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MHT's Jim Connolly: Pink slip parties make a comeback
A party atmosphere that had gone missing for seven years finally returned to Cambridge. Here’s a hint: It’s not the champagne-soaked IPO. Pink-slip parties, not seen in the Boston area since 2002, have staged a return, providing an opportunity for the newly cut loose to, well, cut loose.
Like those festivities held after the dot-com bubble burst the last time the economy crashed, 2009’s pink-slip parties are popping up to provide a jump start for networking job seekers and a petri dish for growing new startups. Perhaps more importantly, they offer shoulders to lean on for the newly laid off.
After her product director position was cut at a Burlington-based software company in January, Rachel Happe was glad to be at a pink-slip party. With a large midcareer network already in place, she wasn’t sure an event like this one could help her find a job.
“For me, it was great the week I got laid off to go out with people in the same situation and just be with everybody and tell the bad boardroom jokes and just get it out of my system,” she said.
Pink-slip parties are hitting social calendars in New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C. In the Connecticut city of Norwalk, a bar called the Black Bear Saloon is hosting one Feb. 25.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a pink-slip party in Connecticut,” said Chris Russell, founder of Fairfieldcountyjobs.com, which is sponsoring the party. But with many area residents commuting to New York, suburban south Connecticut is far from immune.
The pink-slip parties of 2001 and 2002 came together using dedicated e-mail addresses such as “pinkslipparty128@hotmail.com.” But the Jan. 9 event held at Betahouse, a Cambridge high-tech co-working facility, was pulled together ad hoc online using Twitter and wikis. Less than 24 hours after the first “#pinkslipparty” message went out over Twitter Inc.’s microblogging service, the venue was secured, sponsors lined up and about 40 people were on their way to the party.
A few partygoers hadn’t been laid off but showed up anyway to support friends of theirs who had. One such gainfully employed guest made crepes for the crowd, according to social media consultant Laura Fitton, who started the flurry of messages on Twitter and helped organize the Jan. 9 party. She’s planning another pink-slip party for Feb. 27.
“I have a feeling that, unfortunately, it’s going to be an every-other-month, every-month, or every-six-weeks kind of a thing, until we don’t need it any-more,” Fitton said.
Betahouse founder Jon Pierce said he hopes to host again, but if the crowd gets too big, they’ll find a larger venue. The events are good for small startups such as those Betahouse serves, because a roomful of people suddenly realize that, as Pierce puts it, “You’re really no safer at a company than you are on your own.”
That can lead to collaboration, he said.
“Most startups are not just one person. They’re two, three or four people. Having events like this where people can meet and share ideas, that’s a good foundry for startups.”
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