Checking in on the 'New Jobless'

Since Bonnie Loo lost her job as a project manager at Adobe Systems last December, she's been busy trying to boost her credentials in the field. In mid-May, she received her project management professional certification after studying for several months. Following a vacation to Hawaii, she hit the pavement again, but so far hasn't had any luck landing something permanent. "I still feel as if the economy is in a funk and things aren't going to turn around anytime soon," she says. "There just aren't that many opportunities."

Loo has expanded her job search beyond the Bay Area to Southern California, and hopes she'll hook up with a small to medium-size company involved in new technology. If that doesn't work, there's always her radical Plan B: moving to Japan to teach English. "It's still in the back of my head," she says. "If I don't find something by the end of the summer, I'm going to start pursuing that."

NEXT: Jessica Pfeiffer: A new long-term view