Touré Moody saw it coming weeks before he lost his job at a Lithonia civil engineering firm in March.

“I was furloughed for two days a week the last month and a half,” he said. “I kept hoping it would turn around.”

It didn’t, and the pink slip followed when the project he was on was put on hold. It’s now November, and eight months into his job search, the 12-year civil engineer ­– like thousands of other metro Atlantans ­– is still unemployed.

Moody, 37, who lives in southwest Atlanta, was making $60,000-plus a year. Following the job-hunting adage that it takes about a month for every $10,000 you made to find a new position, he should have landed a new position in September. But since his job search started, Moody has had fewer than five interviews and none in the past two months.

To keep busy, he is helping out at his father’s construction business and volunteering at the youth ministry at Mount Moriah Baptist Church in West End, where he attends church.

Still, he is not giving up.

“I am trusting in God,” he said. “He will provide for me. Everything makes sense when I rely on my faith. One of these days I will have the opportunity to work again.”

Background and qualifications:

Moody has a B.S. in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has worked as a project manager and designer for commercial site development, telecommunication, transportation and airport projects.

His experience also includes regulatory permitting, stormwater management, erosion and sedimentation control and utility design, drainage basin delineations, preparing flood and hydrology studies, and project quality control. He is a registered Georgia Engineer-in-Training and a GSWCC Level II Certified Plan Reviewer. His software applications experience includes 2008 AutoCAD & Civil 3D, Autodesk Land Desktop, MicroStation SE, Bentley StormCAD, and Hydraflow for Hydrographs and Storm Sewers. To reach him, e-mail tmoody.ce96@gtalumni.org.

Editor’s note:
While unemployment numbers dropped slightly in October, DeKalb County, like the rest of Georgia, continues to have a double-digit unemployment rate that is higher than the national average of 9.8 percent. Metro Atlanta’s rate is even higher than Georgia’s.

With job scarcity plaguing every sector and the seemingly unending cycle of cutbacks, layoffs and furloughs, finding a job can be daunting. Over the next several months, we will spotlight some of the people hunting for work.

To be featured in this column, e-mail your story, photo and contact telephone number to editor@crossroadsnews.com.

– Renee Turner