerlink?

Simple: the jobs listed with Careerlink are awful, at least the ones on this side of the state. They're mostly dead-end, 'one-step-above-McJob' positions.

Let's see...within a 25 mile radius of my zip code, some of the jobs listed on the site include:

carpet cleaning technician
cater delivery driver (I think they mean caterer or catering)
portrait studio sales consultant
general office clerk
housekeeping aides

To be fair, there are a few jobs listed on the site that require an advanced level of knowledge, scuch as licensed practical nurse and chemist, but for the most part, the majority of the jobs lon Careerlink are pretty sad.

Great Suggestions From a Fellow Blogger

2007-09-19T13:41:00.000-04:00

I sent the link to this blog to Michael J. Madison, University of Pittsburgh law professor and author of Pittsblog (http://pittsblog.blogspot.com/), commending him for his sharp, insighful commentary on the state of affairs in the 'burgh, and asking him if he had any suggestions for finding a job here.

Bless his heart, Mike replied promptly and suggested that I do the following:

1 -- Network with Pittsburgh's intermediary institutions. Have to introduced yourself to the gang at Innovation Works? Have you gone to Entrepreneurs' Thursdays? Met the folks at the new SBDC at Duquesne? Somewhere on my blog there's a list of most of these organizations -- economic development firms, agencies, etc. etc. There's a networking event on the North Shore next week -- the HELP launch. My blog has links and details -- just about anyone who has juice in Pittsburgh will be there.

2 -- Can you leverage the blog itself? I'll post and give it a tiny nudge, but if you can manage a post or two a day, and include some that are personal (not too personal!) and a few that are more detached and analytic, then you might build yourself a brand in Pittsburgh: The go-to person for strategizing a new professional career in the reinvented Pittsburgh. There's no way to guarantee yourself a job this way, but it's a voice that Pittsburgh doesn't have right now.

Great suggestions, both of them. (And that Mike didn't suggest Pennsylvania Careerlink earns him an even bigger gold star.)

1. I am in the process of following up with these intermediary institutions, per Mike's suggestion.

2. His other idea, to leverage the blog itself, is less appealing to me. While I have been urged by others to blog professionally, I started this blog as a way to get hands-on experience with blogging in general, and to vent about the miserable experience of trying to find a job here. I would prefer to not be the poster child for Pittsburgh's gawdawful job market.

Mike, thank you for your great suggestions and for getting back to me so quickly.

Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board

2007-09-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

I'm particularly dismayed by the lack of any response from Ron Painter, CEO of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, to an email I sent him almost a MONTH ago.

On August 16, I sent Mr. Painter an e-mail message inquiring about possible job leads, suggestions or ideas that he might have. To date, I have heard nothing back from him or anyone at TRWIB.

Last week, I followed up with a phone call to Mr. Painter, and ended up speaking with a woman named Laura Holden. I emailed Ms. Holden the same message I had sent to her boss, Mr. Painter.

Still nothing.

According to its site, the TRWIB ' is an employer-driven policy-making entity that supports and oversees the local workforce development system in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, including a network of PA CareerLink centers that serve jobseekers and employers.

Our board members are appointed by the mayor of Pittsburgh and the chief executive of Allegheny County.

TRWIB, Inc. is the corporate entity and fiduciary agent for the TRWIB. All TRWIB funds, including federal Workforce Investment Act funds, are managed by TRWIB, Inc. '

I'm confused. TRWIB is more than willing to accept MY federal tax dollars, ostensibly to help retain jobs in this area, but no one at the TRWIB is able to return my phone calls?

And please, please, please -- for the love of God, do not direct me to Pennsylvania's Careerlink to find employment. The jobs available at that site are an utter joke. I have no interest in being a convenience store night manager or an underpaid telemarketer. Thanks but no thanks.

When do you say 'Enough!'

2007-09-05T14:02:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here in front of my computer, reviewing all the jobs I've applied for and for which I didn't get an interview, and looking over the list of people I've contacted who can't even muster the effort to make a one-minute return phone call or even send a one-sentence reply.

And I ask myself, "What is the point? Why am I putting myself through all this nonsense just to try to get a job here? Just write off the Pittsburgh area, pack a bag, and get the hell out of this town before your career goes into even more of a death spiral."

...And Don't Let The Door Hit You On the Way Out

2007-08-31T16:05:00.000-04:00

Western Pennsylvania’s leaders have, in large part, indicated that they are committed to stemming the tide of people leaving our region. So, with that in mind, I drafted and emailed the following missive to several prominent local individuals:

As I prepare to concede defeat on finding a good job in the Pittsburgh area, I am contacting you to inquire about possible job leads, suggestions or ideas you may have, before I ‘throw in the towel‘ and relocate elsewhere.

