Pink slips: 'You've been let go'

By Susan Misur
The Daily Item

October 26, 2008 12:24 pm

— Thank goodness for rumors, according to Kathleen Bardole. Without them, the Sunbury resident said she would have felt “blindsided” being laid off from Wood-Mode last week when the company handed out its latest batch of pink slips.
“The rumors usually come true. We had a one-day notice (from Wood-Mode),” said Bardole, who had worked for the Kreamer company for four years.
Still, Bardole said she wasn't prepared for the challenge to find a job in an ailing economy along with more than 600 other employees laid off in October from Wood-Mode, Fleetwood Enterprises and Crest Homes.
After pink slips have been doled out, then what?
“I don’t know what to do. I feel kind of lost,” Bardole said.
Grieving process
Many who are finding themselves out of a job are scrambling to claim unemployment benefits and spruce up resumes, but another necessary step in the job-finding process is to grieve, said Sue Snyder, administrator of CareerLink in Selinsgrove.
“Everyone needs to take a little time for that because they lost something important and valuable. You go through a process: first, you can’t believe it and you’re angry, then finally you’re ready to do something about it.”
Debra Zechman, a Northumberland resident who worked at Wood-Mode as a hand-stainer for almost four years, was laid off in September and said she needed to take time to think about her future.
“My husband said to let this sink in and get over being upset and then figure out what want to do. And I still am not real sure,” she said.
The job hunt begins
Many in the newest furloughed group are ready for a job search and visiting CareerLink, which provides free services to job-seekers currently employed or out of work, Snyder said.
“Everyone needs to have a good resume showing their skills — a lot of people have been working a long time, but don’t have a resume,” she explained.
Brushing up on computer, communication and customer service skills in workshops will help when interviewing or looking for a job on the Internet. People should also take a Work Key Assessment which tests math and reading skills, a credential Snyder says employers are interested in seeing on a resume.
In addition:
-- Take an aptitude test to evaluate your skills and interests that could lead to a new job, Snyder suggested.
-- Thoroughly research jobs in the area and find out their salaries if you’re considering switching careers. Make sure the career can sustain a family.
"We don't want people going to school and then not finding a job or supporting themselves,” Snyder said.
If making ends meet has become a challenge, people can take a budgeting class at CareerLink. In more urgent situations, apply for help from the Union-Snyder Community Action Agency, which provides emergency housing and help with fuel costs to qualifying individuals.
Claiming unemployment benefits
Laid-off workers should also apply for unemployment — temporary income support for people unemployed through no fault of their own, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Web site. Area residents must call the Scranton Unemployment Compensation Service Center to file claims.
But that's easier said than done, according to Bardole.
With so many in the area applying for unemployment, the unemployment office phone lines are consistently busy, she explained. Multiple calls placed from The Daily Item to the Scranton unemployment office Thursday afternoon and Friday morning received a busy signal.
“I just keep hitting the redial button,” Bardole said of trying to call the Scranton office about her unemployment. “It’s very frustrating, especially when you’re just laid off and sitting there trying to get things rolling.”
Snyder suggested waiting until the end of the week to call and submit an unemployment claim because so many people call on Mondays.
For unemployment benefit information and eligibility requirements, visit or call CareerLink or go online to www.dli.state.pa.us.
Plans for the future
“I’m thinking about maybe going into healthcare — there’s work there and you won’t get laid off,” said Zechman, who is currently researching classes to become a certified nursing assistant.
To get through the holidays, Bardole said she’ll look for a part-time job in the area and then move to Colorado in February if she hasn’t yet found full-time work. Bardole previously lived in Colorado for 13 years and she has already spoken to a former employer there who said she can get back her old job.
Whether she stays in Pennsylvania or moves out west, Bardole knows it won’t be easy.
“I'm a little nervous,” Bardole said. “It’s always scary to start all over again.”

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Jobs on the line
-- Wood-Mode in Kreamer lays off 100 in November 2007, 120 in July, 81 in September and 215 in October. In less than a year, the total is 516, nearly one quarter of company’s 1900 employees.
n More than 100 at Crest Homes in Milton lose their jobs this month due to the plant’s closing.

-- 325 workers are cut from Fleetwood Enterprises in Paxinos this month after officials announce the facility is closing.

-- In total, the region lost more than 600 jobs in just a week in October.

-- Gov. Edward G. Rendell recently announced that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate of 5.7 percent in September remains below the national rate of 6.1 percent.
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