#1. Kathy A. : Walking into a New Career

Kathy A. found her "dream job" teaching management information systems to business students on a casual summer walk with an old friend she hadn't seen for 10 years. "It was really just a fluke," recalled Kathy, who was laid off in fall 2001 after years of working as a program manager and technology trainer in consulting services. Kathy and her husband were staying in Los Gatos caring for a sick relative when she thought of looking up his graduate thesis advisor who lived nearby. Knowing that he had worked for National Semiconductor for years, she planned to use the opportunity to network and check if he had any industry contacts in technology companies she was interested in working for. more on Kathy's story

#2. Jay G. : Motivation to Land a Job

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. more on Jay's story

#3. Ray M. : A Job at the End of the Tunnel

Ray M. found his new job handling unemployment claims for the State Employment Development Department the old-fashioned way - through a lot of perseverance and hard work, seasoned experience, and the right connections. "This job hunting has been one of the most difficult experiences of my life," he concedes. Landing his new job with the state has been "the end of a long dark tunnel." more on Ray's story