I would very much like to stay in the tri-state area and develop my marketing communications career here, so I welcome any input or insight you may have. (Unfortunately, jobs on sites such as Pennsylvania Careerlink, Monster, Careerbuilder, etc. tend to be of an entry-level caliber and the compensation offered is not competitive.)

I invite you to visit my job-hunting Web site at [redacted], which features my résumé and links to samples of my work, as well as my ‘Job Hunting in Pittsburgh’ blog at http://findingajobinpittsburgh.blogspot.com/.

I would be happy to meet with you to discuss any ideas you have; I am available at your convenience.

Thank your for taking the time to read these materials; I look forward to hearing from you.

And of course, I included my name, email address and telephone number in the message, so I could easily be contacted.

While a few of the people I sent this email to were exceptionally gracious and replied almost immediately (thank you, Susan Caldwell!), I was appalled at the number of people who just couldn‘t be bothered to respond.

One of the most notable in this latter category is David Fawcett, an at-large member of Allegheny County Council. Two weeks after I sent him my email, I called him to follow up. The most salient portions of the telephone conversation are as follows:

Me: Hello, Mr. Fawcett, I was calling to follow up on an email that I sent you a few weeks ago, in reference to my difficulties with finding a job here in Pittsburgh. I sent it to the email address on your [Allegheny County] council Web page….Did you receive my message?

DF: Yes, I remember reading it.

Me: Ok….did you have any thoughts or suggestions for me?

DF: I don’t have any job leads for you. I’m not a job hunting service.

He then mentioned something about the county council job being a part-time position before concluding the conversation. I thanked him and hung up the phone, appalled at what had just transpired.

Let’s see if I have this correct:

1. Yes, he HAD read the e-mail from a constituent, but over the course of a two-week period, he couldn’t be bothered to write a response -- ANY response -- at all. Nor could he be bothered to pick up the phone and call me.

2. His comment that he was not a ’job-hunting service’ was impolite (and not the savviest thing to say to an unemployed constituent). I did not ask him for a job, I asked him for ’possible job leads, suggestions or ideas’.

3. Mr. Fawcett actively campaigned for a seat on County Council. One of the responsibilities of ANY elected official is responding to his or her constituents. If he is unable, for whatever reason, to perform this task, he may want to think about resigning from council.

4. As a member a governmental body that is responsible, in part, for “the passage of balanced annual operating and capital budgets,” Mr. Fawcett is aware of how important it is to keep taxpaying citizens in our area. The fact is, if I can’t get a professional job here, I will be forced to relocate elsewhere and pay taxes in that community. Allegheny County’s loss will be some other community’s gain.

Why I Want to Stay In Pittsburgh

2007-08-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

Why do I want to stay in Pittsburgh? Let me count the reasons:

1. My parents, who both live in the Pittsburgh area, are getting up there in years. I very much like being accessible to them. Additionally, one of my parents is battling cancer for the second time. I don't know how much time this parent has left; that's why I want to maximize my time with them.

2. Many of my other family members also live nearby. I like being able to have a positive influence on my nephews and niece. If my involvement in their lives means they become productive citizens who never see the inside of a jail cell, then I've done my part.

3. Pittsburgh has a very affordable cost of living. I am astounded at how much people in other parts of country -- especially New York City, California, Florida, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere pay for housing.

4. I like the friendliness of the Pittsburgh region. It's not uncommon in some regions of the country to not know your neighbor, even though you may have lived next to them for years. I know all my neighbors and often lend a hand to my elderly next-door neighbor, Betty. Whether it's trimming her bushes or bringing in her groceries, she's happy for the help and I'm happy to get the exercise.

5. I like the weather in the Pittsburgh area. It's blessedly unhumid most of the year and moderately cold in the winter.

Unproductive Hours

2007-06-21T15:53:00.000-04:00

It's been a little while since I posted, but I've been using my time to conduct job-hunting activities that ultimately have gotten me not even one iota closer to a job.

Last evening, I headed downtown to the Rivers Club for a presentation sponsored by the Pittsburgh Foreign Policy Association.

Although I was interested in the presentation topic, I was more interested in the potential for job networking.

Surely some of the movers and shakers in the Pittsburgh region would be on hand, and after some light conversation, would hand me their business card, urging me to call them to discuss job opportunities at their organization.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the vast majority of the attendees were well into their retirement years.

Other than myself, three grad students from CMU's Heinz School and one or two others who were in their 40s or 50s, everyone else in the audience was considerably past their working years.

I sat there for a minute, mulling over my alternatives, and realized that if I left immediately, I still could make it to another event -- this one billed as an actual networking event for young professionals -- at Station Square.

