Making ends meet: Summerlin residents struggle with unemployment

Still looking for a job? The news is not good for Nevadans.

While the U.S. Department of Labor's national unemployment statistics for December cited a rate of 7.8 percent and added 5.8 million private-sector jobs for the past 34 months, Nevada lags behind in job recovery with an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent.

KEEP YOUR RÉSUMÉ FULL AND ALWAYS BE PREPARED

To help job seekers, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers help sessions, such as the one held Dec. 6 at 3300 N. Buffalo Drive. Kent McCormick facilitated the group and suggested that job seekers further their education or learn a new skill.

"One of the things you can look into doing is an internship," he said. "Now, you'd ask yourself, 'If I'm unemployed, why would I want to work for free?' No. 1, it can fill a hole in a résumé. I, as an employer, if I see somebody who's been out of work for several months, I would question, 'Why has nobody else hired this particular individual?' ... But if you can fill that void in your résumé and with 'I've been volunteering with the American Red Cross, stocking shelves or filling water jugs or sandbags,' or whatever, even if it's just a couple days a week, that fills that hole."

Another reason to volunteer, he said, is because one can acquire skills he otherwise wouldn't have, such as learning a new software.

"Another thing that you can do to make good things happen is to be prepared," McCormick said. "Always be appropriately dressed."

He said to always have your résumé handy, and look up job-seeking tips and practice interviewing.

"Good things happen to those who make them happen," he said.

23-YEAR-OLD LOOKING TO REINVENT HIMSELF THROUGH EDUCATION

Eddie Gray, 23, is trying to make things happen. He is new to the revolving door of the job search. He went to a vocational high school and was in a program for clinical studies. It included going to a hospital for hands-on experience.

"I honestly didn't like it," he said. "... I just didn't like the kinds of things I had to do, like change the beds or help bathe people. I even talked to my teacher, because each student got to see what kind of interest they had. I went to my teacher, (and said) 'I want to go see the physical therapy ward.' So I get to see it, and that was pretty cool. It made all the clinical time worth it."

He said he couldn't transfer into that ward because he wasn't 18 at the time. The training he got led to being certified as a personal trainer, and he said the possibility of being a massage therapist appealed to him.

He worked in shipping and receiving after school, but when the economy plummeted, his position was cut. It came from out of the blue, he said, and he was unsure why he was losing his job.

"You're like going, 'What did I do wrong?'," he said. "It comes as a shock."

Gray said he was a team player and always went to work on time, worked extra hours when asked and covered for co-workers who wanted to take a weekend off.

"And also, it's like, I didn't get to show them what I can really do," he said.

Luckily, Gray has the luxury of still living at home. He was a part-time student at the College of Southern Nevada this past fall and plans to transfer to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for the spring semester.

He said he wants to be independent and living on his own. His parents told him to focus on his education.

Gray goes online to see which jobs are available, putting in his application and sending out his résumé. He said he had no idea how many places he's applied. None have contacted him back.

"Oh my gosh, it's tough," he said. "For me, I think, it's just that I need to put more effort into it."

He said he is looking for physical therapy jobs but said, "If I can't do that, maybe I'd do shipping and receiving ... I think my long-term goal will be to work with athletes, like football players and basketball players, baseball, every athletics sport. So sports injuries is what I'm ultimately thinking of going for."

500 APPLICATIONS, TWO INTERVIEWS

Chad McKee's résumé depicts a wealth of experience. He grew up on a 3,000-acre farm in Minnesota. It was hard, physical labor ---- getting up early to milk the cows, planting and harvesting 35,000 bales of hay each year and pulling rocks out of fields.

"I did that until I was 18, and then I joined the Air Force," he said. "After working on the farm, the Air Force was like Disneyland."

In 1986, he was involved in the Libya attack. His squadron delivered all the warheads that were shipped there. After the Air Force, he went to DeVry University and got an associate degree in electronics. With that skill set, he was hired by a digital data storage system company, which installed health care equipment such as mammogram and X-ray systems. That was followed by a series of jobs, including a research technology company, a gaming company and a casino. As a guitarist, he's played at the House of Blues, the Hard Rock Café and at Station Casinos.

McKee was laid off in January 2011. He managed to land a stint in Utah, but when his three-month contract ended, he was out of a job. He returned to Las Vegas to be near his 10-year-old son, Nathan. Since then, he's been trying to find work.

"I filed applications with probably 500 places on the Internet, and I've had two interviews," he said.

McKee said it was frustrating to hear nothing back but that he had to stay strong. Staying strong has meant watching his money go for car insurance and into his gas tank so he has transportation should he snag a job interview. It also has meant bunking at buddies' places after he couldn't afford rent anymore. Still, he keeps looking for a job.

It's been tough on him, he said, and tough on Nathan. The youngster's grades have been slipping. McKee said it was a sign that the child has been worrying. They had a heart-to-heart talk where McKee told his son not to feel responsible for his money worries but to just do well in school.

"I told him he may not get a gift from me this year for Christmas," he said. "It felt terrible to have to tell him that."

McKee estimated he has looked into 500 online job postings in the last six weeks. Getting no response, his latest strategy is gutsier ---- appearing at businesses such as fast-food franchises unannounced and in person.

"It's really frustrating," he said, "just getting to that person and letting them know your intentions and who you are and what you have to offer. That seems to be the tough part. And having to accept something that I could have done when I was 16, you know, that's really, really degrading to your image, to your self-morale ... For the American worker to be sifted out of prosperity and that mainstream, Life 101-kind-of-job is saddening. I'm a simple man. I just want a simple job."

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.