Sacked? Then party on!

The dot.com party may be well and truly over. But the new economy's new jobless are still partying, writes Maggie Shiels from Silicon Valley.

The latest hi-tech fest to hit town isn't about greenbacks, it's about "pink slips" - what people in UK would call P45s.

Dot.com casualties

10,459 people lost their US dot.com jobs in December alone

People laid off from their so-called "dot.com bombs" are the guests of honour at Pink Slip parties which are becoming the latest in networking and job-hunting.

The Glas Kat Club in San Francisco was the venue this week for the hottest ticket on every job seeker's list. For more than two hours there was a line of people snaking round the building patiently queuing to get in and get down to the job of handing out résumés and business cards. The wind and the rain couldn't dampen their spirits.

Smile, though your heart is aching

Waiting with a welcome was Pink Slip Party organiser Marcus Ronaldi who worked the room telling the mainly 20-to-30-something crowd to "have a good time and find a job".

Sell yourself

And that was very much the name of the game at this trendy downtown bar and club. As the out of work digerati pressed the flesh and "sold" themselves to recruiters, Marcus lamented the passing of the good old days. The days when parties were about getting drunk on someone else's tab.

I'm not giving away a Porsche. We are giving away a scooter and that kind of reflects how things have gone

Marcus Ronaldi

"The most 'Great Gatsby-est' party," he recalled "was the Activa party held on Treasure Island. They had drinks on the bus. They gave away a Porsche to someone who re-named the company. There was floating robots and pig races and there was phenomenal food. That was probably the best, craziest party that there was."

The Pink Slip Party is living proof of how life in the new economic climate has evolved. Marcus joked that, at this event, "There's not a whole lot of free food. I'm not giving away a Porsche. We are giving away a scooter and that kind of reflects how things have gone."

In fact the only food was a bowl of jelly beans by the door, which were for the staff.

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow: Good times may roll again

The only freeloading was by those who flashed their pink slip giving them the right to claim a free drink. Just one free drink, mind.

The crowd, though, didn't seem to mind that much. In the past they may have been hell-bent on getting completely wasted but at the Pink Slip Party, landing a job was the number one priority for those who in the space of six months have watched their dreams of becoming a millionaire go down the plug hole.

In December alone, figures released by Challenger Gray & Christmas show that there were 10, 459 job cuts announced, compared with 8,789 in November.

Spend, spend, end

The report also says that almost nine out of 10 occurred in the past six months as companies ran out of venture funding a few months after the collapse of internet stock values last spring.

Webmergers, an internet consultancy, says last year 210 dot.com companies went bust and the plunge in paper wealth represented a loss of $3.3trillion dollars.

Opportunity knocks: Candace Locklear, left, and Chris Iams

Candace Locklear, 33, from Oakland, is one of those casualties from the shakedown. She worked as a publicity manager at an e-mail company called Topica which relies on advertising revenue to pay the bills.

It's a sector of the internet that investors have fallen out of love with, resulting in people like Candace becoming a statistic. She says her decision to come to the Pink Slip Party was twofold.

"Since I just got laid off I thought I would cheer myself up by coming to a bar and seeing if there were people out there who have good jobs that I could make a match with."

Mission impossible?

The 700-capacity bar was packed with people on a mission to hire or be hired. And to make the whole process that little bit easier the organisers got the out-of-work techies to wear red stickers while the recruiters wore green ones. No prizes for guessing who the most popular people in the room were.

Chris Iams is a technical recruiter with Compuware, a global software provider. She had come along looking for engineers and was overwhelmed by contacts.

In the pink: Organisers Marcus Rinaldi and Patty Beron

"It's been a lot of fun meeting a lot of good people, a lot of diverse backgrounds. There is some good talent, it's unfortunate so many are out of work just now. But the line outside is growing so I've got to keep working the room."

The organisers aren't keeping tabs on who scores a job, believing that creating a supportive environment for those down on their luck is just as important.

Patty Beron says "These events are meant to help people in our community. And we are finding that everyone is starting to look out for each other and I think that's what people do when downsizing happens."