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Help Finding a Job

Aired April 18, 2009 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The number of people without a job is staggering. Six million people are out of work right now. They have unemployment rates of more than 12 percent. Each week the numbers are getting bigger. If you are looking for work, what are you going to do? This hour we hope to help you. We brought in a career counsellor and have representatives from two companies that actually have jobs available right now across the country and we look at some creative ways to actually look for work these days. For a month now, we have been tracking several people step by step as they go through the job hunt. Let's begin to wrap up with you who we have met so far and what the progress has been like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Our journey began during what's being called the largest job fair in Georgia's history. Estimates range from 10 to 15,000 in attendance. That's where we met graphic artist Kim Summerour, a casualty of the shrinking newspaper business. Laid off she told us without severance after 19 years with Atlanta's leading newspaper. Her weekly $320 state unemployment checks end in May and at 41, she's back home living with her parents.

KIM SUMMEROUR, LAID OFF GRAPHIC ARTIST: It's hard, but I'm making it, I'm hanging in there, I hope I find something today.

WHITFIELD: Today nine months after she was laid off, still no job. Remember laid off engineer Calvin Ratchford? He was let go from a private company two days before Christmas, but trying to stay jolly.

CALVIN RATCHFORD, LAID OFF ENGINEER: I'm hoping at least by April, no later than May, at that time most employers will start to open up their doors for hiring.

WHITFIELD: Ratchford's dream is once again deferred. Also still without a job, clerical worker 22-year-old single mother Princess Olivia and 57-year-old driver Charles Williams.

CHARLES WILLIAMS, LAID OFF DRIVER: I'm going to give myself a few months and if not I think I'm going to move and leave the state.

WHITFIELD: Williams is still in Georgia. For how long? We don't know. Then there was 27-year-old recent college graduate Sedgewick Willis who was at the job fair to attend one of the free how to sessions on resume rebuilding. SEDGEWICK WILLIS, LAID OFF COLLEGE GRADUATE: Just tell me what's right and wrong. What areas do I need to correct? If I have to reword it and put it in a better format or anything that will help me right now basically I definitely need help. Like I said, I have a family, so I definitely have to support my family. That's like the biggest concern that I'm having right now.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Ok and that last gentleman right there, Sedgewick Willis, can we hear the tune of like maybe pomp and circumstance? Because this is some good news for him, I'm just kidding really. Good news for him, he actually has landed a job as an associate at a pawn shop here in Atlanta. So happy news to be able to convey to him. He actually did make this -- look, see there is the graduation cap to go with the pomp and circumstance. He graduated now after having found a job. He actually made a contact at that job fair that we met him at a month ago, so good news to him and hopefully we're going to be connecting with him during this hour too to find out exactly what he learned from that experience and maybe he can impart some advice to you if you're looking for a job, what worked for him.

So, let's meet our panel of job seekers right now, right here in the studio with us. Keith Trimble right here to my immediate right. Sebrina Key, Earl Fannin, Latarsha Casey, Lynn Martin and Kim Summerour and Calvin Ratchford. So quickly, if I can get you all to kind of paraphrase your situation, let's begin with you Latarsha since you have the microphone there. Your situation quickly in a nut shell. What happened and what have you been looking for in that time?

LATARSHA CASEY, UNEMPLOYED: I was laid off from my job in June. I have been looking for employment and I have been using the internet as one of my main bases and I have been using the temporary services. And I've had quite a few interviews and I'm still searching and I'm just learning to recreate myself.

WHITFIELD: Good. We have an interview coach who will be here today, who will be able to perhaps impart some great advice to you about what happens once you get that interview. How do you best sell yourself. Earl, you had a moment already in the last hour with Chris Iansiti, who is the interview coach. What are you looking forward during this hour to really nail down?

EARL FANNIN, UNEMPLOYED: Well, the next thing for me is to enhance my resume, enhance my interview skills and really sell myself. I'm very good at helping others but I seem to be holding back on myself.

WHITFIELD: Perfect. Sebrina, what are you hoping to get out of this hour to put yourself in a better position to land that job?

SEBRINA KEY, UNEMPLOYED: First of all, I have already started going to school so I am working on a bachelors to enhance myself in the field. But also to enhance my resume which he is taking a look at that also. And besides that, you know maybe getting some coaching on the interview process also. WHITFIELD: All right, perfect. And Keith, you had some time with Chris Iansiti earlier, the interview coach. So now do you feel like you are better prepared to tackle that interview or are there still some gray areas that you want to nail down?

