The Jobs Front: Isolation A New Foe Of Today's Jobseekers

In the wake of last Friday's disappointing November employment report, Little Neck Patch is publishing a story every day this week on the issues affecting northeast Queens jobseekers.

Even with an estimated 15.1 million Americans unemployed, the most profound economic crisis to hit the U.S. since the Great Depression has been largely devoid of long lines of jobseekers, lining up for their weekly dole from Uncle Sam.

Instead, the unemployed of today huddle around a laptop at the nearest coffeeshop or at a desktop in the home office, going through the manifold ups-and-downs of the worst job market in decades — for the most part, alone.

However, job hunters continue to adapt, finding ways to connect with people the next town over or on the other side of the world.

A quick search of social networking web site Meetup.com this week revealed dozens of groups geared toward those looking for unemployment.

Many of the members of these informal groupings, like Marie Chen of Flushing, have been looking for work for months.

A former executive assistant with a supply company, Chen said she first looked to Meetup as a place to get much-needed advice to spruce up her resume.

"It was really out of necessity. But it came to be a place where I could vent about how much looking for work in this economy sucks," Chen wrote in a message through Meetup.com.

A scan of the conversations at Meetup's grouping devoted to jobseekers indeed reveals many complaints like Chen's.

But there are also many words of comfort for those whose sense of frustration, even in the anonymous echo-chamber of the web, is palpable.

"I got downsized a couple of years ago. Haven't had any luck networking. I don't think my resume is working because I switched careers a few time," said Elaine York on a Meetup group discussion board for displaced workers.

At another group, Gainfully Unemployed, a new user named Jessica summed what perhaps might be many jobseekers' hopes for the site:

"I've been spending a lot of time alone lately (all of my friends are employed). I want to meet people and feel like my days are being filled."