Social Networking Group Helps Find Jobs

HOUSTON - The percentage of unemployed in this country rose to its highest level in a more than a quarter century after 476,000 Americans their lost jobs in June.

How bad is it?

Last time America's jobless rate was 9.5 percent, Ronald Reagan was running the country and Houston was taking a wicked beating from a debilitating oil bust.

For those with jobs and those without, the wolf of recession is at the door and folks here and elsewhere are scrambling for strategies to keep it at bay. More and more have turned to face-to-face networking.

By expanding their web of personal connections participants hope to reap business referrals and professional options.

"You've got to constantly be feeding your pipeline. You have to constantly be out in front of people. You can't ever be complacent," says Joann Cooper who orchestrates weekly gatherings known as "Cooper Connection."

Cooper's been in business nine years and says on-line networking is fine, but not near as effective as that conducted up close and personal.

"I'm not going to refer anybody that I don't know and trust, because I'm putting my reputation on the line," Cooper tells us before a networking lunch session at Sullivan's, a Galleria-area steak house.

Among those at the meeting - a public relations expert, an insurance agent, a financial planner, an internet advertising executive, a banker, an accounting system specialist and a web designer.

Mitchell From, who provides credit card processing services, says networking like the Cooper Connection has earned him valuable access and leverage.

"You get past the gate keeper, you are going to get past the people who are going to try and stop you at the door. That's because somebody has already told them that this person has a great service, a great product and you can trust them."