The growing numbers of the unemployed are showing up here and there in Starbucks coffeehouses, which they have turned into networking centers and personal offices in a potentially helpful jolt to the beleaguered chain.

Starbucks locations in some cities have held "career nights," mixers that bring together professionals and employers. Patrons at several North County locations said this week that they sometimes overhear the job interviews amid the chatter of office workers on break.

In southwest Riverside County, where the economy is stumbling through the wreckage of a real estate bubble, frequent Starbucks visitors said more people are using the shops' wireless Internet connections to browse job databases. Some are leafing through local newspapers' "help wanted" ads while enjoying a warm beverage. Others lean over to the next table to engage fellow job-seekers in an attempt to network or pick up job-hunting tips.

At lunchtime on a recent Tuesday, Robert Donohue, 23, was filling out a job application for a Rite-Aid drugstore on Winchester Road in Temecula while sitting at a nearby Starbucks. He's been looking for a job since his employer, a furniture company, closed its doors in November. Before that, he had worked for an air-conditioning company and in construction.

"I've been walking around the shopping center looking for a job," said Donohue, who popped into the Starbucks to use an empty table near the front door.

No Sunday drive

Donohue has tried Internet job sites, but he said he prefers to introduce himself to managers in person.

That's the right approach, because applications submitted via e-mail or online have a success rate of less than 2 percent, said Pattie Vargas, a career counselor in Escondido. The Internet is an important tool for applying and networking, but it's not a substitute for old-fashioned handshakes and face-to-face meetings, she said.

By getting off the couch and heading to Starbucks, Panera Bread or another public place with Internet access, a job hunter may put him- or herself in a can-do frame of mind, Vargas said.

"It has value," said Vargas, a co-founder of the Escondido firm NextWork. "But there are a lot of other ways we recommend you use your time efficiently."

Stephen Viscusi, author of "Bulletproof Your Job," was more emphatic.

"The jobless seem to all love Starbucks," Viscusi wrote last month in a press release promoting his book. "But drinking expensive coffee all day does not help you find a job."

Like Vargas, Viscusi said a successful job search should be as intensive as a full-time job. A search that detours through a coffee shop is a bit like a Sunday drive, he said. If someone has to have a cup of coffee, he said, he or she should either make a pot at home or grab a cup between appointments or errands.

Helping hands

Donohue didn't order coffee during his recent Starbucks visit, but plenty of people do put a jolt of caffeine into their job searches.

The additional daytime traffic may give Starbucks a modest boost as it begins a tough year. The Seattle-based chain cited overexpansion in some markets and the economic downturn in June when it announced plans to close 600 of its 7,450 U.S. locations. The company said last month that it might stop or reduce its contributions to employees' 401(k) retirement plans, a change that numerous other employers across the nation had already made.

The chain seems to have a "live and let live" motto toward nonpaying guests where there are available seats, several said. Others noted that some who don't buy drinks or food are still adding to the company's bottom line because Internet access at Starbucks is not always free; one annual plan costs $25.

The coffee giant is cagey on the issue: "Starbucks strives to provide a welcoming environment for all our customers, whether they are just stopping in for a quick beverage or plan to stay for a while," said company spokeswoman Annie Austerlitz.

Shawn Bellew, 24, who set up one recent afternoon in a Starbucks near his home in Temecula, said the "baristas" -- as employees are known in Starbuckspeak -- have helped him out by providing ice water as a substitute for $4.50 Frappuccinos and by offering the use of their restroom.

"It's a bad time for me. I've been stressed out," Bellew said.

Contact Claverie at (760) 839-3333, Ext. 2628, or Bagley at (760) 740-5444. Bagley blogs about local economic trends at http://bizblogs.nctimes.com.

ECONOMY: Job-market implosion is widest, deepest in Riverside County (Jan. 15, 2009)

ECONOMY: Local job cuts continued in November (Dec. 20, 2008)

ECONOMY: Vanishing jobs - Biomedical manager unemployed, but optimistic (Dec. 20, 2008)

FOOD: Latte with your fries? (June 18, 2008)