Kathy Gordon got the news in October that the well-paying job she's held for more than 20 years was gone. Experts say her key to finding work is to be willing to accept a position in another field, maybe even at a lower salary. But Gordon told the sound of ideas she's not ready for that yet.
Kathy Gordon: "It's just very hard, at 59 years old I don't want to learn something new, and I don't want to go to work and make eight dollars an hour when I made eighteen-fifty an hour."
By contrast, former Plain Dealer assistant metro editor Susan Ruiz Patton is ready to expand her job options. Patton was among the two dozen PD employees lost their jobs last week.
Susan Ruiz Patton: "There are so many skills that I have that I can translate to other industries. I was really hearing Kathy loudly, cause she was like, 'I don't want to learn something new.' That's the worst attitude in the world. We've got to open our minds to new possibilities."
In a market like this, it's either new possibilities, Patton said, or it's nothing.
More than 430,000 people are out of work in Ohio. The number has grown by a quarter in just the last year -- and its expected to go up even more this month.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3