Back on the market

Paul Clinton

For 18 years, Ryan Grady poured his energy and effort into

building his own company.

Grady, who lives in Corona del Mar, was president and co-owner of

Grant Piston Rings in Anaheim. But in January, Grady shuttered the

company he had helped nurture from infancy. Selling piston rings and

other engine parts was no longer profitable, he said.

Out of work for the first time since his mid-20s, Grady, now 46,

found himself in an unfamiliar dilemma. Finding a new management job

has been a struggle.

“When you lose your existing job, you immediately get a new one,’

Grady said. “That is as CEO of your own company called ‘Find Myself a

New Job.’”

As his first executive order to himself, Grady enlisted with Forty

Plus, a nonprofit group that helps middle-aged men and women re-enter

the workplace after they have lost their job.

The group, which was founded in 1939 in New York City, now has 14

chapters across the nation, including one in Orange County. The 54

local members meet weekly at a commercial office building in Orange,

at the convergence of the Santa Ana and Garden Grove freeways.

Grady joined other Forty Plus members Wednesday morning at the

group’s meeting as they milled about a small office space on the

second floor of a faded, white building with chipped blue-painted

trim.

The job searchers grabbed doughnuts and sipped coffee out of the

small Styrofoam cups. It was an auspicious day. When someone in the

group nails down a job, they bring the celebratory doughnuts to the

next meeting, per group etiquette.

In some ways, the meeting took on the tone of a 12-step support

group; the members offered each other hopeful smiles and snippets of

encouragement.

Members sign up for the group’s classes to learn how to assemble a

resume and cover letter, present a “30-second commercial” on

themselves during interviews -- otherwise known as an “elevator

speech” -- and master other skills crucial to pinning down a good

job.

For all this, they must pay $475 and volunteer eight hours a week

to keep the group running.

They may have each other to lean on as they negotiate the

often-unforgiving hiring process, but not for long. Once a job comes

their way, the group has served its purpose. They move on.

“We’re transitional in nature,” said Bo Rossetter, the group’s

current president. “But each group that comes in here is trying to

improve the organization.”

Grady, who is a vice president of the group, has completed his two

weeks of job training. For his efforts, he has been given a green

circle sticker, which he has attached to his name tag.

Grady, now looking for another management job, has his resumes

circulating among companies. He said he hopes to land in the emerging

fuel-cell industry. In the meantime, he has been giving free advice

to an Irvine water-purification company. He is also mulling an offer

to manage a division of an aerospace contractor.

After he lands his new job, he’ll bring the doughnuts to the

meetings. When Grady joined the group in April, he posed for a

Polaroid, which is now tacked to a corkboard on one side of the Forty

Plus offices. It will be moved, in a ceremony tinged with a little

dramatic flair, to a corresponding corkboard on the other side of the

room.

Then, Grady will be one of the success stories.

Gloria McCormack, who lives in Costa Mesa, is one of those. After

a long career with cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden, McCormack lost

her job and needed to get back to work. She came to Forty Plus.

“I think support groups are important in any endeavor of your

life, whether it’s personal or professional,” McCormack said. “It’s a

community of people who are action oriented about getting their

careers on track.”

Shortly after signing up to teach a class about networking,

McCormack got a job with the Orange County chapter of the United Way

as a fund-raiser. Grady and McCormack, along with about four others,

were in the same “partnering group,” a closer-knit group to offer

greater encouragement.

A new job should boost Grady’s personal life, along with his

career.

Grady, who has lived in Corona del Mar since 1989, has grown

attached to one of Newport Beach’s wealthiest enclaves. He wants to

stay.

Also propelling his job search is his engagement to Lara Dorsey,

an executive at UC Irvine’s housing authority. The two cherish their

walks around Balboa Island.

Grady, to his dismay, has had to put off his marriage day

indefinitely, while he puts his career back on the right path.

Being out of work was “kind of a shock” at first, Grady said.

“It’s takes some getting used to,” Grady said. “It’s not only the

[job-search] skills you’re dusting off, it’s a mental attitude.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be

reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.