COPING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT

Ventura County employment program supervisor Lupe Ortiz knows the look all too well.

She sees it on the faces of mothers with their children in tow. In the eyes of men who pick up application forms. In the posture of people who can’t quite believe what has just happened to them.

“They’re depressed,” says Ortiz, who works with the county’s Employment Development Department in Ventura. “A lot of these people have been employed for a number of years, and now they are faced with being unemployed.

“Their companies are moving or shutting down or having cutbacks. They’re scared.”

Being unemployed or facing the prospect of being without a job isn’t easy at any time of the year. But around the holidays--when the world seems bent on urging consumers to spend, spend, spend--employment counselors say the emotional impact can be even greater.

It’s also a time when statistics, such as those showing the county’s unemployment rate rose from 6.9% to 9.1% between April and October, suddenly become much more personal. That certainly will be the case for as many as 198 employees with GTE, which disclosed last week that it will be announcing layoffs on Tuesday.

What can you do if you or a loved one is out of work? Employment counselors, job placement managers and psychologists offer the following advice.

* Remember the bumper sticker: This, too, shall pass. “I tell them not to give up hope,” Ortiz says. “We have a job-service section where we take the information about their skills and experience, and match them up with employers.”

* Hone your skills. Barbara Barraza, the EDD’s job-service section supervisor, says people who haven’t looked for jobs or interviewed in quite a while can sign up for a free workshop to brush up on their skills. “Many people don’t know how to approach employers, how to write a resume, how to look for employers or how to make a presentation orally or in writing,” she says. “Then they get frustrated if the employer asks for the application and says, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’ But there may be a key to making that resume stand out.”

Information packets, which include samples of applications, tips on conducting an interview and finding out about available jobs, also are handed out at the EDD free of charge.

* If a garbage man can call himself a sanitary engineer, you too can blow your own horn. “It’s surprising how many people can’t put down on paper what they did in their previous jobs,” Barraza says. “But this is what tells an employer about your skills. If they can’t do it on their own, they can come here and we will help them.”

* Don’t shoot for the stars if the moon will do. “The first thing is to be realistic about expectations in this economy,” says Dan Larrabee, branch supervisor with the Personnel Pool employment service in Oxnard. “Wages have dropped. In Ventura County, they are slightly lower than in Santa Barbara or Los Angeles counties. So you can’t come in here expecting the world. It just isn’t out there.”

* Yes, Virginia, there are jobs to be had. Don’t believe it if you hear people say there are no positions available. Between the EDD’s Ventura and Oxnard offices (there also is one in Simi Valley), Barraza says there are now about 140 job orders, ranging from minimum wage to one position paying $50,000.

Larrabee at the Personnel Pool also has clerical, general warehousing and office jobs. But his problem, he says, is finding people that he has enough confidence in to recommend to the employer. When an employer calls him up, he says, “I’m going to say I have someone who is trained, reliable and skilled.” On the other hand, he adds, “I need to have that kind of person.”

* And the winner is . . . “We constantly tell people that they can’t come in dressed in sloppy jeans and a Raider’s jacket,” Larrabee says. “That happens all the time. We judge on skills, but you’re also giving a lasting impression. If you come in for a clerical job dressed in jeans and tennis shoes and Mary over there has the same skills and is dressed appropriately, who do you think has the best chance of getting hired?”

* I’d love the job, but only on my terms. “You’d be amazed how many people set us up with such tight parameters that we can’t help them,” Larrabee says. “They’ll say, ‘I need to work in Oxnard,’ ‘It can’t be further than six blocks from my house,’ or, ‘I can only work between 8 and 2:30.’ That’s no exaggeration. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I remember getting a job pumping gas during the gas shortage. Those that want to go to work will.”

* Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Just because you may not be able to charge everything you want in all those catalogues coming to the house doesn’t mean the spirit of the holiday should be lost. “Christmas is not supposed to be as commercial a holiday as we have made it,” says Ventura clinical psychologist John Erbeck.

Erbeck says kids can be told honestly that times are tough, but that next year will be better. In the meantime, he suggests doing things that can create a lot of joy but don’t cost a lot: Christmas caroling, visiting with friends, driving down Candy Cane Lane to look at the lights.

“When people are out of work, or think they might be soon, maybe it is a time for them to celebrate it in the way it was meant to be,” he says. “It can give them a chance to remember what the holidays are supposed to be all about.”