In 2007 Skvara was chosen by the
steelworkers’ union to ask candidate John Edwards a question during
the AFL-CIO–sponsored Democratic
presidential debate in Chicago. “Every
day of my life I sit at the kitchen table,
across from the woman who devoted
36 years of her life to my family, and I
can’t afford to pay for her health care,”
he told Edwards, his voice cracking.
“What’s wrong with America?”
Despite all the barriers older work-
ers face after a factory closes, a de-
termined minority do reinvent their
careers. The people who rebound
fastest, say career-assistance pro-
fessionals, are those who research
where the jobs are and what skills are
needed—and who stay flexible about
their options. They take advantage of
government retraining and placement
programs posted at their local unem-
ployment offices. And they remain
upbeat and confident. Louise Kurs-
mark, president of Best Impression
Career Services in Reading, Massa-
chusetts, urges older laid-off workers
to accentuate the advantages that
come with age. “You have experience,
knowledge, and loyalty,” she says. “Be
positive about your value.”
Sally Stewart’s story is testimony to
the power of persistence. After Visteon
laid her off, she refused to waste time
fretting. It was her second factory
closing in a decade, so she decided
to train for a job that couldn’t be sent
abroad. She settled on the medical
field. Stewart learned that physical-
therapy assistants were well-paid
and in demand, so she applied to the
government for funding to cover her
training. “What better opportunity
for me to get an education than to
have the government pay for it?” she
says. “I’ve paid taxes for all these
years. I’ve been a good worker. I’m
gonna get everything that I can.”
Career counselors say this get-all-
that’s-coming-to-you attitude makes
all the difference. “Sometimes pride
keeps people from taking advantage
of the unemployment office,” says
Barbara Adler, a career-transitions
consultant with IMPACT Group in St.
Louis. “But they’ve been working all
their lives paying for these programs.”
Initially the government rejected
Stewart’s request for training funds:
the campus was too far from her
home to qualify under federal guide-
lines. Undeterred, she used federal
funds to enroll in a medical-assistant
program at Ivy Tech Community Col-
lege in Sellersburg, 20 miles closer.
It was a less lucrative field, but she
figured she could use it as a spring-
board to more advanced studies later.
Stewart has maintained a GPA just
shy of 4.0. After two years of course
work, she just began her internship
in a doctor’s office, and she plans to
graduate in May. “I know I’ll get a
job,” she says confidently.
It will take more than individual enterprise, though, to get all mature workers
who want jobs back to work. First, the
government must restore funding for
the retraining of (CONTINUED ON PAGE 78)