KEITH TRIMBLE, UNEMPLOYED: Well I think every time you have an opportunity to talk to someone like Chris who's a professional in the area, you're going to learn something. One of the things I hope to do is absorb all the information that I can to try and put that to work when I do get those interviews. It has been very beneficial at this point and I'm really optimistic about my prospects.

WHITFIELD: Great. All right, I'm going to take the mike and hand it over to Calvin back here. You have a mike already. All right, great. We saw you in the piece in terms of what your job search has been like. You were here on the air with us interviewing with Comcast right here live and you did get a chance to have an interview. You didn't get the position however there are some other prospects. How are you feeling mentally?

CALVIN RATCHFORD, UNEMPLOYED: I still feel pretty positive and confident. Although the job didn't work out, at least I can learn from that interview and just stay confident and just continue to search for work to build a relationship with recruiters and just basically stay positive. So that's what I'm doing.

WHITFIELD: Ok and Kim, what are you hoping to learn from our interview coach? You had some time with him earlier. Anything that surprised you about some advice that he offered to you that you want to perhaps expound on this hour?

KIM SUMMEROUR, UNEMPLOYED: I need to make another resume to have one that's more customer service oriented and keep the one that I have with my graphic design. So I'll just basically split them up into two and he gave me some good pointers on that.

WHITFIELD: Lynn Harter, I'm sorry I got your last name wrong. I can't even read my own handwriting earlier. But give me an idea, what are you hoping to gain in this hour whether it be from Chris or perhaps even the two perspective employers that we have joining us today?

LYNN HARTER, UNEMPLOYED: I'm looking for tips from Chris hopefully being able to sell myself on a resume, because you don't see these people. They see your resume and it needs to really punch out. So that's what I'm hoping for some tips today.

WHITFIELD: Very good. Just so our audience really has a clear understanding of the jobs and the levels of expertise for everybody, I'm just going to quickly run through it all. Keith Trimble, you were a laid off manager from US Air. Earl Fannin, a marketing vice president with Road Atlanta. Latarsha Casey laid off from Solo Cups in June of 2008. Sebrina Key you have been unemployed since December and you worked in the business relations for Sprint. And Lynn Harter, you have been living off your savings, you moved in with your sister. What was the area of expertise or the job? HARTER: I was in banking, I moved from Michigan about nine months ago.

WHITFIELD: Ok, very good. You relocated and now you have this as well. Kim, we know you are a graphic artist, we saw that in the piece and civil engineer, Calvin we saw that in the piece as well. All right, well, coming up, we're going to be joined by this interview coach who says you know what, interviews are very tough these days. But how do you stand out? Well start thinking overnight mail and video.

JOSH LEVS: Hey, I'm over here, Josh Levs here, grabbing your questions. We're going to be sharing this with you throughout the hour too. I'll tell you something, we got your emails coming and your Facebook questions coming. We're going to keep an eye on those. We've got a great panel here, they're going to be getting some advice. You know what, you're part of our panel today too. So get those questions coming. Facebook page for Fredricka Whitfield or me, Joshlevscnn or cnnnewsroom@cnn.com if you want to email it. We're grabbing them, will throw them on the air. We're going to get you some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right so you've been out of the interviewing business for a while and now you think you've clinched your resume and now you're going to be face to face with a perspective employer. So that's why we are joined now by Chris Iansiti who is a career interview coach. He's here based in Atlanta and we also have a host of people here who have been looking for jobs for a long time now. It's been really a matter of months Chris in many cases and a lot of folks feel like, you know what, I'm a professional, I've been in the workforce for a long time, who knew I would need a little coach on interviewing.

CHRIS IANSITI, CAREER COACH: Absolutely. That's a great point Fredricka. The main coaching point is you have not normally done this. A lot of people I'm talking with haven't interviewed in years. It is a skill. So think about coaching and think about sports. Athletes get coached and trained. This is a skill that you need to be building. So I want you to get trained and coached ahead of time and I want you to use every interview as a way to reflect back, potentially get feedback from the hiring manager around what worked and what didn't. So you have to continue to get better and better.

