In Rochester, N.Y, from Unemployment to Self-Employment

Rochester, N.Y. -- My last full-time job ended in March 2007, right around the time that the pundits say the recession began. I am a senior level accountant, meaning that I have held a series of upper level positions in business such as controller or business manager. Most of my nearly 30 years of experience is in the educational sector but I have also worked in the for profit arena.

I've been between opportunities before. One of the ways I measure the available job market is by monitoring the Sunday want ads in the Rochester, N.Y. paper. I realize that most jobs are not listed in the paper but it is an accepted measurement in the recruiting industry.

I have observed that there are three levels of activity in the want ad category the newspaper calls "professional." The first is when there are several columns of employment ads and a healthy number of larger, display ads, from business and industry. The second level, reflecting fewer opportunities, is when the category holds mostly ads from recruiters and the occasional display ad. The last level, which has been the case here in Rochester for many months now, is less than ten ads, and often less than five, with no display ads.

I have been through two maximum rounds of New York State unemployment. The folks at the job service are making an effort, providing group workshops, resume services and on-line job searching for those on unemployment. Their support is wonderful but not a lot of $50,000-plus jobs run through their facility.

I was able to land a couple of temp positions early in my unemployment. As I worked with the recruiting agencies, it became obvious that even temp positions were disappearing and positions at my level of experience and pay were non-existent.

I have not filed for public assistance. About 30 years ago I was forced to, and that led me to workfare and into the accounting profession. I am grateful to our society for that help but I would rather not utilize it again.

I was assigned to assist the accounts payable office at Elmira College. It consisted of lots of paper handling and not much else. I worked very hard and in a few months they offered me a clerical position. In 1981 hard work paid off.

Thirty years later and I am once again unemployed. Unemployed at the start of the deepest recession since the Great Depression. I decided it was time for a major change. At age 55, I decided to work for myself.

I had been operating an online magazine for several years, so I chose this time to try to take my online work to the next level. I write for a living. I averaged $61 a month in the first quarter of 2010, for example. Fortunately, my lovely wife has resources that are keeping our heads above water. Just above water.

As I build up an online body of work, the remuneration is growing. I just have to keep writing, and working at my writing. It is far different than being the controller of a $10 million corporation and far more demanding. I am relying on hard work to make this new career pay off, just as it did in 1981 when I became an accountant.