Survival jobs for the fittest

Jason Sachs used to sell Internet bandwidth to large corporations but often felt frustrated with the pressured environment of the technology industry. Now he waits tables at Clyde’s of Georgetown restaurant and feels he lost little when telecommunications companies laid off him and other employees as the economy stagnated in the past two years.

“I don’t take my job home with me,” said the 27-year-old Arlington resident and former Worldcom employee.

Nevertheless, he checks Internet job postings regularly to see what other opportunities are available.

“I take it month by month,” he said.

Variations on Mr. Sachs’ career change are occurring throughout the Washington area and the nation while unemployment lingers around 6.2 percent. They are called survival jobs, which means the people who hold them are struggling to pay their bills rather than advance to the top of their professions.

Many of the corporate executives, computer analysts or lawyers who rose to the top of the last economic boom are just as likely to be working in retail stores or doing temp work while waiting for an economic rebound.

“It’s very sad for people’s hopes and dreams when they come out of high-level degrees to get stuck in low-end jobs,” said Jim Halyard, an account manager for the Washington office of Career Blazers, an administrative temporary help agency. “I have a number of MBAs who are receptionists right now.”

The survivalist employees also represent a dilemma for employers. Some employers like them for their work ethic.

“That’s the good thing about those guys; they’re used to putting in long hours,” said Christian Guidi, manager of Clyde’s of Georgetown.

Other employers question their loyalty.

“Professional people don’t work for us very well,” said Manuel Iguina, general manager of the downtown Cafe Atlantico.

Typically, they submit excellent resumes with their job applications. However, “then you have to wonder how long we’re going to keep them.”

Nevertheless, there are plenty of survivalists looking for work.

Since early 2001, the economy has shed about 2.7 million jobs, stranding workers from the information technology and telecommunications sectors and from the broad ranks of middle management thinned by corporate cost-cutting.

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