WHITFIELD: So we're going to let you all think about this, let it all simmer for a little bit. Because we're actually going to create sort of a mock interview, if you will out of Detroit, Michigan. Bruce Brinson, hello to you. You're joining us from Detroit and you're a very experienced professional in the IT department, you worked 16 years in the corporate world and then 12 years running your own business doing a number of contracts for the Detroit School System, but then sadly in the last year Bruce, business started falling off. We know that the Detroit School System has had a lot of financial problems. But you were one of the victims so to speak or at least your business was. So business closed down at the end of the year in December. Now you are living off your 401(k) and your savings. So I'm going to kind of step out a little bit but I want to introduce you to our panel here as well as Chris Iansiti. And I want to allow you all to kind of have a mock interview because you revealed to me that the interview thing, well you're kind of out of practice on that. You could use some help in that department. So, pretend I'm not here, I'm going to allow you guys to talk, to carry out your interview.

IANSITI: Great, thank you.

Good afternoon, Bruce. How are you doing?

BRUCE : I'm great, Chris, how are you?

IANSITI: Perfect. A couple of quick questions I want to get with you on. I've had a chance to review your resume and a couple of points that I want to hone in on, if I'm in an interview with you and I am asking you, the question is what are the top three skills that you bring to the table and why do you want a job at my firm?

BRUCE BRINSON, UNEMPLOYED: I think the top three skills I'm very customer centric, I'm very resourceful and I have a high degree of integrity. The reason why I'd like to come to work for your company is because it's an industry leader and I think I can contribute a great deal from my experiences to your bottom line.

IANSITI: What results have you had as I'm looking at your resume Bruce, you've got a lot of great experience. I see that you worked at IBM and Compus, your consulting firm. What top two or three results have you brought in terms of actual numbers, sales numbers, customer service numbers, tangible results that you have been able to create?

BRINSON: Well for Compus Consulting Enterprises within a very short period of time I reached revenues of over $2 million a year for several years. I employed up to as many as 24 individuals for the company. I delivered ions of computers and solutions to my client over the years. Reaching back to my IBM career, my team was responsible for making over $12 million in quota for multiple consecutive years running. Also again delivering substantial results to my clients.

IANSITI: What makes you want to enter in from going from your own business back into the workforce?

BRINSON: Chris, running your own company is extremely challenging and one thing that I've learned is that I was able to either learn or be taught all aspects of running a company. But unless you have the resources within your business to handle all of those on an ongoing basis, it really takes a lot out of you. I think if I could focus in on a specific line of business, I would be much more productive for an employer today than when I started my career several years ago.

WHITFIELD: All right Bruce and Chris, great job there. Bruce, how are you feeling? BRINSON: Feeling pretty good Fred, thanks.

WHITFIELD: I know we really put you on the hot rocks there, but you did a great job. That's my non professional point of view. Chris, do you give me an idea, give Bruce an idea what worked here?

IANSITI: You did a great job and I was asking questions that commonly you are going to see in the interviewing process. Which is, tell me about your top two or three skills, what do you bring to the table and why do I want to hire you, what are the results you bring to me? So very behavioral-based and also very much results based. I need to be able to see as a hiring manager what are you going to do for me. Why are you successful? Why do I want you on my team?

WHITFIELD: One thing that I thought was really fascinating to, is you looked at Bruce's resume which if it's an attachment online in the computer it comes out to about 10 pages. If you print it out it's about two pages, very comprehensive but you have some ideas about how to help yourself in your resume. Real quickly, how would you do that with Bruce?

IANSITI: Bruce, real quickly. You have a lot of experience, you have a lot of information. A little bit too much information. You are making that recruiter work a little too hard to discern exactly what it is you bring to the table. So what I'm going to coach you on is I want you to reduce the number of words on the page, ok, and I want you to go and add a little bit more results, percentages, you just told me wonderful results that you brought. I want to see that more on your resume. I want you to shorten it up a little. It's a little bit too much for a recruiter today to go through all the language that you have here, ok.

WHITFIELD: Real quick and I know all of you have lots of questions here. Seven of you here are ready to just kind of chomping at this bit, Josh Levs has also been receiving questions from people via e-mail and Facebook. What might be a question to Chris or any of our panelists here?

LEVS: Yeah, I'll tell Chris first of all really quickly, you have actually answered several because we got a lot of people saying I need interview pointers. So Chris you're already tackling some, thanks for that. Quickly, we found one here, I think you might be able to help some people with. A lot of people bring up the word internships. I've got one behind me from B. Smith who says you know, she says, she hears a lot that it's a good idea to get an internship if you can to get some experience. Where do you go to actually get these things? She's hearing about them, doesn't know where to go? Is that true, are internships a good way to go and how do you chase them down?

