SALEM —   With December’s jump in unemployment throughout the state, the end of 2009 was a grim harbinger of things to come. Ending the year with unemployment at 9.4 percent, thousands of Bay Staters continued losing jobs in November, with few new ones being created. However, some who are counted in those gloomy statistics are finding ways to keep their lives on a positive note.

Judy Cohen of Salem — the North Shore city with the deepest jobless rate — is working hard to find a full-time job that replaces her 41-year career in the banking industry. Hired right out of a two-year business school, she worked for the State Street Bank for 28 years as a supervisor in the Money Position Department. She changed jobs and took a position at Fleet Bank, which was later taken over by Bank of America. She worked there for 13 years, her final position being a senior analyst — until her boss, with tears in his eyes, delivered the bad news in July of 2009.

“It had been happening in my department all year, but I was the only one doing my job,” she said, reasoning that she might be spared.

Now, for a woman who was constantly on the go, her new lifestyle is an unwelcome change.

“All of a sudden, I’m sitting at home in one room with my PC looking for a job. You have to see what you want,” she said. “Should I stay in banking or try something else?”

She considered and then dismissed retirement. The numbers didn’t work. But too often when walking into an interview, she can’t help but notice the look on a young man’s face when he sees her.

“These little kids interview me and then they offer me $10 an hour. That’s how it is,” she remarked.

As a sociable person, she dislikes being isolated during the day. After eight months, her displeasure has given her the impetus to volunteer two days a week at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore in Marblehead and North Shore Medical Center in Salem.

Professionals who counsel job seekers would give their stamp of approval. Not only does volunteering keep one’s spirits high, it opens up a world of possibilities when one is out in the world interacting with others.

Ari Herzog of Newburyport gives seminars and provides strategies on how to network through social media. One of his favorite methods is through Linkedin.com, which he says should be used together with Monster.com, Craigslist and Facebook. He favors Linkedin for its versatility.

“Monster and Craigslist are great repositories of jobs, but they don’t allow the networking aspect. With Linkedin you can see particular jobs and also improve your marketability in terms of being found by people who never would have found you,” Herzog said, adding that your Linkedin profile is indexed by search engines so prospective employers searching for your name can easily find you.

“For professional jobs, you are asked for two or three references. Why not be pro-active and provide that experience with the click of a button,” he said.

He also recommends blogging. If a person is passionate about something, start a blog. Or, with 200,000,000 blogs on the Internet, research them and ask to be a guest blogger, he suggests. Also, a group of like-minded people could start a blog and on each submission state which group member has written it.

Wendy Roizen of Salem had worked for nonprofits before going to work for Sovereign Bank in Vinnin Square nearly three years ago. A people person, she was a good fit for the job of bringing in new accounts. When the recession hit, her job was eventually eliminated.

Out of work only three weeks, Roizen is looking for opportunities, ideally within the Jewish community, to get back into the nonprofit world. Calling herself a generalist, she has worked for the Anti Defamation League, United Way, the YWCA, and has held jobs all over the country.

“I’m not stressed out about not being employed,” she said. “I’m optimistic. I see life as full of opportunity. I think I’ll find something better.”

She is hopeful that something good will emerge from President Obama’s new tax incentives to businesses.

Searching the web, she finds Idealist.org a good site for nonprofit jobs.

“I’m networking like crazy — phone calling and talking to lots of people. I’m out here looking,” she said. Like Judy Cohen, she would like to work on the North Shore. And at age 60, Roizen knows she faces a challenge as she acknowledges that the competition for jobs is fierce.

Both Cohen and Roizen say that having COBRA health insurance — while not the best coverage and expensive to boot — is vital.

Moving Beyond Career Club

One sign of how difficult things are can be measured in how successful Marsha Finkelstein of Salem has been with her newly formed jobs group, the Moving Beyond Career Club. With its first meeting at Salem’s Café Kushco on January 26, people came from Salem, Marblehead, Lynn, Danvers Cambridge, Middleton and Chelmsford to begin the process of networking and sharing resources. With group size ideally between five and 15 people, Finkelstein intends to start another group the end of February.

Developed by Tory Johnson, the workplace contributor at “Good Morning America,” and founder of Women for Hire and Waggleforce, groups like the Moving Beyond Career Club are proliferating around the country, with six sprouting up in Massachusetts and two just getting off the ground in New Hampshire.

Groups meet once a week for 10 weeks with participants paying $75. The fee is not only to cover the costs of training club organizers but also to get a commitment from participants that they are serious about making progress in their job search.

The positions are for professionals whose jobs have been eliminated or who have been laid off as well as those who are underemployed. The participants in the club help one another make connections online and in person.

“They share resources and contribute to the greater good — being generous with each other,” said Finkelstein, a career and life coach. The Moving Beyond Career Clubs are part of the nationwide WaggleForce, which got its name from bees.

“Waggle is what bees do. It’s the way they share resources,” she said.

To learn more about the newest Moving Beyond Career Club, send an email to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). One can also join the Moving Beyond Career Club on WaggleForce.com. Click on CLUBS and select Join the Moving Beyond Career Club.