I hurried to the Houlihans restaurant in Station Square where the Pittsburgh Young Professionals group was holding its 'Speed Networking' session. PYP's Web site stated that speed networking was "a great opportunity to not only meet new acquaintances, but also to catch up with ones that you have not seen for awhile, and it all happens at break necking [sic] speed. So bring your business cards, yourself and a high desire to interact with other individuals."

Why not? I had nothing to lose. So I joined the speed networking activities taking place, moving from one table to the next for a timed four-minute discussion with the person at each table, only to discover that many of those in attendance were there to push the multi-level marketing programs they were involved in.

Sigh.

Out of politeness, I sat through about half an hour of these brief networking meetings, then slipped out at an opportune time to get something to eat.....and mull over a relocation to a city with a better job market.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

2007-06-07T02:42:00.000-04:00

For some time now, a little voice in my head has been telling me that trying to build a life in Pittsburgh will be the kiss of death for my career.

"Move somewhere else," the voice says. "Pittsburgh is not where you want to develop your talents." But where?

New York?

Ugh. In my opinion, that town's motto should be: 'The City That Eats Its Young'.

Chicago?

Not a bad city at all -- but I don't know if I'm up for schlepping back and forth to visit my family.

Atlanta?

I had enough of the South's insufferable humidity during my college days at the University of Missouri. Okay, so some may not consider Missouri to be the south, but regardless, the summer humidity was awful.

Washington, D.C.?

Ditto on the insufferable humidity. The fact is, I didn't like Washington, D. C. metro area the first time around, when I lived there in 1990, and I doubt that it got any better in the ensuing years. My main issue was that the cost of living, specifically rent prices, was insane. The only way to afford to live there was to share living quarters with several other people, and the lack of privacy got to be too much for me.

Sadly, if I cannot find a good job in Pittsburgh, I will more than likely end up relocating to the D.C. area. It's fairly close, situated along the Eastern Seaboard, and offers PLENTY of job opportunities.

And, if I do relocate to D.C., I'll join the hordes of relocated Pittsburghers who make the trek back to the 'burgh on the weekends to visit their families. Leave D.C. on Friday and be back on Sunday night. Sounds like fun.

Why Did I Bother?

2007-06-06T00:28:00.000-04:00

I made the unwise choice to attend 'Career Wise: A Diversity Job Expo' held today in the Lexus Club at PNC Park.

Attending the job fair was a complete and utter waste of my time. Here's why:

I'm a friendly, outgoing, articulate individual. I'm able to converse on a variety of topics and am very accommodating to anyone with whom I speak. Any employer meeting me could correctly assume that I would represent their company well and would be an excellent hire for their organization.

So one would think that some of the Human Resources representatives in attendance at the career fair, after a brief conversation with me, would hand me their business card, stating something like, "You sound like you handle yourself well. We have some job openings that you might be interested in...."

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Most, if not all of the recruiters at the fair simply directed job seekers to fill out an application or submit their résumé at their company's Web site. I could have saved myself the trip to the stadium and the $6 for parking if I knew that in advance.

Further, by the time I visited the job fair at around 2:30 in the afternoon, many of the recruiters were tired and grumpy. They certainly weren't in the mood for conversation at that point. One recruiter even refused to give me his business card, stating brusquely that he "didn't give out business cards at job fairs." (My aim in asking for a business card was simply to establish a contact at that company.)

And while I didn't get this man's business card (which, after he was rude to me, I didn't want anyway), I did end up with a plethora of plastic junk -- mini flashlights, keychains, bag clips and pens, pens, pens -- all printed with the name of each company that was giving it away. And of course, I'm going to turn around and give most of these tchotchkes to my young nephews and niece.

Maybe I'll get a job as a result of attending this job fair, but I highly doubt it.

But at least I'm now the proud owner of a 'Dick Builds Quality' travel mug from Dick Corporation. That's worth something, isn't it?

Networking

2007-05-30T17:23:00.000-04:00

Tonight was my first foray into hardcore job networking.

I had networked informally before tonight, but given that my other methods of finding a job (i.e., responding to job postings on craigslist.org, applying to jobs posted at individual company web sites.) have produced zero results, I realized that some face-to-face time was in order.

My first stop this evening was at a meeting of 'Refresh Pittsburgh'. According to the organization's Web site, the goal of Refresh Pittsburgh is "to create a open community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of Internet developers in the Pittsburgh area.

"Whether you are a web developer, flash guru, programming wizard, graphic designer, project manager extraordinaire or just want to learn more and share ideas with like-minded people, we want you to be a part of our group."

And although I'm neither a designer nor a developer, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to familiarize myself with some of the local folk who do just that. The members of the group were approachable and friendly, but the get-together was a brief one and was over in less than an hour.

While at the meeting, I remarked to the man next to me that I had started a blog, which seemed to pique his interest, but when I continued, "it's about finding a job in the Pittsburgh area", he stifled a laugh.

Hmmm.