IANSITI: Internships, I've always been a fan of internships. Why? It's going to give you valid experience, it's going to allow them to see who you are. You're going to be able to produce and show your results. If it's successful, 80 to 90 percent of positive internships they give you a job. They give you a full time job. Obviously Josh you want to be able to go after and seek them. LEVS: Where do you go, where are they?

IANSITI: Go in typically the HR department of every company, typically on websites it has information about internships. But I want to tell our viewers look at how you can create your own internship if they don't have it. How can you put together a proposal, a one page document that says this is what I would like to offer you.

WHITFIELD: So almost like saying, try me out.

IANSITI: Try me out.

LEVS: I'm guessing you're thinking free internship at this point.

IANSITI: Well, listen, it's a way to get your foot in the door and do a couple of days a week and if you get a job, to me that's the best investment. Because you can get a job that last for years and years.

WHITFIELD: Ok, perfect. Chris stop there. I know you all have a ton of questions that you want to ask Chris. We're going to allow you to do that right after this break. Also, we're joined by an IT employer as well as a national insurance company representative, they're also looking for people to hire. What do you do to stand out and how do you make sure you're the one that they say you're hired.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to jobless not hopeless, a special hour devoted to helping you find a job and make your resume stand out and hopefully you stand out during that interview. We have with us here seven people who are unemployed who have been looking tirelessly for months now. They have questions for our interview coach who is Chris Iansiti. Right here, Keith Trimble has a question already. He was a senior manager director and he has a question in terms of the interview. How do you nail it?

TRIMBLE: I have been called worse, believe me.

Chris, I have been with the airlines on and off for almost 30 years and I want to know besides education, how do I indicate my skills are transferable to another industry or another sector of the economy?

IANSITI: Great question. What I'd like you to do is take a piece of paper in the left hand column and I want you to list all of the key behaviors and skills and knowledge that you have. Whether it's any industry or not. On the right side of the paper, I would like you to list what are some companies and positions you'd like to go for. And then you use that as your road map to create your tailored cover letter and your tailored resume. The key thing here for everybody is you need to stand out. One way to stand out in a powerful way is your letters and your interview you are very tailored and focused on that specific job or company, which means having multiple cover letters, multiple resumes to address that, so that's one way.

WHITFIELD: Excellent, Chris. We also have with us these prospective employers that we told you about. Companies that are actually hiring right now. Jim Geiger is president and CEO of Atlanta based Cheyond, 250 jobs in 14 cities are up for grabs he says. And Teresa White is with AFLAC, national insurance group. More than a thousand jobs nationwide also up for grabs. Thanks so much to both of you for joining us. All right so, elaborate a little bit further on what Chris is saying here. That the resumes that stand out or the resumes that are tailored. Teresa, is that what you look for? The resume that says I am a perfect fit for your job because of x, y, z?

TERESA WHITE, CHIEF ADMIN. OFFICER, AFLAC: Certainly. It's absolutely easier for prospective employers to look at the resume and compare it to the job profile when we know that those fields are transferable. Earlier in your segment I think what the job coach talked to someone about making it easier for the employer. To me it's a matter of making it easier for the employer when you are able to show in your resume specific skill set that are aligned to that job profile, then you have a better chance of getting an interview.

WHITFIELD: All right James, what makes a prospective employee stand out for you. What are you looking for?

JAMES GEIGER, PRES. & CEO, CHEYOND: I'm looking mostly for a cultural fit. We have a strong culture of giving back to our communities and so perspective employees that have a passion for service in the community is one of the biggest --

WHITFIELD: How do you want them to convey that? You are saying now in your resume don't just highlight your professional attributes, but I want to hear what you d on the side, what is our volunteer work, what are your cultural ties? How do you want to see that presented before you get someone in the door on an interview?

GEIGER: We would like to see it on the resume. Certainly our recruiters screen for that as well. So I think any type of community service boards, whether it's your church or whether it's the United Way. Anything you have done in the community.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well let's ask some of our panelists here. So James you know, with Cheyond is saying he wants to hear more about your nonprofessional work to, what kind of volunteer work you do, what kind of cultural commitments you have and he want to see it spelled out on the resume. Then Teresa was saying you know what it is important to tailor-make your resume to that job. So any questions from our audience here, our panelists, people who are all looking for jobs to these employers about your concerns. How do you stand out?

