By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Experts say that the loss of a job can rank with the most catastrophic events in a person’s life, like the death of a spouse or a divorce. But the crowd at the first meeting of the Greater Seattle Jewish Business Network Group had no time for that.
Instead, the 18 Jewish professionals and entrepreneurs, including information technology mavens, real estate and construction project managers, and the recently “furloughed” from Microsoft, brought piles of business cards and a plethora of skills with them, eager to put themselves back out into the job market, and to create a new plan for their lives.
For some, it’s a chance to start over on a new track. Others know exactly where they want to go next. A few are a bit bereft, but most can’t wait to put their decades of experience out there again.
“The most important thing is networking,” said Ben Meyerhoff, a group co-founder who, after 12 years, was laid off last June from his job at CompuCom Systems. Previously, Meyerhoff had worked at IBM for 30 years. Now, he’s actively using social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to help his search for a new job.
An experienced vice president in sales, he has been looking for work since April 2008 — it’s the first time in 44 years he’s been unemployed. However, Meyerhoff certainly practices what he preaches.
“I make all kinds of lists,” Meyerhoff said. “I make lists of all of the recruiters I’ve found.”
During the pre-meeting schmoozing, he ticks off advice to a participant.
“Are you on Biznik?” he asks a woman standing next to him. “I found a Web site called Seattle 2.0. Also,
Go2WorkSource.com is an excellent site.”
Jay Bakst, a member of Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation on Mercer Island, who organized a similar group there nearly four years ago, worked with Meyerhoff to start the group.
Bakst, a process improvement manager and consultant, is currently working, but realizes that circumstances can always change.
“This was very successful when we did it four years ago and there’s no reason it can’t work now,” he said. “The jobs are out there, but the Monster.coms have a hard time defining some people who are searching for a job. That’s where groups like ours come in.”
Barbara West, an elder-law attorney in Seattle, isn’t looking for work herself, but she came to the business networking meeting to let members know that her field is growing.
“In my industry, there’s actually jobs to be had,” West told the group.
Members of the Jewish business network offered in-your-face suggestions, with something of a compassionate, “Jewish” touch: Meyerhoff’s first piece of advice?
It’s critical, he said, that job seekers develop a polished, edited, and rehearsed 30- to 60-second “elevator speech” that lets people know what they’re looking for when they are face-to-face with that recruiter or CEO.
“If you can’t say it out loud, then don’t go looking for a job,” Meyerhoff said. “And in an interview, never say, ‘I think I can,’ or ‘I feel I can,’” he advised. “You either can — or you can’t.”
The focus of the group is to help members find a job and to explore what to do in a job search. They are a networking group, and a support group — not a job bank.
That’s why Meyerhoff created an identity for the group on LinkedIn, an online, professional networking site.
It’s already attracted the attention of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
Realizing that the community probably needed some help during these increasingly tough times, they, too, were going to use LinkedIn, and create a Federation job search site.
That’s when they found the Greater Seattle Jewish Business Network Group already up and running.
For Keith Krivitzky, vice president of the Federation’s Center for Jewish Philanthropy, it seemed like an obvious connection. As the largest supporter of Jewish programs in Seattle, the Federation decided to sponsor the Jewish support group’s site on LinkedIn, and the two organizations have combined their resources.
“With the deteriorating economy, the Federation has been assessing needs in our community, working with partner agencies, and trying to determine the best ways to help people in this challenging time,” Krivitzky wrote in an e-mail. “Through Federation sponsorship of the site, we can raise awareness, help this effort engage with many more in our community, and potentially connect people with other resources.”
Users looking for the new networking group should be able to get there by searching for “Jewish” and “Seattle” on the LinkedIn site.