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INTERNAL MEMOS
Job seekers look for inside views of firms

Globe Photo/Joe Tabacca 'It's like reality TV. People like to read and know what is really going on. You can read IBM's press releases all day long, but the memos tell the real story.' Philip Kaplan, founder, InternalMemos.com

Ever wonder what's really going on behind closed doors at the office? You might find a clue at a new website.

Called InternalMemos.com, the website posts company memos for public view. The documents are sent by anonymous employees who, as of Jan. 30, had e-mailed more than 2,000 memos to the site, according to founder Philip Kaplan.

Kaplan said InternalMemos.com receives 500,000 visitors a day and netted about $1 million in sales revenue in 2003. The site is one of his more recent projects: the New York computer programmer turned entrepreneur wrote ''F'd Companies: Spectacular Dot-Com Flameouts,'' a book that chronicled the fall of numerous dot-coms. He hopes to double revenues from InternalMemos.com in 2004. He charges users $45 per month for complete access to the site's memo database. Access to some of the memos is free.

Though not designed with job seekers in mind, InternalMemos.com is among a growing number of Internet sites that recruiters and applicants looking for high-tech work periodically check when trying to evaluate the inner workings of a corporation.

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''Some of these, shall we say, workplace intelligence websites, are being viewed by job seekers in the technology space as a place to look for information about a company,'' said Joseph Daniel McCool, editor in chief of Executive Recruiter News. ''Events happen and technology emerges so rapidly that the sites have created a cult following in terms of job seekers and professionals who want to get an inside look at the dynamics of an organization.''

McCool said readers should be skeptical about the information they see on such websites.

''It would seem to me that these sites could very well be subject to pranksters and they should be viewed with some caution,'' he said. When asked about the accuracy of the memos he receives, Kaplan said that he doesn't check the memos for accuracy.

''We get about 10 memos daily,'' said Kaplan, 28. ''It's like reality TV. People like to read and know what is really going on. You can read IBM's press releases all day long, but the memos tell the real story.''

Among the memos posted last week was a missive to employees of Sun Microsystems' worldwide operations. Dated Jan. 14, it said the company would cease manufacturing operations at its site in Newark, Calif. The memo, written by Eugene McCabe, senior vice president of worldwide operations, said production would be transferred to company sites in Oregon and Scotland.

''This will result in the elimination of the positions of approximately 300 employees currently supporting the manufacture of the Sun Fire and Sun Enterprise services, the Sun StorEdge product line, and Newark's Sun configuration center for customer ready solutions,'' wrote McCabe. ''You can expect to be informed by your manager if you are affected by this action by the end of January.''

Sun spokeswoman Debbie Walery verified the memo.

''It was an internal memo and meant for internal audiences at Sun and not for external use,'' said Walery. She said the decision to shift production to Oregon and Scotland is a ''streamlining of Sun's operations.''

The bulk of the work - about 90 percent - will go to the company's Oregon site, she said. The California site makes midrange servers and storage products.

UNEMPLOYMENT
Thousands exhaust jobless benefits

Thousands of people stopped receiving unemployment benefits checks last month even though they have yet to find jobs.

Last week the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that 375,000 people no longer qualify for jobless benefits. That's the highest number to exhaust benefits in the month of January in three decades, according to the think tank. Of those, 55,000 are Massachusetts residents, the center said. Typically, unemployment insurance benefits last 26 weeks.

By August 2004, a total of 2 million jobless people will exhaust their regular benefits and will not qualify for further unemployment assistance, according to the group.

Congress was asked to extend the benefits before it left the capital for the Christmas holiday last year but took no action. Legislators will likely take up the matter this year as labor groups and other advocates for the unemployed step up lobbying efforts.

The group's findings were based on US Labor Department statistics collected between 1973 and 2003. The projections for 2004 were based on that data as well as federal statistics information for the first quarter of this year. The center said the projections assumed that there would be some modest improvements in the job market during the first six months of 2004.

MENTORING
Encouraging girls to pursue engineering

Firms around the country are being urged to mentor girls in an effort to encourage them to consider a career in engineering.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers are among the sponsors of National Engineers Week, which begins Feb. 22. On Feb. 26, companies are being asked to hold a workplace day for girls to introduce them to engineering.

The event is expected to feature 125 organizations and more than 11,000 female engineers who have agreed to reach out to 1 million girls nationwide. Other sponsors include Agilent Technologies Inc., and the Elizabeth and Stephen Bechtel Jr. Foundation.

Women make up 46 percent of the US workforce, according to federal statistics. They also make up 48.6 percent of those with college degrees but represent only 24.7 percent of professionals with degrees in science and engineering. Additionally, fewer than one in 10 engineers, or 9.48 percent, are female. That's up from 7.85 percent in 1993. Women also represent less than 20 percent of all graduates from schools and colleges of engineering; minorities account for just 14.7 percent, according to congressional testimony delivered in 1999 by several groups, including the American Association of Engineering Societies.

The sponsors said last week that even when female students enroll in engineering or science programs, fewer than half are awarded degrees within five years.

Teresa Helmlinger, president of the National Society of Professional Engineers, is hoping the day will encourage elementary and high school girls to consider an engineering career. She maintains that mentoring made a big difference in her career choice. The daughter and granddaughter of engineers, Helmlinger said she was encouraged at an early age to explore science and technology. She later became an industrial engineer.

Companies and engineering professionals should contact www.eweek.org to list the type of mentoring activities they wish to sponsor.

DIANE E. LEWIS

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