CASEY: I have been on several interviews and when you go on an interview, you never know the time span in which the employer is wanting to get that person hired. And to actually ask that question to the employer to get a straight answer and find out the rate of pay. How do you go about saying that to an employer? Because a lot of times in an administrative field or customer service field or billing clerk field, those are a lot of those positions that have been downsized, you know what I'm saying.

WHITFIELD: Ok so, Latarsha Casey asking perhaps the question to Teresa first. That's a prickly situation, talking about money also in an interview right off the bat isn't it?

WHITE: It really is and one of the things Fredricka that we do is our recruiters handle the money part of the conversation. Really when you go to a perspective employer and you are talking to the person, when you're interviewing with that person which is generally that supervisor or that person who you're going to be working for, they are not really concerned at that point about the pay piece. They are really trying to match your skill set with the position that they're trying to hire for.

My suggestion would be to talk to the recruiter about the pay and about the time frame as far as hiring. Because in general, most of the employers, especially when you're in a company that's a larger corporation, they don't know what the time frame is. They are receiving resumes from the recruiter and these resumes are of people who they feel are qualified for these positions. You don't want to tie them up. Because to me, the interview is a marking opportunity for you so that you can market your skills to that person who you'll be working for.

WHITFIELD: All right Teresa White with AFLAC and James Geiger with Cheydon, combined these companies are looking for more than 1200 people in which to hire. We have so many questions coming from our live audience right here and as well as our audience at home, questions and comments about how to nail down that job right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK, we're talking jobless, not hopeless. Millions of people across the country are looking for a job and there so many hurdles, right? How to build that resume, how to get that face time. What to do once you've had that face to face interview. So we've got two employers here. We also have a career counseling coach, an interview coach. We have a panel here of people who have all been looking for jobs over the past few months. And of course we have you at home sending us tons of e-mails, questions, i-Reports, all that. And Josh Levs doing an extraordinary job of getting through, sifting through all of it. What are people wanting to know? What are they most frustrated about?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, I've got a golden one. Yes, they want some answers and they want some concrete answers. So I just warned two of our guests here, I'm going to challenge them right now. This came in on your Facebook page from Wanda. She says she submitted her resume to numerous companies, has not gotten any replies. And the number I want to toss at both the people, companies who are hiring here, James and Teresa, tell me concretely, three sentences or less each, OK, I know it's tough.

When does a person cross the line from persistent to badgering and you don't want to hear from them? WHITFIELD: Oh, that's good. Teresa, let's begin with you.

WHITE: Well in my mind, when you're looking for a job, there is no such thing as badgering. If you are submitting a resume for a position that you are qualified for, submit the resume for positions you are qualified for.

WHITFIELD: Excellent. James Geiger with Cbeyond, what do you think?

GEIGER: I think you should be persistent to the point of hearing back from the employer. I think that's a minimum requirement that the employers should do, is simply let you know whether there is an opportunity or not.

WHITFIELD: But are you able to get back? I mean, I would imagine you both get tons of phone calls. You have to be selective about how and who you are actually calling back.

WHITE: I think that it's important that you certainly go ahead and send the resume and we will send you something to say that we've received the resume. The key is the calling back will happen if you are qualified for the position.

The question was, when do you cross the line to badgering? You cross the line to badgering when you actually call in and start trying to solicit for the position when the HR people have not called you.

LEVS: But there's a bit of a difference here. James was saying you have the right to hear back, and you're saying well, not so much.

WHITE: I believe you have a right to hear back, no matter what.

LEVS: But once you've heard back.

WHITE: Once you've heard back, then you let it go.

WHITFIELD: OK, well you know what Josh, one person who actually heard back and it was great news. He's now with -- we talked about him earlier. Sedgewick Willis who, you had an eight-month-old baby at home. You lost your job a month just a month prior to your baby being born, but congratulations. We had kind of an update at the top of the show. You do have a job now. Yay, victory on that. And coming up later on in the hour, I want to talk to you about what you think worked, how did you get that second interview, because that might have been the icing on the cake, so to speak as to how and why you got that job. OK, Sedgewick, congratulations and thanks again for joining us.

Josh, I know you have other e-mail questions and comments. Let's bring them on.

