NOVA in the News

San Francisco Chronicle (Link to original article)
April 23, 2010

Old dogs not only learn but teach new tricks

About 18 months ago, three Silicon Valley professionals in their 60s wound up in same support group for unemployed professionals. Noticing that many other group members were also 45 or older, Jeff Winters, David Goldstein and Cher Forman decided to create an online community geared toward older workers hoping to reinvent themselves.

Together they created OurExperienceCounts.com, a social network with a small user base that has been quietly testing and improving the site's offerings.

"We decided to develop a web resource to provide educational and emotional support for older workers," Winters said.

Among other services OurExperienceCounts.com offers free workshops and training to help mature job-seekers recast their skills to sound more attractive to prospective employers.

The site was inspired by ProMatch a service offered by the NOVA Job Training Center in Sunnyvale, in cooperation with the state Employment Development Department. ProMatch is the Silicon Valley chapter of the EDD-backed Experience Unlimited clubs that can be found throughout California.

"We're kind of proud of these guys for going off and doing this," said Jeanette Langdell, employment training manager with NOVA, where the three founders met.

OurExperienceCounts.com will be officially launched with a webcast on Monday at 4 pm at NOVA headquarters in Sunnyvale, but is already live. Winters said the site has taken some angel investment and will eventually institute "modest" charges for some services but for now is free.

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