No, these rabble-rousers aren't protesting the International Monetary Fund, or the World Bank, or even the job bank. They're just a cadre of talented, hungry PR pros that have formed WeWantWork, a band of "up-by-your-hushpuppies" New Yorkers unwilling to take unemployment lying down.
Comprising around 40 laid-off pros from media and marketing, financial and IT indus- tries, the group was organized by former Hill & Knowlton account supervisor Lisa Rosevear, former Economist.com marketing manager Mark Seago, and former NBA marketing pro Emily Malatesta.
They've set up a website, WeWantWork.com, which includes links to all members' resumes, and have held rush-hour "protests" at Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Station, distributing leaflets and chanting, "We want work! You want us!"
In addition to Rosevear, the guerrilla job-seekers count three other PR pros among their ranks: Geek Factory veteran Theresa Champagne, former Sure Fire Media entertainment publicist Gayle Snible, and Tanya Bershadsky, who just finished working on the high-octane launch of the new Museum of Sex. The group has also received the support of Geek Factory honcho Peter Shankman, who offered the group a testimonial of his own street-level search effort in 1998.
Their efforts have so far been covered by the New York Post, New York Sun, CBS Radio, Imus in the Morning, and New York all-news radio station WINS.
Better yet, every member has gotten job interviews out of it. One WeWantWorker handed out leaflets in the morning and interviewed that afternoon.