LEVS: I've got one here, I'll just tell you quickly from Richard that says how do you take the step of getting in touch with a headhunter, whether it's inside the company or someone that the company has contracted to do the head hunting for them. I'm sure either of our guests could help us with that. Should people contact head hunters directly and what's the best way to do that?

WHITFIELD: James?

GEIGER: I think any source. I think a company's Web site, I think their internal recruiters, I think working with head hunters, I think any source that you can get to the people with the jobs is appropriate.

WHITFIELD: OK and anyone here on our panel who has a question for Teresa or James, this is your opportunity, face time with folks who have collectively 1,200 jobs across the country which to hand out.

KEY: I have a question. I am looking to work in the IT field, which is what your positions are. I do have an associate's degree in electronics and I'm also going to school to get a bachelor's in that field. But when you are sending off the resume and you look up the job and you are trying to find out what that company is about and tailor your resume to it, is there any pointers that you can give me that will help my resume stand out in your company?

GEIGER: Well, I think an associate's degree is admirable, so I wouldn't be worried about the level of education. And certainly if you have some insecurity about that, then make sure you mention the fact that you are pursuing additional education in your bachelor's.

I think again in our company's case, we like to see involvement in the community. We want to see that you believe that the world is a little bit bigger than you and your personal situations. So I think in our specific case, it would be easy for you to gain that understanding by looking at our Web site and looking at what we think are the values that we told true and that we try to fit people into.

KEY: I am a member of my local church and I do volunteer with a lot of the different programs that we have. Are those the types of things that you are looking for as community involvement?

GEIGER: It sounds like I should get your resume on the way out.

WHITFIELD: We like that, we like to hear that.

All right James Geiger, Teresa White, thanks so much. I'm sure we have more questions for you before we let you go for the hour. But also coming up straight ahead, you know what, some folks are wondering, how do I get noticed? Does it mean billboards? Does it mean wearing a sandwich board? You would be surprised at how creative people are getting these days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, more and more of the unemployed are coming up with creative ways to land that next gig. One woman is actually going as far as actually paying you up to $6,000 if you can help her get a job. Reporter Joe Flanagan of affiliate WVEC has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BEVERLY SHEPARD, PAYING TO FIND JOB: And of course it flows into the bathroom, so THAT when I get dressed in the morning, I see another set of e-mails.

JOE FLANAGAN, WVEC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beverly Shepard actually started looking for a new job over a year ago when she still had a job. She paid $5,000 to an employment agency that never did deliver.

SHEPARD: And I found out that the only jobs that they refer me to are the ones that actually come into through their doors. So they were never doing a national search.

FLANAGAN: So when she got laid off in January, Beverly came up with a plan to pay her friends, associates and whoever else a commission for finding her a new job.

SHEPARD: It's 1 percent up to 5 percent. It's $800 at a minimum up to $6,000. We need to see that and understand.

FLANAGAN: Yes, she will pay up to $6,000 and she e-mailed it out on all sorts of business and employment-related Web sites.

SHEPARD: I had responses within 10 minutes. And I even had responses from people I have been calling for two months who just hadn't had time to get around to me.

FLANAGAN: Her sticky notes are everywhere. She has tried so hard for so long and seeing such little results, she gets worried that a perfect storm of unemployment is forming. This from a woman who has worked at newspaper marketing management for over 20 years.

SHEPARD: Well, I'm open to positions in marking promotions, corporate relations, corporate communications, media relations, public relations or business development. And thank god for severance packages.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, and Beverly Shepard joining us now from Virginia Beach, Virginia. So upbeat, Beverly, even after all you went through by paying someone for job placement and getting not one single interview. Yet now you told me earlier in the past month, you have already received three job interviews or at least three very serious leads for jobs?

SHEPARD: Yes, actually I received three job interviews, two of which were generated by the $6,000 job finder's fee offer.

WHITFIELD: And so this creativity is sort of working, but honestly how hopeful are you that it's going to mean a job? Yes, it's meant a few interviews, but that job?

SHEPARD: Well, I think the first thing is one has to get leads. And when I was home for the month of February, the phone didn't ring. And the e-mails didn't come in. So at least the leads are being generated now and that gives me hope.

WHITFIELD: And so tell me about how you feel you are able to afford the $6,000 that you want to pay someone or it's up to $6,000. I guess it depends on in part the salary and the position, right, because right now you are living off the severance, you're living off your savings after being laid off from your newspaper job.

