Subtlety is out the window in this recession.With a Sarasota man recently snagging work after hoisting an awesome employee sign, and people hosting pink slip parties to network, it was just a matter of time before someone invented unemployment bling.

Two Sarasota women, one unemployed and the other underemployed, are encouraging the ranks of the downsized to wear their frustration on their sleeves.

In the process, longtime friends Barbara Bourn and Stephanie Aucoin hope to alleviate their own employment woes by selling yellow Laid Off Need a Job wristbands for $3.
The wristband idea a topical variation on Lance Armstrong 's popular Livestrong bracelet to raise money for cancer research hit Aucoin in September after she lost her job executive assistant 's for an accounting firm.

Aucoin was spending 10 hours a day on the Internet trolling for jobs to no avail and had to borrow $10,000 from her parents.

The money ran out, and Aucoin relies on Bourn to pay her rent, even as Bourn was forced to sell her house because half her business in interior design sales evaporated.

I told Barbara I was ready to stand out on a corner with a T-shirt, Aucoin said.

I said ‘Stephanie, you 're smart you have to think of something, Bourn recalled.

In the last three weeks the women have distributed hundreds to friends, relatives and strangers to garner publicity for their www.laidoffneedajob.com web site.

Most are appreciative. Everyone seems to know somebody who is laid off. A few people just don 't get it, Bourn said.

It remains to be seen if people are desperate enough to pay $3 to advertise their troubles.

Unemployment was once a deeply personal experience accompanied by feelings of shame and inadequacy.

But in such a deep recession, with the economy shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs monthly, the old school mentality of the pride factor where you didn 't tell your neighbor is fading away, said Terrence Meneeley Jr., center manager for the Jobs ETC office in Sarasota.

Meneeley said people must swallow their pride and be open about their joblessness. Networking is critical, he said.

But he cautioned people against relying solely on an attention-grabbing device.

You want to make sure you 're attracting the right kind of attention, he said.

It takes hard work to find a job, especially in this economy, Meenely added. That 's the bottom line. This is not the time to have a false sense of security.

Bourn said the bracelets are just an addition to everything else people should be doing to find a job.

Aucoin compared the bracelet 's effect to switching from a black-and-white resume to color.

Her color resume stood out, and Aucoin immediately found more interest from prospective employers. You want to stand out, she said.

The bracelets have attracted attention after just three weeks on the market. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Bourn and Aucoin recently and they said they are talking with a major drugstore company on carrying the product.

More importantly, the bracelet helped at least one of Aucoin 's friends find a construction job.

He was joking that the bracelet cost him a beer but it got him a job, so that 's all that matters, she said.

Previous Boyne City High School 'makes a difference'
Next Loveland baseball team comes together to support breast cancer awareness
Comment(s)