Looking For A Job. Get Creative

“They were impressed with his spirit,” said Linda White of the Youth and Family Project, the group’s facilitator. “He came back. I think that’s the neatest part.”

An experienced manager in sales and operations, Heuer’s had four solid job interviews with more being lined up next week.

“The billboard has been driven more by the media than the traffic that has driven by,” he said. “I hit it because I did something different and I did it in unprecedented times before someone else did it initially.”

He admits he did not anticipate the extent of the national ripple effect of the $4,175 billboard ad. A Google search of Mark4hire.com on Friday afternoon turned up 228 results, just shy of 23 pages.

“I had a guy who tracks media for a living and he sent me an e-mail. As of Tuesday night, I was viewed by 1.6 million people and if I had to pay for the advertising I would have to pay $153,000 for the coverage,” Heuer said, his voice strained by all the media interviews.

The billboard facing northbound traffic on highways 41 and 45 north of Silver Spring Drive will be seen by an estimated 2.128 million adults in the month it runs, according to Dan Pomeroy of Clear Channel Outdoor.

“We’re delighted. We hope he gets a six-figure job,” said Pomeroy, real estate and public affairs manager for the billboard company based in Pewaukee, who credited Heuer with his initial idea.

Heuer approached the company after floating his idea for the billboard among his circle of influence and wife. Some were for it, some weren’t so sure.

“I thought it was wonderful,” said Maureen Swan, the account executive he worked with at Clear Channel. “It made sense because of his background.”

The Web site was suggested by Clear Channel’s creative director, Jenner Dold.

Heuer, who confesses he’s not tech savvy, said he was surprised by how it easy it is to get a good-looking Web site through Yahoo.

How does the father of three (ages 6, 9 and 11) view it as a success?

“My wife said all we need is one job.”

His wife Chris Heuer said she was apprehensive about the billboard idea.

“If you compare the risk to the reward, the reward was much greater than the risk.

We’re both surprised at the attention. It’s exciting,” she said.

“We have friends from around the country calling saying, ‘Oh, we saw you.’”

The Heuers haven’t seen the cable broadcasts on CNN and Fox News because they don’t have a satellite dish, and have as a family learned to do without things. However, she said they’re glad for what they do have, including her husband and her children’s father who was in Iraq where he worked for a coffee vendor.

“We want to remind the kids that we’re together as a family,” Chris Heuer said.

They plan to stay together more in the future, and view a possible move out of the area together as a family adventure, she said.

And if he doesn’t get a job after being jobless for six months?

“It would be discouraging but in the long run it’s: What is God’s will?” said Mark Heuer. “If it’s meant to be, He will honor me.

“I couldn’t have said that a year ago because of the stages you go through,” he said. “I’m beginning to mature myself … as a Christian.”

“I’ve seen leaps and bounds of maturity. It’s been great as a family to go through,” said Chris Heuer. “Even though it’s been tough.”