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Dressed in a smart olive green suit and swinging a leather briefcase, Paul Davis isn’t the type of job-seeker who usually asks for help at the New York State Employment Services Center in Jamaica, Queens. Since Monday, this state agency has shared its offices and staff with the Twin Towers Job Link Center, a partnership of state government, city government, and the Consortium for Worker Education, a nonprofit organization.

Davis, 43, used to work as an accountant at Banco Popular on 120 Broadway. He was at ground zero when the planes hit the Twin Towers. He had managed to get outside of his building when he felt one of the buildings vibrate and saw an approaching cloud of dust. “I ran for my life,” he said.

Though in shock, “I’m trying stay upbeat,” he said. Since Monday he has been actively hunting for a job. He stopped first at job agencies downtown, but got no further than the police barricades when he couldn’t produce identification that said he worked downtown. When he saw an ad on Channel 7 news yesterday, he decided to try the TTJLC. The Brooklyn resident called the hotline number and the staffer told him to come in ready for an interview. He showed up in Queens today scrubbed up and armed with a resume. The career counselor talked with Davis about his situation, gave him a list of job placement resources, including www.monster.com, and told him that the center would try to match his resume with a listing in the center’s new job bank. (Companies who want to hire employees affected by the crashes at the World Trade Center call in and the TTJLC processes these postings at night when the center has closed to the public.) They did not tell him when he might expect a call-back.

Although he had been working at Banco Popular for 9 months, Davis was still a temporary employee and therefore ineligible for benefits. “They told all temporary workers that they were off until further notice,” said Davis. “That meant I’d better start looking for a job. I don’t know when, if ever, we’re going to go back in the building. I don’t think they know.”

Part-time and temporary employees were hit hard. Richard Baig, 24, used to be a part-time driver for Boston Coach, a car service. He and many friends in his company have been laid off without the prospect of company benefits. The Queens resident, who saw the center advertised on the TV news, came to find another job and ask about unemployment benefits, but he wasn’t very optimistic: “I’m worried like everybody else.”          

Byron Obando, 43, also of Queens, lost his part-time job as a painter because the head of his painting company is a fireman now working full time down at the crash site. “He said he had no time to take care of side jobs. He said, ‘I’ll call you later.’”

Career counselors here have seen 143 job-seekers since Monday. Traffic through the center, of course, has been much higher. (Most are people who were already looking for jobs through the state agency. Also, many people who worked in the Twin Towers come only to find out about unemployment or emergency benefits.) Barbara McCleave, a career counselor, said most of the people she saw were involved in “auxiliary businesses” that work with financial firms: food service and customer service workers, drivers of delivery services, hotel workers, security guards, maintenance people, and parking lot attendants, although she did talk to a few office managers and assistants. “Today [Wednesday],” she said, “I saw my first financial professional.”

But even those whose work in offices blocks away from the police-restricted area have lost their jobs. A 31-year-old woman from the Bronx who worked at The Reserve Funds on 32d Street said she was laid off from her full-time job answering phones because the volume of calls was down. She came in looking for unemployment benefits because, as she put it, “I still have bills to pay.”

Emotionally, the people arriving at the TTJLC have been in a good emotional state, determined to press on despite the odds, said Debra Sproles, Press Secretary of the city’s Human Resources Administration. “They’re just so happy to be alive in general,” she said.

But the office does sometimes see people who are not quite ready to start a new job. McCleave said she saw one man yesterday who was injured in the accident, but had not yet seen a doctor. “We looked at him and told him he should get some medical attention.”

Though McCleave admitted the outlook doesn’t look very good, she did feel positive about the candidates she talked to as part of the TTJLC. “These are people who have skills,” she said. “They were employed before; they’re employable now. Usually there are more obstacles -- for instance, they may have been out of work for a while.” Moreover, she said, the job-seekers have been remarkably flexible, ready to transfer their skills to work in a new industry to get a job, though they do tend to want the same high wages typically offered in downtown Manhattan.

Albert Aminov, 30, a computer technician, came into the TTJLC after he found it by researching on-line and calling to make an appointment. He was employed full-time for Martin Progressive, LLC, converting data for banks on the 77th floor of the Tower 1. “We lost our office,” said Aminov, a stocky man in a suit and tie. “I can’t get in touch with the manager. I can’t get in touch with anyone.”

“It’s hard,” confessed McCleave. Although she and others counted a “goodly number” of accounting, clerical, social services and health care jobs last night, she still says, “I hope more companies respond to our matching service.”

Most people plan to keep looking. “On Monday,” says Davis, “when it’s a fresh week, I’m going to agencies in Midtown.” The TTJLC was Aminov’s first stop, but he doesn’t think he will be able to find the full-time job he is looking for here. “There are too many people. What are you going to do?” he says, shrugging. “I have a wife and two kids. I need to work, but I’m worried.”

Washington, DC, September 19, 2001

Twin Towers Job Link Center, Jamaica, Queens, September 19, 2001

St. John the Divine Chapel, Columbia University, September 20, 2001

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