Husband gets creative to aid wife's job search

Holly Stuard's husband wants to make sure people know his wife is looking for a job.

When a conventional job search that lasted more than a year didn't work, Brandon Stuard decided to take drastic action: The Sylvania man rented two electronic billboards that display "please hire my wife" and the email address "hiremywife@yahoo.com."

The advertisements tout Mrs. Stuard's professional and academic experience, including that she has a master's degree in business administration. "I was just trying to think of ways to help Holly out," Mr. Stuard said. "She puts a lot of time and effort into putting resumes together."

The move was a surprise to Mrs. Stuard, 36, who was laid off from her position directing the MBA program at the University of Toledo in July, 2011.

Although she's had a few promising leads since being laid off, nothing has panned out.

"It was definitely difficult," she said. "We were very dependent on having two incomes in the way our household is structured with our expenditures."

Mrs. Stuard saw other university employees lose their jobs in the four years she worked at UT, but said it still came as a shock when her position was eliminated.

"It was difficult, but I was optimistic it wouldn't be long," she said.

The billboards have bolstered her search.

The advertisements -- at the Anthony Wayne Trail entrance to downtown Toledo at Erie and Lafayette streets and at the busy West Toledo corner of Sylvania Avenue and Talmadge Road -- have brought in a flood of emails.

Some of those emails are well-wishers; others offered leads on jobs in the area.

It has brought new life to the search, said Mr. Stuard, who is a Lucas County deputy sheriff.

"I didn't know if it would actually work, and I didn't know it would blow up to this margin," he said. "It put a smile on her face and has recharged the job search."

Mr. Stuard rented the billboards for $700, and the advertisements went up Monday. He said if it can help his wife land another job, it will have been money that was well spent. "I started thinking about this the first week of August on the ride home from work," he said. "Finally, it clicked: 'Please hire my wife.' I thought it would be catchy."

Contact Kris Turner at: kturner@theblade.com or 419-724-6103.