IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE…06/15/08

Landscape groomers, gardeners, groundskeepers or whatever you want to call the people that take care of lawns and gardens are considered more of a necessity rather than a luxury in the area of California where I live.  (Pebble Beach, Monterey, Carmel ~ on the Monterey Peninsula.)  It's considered to be a relatively wealthy part of the state.

No, I'm not one of the fortunate residents here that have my lawn groomed.  I'm the bookkeeper for a small landscape contractor.

We began to see a reduction in business right around April; the beginning of spring when business for us is usually ripe for new clientele.  But rather than adding to our client list, we began to lose a few long-time customers.  The main reason given was due to the economy.  This of course meant we had to do some "pruning" in our budget.  We cut back hours for our staff, created little functions to keep our crews busy, and discarded any ideas about searching for extra spring/summer help.

Tax time was over and the remnants of my work had really piled up.  Filing needed to be caught up, blueprints and plans needed assembly and storing, and needless to say our summer advertising campaign needed reevaluation.  But I couldn't do it all myself.

At about 8 o'clock Thursday morning, June 12^th, I put a little solicitation on CraigsList.com for a limited-hours, part-time file clerk.  The job suggests about 12 hours per week, no benefits, no perks, and all of this for $12 an hour.  We encouraged "mature" adults to apply.  By 3:30 P.M., we had received FIFTY FOUR resumes via e-mail, FOURTEEN faxes, and COUNTLESS phone calls. 

The applicants were not new high school graduates looking for summer money, nor were they young men and women having just completed an office business course at the local community college.  I would estimate that 95% of the resumes/applications/inquiries were from folks ranging in age from about 35 to 60; professional people who are striving to keep the roof over their heads ~ and they weren't ashamed to admit it. 

My best advice to everyone out there:  If you have a job ~ do whatever you can to keep it.  If you don't have a job ~ good luck in finding one.  It's a jungle out there.