A funny thing happened to Jay G. on his way to his new job as sales manager of a small Berkeley database software company. His wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl - their third child. Jay had the phone interview on Thursday and his first interview on Friday, with a second interview scheduled for the following Monday. On Saturday his daughter was born, giving Jay plenty of motivation to land the job and banish unemployment from his family's life.

This was a humbling but inspirational experience, Jay recalls. "I realized that I had to make sure I got this job, as much for my family as for myself."

Jay proved that Internet job listings can work if you're the right candidate for the job. He found his new job through Craig's List, one of the most widely read online job banks in the Bay Area. Even though the job listing was two weeks old by the time it caught Jay's eye, he applied anyway. He sent in his newly polished resume, which he had just revised to incorporate the recommendations of his EU Oakland Success Team. As it turned out, Jay's timing was right on the mark. The company was in a real bind, having let go of an underperforming employee and not having found the right applicant in its first round of interviews.

"The interview process went extremely well. Thanks to EU Oakland, I was able to turn the liabilities on my resume into assets," Jay explains. After being laid off, he had worked for a "near-penniless start-up" for six months. The interviewers were impressed that Jay had availed himself of the opportunity to improve his tech skills and increase his business experience despite taking a big cut in salary. They were likewise impressed with his involvement with Experience Unlimited and were interested in its employer and alumni outreach programs. "The company and my skills were a good match," he says.

Jay has a message for fellow job seekers who have become discouraged looking for work. "Even if sometimes you can't find motivation internally to do everything you need to do in your job search, you may still find motivation elsewhere from other EUOakland members, from your success team, from your family, friends, whatever." In his case, Jay wanted to make his new baby daughter proud of her father.