First I want to welcome you to the UhireUS blog. It is where we will
be sharing the ups and downs of a truly remarkable undertaking by a
group of concerned college students and business professionals. We
believe that progress has been painfully slow in combating America’s
sky-high unemployment rate. We believe it is time for America’s
business community to do what only it has the power to do -- kick off
the burst of hiring needed to put the economy back on the right path.
How we got to this point is a fascinating story that spans the Atlantic
and touches on the efforts of dozens of dedicated people. The idea
for UhireUS first saw the light of day in a column written by Rance
Crain, editor-in-chief of Advertising Age magazine. He reported a
conversation with Stan Rapp, co-founder of a fabulously successful
ad agency named Rapp Collins and highlighted Stan’s vision of a
National Employment event focusing business leaders on something
they can do to jump-start the economy..
Shortly after the column appeared Stan mentioned the idea in a
phone conversation with his friend Michael Killeen, the CEO of an ad
agency in Dublin Ireland. Michael in turn passed along what Stan had
in mind to Lucy Masterson, who teaches a marketing course for U.S.
Champlain College students studying abroad in Dublin.
This is where my involvement, as one of the students enrolled in
Lucy’s course, becomes part of the story.
At the start of the semester, Lucy bounded into the room, brimming with
what turned out to be an inexhaustible energy.
"Guys, I've had a thought. Some friends and I were having a drink round
the kitchen table last night, discussing the fact that our children's music
teacher was being forced to emigrate due to the economy...." She told us
that more and more people were being forced to leave Ireland due to their
inability to find a job. Some were young, smart, and just out of college, but
others were middle aged, with families who were leaving the homes they
had built over decades. The stories were heartbreaking. The deteriorating
situation in Ireland drove Lucy and her friends to focus our marketing class
on what Stan and Michael had talked about. She paced back and forth as
she explained:
"The government is a mess right now, and we can't look to them to fix the
situation. But what if we can? What if you can show businesses how they
can?"
Her approach was simple: get fifteen thousand companies to each agree
to hire one person. The burden on each business would be minimal, but
the impact on the economy could be huge. There would be 15,000 fewer
people on unemployment, 15,000 more people paying taxes, and 15,000
more pay checks being used to buy things. In a nation of 6 million people,
adding 15,000 jobs is the equivalent of adding 750,000 over here.
We teamed up with local Irish students to work on forming a campaign to
turn her plan into a reality. We called our movement Hireland.
It grew rapidly over the four month semester, and has gotten the attention
of the government. Hireland is now at the point where a massive pro bono
media campaign involving every radio station in the country, the nation’s
newspapers, billboards and online social media will roll out next month.
What the students and concerned business professionals organized is now
a vital force in the battle to bring the Irish economy back from disaster.
All too soon our semester abroad was over and it was time to head home
to families, jobs, and significant others we had left behind. But, luckily,
our being part of a re-employment movement did not have to end with our
class. Stan Rapp has invited the students who created Hireland to join in
bringing to life the UhireUS initiative in the U.S. with particular relevance
to the job challenges facing the next generation of America’s college
students. We happily accepted and look forward to joining forces with
students at colleges and universities from coast to coast.
UHireUS is asking big business and small business to hire one jobless
person for every fifty employees now on the payroll. We have proclaimed
November to be America’s first National Re-Employment Month. The goal
is to gain 1 million jobs in a single month. Far more than what has been
happening.
We need your help. The chance to get America back on course is not just
for those in a position to do the hiring. What each of us does online and by
word of mouth in support of National Re-employment Month can help get
America back to thinking positive about the future.
So welcome and visit often. And take a moment to add your “like” to
our Facebook page.