SHEPARD: Absolutely. And in fact, I'm more than halfway through the severance at this point, so I am hoping that any day now there will be the absolute perfect job that will come through the women for hire, we will pay you for work campaign.

WHITFIELD: OK, so you are giving yourself any day now. You think it's a matter of days before something good is about to happen.

SHEPARD: Well Fredricka, to your point, I started looking for a job when I still had a job. I signed the contract with the search firm in January of 2008.

WHITFIELD: You thought you were doing all the right things.

SHEPARD: I was doing all the right things.

WHITFIELD: Preparing for the -- reading between the lines that your company may be I guess letting the ax fall. You gave yourself a year lead time and even that didn't serve well for you.

SHEPARD: Absolutely. I thought I was being very proactive. I mean, I knew that I had solid qualifications. I have a marketing background, journalism and law degrees. But I knew there were lots of people who had good qualifications and the competition would be really, really keen.

WHITFIELD: Beverly Shepard, we're wishing you all the best of luck and we want to continue to keep tabs with you to see how this goes and how your campaign is going to bring to fruition a job.

Josh Levs has been receiving e-mails and correspondence from people who say yes, I'm real creative too. Can you top this?

LEVS: I don't know if they can top that, but we have one good ones. It's inspirational in and of itself. It's pretty cool. Take a look and we are not just being self-serving here. This just actually happened. This is a woman who used i-Reports to help find a job. Now let me show you, we are not calling it that. That's not our doing, it says "old lady lamb chop." She calls it that about herself. But here's what happened. She has been using i-Report, she got very interactive in ways that she wasn't used to getting. And this is her explaining how she ultimately managed to get that job.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. Oh, fantastic. All right, we've got any more e-mails that are coming our way for our panelists who are going to be back to read more or answer some of those e-mail questions.

LEVS: We do, we've got some questions for everybody. Do we have video of her, guys? We're going to go to this right now, there you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN LINDSAY, I-REPORTER: So what did I do to get a job interview? I called, I asked if they received my application. I expressed the fact that I needed to get them more information about my skill set and as I got talking with a gentlemen who was in charge of hiring, he said, why don't you come on in for an interview? No accident there, I had a smile in my voice, I was confident, upbeat and enthusiastic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: I love that.

WHITFIELD: I like that too, very positive, excellent, and upbeat.

All right Josh, you've heard of speed dating, right?

LEVS: Heard of it.

WHITFIELD: You're off the market, we know you don't do this speed dating thing. But there is such a thing now called speed networking. And same premises. You get a few seconds in a room. This time instead of with a prospective date, with a prospective employer. So how do you navigate that and why is this the in thing to do? Right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can't help but giggle. He is after all cute. But this robot baby seal named Horro (ph) is so much more, says inventor Takimori Shibaka (ph). With more than 100 sensors, Horro responds to light, specific voices and even language. All this artificial intelligence planned with a purpose. Sometimes these nursing home residents can be withdrawn, distant and lonely. But when Horro shows up, the visible change is immediate. 85-year-old Masako Asaga suffers from the effects of an aneurism. A nursing home claims Horro helped bring back her ability to speak.

"She is my friend," says Asaga. "I come here to play with her." The inventor believes Horro has the potential to help those who are even more ill, like this Alzheimer's patient in Italy. Horro appears to help him communicate with a therapist. While there no formal long- term medical studies on Horro's impact, Denmark is performing 1,000 robots for its elderly and testing is under way in 20 American nursing homes and hospitals. Shibata hopes cute little Horro, part animal therapy, part robot could help comfort the rapidly aging population and unlock some of the mysteries of the mind. Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, desperate times call for desperate measures. Enter, speed networking. What is it? It's kind of like speed dating. You only have a few seconds, if not minutes, with a prospective employer in a room like a restaurant setting, a lounge setting. And you've got to sell yourself really intently.

So this week, we're actually going to attend one of those speed networking sessions this Wednesday here in Atlanta. Amanda Nissman is the cofounder of the NetworkingforProfessionals.com, joining us right now.

All right so quickly, we have three people here among our age who are actually going to be at that speed networking. Give us tips. How do they make it work for them?

