Jamekeya Myles is the mother of two girls, Treyanna, age 5, and Tysheanna, age 2. In addition to her daughters, Myles also supports her mother and younger sister. She also now has 58 individuals who she views as family looking to her for support.
Myles is the store director at a Circuit City store in Richmond, Va. Recent announcements about the company have left her in a tough situation.
“I’m trying to stay positive for my team at home and my team at work,” Myles said. “It’s definitely not easy and it’s even harder to keep everyone motivated to continue to serve our guests in the store.”
Circuit City Stores, Inc. announced that it would officially liquidate all of its assets on Jan. 16, leaving 34,000 workers unemployed. Many of these employees are continuing to work through the liquidation process, but some were disappointed in the breaking of the news. Even so, Circuit City is providing some assistance to the employees as they search for new careers.
“I actually got the official word from CNBC,” Myles said. “We knew the court hearing started at 10 (A.M.), and by about 10:15 (A.M.) it was on the news. That was the hardest part I think – seeing it there first.”
Like Myles, other employees also heard the news prior to an announcement from the corporate office.
“My mom actually sent me a text message to see if I was okay,” said Melissandre Pierre-Chrispin, customer service associate. “I didn’t know what she was talking about at first. Then I called the store immediately to see if it were true and to see what information anyone had. Unfortunately, none of them knew much either.”
The liquidation announcement came after Circuit City was unable to find a party to purchase the company. Though two bidders were considered to be motivated possibilities, neither was able to submit a proposal that was acceptable to creditors.
Previously in November of 2008, Circuit City announced the closing of 155 store locations followed shortly by the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Jason Miller, a member of management in a Richmond store, worked for Circuit City for eight years, and says he was quite surprised at the liquidation announcement.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Miller said. “I’ve only had two jobs in my adult life. I joined Circuit City in 2000 and never once thought I’d be going back to square one looking for a new career. Now I am constantly worrying about the life my daughter will have if the economic conditions don’t support me finding employment.”
But Circuit City is not leaving its employees without some assistance in the job hunt. On Feb. 4, the store support center, or corporate office, hosted a job fair with nearly 50 agencies in attendance.
“The job fair was an awesome concept,” said Andrew Eaton, district manager for Circuit City. “I feel like it at least gave our employees some assurance that there are job opportunities out there and ready to take them on. Our turnout was not as great as we had hoped, but every employee helped is a success.”
Others, however, were disappointed at the opportunities available at the job fair.
“There were hardly any job openings for the Richmond area,” said Tek Singh, a former employee at the corporate office. “And you might as well have not shown up if you didn’t have tech experience.”
Singh stated that the majority of the business and organizations present were from the D.C. area, with several in Tennessee and other surrounding states.
Though working the current liquidation sales, employees are also encouraged to continuously apply for jobs and given the necessary time off for interviews and other processes for new employment.
“I want my partners to know that I’m here to help them find a job,” Myles said. “Whether I can provide them with a recommendation or just the time to search for a job, I’m happy to do so. It’s the least I can do when they are giving so much right now.”
Circuit City has yet to announce a final closing date for the remaining locations, but a letter to employees predicts the date as being on or around March 21. Forty-four stores did, however, close on Feb. 16.
No comments:
Post a Comment