Photograph by Douglas Rider
Scott Jackson, left, makes a presentation to get a free drink from King Heine, played by Ray Soto from West Valley Engineering at the Pink Slip Party sponsored by SFGirl.com held at the Forum. To get a free drink, the presenter had to give either King Heine or Queen Cosmo a 30-second speech and present them with a résumé.
There ain't no party like a pink slip party
Newly unemployed dot-com workers flock to Sunnyvale's Forum to network and enjoy themselves
By Moryt Milo
From launch parties to layoff parties, one of the latest dot-com networking events is Pink Slip parties, put on by sfGirl.com in the South Bay.
On April 26, Sunnyvale's Forum, formerly known as the Palace on South Murphy, was selected to host this month's Pink Slip South Bay party. Although those attending were asked to RSVP at sfGirl.com, people are starting to know their parties and know they can just show up, says Patty Beron, the creator of sfGirl.com and the Pink Slip parties.
People indeed showed up. The line to enter began forming well before the 5 p.m. start time. Fortunately, the wait was much shorter, compared to the more than 1,000 people who besieged the Pink Slip party in Palo Alto the month before, according to sfGirl.com.
Once in motion, prospective job seekers--with résumés in tow--quickly entered the club. Each was given a badge with their name, job skill description and a red dot. Red dots represented job searchers, while green dots signified job recruiters.
The event had seven sponsors and six major recruiters, including Sonicblue, Genentech and Sony Electronics. Mike Kamimoto, director of human resources for Sonicblue, a consumer electronics company and one of the event's sponsors, said, "[The Pink Slip parties] have generated a lot of excitement throughout the Bay Area. We figured it was the right thing to participate with them."
Sonicblue was typical of the way sponsoring recruiters participated. They had a table plus four to five people working the crowd. Other recruiters, such as Sue Anquiano, a senior technical recruiter for BigBear Networks, pointed out that these events were much "more natural." For companies seeking ways to reduce hiring searches, Pink Slip parties made sense. "Instead of spending $5,000 for a booth, you can get the same results here," Anguiano said. " People are looking no matter where you go. This is more inviting and the people are more relaxed."
Marcus Ronaldi, Patty Beron's partner in organizing the Pink Slip parties, says feeling relaxed while job searching is part of the Pink Slip allure.
Photograph by Douglas Rider
Hopeful job seekers form a long line outside the Forum for the Pink Slip Party sponsored by SFGirl.com.
Last December, as layoffs were snaking their way throughout the dot-com industry, Ronaldi and Beron said they were getting separate emails, from people they knew, reading, "Hey, I just lost my job. Someone I work for went under. Can you help me find a job?"
The sfGirl.com website was already an active virtual community geared toward young Bay Area IT professionals, so Beron and Ronaldi decided to join forces and hold, what they thought would be a small networking party that matched 30 to 40 people with some interested recruiters. Beron posted the event on her sfGirl website and to their astonishment 300 to 400 people showed up. Ronaldi says, "At the first party 85 percent of the attendees were green dots--recruiters," but since then the tide has turned, and the red dots have taken over.
Ronaldi sees the Pink Slip parties as "doing something positive for the community." He points out that many of the people at the Pink Slip parties moved across the country to work in the Bay Area and are suddenly without a job and have "lost their community, which is a very lonely thing." He adds that the Pink Slip parties offer people an opportunity to mingle and interact with peers.
Judy Lawrence, a marketing specialist who was laid-off from dot-com start-up BizFinity in January, says it was her second Pink Slip party. "It's tough out there right now, " Lawrence says. "But this atmosphere, compared to the Brass Ring job fairs, is much friendlier. You see a lot of people you know on both sides. It's networking in a friendly style."
David Rariek, another red dot seeking a position as a software quality engineer, had, until two weeks ago, worked for Pixor, a company that develops software for cell phones. This was Rariek's first Pink Slip party, but he said it "definitely felt more laid-back."
With drinks flowing and a DJ spinning tunes, the attendees seemed to soak up the party mood. Ronaldi estimated the night drew some 500 people. He added philosophically, "I'm someone who's in an unusual business, because I won't mind the day I go out of business. It will mean everyone has a job."
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
