Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 4 (UPI) -- The holiday season in the San Francisco Bay
Area was especially 'un-merry' this year. December saw over 2,700 layoffs in
the region's once booming high technology industry. The hardest hit
workforces were in the Web consulting, electronic retailing and Digital
Subscriber Line provider industries.

Even companies that were turning away clients earlier this year began
delivering pink slips last month. Internet consulting firms like Scient and
Organic cut a combined 730 workers while Covad Communications, a DSL
provider, rang in the new year with 400 job cuts and Northpoint
Communications, another DSL service, axed 235 employees.

"It's the end of the year and a lot of companies are really hurting," said
Joseph Shieh, president of Valleyjobs.com, a local employment site for
Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.  "They received their investment 18 months
ago and they're finally realizing that they don't have the revenue to
sustain themselves," he said.

"Unfortunately, some [firms] focused on spending too much money on
advertising campaigns, sophisticated sites and parties in hopes of going
public with an IPO." The news was sobering but not unexpected to Bay Area
workers who have witnessed a steady shrinking of the high technology economy
-- and with it their stock options' value -- over the last six months.

In March and April of 2000, Scient stock was worth almost $133 per share.
Now it cashes out at a dismal 31/4 per share. Overall, the NASDAQ stock
market finished the year down nearly 40 percent.

Surprisingly, some dot-com workers are taking the bad news in stride.
Marcus Ronaldi, president of a local party listing service called
SFBayhappyhour.com, seized the opportunity to organize a new kind of Bay
Area social event - the "Pink Slip Party." Ronaldi and friend Patty Baron
planned the networking event after many of their friends and colleagues
started getting laid off while others were worrying that the axe would soon
fall. The first gathering, held in early December, was a smashing success
with over 350 people showing up to chat with recruiters and other
professionals about new career opportunities.

 "A lot of people were really positive. They have a lot of good experience
through their Internet jobs and a lot are going to get hired," says Ronaldi
who has planned a second event for Jan. 10th in the wake of December's spree
of job cuts.

For the San Francisco chapter of the Association of Internet Professionals
the December pink slips were no surprise. The organization had been
anticipating large layoffs for several months and had even planned a series
of seminars to prepare Internet workers for the eventuality.

In early December the AIP held a panel discussion titled, "Inside Failed
Dot-Coms and How to Avoid Future Ones," at which laid-off workers shared
words of wisdom on how to approach a job search in today's volatile economic
climate.

"Internet workers will be a lot more careful and [will] do a lot more
research on a company before they join it," said Jim Billings, president of
AIP-San Francisco. "People are becoming a lot more wary of taking stock
options before salary. They're more leery than they ever were before and
more cognizant of what to look for in a new company," he said.

But unemployed workers may not be able to be as picky as they'd like to be
in choosing their next employer. According to Shieh, last month's spate of
layoffs will continue into 2001 year.  Moreover, start-up firms will have
trouble attracting more money from investors to continue operating. "Those
Internet firms that do survive will have to keep costs low or merge with a
larger publicly-traded company," said Shieh.

Ronaldi had a rosier outlook, however. "This area is still one of the
brightest workforces in the world. There's going to be a tremendous amount
of opportunity here," he said.

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Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.