Marion Township resident Bob Yeomans, right, teaches a heating-and-cooling class at Dorsey Schools' Wayne campus, bouncing back from unemployment to the position in two years. He works with students, from left, Shon Washington, Josh Adams and Jeremy Syck. Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
Bob Yeomans served his country for nearly 30 years and worked nearly a quarter-century for General Motors Co. before he was forced to adapt to a recession-era employment market.
Yeomans, then 57, knew within seconds of starting a job interview he would be bypassed for candidates half his age and with a fraction of his experience.
Weeks turned into months on the job search, and he was having no luck despite sending out resumes eight hours a day.
When all seemed lost, Yeomans would walk the entire, eight-mile paved path circling Kensington Metropark.
"I knew when I got done I would be so tired I wouldn't be able to worry about anything else except going home and laying down. I would try to get myself exhausted just to turn off the anxiety for a while," the Marion Township resident recalled.
"Pretty soon, it just snowballs. Everything is out of proportion," he added.
However, Yeomans "grew up in hunger" in the Milford area, and his hunger to return to the work force only grew stronger as time passed.
At the advice of Livingston County Michigan Works!, he dyed gray spots in his hair and upgraded his business wardrobe.
About a year after his 2009 layoff from GM, he learned he qualified for the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, a federally funded program administered locally through Michigan Works!
Through the program, Yeomans took classes in his trade in the heating-and-cooling industry at Northwestern Technological Institute in Southfield.
He aced the 11-month program, earning a certificate in heating, cooling and refrigeration.
"After about a month there, it dawned on me. It got to where I couldn't wait to get there every day," Yeomans recalled.
He was offered and accepted an instructor position at Northwestern Technological Institute immediately following completion of the program.
In April, he was brought on faculty at Dorsey School in Wayne.
In September, he was promoted to director of the school's heating-and-cooling program.
In October, Yeomans, now 60, received a Livingston County Workforce Development Council Award for his determination to return to the work force.
During his 40-year career in the heating-and-cooling industry, he sustained multiple injuries, including steam burns, multiple electric shocks and falling down a manhole.
Yeomans said it's his mission as an instructor to teach his students how to excel in the profession safely.
"I feel like I'm coming home every morning, even after a 12-hour day the day before," he said.
"I am determined to do the very best job I can here so I don't have to feel that hunger again," Yeomans added.
Yeomans credited his two-year rise from unemployment to program director to the discipline he honed in the military.
He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1974 during the Vietnam War, primarily training soldiers in cold-weather warfare in Alaska.
In 1981, he began a 22-year career in the Michigan National Guard through the Howell Armory. He remained active with the National Guard during much of his 23-year career with GM.
He first worked as a power-plant mechanic for the auto giant, then did heating-and-cooling work on equipment at GM's Proving Ground on the Oakland County and Livingston County border.
In March 2009, Yeomans was laid off from GM and given six months' severance pay. He was too young to collect a GM retirement package.
He collected unemployment insurance but still burned through about 75 percent of his individual-retirement account, he said.
He became discouraged after leaving several interviews thinking he was a shoo-in, only to learn the job went to someone else.
Meanwhile, he feared losing his house, and he and his family were "ready to eat the leaves off the trees," Yeomans recalled.
He was apprehensive about going back to school: It took him 15 years to complete a two-year associate degree in his profession while also meeting military and family commitments.
Work aside, Yeomans is a self-described "low-key kind of guy" and doesn't expect accolades for his work.
Yeomans didn't attend the Workforce Development Council Award ceremony because he had promised to complete a federal accreditation application for the Dorsey School program.
"I made a commitment for them. I said, 'If this fails, it is not going to be because of me. I promise you that,' and I was totally committed to it," he recalled.
"I had made someone a promise and that's the way I've always lived my life. It's called integrity, and it's called honor."
Article by Christopher Behnan of the Livingston Daily newspaper
http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20121109/NEWS01/211090325/Determination-get-back-into-work-force-nets-resident-honor?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
Yeomans, then 57, knew within seconds of starting a job interview he would be bypassed for candidates half his age and with a fraction of his experience.
Weeks turned into months on the job search, and he was having no luck despite sending out resumes eight hours a day.
When all seemed lost, Yeomans would walk the entire, eight-mile paved path circling Kensington Metropark.
"I knew when I got done I would be so tired I wouldn't be able to worry about anything else except going home and laying down. I would try to get myself exhausted just to turn off the anxiety for a while," the Marion Township resident recalled.
"Pretty soon, it just snowballs. Everything is out of proportion," he added.
However, Yeomans "grew up in hunger" in the Milford area, and his hunger to return to the work force only grew stronger as time passed.
At the advice of Livingston County Michigan Works!, he dyed gray spots in his hair and upgraded his business wardrobe.
About a year after his 2009 layoff from GM, he learned he qualified for the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, a federally funded program administered locally through Michigan Works!
Through the program, Yeomans took classes in his trade in the heating-and-cooling industry at Northwestern Technological Institute in Southfield.
He aced the 11-month program, earning a certificate in heating, cooling and refrigeration.
"After about a month there, it dawned on me. It got to where I couldn't wait to get there every day," Yeomans recalled.
He was offered and accepted an instructor position at Northwestern Technological Institute immediately following completion of the program.
In April, he was brought on faculty at Dorsey School in Wayne.
In September, he was promoted to director of the school's heating-and-cooling program.
In October, Yeomans, now 60, received a Livingston County Workforce Development Council Award for his determination to return to the work force.
During his 40-year career in the heating-and-cooling industry, he sustained multiple injuries, including steam burns, multiple electric shocks and falling down a manhole.
Yeomans said it's his mission as an instructor to teach his students how to excel in the profession safely.
"I feel like I'm coming home every morning, even after a 12-hour day the day before," he said.
"I am determined to do the very best job I can here so I don't have to feel that hunger again," Yeomans added.
Yeomans credited his two-year rise from unemployment to program director to the discipline he honed in the military.
He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1974 during the Vietnam War, primarily training soldiers in cold-weather warfare in Alaska.
In 1981, he began a 22-year career in the Michigan National Guard through the Howell Armory. He remained active with the National Guard during much of his 23-year career with GM.
He first worked as a power-plant mechanic for the auto giant, then did heating-and-cooling work on equipment at GM's Proving Ground on the Oakland County and Livingston County border.
In March 2009, Yeomans was laid off from GM and given six months' severance pay. He was too young to collect a GM retirement package.
He collected unemployment insurance but still burned through about 75 percent of his individual-retirement account, he said.
He became discouraged after leaving several interviews thinking he was a shoo-in, only to learn the job went to someone else.
Meanwhile, he feared losing his house, and he and his family were "ready to eat the leaves off the trees," Yeomans recalled.
He was apprehensive about going back to school: It took him 15 years to complete a two-year associate degree in his profession while also meeting military and family commitments.
Work aside, Yeomans is a self-described "low-key kind of guy" and doesn't expect accolades for his work.
Yeomans didn't attend the Workforce Development Council Award ceremony because he had promised to complete a federal accreditation application for the Dorsey School program.
"I made a commitment for them. I said, 'If this fails, it is not going to be because of me. I promise you that,' and I was totally committed to it," he recalled.
"I had made someone a promise and that's the way I've always lived my life. It's called integrity, and it's called honor."
Article by Christopher Behnan of the Livingston Daily newspaper
http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20121109/NEWS01/211090325/Determination-get-back-into-work-force-nets-resident-honor?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
