In today's economy, looking for work means dealing with rejection.
With dozens, often hundreds, of applicants for each open position, the odds are stacked against Central Valley job seekers from the start.
Unemployment hit 17.6 percent in Stanislaus County last month, with some 42,500 people actively looking for jobs in the area.
No one knows those discouraging statistics more than Brenda Christeson. The 51-year-old Ceres woman works in the Alliance Worknet Career Resource Center in downtown Modesto. Her job is to help unemployed people look for work.
But Christeson does more than help, she empathizes. The Downey High graduate also is looking for work. Her position, while full-time, is temporary with a finite end date. Funding cuts off in December, which means if she hasn't found a permanent position by then, she will be unemployed -- just like the people she helps every day.
"It's difficult to work all day and help people look for work and then go home and do your own résumés and applications," she said.
Christeson has worked for 17 years in local government for Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. When budget cuts forced her into a lower-paying job in Lodi, she left to manage an exotic pet store in Ceres.
But then, in October 2007, she was laid off when the shop downsized.
Since then she has been searching for a full-time, permanent position. Through job-searching with the alliance, she found out about the temporary position in the resource center, funded through federal stimulus money. She spends her days helping people put together their résumés, fill out online applications and navigate training resources.
After losing her job at the pet store, Christeson said she started looking into government work again. Because of the way the public sector works, she knew securing a job would take a little time, but she never thought it would take almost three years.
"It has been very frustrating," she said. "I am a career-oriented person. I define myself by the job I do. It's important to me, I want to work."
So far through her job search she has been offered only one position, but it also was temporary and paid half of what she makes at her current temporary job.
Not that Christeson hasn't been close. She has been in the top 10 of 14 government job lists. With many positions, she'd come close and then hear that the position was frozen or the department decided to hire from within.
Some of those lists had more than 500 names on them. She guesses she has filled out more than 100 job applications and gone on about 25 interviews through her search.
"When you don't get it, there is some depression," she said. "You think 'What did I do wrong?' or 'Those jerks don't know what they're missing.' But you get up and go to the next one."
Still, for someone who never has had difficulty finding work, the struggle has taken its toll.
Husband has changed jobs, too
In the midst of her search, Christeson's husband, Rich, has changed jobs. Married for six years, he spent a lot of time commuting more than two hours each way to San Jose every day. His new position at a waste-water treatment facility for the city of Modesto comes at less than half the pay. To pick up the slack, he also works two other jobs, umpiring softball for the city of Turlock and moonlighting with some industrial mechanic work, which is what he did in his old job.
Still, the family has had to cut back. They don't buy soft drinks anymore. They sold their RV and Jet Skis. And they spend more time just hanging out at home.
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