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November 3, 2009

Program pairs unemployed with companies in need

Photo/Rebecca Goldfine Stephen Buyze, left, and David Craig of Work it UP

After practicing his job pitch again and again at meetings of unemployed professionals, David Craig decided there must be another way for the jobless to network, to meet executives, to find a job.

So, Craig, who was laid off from an engineering position at National Semiconductor last spring, devised an alternative networking plan, which has morphed into a new nonprofit called Work it UP.

"I hadn't been thinking about starting a business at all," he says of the venture. But bursts of creativity are born in recessions, and Craig, with the help of his partner Stephen Buyze, incorporated the nonprofit in June, and in August they moved into an office in the business incubator at the University of Southern Maine.

"There are a lot of unemployed professionals out there," Craig says of the employment landscape. "And no program that addresses their needs."

Work it UP helps put unemployed people back to work, Buyze says. He met Craig at the same unemployed professionals meetings in Portland. Together, they collect resumes from out-of-work engineers, human resource experts, marketing directors, project managers and others, and when they can deploy them in small teams to businesses that can use their expertise.

The companies pay $1,500 a month per team project, which can last eight to 10 weeks. The unemployed professionals who are part of the team make no money. But Craig says that is offset by the experience they are able to put on their resumes, the new relationships they make and any new skills they may pick up during the project.

Craig and Buyze are also reaching out to nonprofits, startups and municipalities to find out what professional services they need but perhaps can't afford.

"We're matching people up with companies that aren't ready to hire" yet need help for future growth, Craig says. "We call ourselves not only a re-employment program, but also an economic development program."

Program participant Dan Reed, an out-of-work construction and facilities manager, is helping the Sparhawk Mill in Yarmouth refurbish two hydrodams to create clean energy. Reed and Work it UP are in the process of helping the mill owner apply for a $100,000 grant for stimulus funds, Reed says. And if that is approved, he says Work it UP could receive a small administrative fee to help activate the dams.

At the moment, Work it UP has four projects in progress, including the dams. Two of the projects involve other startups at the business incubator run by the Maine Center for Enterprise Development, part of a deal Craig and Buyze worked out for free office space.

"In exchange for the space, they work with our clients on a pro bono basis. It's a good fit," MCED President Steven Bazinet says. "If I'm a startup company and I need financial help, or I need marketing help and I have a resource where I can go get that help, it's like a dream come true."

Work it UP so far has deployed 13 professionals. Eight of those are still working for Work it UP. Five have found jobs, Buyze says, but not through Work it UP's networking strategy.

"We get them active, busy and pumped up, so when they go into a job interview, they're already high energy, and they're not desperate," he says. "It's a positive emotional lift."

Craig and Buyze also see their business staying strong past the end of the recession. The Portland Career Center's Unemployed Professionals networking group, or UP, last winter was seeing around 80 to 90 people; in better times it still sees about 25 to 30 people on average, according to John Bouchard, manager of the Portland center.

"No doubt it's easy to start this business in this economic time," Buyze says. "But there's stability when the economy rebounds."

Craig and Buyze are not yet drawing a salary, but they foresee that in 18 months they'll be organizing 10 projects a month, with an average of three people per team, for a total of 120 projects and 360 volunteers per year. They anticipate a budget of between $500,000 to $600,000 and a staff of seven or so when things are humming.

They are also looking into foundational or government funding, which would help pay for equipment like laptops and printers they can send out with their volunteers.

Although both Buyze and Craig say they miss their regular paychecks, their health insurance and financial security, and that they suffer from the same worries, bad dreams and stresses of the unemployed people they are helping, they say Work it UP is too good an idea to give up.

"I never intended to be entrepreneurial," Craig says, "but I fell in love with the idea. I feel good about it every day."

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