Agencies aid Reno man in job search
by Kristen Go, Outpost Staff
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In this package: Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation On the web: Nevada Employment, Training and Rehabilitation
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Jess Lugan never thought he'd lose his job. It was November 1996, and Lugan was getting ready to move from Reno to Las Vegas to become general manager of a casino. His best friend flew him out to the casino, brought him into the office that would be his and fired him.
"I never thought it would happen to me," says Lugan, a 51-year-old Reno resident. "I always thought I'd stay on top of the game."
Lugan moved to Reno 17 years ago for a job in sales and marketing in transportation. He was soon attracted to the money that sales and marketing employees in the gaming industry made. Last year when Lugan was fired, he was earning $72,000 a year. When he applied for unemployment, he received about $400 a month to support himself and his wife.
Losing a job never comes at an opportune time, but Lugan became even more depressed because he was fired from his job right before Thanksgiving.
"This is a time when I was in the cold. What the hell do you do?" he says.
Lugan received his $200 unemployment check every two weeks but also began visiting the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Employment Security, a state agency that helps train and place people looking for jobs. He started taking classes to enhance his computer skills. He also attended several workshops to help him improve his interviewing skills. He attended some gaming trade shows and two months later found with much persistence, he had a new job in the gaming industry. Soon after, he found another.
Lugan is now the vice president for two different companies. He earns a little more than $100,000 a year, but he says being unemployed has been a humbling experience.
"You never know what's going to happen to your career," he says. "I know what it's like to be unemployed and hungry.
Lugan says he was embarassed to tell neighbors and friends what had happened, and he was determined to find a job and keep his pride.
"I've been very blessed with a learning experience," he says. When he was unemployed, Lugan's wife, offered to go to work, but he insisted on being the breadwinner. "It was a very interesting experience.
Now Lugan is always looking for ways to learn new skills to make him more competitive and valuable. He is very conscious of the possibility of being unemployed. He reads self-help books such as "Habits of Highly Effective People" and constantly reads and researches companies he'd like to work for.
Lugan doesn't want to receive another dime from the unemployment office. He regularly visits the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Employment Security on Neil Road, sometimes to work on his resume and research new companies, other times to remind him of harsher days.
"Sometimes it's good to go in...to remind you what can happen. You've been there, done that, but don't want to forget what happened."
Lugan likes to draw this comparison: Every day in Africa a gazelle wakes up in the morning and knows it has to run as fast as possible to get away from a lion in order to survive. Every day in Africa a lion gets up knowing that he or she has to run as fast as the slowest gazelle so that he or she does not starve.
And every day Lugan knows he too has to hit the ground running.
copyright 11/15/97