Takes Work To Find Work

SPRING HILL Kendra Rooker is tired of flipping flapjacks.

After the 42-year-old Spring Hill resident lost her job as a corrections officer at the Hernando County Jail, she pounded the pavement and explored the Internet for a job with comparable pay.

She took a job waiting tables at IHOP, working shifts as long as 14 hours to get by while she searched for a professional post.

"You do what have to do to survive and pay your bills," Rooker said.

That was September 2006.

She's still at IHOP.

On Tuesday, Rooker's voice wavered as she explained the frustration of the last year and a half.

"It's horrible in Hernando County," she said as she pulled on a cigarette in front of Career Central, the job placement center on Forest Oaks Boulevard. "Even if you do have a (college) degree you're lucky to get a job here."

Career Central officials acknowledge the job market is not pretty.

The county's unemployment rate hit 7 percent in March. There are fewer jobs and more job seekers.

"Traffic is definitely increasing," said Luz Diaz, manager of the Spring Hill center.

In April, 3,472 people came to the center for job services. Compare that to 2,951 job seekers in April of last year and 2,207 in 2006.

Job orders - the requests from employers with positions to fill - hit 190 in April. Two years ago, it wasn't unusual for 500 orders to come in each month.

There were a mere 22 job orders for the construction industry last month, a fraction of the numbers in 2006, said Lee Ellzey, Career Central's CEO.

But Ellzey says there are silver linings to be appreciated.

"It's not all doom and gloom yet," he said.

For one, the economy has a long way to sink before unemployment soars past 9 percent, as it did in 1993, Ellzey said.

While job orders are fewer, they have leveled off in the last few months, which is a good sign, Ellzey said.

And though 26 job orders in the manufacturing sector sounds anemic, "Those are some of our highest-wage jobs, so we're excited," Ellzey said.

The medical field, always consistent in Hernando, continues to be.

In fact, many job seekers are seeing certified nursing assistants, or CNA positions, as a sure thing. Retirees and even former construction workers are enrolling in CNA training and finding jobs right away, said Aline Barkowski, a career specialist at the Spring Hill center.

"They're in the driver's seat," Barkowski said.

Marie Chechile found that out firsthand.

Chechile, of Spring Hill, lost her job as an office manager for a window blinds store when the operation folded last May.

She searched for months, and finally decided to take the five-week CNA course. She was to start a job at a Spring Hill assisted living facility on Wednesday.

"I'm scared," she admitted Monday. "Book work is one thing. Hands-on is different. But they're willing to train, and I'm willing to learn."

Rooker, the former corrections officer, says she's going to have to settle for less and will revisit some lesser-paying jobs that she initially turned down because she didn't think she could live on the wage.

"If I have to work for $9 an hour and work two nights a week waiting tables," she said, "then I guess that's what I'll do."