Chris Hutchins, a former management and business strategy consultant who was laid off in early December, is looking to make the best of his predicament and a generally weak economy.
Realizing that he’s just one of many being laid off (more than 224,000 employees have been ejected from the tech sector since August), Hutchins decided to launch LaidOffCamp San Francisco, a “bar camp” style event that he hopes will be a self-organized networking resource, start-up incubator, and group coping session for the recently unemployed in the Bay Area.
Hutchins, 24, said that yesterday’s wave of layoffs inspired him to try building a community for the unemployed and to “create resources for people who need to figure out what to do with their lives after being laid off.” Hutchins hopes to sponsor career fairs for participants but remains cautiously optimistic about finding employers who are actually hiring in the current economic climate.
Unsurprisingly, there are many online support groups that have been created for those who’ve been laid off, including Layoffs Café and iVillage’s Job Seekers’ Support Group. This also isn’t the first time we’ve seen the rise of resources for unemployed techies; the now defunct Recession Camp came to the aid of unemployed dotcommers following the downturn in 2001.
LaidOffCamp takes place at an unnamed venue in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 3 at 10 a.m. Topics of discussion will include how to live on a budget, how to develop a personal brand, and how to find a job in the current market. So far Hutchins has managed to attract only 26 confirmed guests on Facebook; he’s also generating activity for the event via Twitter , Yahoo’s Upcoming, and his wiki.
Yay, it seems like Techcrunch finally got an Indian writer!
Given that the second largest readership of Techcrunch seems to be from India, at least according to Alexa, I would say this is long overdue!
Hopefully it will expand coverage of Indian startups as well as taking on an even more global perspective.
This is not the first time. I had seen one post from Kiruba. The comments on the article was not encouraging.
Hope, Leena will continue writing regularly.
Leena is our latest writing intern. This is her first post. You’ll be seeing a lot more. Please give her a big welcome.
A big welcome to Leena.
Another BIG welcome to Leena!
Let me join Erick in welcoming Leena at TechCrunch. Make her feel welcome too, please.
Leena get ready for a thousand start-up pitches a day. Your facebook will never be the same.
i’m sending leena a pitch now! On the real, this sounds like a great idea!
bestjobsonline
http://tinyurl.com/7uj5ay
Good Luck out there guys!!!…
Getting laid off is hard, but I like that this could help get future entrepreneurs together to start something.
Why would they need something like this when they can just post useless comments on TC with a link to their website?
I TOTALLY agree! I just posted a reply then read what was above it but Ill briefly point out again that as an entrepreneur, arent we always ‘laid off’?
If you hear of some sort of mastermind type meeting in the Bay Area, let me know! I always have great idea (some have actually turned into great things
but I dont always have the right people on my team.
That is a fantastic idea. I hope a lot of people attend, and I hope other people try this in other areas. I imagine they will, especially if this one is successful. I bet some great startups come out of this meet up. Keep the entrepreneur spirit alive!
Seriously tho, stop being so enterprising and let the government take care of this problem.
ROTF – I actually thought this comment hilarious. Indeed. Let’s let all of those *massively* competent folks in Washington solve this for us. The senate’s collective IQ (what is it now – 85?) is, indeed a formidable display of modern collective intelligence in action.
This is a great idea! Whether I have secured a new product management position by then or not; I plan to attend & support this effort!
Radi
After Dell decided to lay off 1900 people in Limerick, the local Open Coffee Clubb has decided to do something similar. We’re running a BizCamp and setting up a start-up incubator.
http://bit.ly/FoAx & http://bit.ly/1ZNs
Very positive approach to a sad reality of recession. Good luck to everyone.
They can also got to PurplePeopleCollective.com. A place for laid off tech workers to post their profiles and search among more than 150 recent job posts!
Yea, great idea. Is there anybody with less networking value than an unemployed techie? You’re either young, terrible at what you do or simply don’t have any connections. You may be all three…lets get them in a room together and watch the magic happen!
fucking asshole
f#cking @sshole
Well, here is a suggestion to get more people behind the idea. CHANGE THE NAME to something positive (e.g. “GetaJobFair”)
It the same as people saying “anti-war demonstration” or PEACE demonstration. The late gives of a better messages and attracts more people!
Totally agree. Might as well have t-shirts made that say “loser’s collective” with the current naming. EVERYBODY needs marketing. I actually like the original “recessionfair” because it’s open-ended and much more positive. Frankly, I HAVE a startup and am LOOKING for people but the name put me off. Not that 26 folks doesn’t sound compelling, but hey.
Manuel + moretoastplease,
I actually thought about using a more positive-themed name, but through different conversations I found that the only name that people really caught on to was LaidOffCamp. I figured it would be hard enough trying to market an event / organization with no funding, so I decided to go with the name that generated the most conversation.
moretoastplease: I hope you reconsider wanting to be involved with the event
I’m gonna have to agree with Chris on this one. I like the name. It is what it is and it’s not a “recessionfair” or a “GetaJobFair.” Those are both events I would never consider going to, by the way.