AMANDA NISSMAN, NETWORKINGFORPROFESSIONALS.COM: Sure, well come along prepared. Bring some business cards with you. And also have a little speech prepared about what it is you do. You will have a chance to perfect your elevator pitch at the event, but it is great to practice a little bit ahead of time. And just think about what you are seeking, whether you are looking for clients or whether you are looking for a job. People need to hear that. And yeah, come along with a great attitude.

WHITFIELD: So you have to wonder whether perspective employers, they leave with their heads kind of spinning. Oh my gosh, they've talked to so many people, how in the world do you make yourself memorable?

NISSMAN: For sure, exactly. Well, you also want to bring along a little pen so you can jot down notes on the back of business cards because sometimes people get to the end of the event and they'll think about, oh my god, I made a few really connections and they'll look at the business cards, and they won't remember who is who. So if you have the chance, jot down a few notes on the back of the business card when you are connecting with the person.

WHITFIELD: Excellent. All right, Amanda Nissman, we've been talking about speed networking. But this was our speed interview because everyone was taking quickly, copious notes at home so they know what to do once they go that next speed networking event. Thanks so much, appreciate it.

NISSMAN: Oh, thanks so much for having us.

WHITFIELD: And again, this is our last opportunity for folks here, seven of whom are still looking for work. An opportunity to talk with our interview coach, Chris Iansiti as well as Teresa White with AFLAC and James Geiger with CBeyond.

All right, this is your last opportunity everybody to ask some questions about how to nail that job, how to do better in that interview. What have you got? Any parting thoughts? Any parting questions? Last opportunity, four minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it comes to multiple job offers, you may have two job offers, three whatever, how do you really negotiate the salary? How do you do the bidding wars to optimize the best bang for the buck salary?

WHITFIELD: OK and Teresa, I know you already said earlier, you don't really want to hear about salary during the interview. Leave it up to the recruiter. James, what's your thought?

GEIGER: I think you should go for the job that you think you'll be most successful in. And if it's a few bucks less, take it. And if it's a few bucks more, thank god. But I think that a negotiation or some type of -- I know we think it's distasteful if we think we are being negotiated with.

WHITFIELD: Teresa, I thought you had an interesting point earlier. We were just talking about social networking, but in different degree, this speed networking. People are counting on their Facebook pages to help send the message of their availability. You say tread lightly.

WHITE: Absolutely. One of the things that recruiters will do is Google you. And if they Google your Facebook and you have inappropriate content on your Facebook, that says something. Everything speaks. It's just like what you come to the interview in. It's just like what you say in an interview. Everything speaks. It's just like the philanthropy that you do in your community. So that's just a part of it.

WHITFIELD: All right, questions? Any last minute questions? Yes?

CASEY: I would like to know how does other employees classify you when you are actually doing a personal home-based business of yourself. Like me with the time that I have been out of work, I have chose tone do Mary Kay cosmetics and I'm using that as the time gap.

WHITFIELD: How do you make that transferable?

WHITE: I think that's phenomenal. We have entrepreneurs in our field force. We have a sales team. We have entrepreneurs who look for people like you to come out because basically what you have said is I'm not afraid to jump out on my own and start my own business. And you have done that with Mary Kay. So I think they would look at that as favorable.

WHITFIELD: OK, any other questions?

HARTER: Often times when you are on the online application, the employer wants to know your anticipated income. Do you go high? Do you go low? I mean, you don't want to scare people. But do you put negotiable? What is the norm?

WHITFIELD: Chris, what is your point on that?

IANSITI: Well, do some homework ahead of time to find out one, can you find out what has the company normally paid in the past? Can you get some inside information? What is the market-based pay for that? And if you have to put a number in there, I would put what the market, maybe slightly under, because you want to be seen as not being disregarded in that fact.

WHITFIELD: OK Chris Iansiti, thanks so much, career coach. James Geiger, CBeyond, Teresa White from AFLAC. Keith Trimble, Sebrina Key, Earl Fannin, Latarsha Casey, Lynn Harter, Kim Summerour, Calvin Ratchford and Sedgewick Willis as well. Congratulations again. Bruce Brinson who is joining us from Detroit and Beverly Shepard from Virginia.

You can find her beverly.shepherd@gmail.com. Women for hire, will pay for work.

Thanks to everybody who participated in this jobless, not hopeless. We hope that you got some instructive, instrumental advice and hopefully you will land that j-o-b soon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you again tomorrow. Don Lemon is coming up in the next hour of the CNN NEWRSOOM. Thanks everybody.