For Job Search, Bring a Résumé and Bowling Shoes

In the Wall Street Journal | Nov 24, 2009 | By CHRIS HERRING

Battle Creek, Mich.

Luring customers into his bowling alley wasn't Dan Labrecque's problem.

The worse the economy turned in this battered city, the more bowlers
walked through his door. Still, sales dropped, a trend the owner
attributed to unemployed people having plenty of free time, but less
money to spend.

Kevin Hare/The Battle Creek Enquirer

Dan Labrecque started holding weekly job fairs at his bowling alley this fall.

Instead
of urging his customers to bowl more or move along, Mr. Labrecque, who
had once been laid off himself, wondered if something couldn't be done
for this growing congregation showing up at Nottke's Family Fun Center.
And it couldn't hurt the bowling alley's image.

The Unemployment League was born. In an effort to help get his
community back on its feet, Mr. Labrecque partnered with an
organization to hold weekly job fairs at the bowling alley -- while job
seekers are throwing strikes or picking up spares. The initiative,
which started in September, is an attempt to lift the spirits and
prospects of unemployed residents in a state leveled by the economic
downturn.

Michigan, where the auto industry has been hemorrhaging jobs for
years, has the highest unemployment rate in the nation: more than 15%,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Though Battle Creek is
perhaps best known as the Cereal Capital because Kellogg Co. is located
there, the city has suffered much the same fate as the rest of the
state, due in part to job cuts at auto suppliers II Stanley Co. and
DENSO Corp. Battle Creek, with a population of 50,000, has an
unemployment rate of 14.3%.

Each week, nearly 150 people and about 10 hiring companies and
organizations come out to Nottke's to talk jobs with possible employers
and knock down pins free of charge.

Nottke's, an institution in Battle Creek since 1950, is a cavernous
56-lane alley that, like many lanes, features a bar and a video-game
room. But unlike many bowling alleys, Nottke's is also home to booths
rented by hairdressers, massage therapists and tanning machines.

On Wednesday, for the Thanksgiving holiday, the bowling alley plans
a promotion. Mr. Labrecque says any bowler who logs three straight
strikes, known in bowling lingo as a "turkey," will receive a voucher
for a free bird for the holiday. Hair stylings and tans, to give people
a fresh polish when looking for a job, will be provided gratis.

But Mr. Labrecque says the league has begun to run out of employers
to invite that are actually hiring. He had hoped more employers would
come out for the Thanksgiving festivities, but finally canceled the job
fair aspect when few wanted to set up a booth so close to the holiday.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, by 12:50, a full 10 minutes before
the job fair and free bowling were set to begin, the alley's side
entrance was jammed. Nearly 100 job seekers crowded the aisle between
two rows of employers and their booths. Casual dress was the norm, with
potential job applicants wearing ball caps, hooded sweatshirts and
shorts. But a few came for dressed for success, wearing pantsuits and
toting a fresh résumé.

Kevin Hare/The Battle Creek Enquirer

Mike Miller, right, who owns a restaurant in Battle Creek, Mich., talks to Brian Page about job opportunities.

"Some
come in dressed up, and you get others who walk up to the recruiters
with their bowling shoes on," said Tamara Crooks, a recruiter and job
developer for Michigan Works, the employment agency that helps put on
the event.

A couple of recruiters from the Battle Creek Fire Department, which
has up to 10 openings, decided to approach bowlers instead of waiting
for the bowlers to come to them. "If the individuals weren't going to
our booth, we were going to go talk to them," says Paul Engels,
human-resources manager for the city of Battle Creek, which handles
hiring for the city's fire department.

For a few dozen people, attending the program has already paid off.
Michigan Works says at least 30 people have been employed through the
weekly initiative since it began in September.

Deborah Rothwell, a 48-year-old Battle Creek resident, is one of the
program's successes. Two weeks ago, she received and accepted an offer
to work at the soon-to-open Culver's restaurant in town. She attended
the Unemployment League job fairs for the first eight weeks.

Ms. Rothwell, a married mother of two teenage girls, had recently
left her job as a cashier at a local retail store, where managers cut
her hours by more than half. The offer was a boost to Ms. Rothwell's
spirits, who said she had been through "several lengthy interviews,"
none of which yielded positions.

While the plan has generated excitement, there have been some
difficulties. For one, Mr. Labrecque estimates that his bowling alley
is giving away between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of bowling over the
course of the 12-week program. He says the loss has been alleviated
somewhat by a number of local businesses donating money to the center,
but the fair scheduled for Dec. 2 will likely be the last.

Many companies in the area simply haven't been in a fiscal position
to hire anyone. And even though hiring companies have participated in
the fair, the Unemployment League has in some cases been a letdown for
those hoping to find work. Janice Honeycutt, a 55-year-old Battle Creek
resident who attended twice, is one such person.

"It does kind of get your hopes up when you get to talk with someone
one on one," says Ms. Honeycutt, who recently retired from her
bank-teller job after 19 years to tend to a set of family emergencies
and is now looking for work. She was hoping to get a job at Culver's,
she says, but the company told her they had 3,000 applications. "I was
a little disappointed when I didn't get a call back."

Michael Miller, owner of the new Culver's restaurant, says there was
no way to hire everyone who wanted the job. "There were a ton of people
we shook hands with and smiled at," he says, but the company only had
75 spots available.

Still, the Unemployment League appears poised to catch on at other
bowling centers throughout the state. Aside from the job seekers and
recruiters, more than 30 bowling-alley owners representing about 170
bowling centers have made the trek to Nottke's. They were on hand Oct.
21 for a tutorial explaining how to jump-start Unemployment League
spinoffs in their communities.

"We're sort of an unused community resource during the day when we
don't have a lot going on," says Mark Voight, a bowling-alley
proprietor who owns 14 centers across the state and attended the
tutorial. Mr. Voight says he might be able to float a more scaled-back
version of the Unemployment League, which might make more sense given
how few companies are hiring.

Those running the fair in Battle Creek say it is too early to say
how many people who attended the Unemployment League will find and keep
work. But boosters of the concept are optimistic.

"There's this saying in bowling circles about how a ton of couples
eventually get married after meeting at the bowling alley," says Roger
Philipi, president of the Bowling Centers Association of Michigan. "Now
people will be able to say that they found their jobs at the bowling
alley."

Write to Chris Herring at chris.herring@wsj.com