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Barber Shop in Deerfield, Ill. Last
winter, he extended the offer to
any customer who’s currently unemployed as well.
He collects each resume not to
parse, but to send to Scott Kane
at Gray Hair Management, a company that provides training and
networking to some 7,000 unemployed residents in the Deerfield
area. The idea is not only to give
unemployed customers a clean
look before a big interview — it’s to
hopefully land them a few more.
“You’ll never know who you can
meet using this method, but you
need only one person to see your
resume and to help you get that
next great opportunity,” Kane says.
Otero also keeps copies of
each resume in a binder that’s
readily available to any of his
customers who may be looking
to hire new workers. Though he
estimates he’s only given around
40 free haircuts to unemployed
customers, he says he still maintains the binder. Not everyone
walks away with a job, but Otero
tries to network as much as possible for each customer.
“This is a little piece but every little bit helps,” Otero said. “I
overheard two guys [waiting for
haircuts] talking about each need-
GREATEST PERSON
OF THE WEEK
He’s
doing
his part
for Main
Street.”
ing to hire 100 employees, and I
wanted them to see my resumes.”
Resumes in Otero’s binder
come from engineers, lawyers, accountants, financiers and senior
managers. They are not only from
Deerfield but neighboring areas
such as Lake Forest, Buffalo Grove,
Northbrook and Barrington.
With unemployment hovering
around 9 percent in the United
States for more than a year —
the
real rate nearly double that, according to Rep. Robert Dold (RKenilworth) — the decision to offer free haircuts was made jointly
by Otero and Kane.
Kane has been Otero’s customer for more than 10 years.
HUFFINGTON
08.12.12