Project Jobs: Educated, qualified, hard-working & out of work

DENVER – There’s a sad reality when it comes to our current economy. Educated, qualified, and hard-working people are without jobs, some for the past few years. Ben Alexander, along with his wife, and daughter are just one family struggling to make it with almost no income.

For Alexander, the stress of finding a job is nothing compared to the stress of not providing for his family. “I don’t want anything bad to happen. My little girl… I can’t imagine her having to be out of this house, with nowhere to go.”

In 2006, Ben lost his job as a research analyst for a pharmaceutical company. Since then, he’s only been able to get short-term contract work, or other odd jobs, but nothing permanent. “A lot of it’s just looking online and just applying for everything I can find.”

Like the company that laid-off Ben, the Alexanders have been forced to make cutbacks of their own. They sold a car, cut their cable bill, and luckily their daughter’s preschool allowed her to attend free of charge.

Another relief is that their home is owned by Ben’s parents. Ben’s wife Jennifer says, “We are pretty much out of options …We would be homeless if we didn’t have the family support we have.”

Recently Ben—who’s a molecular biologist by trade—applied for a maintenance job with the city of Fort Collins. “I figure it’s better to work than not work.”

In an effort to make his resume more appealing, Ben even went back to school to get his second Master’s degree, but this time in Business. Nearly $100,000 later, still no job.

“I got to hope that out there something will eventually come, but sometimes it’s just hard because you don’t know if it will ever come.”

To make matters worse, Jennifer can’t work because she suffers from fibro myalgia. It’s a disorder that causes sufferers severe pain.  “I get to the point to where I have been in bed, to where I couldn’t get up and walk.” And if it wasn’t for Medicare they would have nothing. “My medications are over $3,000 a month.”

 Now Ben spends each day the same. Online, and looking for any job that will hire him. “I’m a hard worker, and I always put 100% into what I do…I have a lot of skills that can be used in lots of areas.”

Ben also started his own web page called www.hirebenalexander.com