ORLANDO, Fla. – Entrepreneur Robert Newland, CEO of Newland Associates Inc., is convinced the new normal for Florida’s job market will mean less opportunities in the service and hospitality industries and will force many furloughed workers to “reinvent themselves” and in some cases, leave the state.
“There are tens of thousands of people in Florida unemployed,” Newland told News 6. “We just have to help people think outside the box and not just think, ‘I can get the same type of job in a different company.’”
Florida added another 110,000 to the state’s new jobless claims last week despite the state’s phase two reopening of restaurants and bars.
“They’re not going to get all their hours back,” Newland told News 6. “If their industry is in trouble, that is not going to get fixed in the next one or two months and they have to pay their bills.”
Heather Latacki a long-time culinary server with SeaWorld is still waiting to get a call back to work after the popular aquatic themed park reopened Thursday.
“The governor just has to put himself in our shoes,” she said. “Would he want this to happen to his family? I need money, I need insurance, I need to pay for my kid’s medication, my medication.”
Latacki has been trying to get unemployment benefits since April 1 but her account on the Department of Economic Opportunity website still reads “Unexplained technical error.”
“I have gotten nothing,” the frustrated single mom told News 6. “Somehow my Social Security number is just floating in the air.”
She said her family is helping her to support her daughters, ages 16 and 18, as her finances start drying up.
Mark Hamrick, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com, said the uncertainty with jobs and benefits creates a need for furloughed workers to adjust.
“This is a time to amp up our skills game," Hamrick said. “Be agile and willing to accept change to look for opportunity is really the way to consider it.”
Newland Associates is offering free webinars three days a week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9 a.m.
The company has specialists in job coaching as well as budgeting and resumes.
For more information on the webinars go to www.getcareersupport.com.