Perching for a job

Each day around lunch time, Newport Beach resident Elle Raabe stands on the corner of Von Karman Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, wearing her Prada sunglasses and a business suit, looking for a job.

“I need a job, reception, customer service,” reads the Magic-Marker and poster-board sign hanging around Raabe’s neck.

She clutches a stack of folded résumés in one hand, which she hands out to businessmen walking by on their lunch break and whoever will roll down their car window at the stop light.

Raabe smiles and waves as delivery trucks and Mercedes cars drive by. A few people honk their horns, flash a thumbs up, or wave back.

“I’ve learned a lot standing out here,” Raabe said. “People want to help; there’s just nothing available in this economy right now.”

Unemployment in Orange County shot up to 7.8% in February, up from about 4.3% a year ago, according to the State of California Employment Development Department.

That compares to a 10.9% unemployment rate statewide and 8.9% nationally in the same period, according to department statistics. Orange County lost 1,800 jobs between January and February this year alone, according to the department.

A man in a business suit driving a BMW fiddled with his iPhone at the stop light and tried not to look up as Raabe did her Miss America-style wave Thursday on the street corner.

Another man in an SUV rolled down his window and shouted, “I was almost in the same situation as you a few months ago. Good luck,” before speeding away.

Raabe has been out on the street corner, which she picked for its proximity to numerous office buildings and a few upscale eateries where people might take business lunches, for the past month and a half.

She calls the spot her “employment perch.”

Raabe has gone through the traditional routes for finding a job, including using the career website monster.com, but hopes standing on the street corner will speed up her search.

“Sitting around being a couch potato, you get depressed,” she said. “You need to get out there. Here there is a human variable, instead of just apply, apply, apply.”

Since February, she has gotten a phone call from a woman who offered to help her get set up to sell Mary Kay cosmetics. Another man who stopped his car dangled the prospect of a job, but only wanted to date her, it turned out.

I wish you good luck,” said Michael Gagnat, who was out taking a walk on his lunch hour with a co-worker.

He told Raabe on Thursday, “We’re in land development, so we’re in bad shape too.”

Raabe has years of experience in sales and marketing and speaks German fluently. She was selling luxury resort memberships on the Internet, but the venture proved to be unsuccessful. Now she’s gone through her savings and needs work, hopefully a job with benefits that pays more than minimum wage.

“I’ll be out here until I get a job,” she said. “Whoever will hire me, I plan to stay at that job for a very long time.”

Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.