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Part high school mixer and part high-powered cocktail party, the Layoff Lounge is a monthly networking event designed to get Denver’s laid-off workers back on their feet.
“It helps people make connections,” says Tracy Laswell Williams, the Denver director of the Los Angeles-based company. “And it gets nonworking people out of the house so they don’t get cabin fever.”
Denver’s Layoff Lounge is held at Citrus and has an average attendance of about 150 people. About 80 percent are searching for employment; the rest are recruiters. “You have to know why you come here — what you’re going to get is contacts, practice working your spiel,” says job seeker Brad Chittum of Thornton.
“I think that networking is the most productive use of my time,” agrees Brett Keeley of Wheat Ridge. “I’m kind of shy, but you have to get out there and make an effort.”
On the second Monday of each month, business cards are passed around like Halloween candy. “It makes it tremendously easier at XYZ Company if someone can give me a name to drop,” says Steven Veedlez, who’s seeking work as an engineer.
The three-hour Lounge includes time to shmooze, a keynote speaker and the Karma Club, a series of thirty-second introductions when people share business leads — Laswell Williams describes it as “speed-dating meets job fair.”
“It’s really fast-paced. You meet more than fifteen people in less than an hour,” she explains.
After starting in Los Angeles in late 2000, Layoff Lounge promoters began holding events in other cities, including San Francisco, Boston and New York. Denver was added last October.
While each event varies, last month’s keynote speaker, Vicki Steere, of CareersColorado.com, offered this advice: “Fake it until you make it.” This month, Frank Traditi, of CoachFrank.com, will speak on “Ten Surefire Strategies for Your Hunt.”
Citing the statistic that seventy percent of all jobs are found through networking, Laswell Williams all but guarantees that the Layoff Lounge can help. “We hear success stories from our members all the time,” she vouches.
