Taking the drama out of finding a job
Story and photos by James Hill
Sandy Shaner
More than 40 employers and hundreds, maybe even a thousand, job seekers could flood into Portland Community College's 12th annual Cascade Job Fair on Tuesday, May 5.
In the tough economy, the fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Physical Education Building gym, Cascade Campus, might be a turning point for many. The event, which is free and open to the public, certainly was just that for Sandy Shaner in 2008.
A few years ago, the 52-year-old bookkeeper for a media production company was laid off after 15 years of service. She then got divorced and endured a nearly three-year custody battle for her son. Needing to get back work, she joined Project Independence in the winter of 2008.
"Something was going to have to change," she said. "For somebody like me, who is new to having to go out and look for a job because I have always worked, it's very frightening to be out of work. To be honest, when I lost my job I thought, 'oh I'll get another job.' But I couldn't even get an interview."
Project Independence is offered through the Cascade Campus Women's Resource Center. The program offers single parents, displaced homemakers and women returning to college an avenue to take advantage of its tuition-free classes. It provides information and access to a variety of educational and training opportunities to become economically self-sufficient.
"I went to school 35 years ago and the idea of going back to school was petrifying," Shaner said. "What do you do now? Where do we go? They help you gain confidence. Project Independence helped me get that jumpstart I needed."
Toward the end of her stint with Project Independence, she was recruited to take part in Dress for Success, thanks to the hard work of Tanya Maldonado, a student employment specialist at Cascade. The organization provides women in need with a free outfit for a job interview and, if they get the job, they get another free outfit, which are donations from local Portland retailers. Through her work at Dress for Success she discovered the career center at Cascade would help her with her résumé and found out about the Cascade Job Fair.
"I thought this was a great resource," Shaner said of the center and the fair. "I have never ever been to a job fair in my life. Tanya, bless her heart, not only did a business résumé for me but also did a teaching résumé for me.
"I was overwhelmed by how many booths were there at the job fair," she added. "I was also amazed that I qualified for some work and people were interested in talking with me. I would have never gone to a job fair if it weren't for PCC."
At the fair, she walked by a table for Securitas, a local security company, and liked what she saw.
"Their recruiter said we were the type of people they were looking for," said Shaner, who was there with a Project Independence classmate. "I used my résumé from PCC and they were very impressed."
Soon, she was hired by Securitas and, after a stretch of training, was deployed to look after security at the Crossroads Church in Vancouver, Wash. A definite switching of gears for somebody who has directed and choreographed shows for the Oregon Symphony.
"I never dreamed I'd be a security officer," she said. "Everybody has been very nice to me, and some churchgoers come up and hug me, or as they go by they roll down their windows and say, 'you have such a nice smile, thank you for being here.' It really makes you feel that you are important."
Shaner is prepared to use her future degree to innovate. She currently works with special-needs kids and wants to use her degree to develop psychological theater to help kids overcome problems and use role-play to aid abused women. She plans to transfer to Portland State University at the end of this summer, completing a turnaround that only a dramatist could appreciate.
"People told me I was too old; I was too overqualified," she said about her layoff. "I was even denied unemployment benefits. Those guys at PCC were there for me to help me succeed."