(Ed.Note) Welcome to our journey into the world of recession blogs! The 405 Club wants to get personal via a handful of questions with our favorite fellow bloggers who are documenting the recession and unemployment firsthand.

Today we have the honor of enjoying a lovely brunch with the ever so helpful folks from Jobacle.

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Before we chat about the blog, what will you be having for brunch?

* Mimosa and a BLT.

1. When were you laid off and what did you do? Or are you employed/self-employed? If so, what do you do now?

* I’ve been fortunate to be gainfully employed during this rough economic stretch. By day I manage the Website department for a large non-profit. By night I hone my blogging and podcasting skills.

2. When and why did you start your site?

* I originally started WorkingPodcast.com in 2005. At the time, I was completely discouraged with my career. The site served as a venue to release my Workstration via a weekly podcast. After the audience started to grow, the show evolved into a venue designed to ‘make work better.’ In essence, we take work lemons and try to make them into lemonade.

One of the goals is to show people that they are not alone with their work problems. We also want to show people that we have more control over our work emotions than we realize.

The WorkingPodcats evolved into Jobacle.com - a podcast AND a blog…

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(Ed.Note) Welcome to our journey into the world of recession blogs! The 405 Club wants to get personal via a handful of questions with our favorite fellow bloggers who are documenting the recession and unemployment firsthand.

Today we have the honor of enjoying a lovely brunch with Craig and Javed from The Layoff Support Network.

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Before we chat about the blog, what will you be having for brunch?

* I’ll have a Western Omelet, well done, please!

1. When were you laid off and what did you do? Or are you employed/self-employed? If so, what do you do now?

* I was laid off in February 2009. I am currently looking for a full time position. I also continue to run a non-profit for people that have been laid off. It is called The Layoff Support Network.

2. When and why did you start your site?

* The Layoff Support Network was started during the summer of 2008. Both co-founders (Craig Brown and Javed Ikbal) were employed at the time. We both had been working in I.T. for over 25 years and both held senior positions.

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(Ed.Note) Welcome to our journey into the world of recession blogs! The 405 Club wants to get personal via a handful of questions with our favorite fellow bloggers who are documenting the recession and unemployment firsthand.

This week’s blogging brunch companion is Sue from iget2work!

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Before we chat about the blog, what will you be having for brunch?

* steak and eggs, coffee and a cigarette! (i know, not pc)

1. When were you laid off and what did you do? Or are you employed/self-employed? If so, what do you do now?

* I am self un-employed, launching http://www.iget2work.com and a host of other iget2 sites!

2. When and why did you start your site?

* http://www.iget2work.com started about one year ago. My partner and I love stories, humor and I feel I’m the out-of-work expert since I’ve been freelance for 30 years in the entertainment industry. Which means, I’m in betweeen jobs all the time and I’m interviewing for jobs the rest of the time! Nick and I started our site before all the horrible unemployment kicked in. Little did we know that people would need us so badly. Unemployment HAS to be approached with a sense of humor … and we try to do that.

3. What is your motivation to continue blogging and/or running the site?

* Stubbornness and a desire to help people and have fun doing it.

4. Do you think blogging or running your site will help you find a job?

* We are hoping to sell our Unemployed Video Quilt… which I guess would create jobs for us?

5. What do you want to do next professionally?

* Figure out a way to earn a living making video content for the web. We feel that the internet is the new tv … tv is the new ‘cinema’ … films are the new ‘events’…..and gaming is somewhere in the middle. So the internet should be creating much more GOOD content. We’re trying to learn how to capitalize on that and we hope to employ a lot of people in the future, including ourselves!

6. How will your blog change when you rejoin the workforce?

* Our blog won’t change. We will simply hire more people to create awesome content for it!

7. What’s new at your site and where does it go from here?

* We’re getting a new makeover in PHP. So we’ll have more commenting capabilities and more bells and whistles. We will launch about 4 other sites, too. (so stay tuned). Until then, we stumble along and have fun. I’m only on page 138 of my PHP manual!

Bonus Questions: Any final thoughts or words of wisdom for members of The 405 Club?

* KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR! Being centered and happy is the best way to get a job. When you’re desperate and humorless, people will sense it and move on the the next applicant. mojo is key. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Last but certainly not least, what is your favorite series/feature on The 405 Club?

* Our favorite feature on the 405 club? WHEN YOU BLOG ABOUT US! hehe. and then after that? We just LOVE your attitude! It’s refreshing and inspiring. You show people, by example, how to make lemonade out of lemons. It provides people with a lot of info, great stories and inspiration from a group of people that are AWESOME. Keep it up! We love you guys!

And we heart you too! Thanks for joining us for brunch this week Sue!

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Don’t forget to check out iget2work for more great content and information!

(Ed.Note) Welcome to our journey into the world of recession blogs! The 405 Club wants to get personal via 10 questions with our favorite fellow bloggers who are documenting the recession and unemployment firsthand.

This week’s blogging brunch companions are Laura and Sara of Recession Wire.

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1. When were you laid off? Or are you employed?

We were both laid off from Condé Nast Portfolio.com in December/January, but we found out about it a couple of months in advance.

2. What did you do?

We are both journalists-turned-media entrepreneur. At the time Laura was assistant managing editor and Sara was lifestyle editor for Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com.

3. When did you start the blog?

We launched at the beginning of February 2009.

4. Initial reason for starting the blog?

We felt like nobody was chronicling the on-the-ground effects of the recession, as well as the big cultural shifts that were taking place. As journalists, we wanted to be part of the conversation. We not only wanted to help people cope, we wanted to offer inspiration, creativity and community to people hit by the downturn. Our tagline is “The upside of the downturn,” after all!

5. Motivation to continue blogging?

We’ve learned so much over the past several months, and continue to every day. We meet new people all the time, some of whom we get to
help. And we get great stories out there. Plus, blogging is fun.

6. Do you think blogging about unemployment/the recession will help you find a job?

Yes. It seems that people have been impressed that instead of lying down, we started our own business and were quickly successful.

7. What do you want to do next professionally?

Sara: Good question! I love journalism, but definitely have the entrepreneurship bug now.
Laura: Agree - I love telling stories and chronicling big changes, like the recession, but starting and running a company is equally thrilling.

8. How will your blog change when you rejoin the workforce?

I think we’ll just continue to cover the changing environment, but maybe work on it during different hours.

9. What’s new at your blog and where does it go from here?

We are looking ahead at the recovery phase, so in our regular Screwed feature, for example, where we track layoffs, we’re also adding updates about new jobs that are being created at companies around the country and the world.

10. Why should someone read your unemployment/recession blog over other and/or what makes your perspective special?

We have new, useful information every day. News you should know, advice, cool trends, personal essays,

Bonus Question: Any Final thoughts or words of wisdom for members of The 405 Club?

Almost any situation can be an opportunity in some way,

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A huge thanks to Laura and Sara, writers and co- founder of Recession Wire. Be sure to check out Recession Wire here.