JOE ESKENAZI
Bulletin Staff
What a difference a year makes.
Just under 12 months ago, Inna Zatulovsky headed a team of five software engineers working on voice recognition technology. Then the economy hit the skids and she's been out of work ever since.
"It drives me crazy. I am just bored. I have so much time on my hands, nothing to fill in. I have to use my time usefully, somehow," said Zatulovsky, a Mountain View resident who emigrated from Ukraine nearly a decade ago.
"And money, I really don't have any more. I had some savings that were supposed to go to my daughter's education. I put aside some money, and now it's gone. So it's terrible."
Zatulovsky is not alone in her frustrations, not by a long shot. Between January 2001 and 2002, the South Bay unemployment rate rocketed from 1.7 to 7.5 percent.
Factoring in those working temporary or part-time jobs -- or needing, but not looking for work -- many believe the South Bay's unemployment rate is well over 10 percent.
With those numbers in mind, a member of Palo Alto's Congregation Kol Emeth and another from Los Altos Hills' Congregation Beth Am decided to start up a program late last year that, in their own words, provides unemployed Jews with "moral support and practical assistance."
"Layoffs have hit Silicon Valley high-tech companies very hard. Many of our members worked for those companies," said Cindy Anderson, a Beth Am congregant, who, along with Kol Emeth's Betty Fellows, is the volunteer co-coordinator of the Professional Networking Group.
"I feel passionately that if a synagogue can't respond to a situation like this, then what's the point of having a synagogue?"
Between 40 and 50 Jews show up for weekly group meetings at either Beth Am or Kol Emeth, and an e-mail newsletter has more than 200 subscribers.
Because of a partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council, the group has been able to line up career coaches, recruiters and health insurance experts to lead a variety of workshops.
"I think it was very helpful in terms of job-hunting skills. They went over networking skills and how to update and revise your resumé and how to effectively search the Internet and work with recruiters," said David Karlin of Los Altos, who landed a job at an Alameda biotech company in February. "It helped with a lot of different skill sets."
Zatulovsky said a session at the networking group has helped her hone a skill she feels many from the former Soviet Union are lacking: self-marketing.
"I could never answer the question, 'OK, how come we should hire you and not the next guy?' But the last time I spoke with an interviewer, he asked the same question. And you know what? I said, 'I'm so much better educated. I have a master's in one field and a couple of certificates in another. I have good common sense, which is important for this job,'" she recalled.
"Before that, I would just stay mute when someone asked me something along those lines."
In addition to dealing with resumé-writing, health insurance or networking issues, participants in the program say, perhaps above all else, it's nice to know that they aren't alone in their troubles.
Walking into a room with 50 other unemployed professionals "is a sobering reminder that these are tough times. But in some ways, it's heartening as an individual who's out of work that I'm not in this alone; it's not just me," said Belmont's Harvey Alcabes.
"It's much tougher when you feel like you're alone."
Added Zatulovsky, "When I go there and see these highly educated professional people -- vice presidents, managers -- I think, 'OK, they don't have a job. Probably I will never get one.' But, every time when I go, I find out something new for myself, something useful."
Information on Professional Networking Group: Cindy Anderson, (650) 948-3512, or Betty Fellows, (650) 364-4134.