These are not positive times. LaidOffCamp resonates with me and it’s not a bad thing. It’s a reality.
this is a great idea…there are so many talented developers and gifted business folks who have the drive to make a difference. i’m going to do everything i can do to support this effort.
I really appreciate all the support I’m receiving from the community! Thanks for all the great feedback, and thanks Leena for writing this piece.
As an entrepreneur who would love to have a place to meet other entrepreneurs who are looking to combine brain cells, it would be nice to have a ‘mastermind’ type meeting as well as opposed to just a place for ‘laid off people’. After all entrepreneurs are ALWAYS laid off but they tend to look from within as opposed to externally.
If anyone, in the Bay Area, knows of such a thing, please feel free to email me at. S c o t t H (at) N e o n n e t (dot) c o m (sorry about that, Im tired of spam too
This may be hard to believe but just this weekend I was brainstorming with some people about exactly this idea. I am glad someone else is actually doing it– it was way out of scope of my capabilities!
Reminiscent of 2001. Remember the Pink Slip parties? Good to see this start up again to help folks stay connected.
Congrats and good luck Leena!
If you are out of work, March 3rd is a long time from now. It doesn’t that that long to organize a Bar Camp!
Why is this on Tech Crunch if it’s 26 damn people?
Great Idea, but it is a question of resources.
one of those things we need to get is the attention of mayors and governors…. anyone have the cell phone number for Gov. Paterson (NY)…?
He needs to hear it not just us ordinary folk…
and then there is the various Dept of Labor, fifty states worth, and all struggling to understand any tech more recent than the fax machine…
social netowrking, BizSpark, Android, iPhone SDK… all those things should be made a part of the recovery package not just pouring concrete (admittedly as a lifelong NYC resident I have seen potholes eat small cars and motorcycles on a daily basis)
add me to the growing distribution list for this stuff…. it is time for us nerds to save the world (again)
H o w a r d –AT– G R C 4 1 1 –DOT– c o m
This sounds like a great opportunity – great job in putting it together Chris!
Laura
A group of unemployed people sitting around & talking about tech while getting nothing done – how is this different to the real barcamp?
What a great idea! Would love to help!
Good idea.
i ll offer Bizspark to all the participants. just drop a note on http://codorniou.wordpress.com
the most important thing once again to remember is to not recreate the wheel – build a resource guide to point to other things that are happening and places where people can do startups and/or find jobs (like my site http://socialmediajobs.com/ )
i do like the idea of StartANewCamp as a different name, but understand the common appeal – the concern though is that being laidoff is the focus, not moving forward – if it is all about moaning and groaning, it wont help anyone except the pharmaceutical companies and shrinks
personally, I am very optimistic and see a good year ahead for those willing to work hard, contribute real value and be willing to go the extra mile
Thanks for the feedback. I don’t want to re-create the wheel, I want to leverage as much existing infrastructure as possible.
The goal of LaidOffCamp (despite that the name doesn’t perfectly explain it) is to bring together the community of unemployed+self-employed people and share knowledge and support during this economic time. Going forward, I would like it to develop into an organization built to serve anyone without a “typical 9-5″ job.
I will definitely do as much as possible to promote the fact that despite the name, this is a forward-looking event focused on community + collaboration and not a whinefest.
Finally, I couldn’t agree more that people working hard together can bring our community + country to a better place – I hope that LaidOffCamp can help make that happen!
This is basically a job fair. But worse. The Blind leading the blind. Let us all sit around to help each other get a job? WTF?
FAIL!
“When / Where
* Tuesday: March 3rd @ 10am
* Searching for a venue in San Francisco for 75-150 people (or more)”
DAMN, I have to work that day.
creative lol
Says you. I’m the one who created the “LaidOff2.0″ Facebook group earlier this year.
We’ll be doing something similar in March…well, minus the seminars and support, but will balance it out with a ton more booze…check it!
http://unemploymentality.com
Just announced that LaidOffCamp is coming to NYC. If anyone is interested in planning a LaidOffCamp in their own city, please let me know at newcity@laidoffcamp.com
Anything that gets unemployed folk to share experiences and try and help each other is way cool. I am miffed though that the media is concentrating on the gen Y nature of laidoffcamp. I am long past the age group of gen Y and frankly a lot more unemployable. I am a member and will participate and hope that having gray hair is held against me, as it off is in high tech startups in the valley.
Secondly the local nature of laidoffcamp is great and allows immediate feedback and conversation and who knows someone might even get a date.
It also doent help, as in typical case we have on nojobsurvivor, of teh single unemployed mom in northern colorado.
But good luck. We all need it.
D
P.S. Pardon the typos.
http://nojobsurvivor.com
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