Work Stew Podcast

Listen to the interview by clicking the arrow on the audio player below.

Recently I spoke to a Seattle-area man who has been searching for a job for almost two years. Hearing about his struggle to find work in the environmental sector, I got to wondering: who is hiring these days? Where is the demand?

The answer, at least according to Tom Lynch, is locksmithing. The security market is expanding, and locksmiths—who offer a far wider range of services than I realized—have the potential to get a significant piece of that growing pie.

About Tom Lynch: Based in New York, Lynch is a Certified Registered Locksmith (CRL) with more than 25 years of experience. In addition to managing his own business, he is also an active leader in the industry: he founded the Society of Professional Locksmiths; created the first locksmith podcast, Lock Radio; and has contributed to several industry publications including The National Locksmith Magazine, The Locksmith Ledger, and Keynotes Magazine. Lynch is a veteran of the U.S. Navy (Submarine Service) and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

 Photo credit: courtesy of Tom Lynch.

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Listen to the interview by clicking the arrow on the audio player below.

In the wake of a national trauma—a terrorist attack, a school shooting, a natural disaster—many of us stop working, and the media vigil begins. Watching the coverage, I always find myself thinking about the people who can’t just stop: the first responders, the medical teams, the law enforcement personnel, the government officials, the media. Among these public servants, the role of the Medical Examiner is perhaps one of the least understood; this interview was a chance to shed some light on the job and to explore why someone might choose it.

About Dr. Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell: Dr. Melinek is a board-certified forensic pathologist practicing forensic medicine in San Francisco. She also serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pathology at the UCSF Medical Center and runs a private consulting firm, PathologyExpert.com. Her husband, T.J. Mitchell, is a writer and stay-at-home dad. He has worked as a screenwriter’s assistant and script editor since 1991. Working Stiff, the book they have written together, will be published by Scribner in 2014. For updates, visit (and like) the book’s Facebook page.

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Listen to the interview by clicking the arrow on the audio player below.

Much has been written about the “long-term unemployed”—job seekers who have been out of work for at least 27 weeks. In this interview, I talk to Chris—a Seattle area resident with a B.A., a decade of work experience, and a graduate degree—who has been job hunting since June 2011.

Since he’s still interviewing for new roles as they crop up, and since despair doesn’t sell well, Chris asked that I use only his first name.  

About Chris: According to his blog, Chris has “a Master’s degree in the social sciences from a large, prestigious state college” and a Bachelor’s degree “in a different social science from a small and not-so-prestigious state college.” He also explains: “In between the two degrees, I worked mostly in public education, most of it in typical inner-city schools, often with severely abused and disturbed youth.” In addition to his job experience in schools, he has also volunteered as a community organizer and campaign staffer.

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