PSU Magazine Fall 1998

[ bring another announcement– Gemma could see the writing on the wall. It was almost a relief two years ago when First Interstate offered a golden parachute. Except there were problems-at least in Gemma's mind. The retire– ment package wasn't enough to support his family, and what employer would hire a 50-year-old vice president when they could hire someone 15 years younger for less? The surprise was there were many job prospects. As megabanks have mushroomed up to the stratosphere, a void has opened down closer to the ground. Stepping into that void are smaller community banks. Banks that make loans in the $200,000 to $2 million category. Banks where you call a local number and get not a phone tree, but a person. or bankers with the experi– ence and expertise of a Dan Gemma, community banks stand waiting with arms wide. Gemma stepped from the doors of First Interstate to the shores of the Bank of the Northwest without skipping a heartbeat. He couldn't be happier and is still turning down lucrative offers that continue to arrive on his desk. "Everyone here had significantly greater responsibilities in their previ– ous jobs," he says. "Like me, they've chosen to come here ." Why tum down prestige, power and cash ? It's the personal touch. "In a community bank, I see the difference $200,000 or $500,000 or three-quarters of a million dollars makes to the bottom line of my clients," says Gemma. "I see the money used to expand their manufacturing, add employees, ship more product. Right away I can see the effect of my loan on their balance sheet. For me, that's a real sense of accomplishment." Few have it as easy as Gemma. "We occasionally see people whose occupations or situations allow them to retire at a relatively young age," says Mary Cumpston, PSU Career Center director. "They're able to plan and grow toward a new career. But most people come with varying degrees of dissatisfaction about what they've been doing and no idea of what they'd rather do. Or they know exactly what they'd rather do, but they don't know how to get there. Or they've been downsized and they need a job today." For students and alums in these more typical shoes, the Career Center offers this framework: One-to-one counseling, career deci– sions workshops, and other tools of self-discovery. Knowing your strengths, skills, and interests is the first step to finding your perfect job. Help in understanding how to relate your strengths, skills, and interests to the working world and possible jobs. A hand in determining how to make the transition to the career you've chosen while factoring in your wants, needs, and constraints. "I tell people, this is hard work," says Dee Thompson, a Career Center coun– selor. "Most people take three months or so to work through finding out their skills and strengths and what it is they want to do. There's no easy way to do this. It takes work and energy and courage. Once you know what you want to do, it can take another three months to find a job if you don't need any additional training." But one thing's for sure, sooner or later almost all of us will find ourselves at that threshold. The 30-year career with one company belongs to the past. The worker of today must be constantly attuned to upgrading and acquiring skills. "You create your own job security," says Thompson , "by having skills employers want. Everyone has to do this." hanning Pinkerton could have been her poster boy. Pinkerton's work history is a litany of new skills translating to new jobs translating to new skills. A 1965 graduate of West Linn High School, the Oregon native tested the waters at Portland State for a semester or two, but figured he'd rather earn a buck. He traveled the Northwest helping put on carnivals, fa irs, and road shows for a few years before using his carni– val food service experience to manage .tt updating his job skills-mo-.ing from carnhal \\Ork, to restaurant m.i1rngement, to retail, to his present c.omputcr c,1rccr. a restaurant franchise in Eugene. Restless, he brokered his managerial skills into owning a janitorial bus iness. In 1978 he turned over another leaf and joined Bi-Mart, qu ickly working his way up to assistant mgnager. In that role he began acquiring computer skills, but when upward mob ili ty hit the wall of gray-haired executives ahead of him, Pinkerton took a long-standing in terest in metal– lurgy along with h is neophyte computer sk ills and landed a job in qua lity assurance with Precision Castparts Corp. He was ready to settle in for the long hau l until the company down– sized two years later. As one of the newest h ires, he was low on the totem pole. Shortly after receiving a kidney transp lant, Pinkerton got his pink-slip. After that double whammy, and the rea lization that life is short, he decided FALL 1998 PSU MAGAZINE 13