A central Indiana man who has been unemployed since 2009 is undertaking some rather unconventional methods to try to land a professional job. Bob Gross, of Westfield, has been carrying a sign in highly trafficked areas of Indianapolis for about two weeks, hoping to get a job in the finance and accounting field, 6News' Ebone Monet reported. On Thursday, Gross was hanging out with a large sign at Illinois and Market streets in hopes that someone passing by would be willing to give him a chance.
Gross, a father of two girls, was laid off from Delphi Corp., where he was a system analyst, in 2009. Aside from a brief contracting stint in January 2010, he's been without a job ever since. "My heart sunk. When my boss came up to me and said he needed to see me, I knew at that time that I was gone," Gross said. "You're in a state of shock. You can't believe it's happening to you."Gross has a business administration and management degree from Indiana University and had worked for Delphi/Delco Electronics for 20 years. He said he has applied for up to 1,500 positions at numerous companies all over the Midwest and the East Coast, but that conventional means just weren't working for him.
"I've interviewed several times, but I haven't been offered a position," he said. "I had to do something. The Internet way wasn't working for me. So, I thought I'd do something creative. I'm a little bold and gutsy."
The job hunt became more urgent for Gross when his wife was laid off two months ago, leaving the family without insurance coverage. He is set to run out of employment benefits at the end of the year. "It's been a struggle, not only financially but emotionally," Gross said. "You go down into the deepest depths of almost depression. It gets that bad." Gross said he is buoyed by the people he has talked with on the streets of Indianapolis, including some who promised him they'd pass along his resume to someone who could have a job for him, but he hasn't found anything yet.
"It's been overwhelmingly supportive. I'm just blown away," Gross said. "Of course, it's humiliating. It's embarrassing, but the people have been just wonderful."Still, Gross said, he hasn't landed any interviews through on-the-street discovery, and his situation grows more desperate by the day. "I'll be here until someday something breaks. I have to. I don't have a choice," he said.