"I can't even get in the door," says Ingue Hobbs, 45, who is looking for full-time work. Hobbs, a St. Petersburg resident, has been riding the roller coaster through the world of entry-level jobs.
At 45, Ingue Hobbs has raised a son alone, directed human resources for a company of more than 400 and been a regional trainer for telemarketing companies.
But for the past two years, Hobbs has been stuck working the phones, touting everything from mortgages to magazine subscriptions in a series of call center jobs. With pay not much above minimum wage and commissions constantly being "restructured" downward, Hobbs is stuck in survival mode.
"I need to get back into HR because I was good at it," she said. "But I can't even get in the door."
Hobbs has been unemployed for less than a week. But for far longer, she has been among the legions of underemployed workers in this sluggish economy, bouncing from one entry-level job to another, unable to gain traction.
A high school graduate, Hobbs said she learned her HR skills on the job, moving steadily up the ladder with companies such as Time Warner Cable and APAC Customer Services Inc., both in her home state of Illinois. At APAC, Hobbs said she made about $32,000 a year handling training at four call centers in the Midwest.
Hobbs said she was recruited from that job in 1997 by a company that manufactured freight cars in Danville, Ill. Her responsibilities as director of human resources included implementing a drug-free workplace policy, acting as liaison with the United Auto Workers and hiring new employees. During her 15 months there, Hobbs said she helped interview and hire nearly 300 workers. The job ended in October 1998 when she was replaced by a woman with a college degree.
"They told me she was more "educationally suited' to take the company into the year 2000," Hobbs recalled with a laugh. "I was devastated."
Hobbs picked up factory jobs to make ends meet, then an old boss offered her an HR position with his new communications company in Chicago. But a family responsibility intervened. Her grandmother in north Florida had a stroke and in 2000, Hobbs headed south to care for her. Her son, then finishing high school, stayed behind in Danville.
"I thought I'd be here 30 days, but I ended up staying with her for more than a year," Hobbs said. The hiatus wiped her out financially. With no paycheck and paltry savings, Hobbs lost her house in Danville as well as her car.
"I was never wealthy," she said. "Everything I needed, I worked hard for."
In a new state with few contacts, Hobbs found it harder than she ever imagined to find work. Going back to Illinois was not an option. "My mother said I could move back home, but there were no jobs there," she said.
In August 2001, Hobbs applied for a human resources position with Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg. She was hired for a lower-paying job in customer service. Five months later, she was fired after she failed to call in sick. Hobbs signed on with Special Data Processing Corp. in Clearwater, handling incoming phone calls. Then she moved on to Mortgage Investors Corp. in St. Petersburg, then Suntasia Marketing on Treasure Island.
In each position, Hobbs filled the need for a warm body at the end of a phone line. She discovered she wasn't half-bad at selling whatever was being touted, whether time share vacations or phone service.
But Hobbs couldn't find a way out of the cubicle and up to a better paying job. She quit Suntasia when base pay was cut from $12 to $7.50 an hour.
"They fixed it so there was no way you could ever make a commission," said Hobbs, whose pay check was dropping at the same time her 1987 Mercury Cougar was eating up more in repairs. "It got so it wasn't worth me driving back and forth out there."
Recently Hobbs started yet another telemarketing job, this one at $8.50 an hour. She lasted through one day of training.
"Their script led listeners to believe they were getting three or four products for $49.99 when in fact they were being billed for each item separately," Hobbs said. "I had to do some soul-searching, but I said, "I can't do that.' "
Her confidence undermined and her cash flow seriously depleted, Hobbs wishes she could find a way to go to college part-time to get credentials. She wishes she could find a human resources director willing to hire her as an assistant.
"I miss the simple things, like being able to go to the dentist or get my nails done," she said. "I think of all the people I helped by putting them in positions where they could benefit financially. That was fulfilling to me. I know what I'm good at."
