TEMECULA -- Members of the growing ranks of people looking for jobs are using Starbucks Coffee locations as unofficial work force centers, a trend the Seattle-based chain has apparently embraced.

In some cities, Starbucks locations have held "career nights": mixers that bring together professionals and employers.

In Southwest County, frequent Starbucks visitors have reported seeing more people than usual of late using the coffee shop's wireless Internet connection to browse job listing sites on laptops.

Some are leafing through the local newspaper's help wanted ads while enjoying a warm beverage. Others try to engage their fellow coffee-sipping job seekers in an attempt to network and/or pick up job-hunting tips.

On Tuesday afternoon, at a time when many people were getting a bite to eat on their lunch break, Robert Donohue, 23, was sitting inside the Starbucks near Chaparral High School. He was filling out a job application for the nearby Rite-Aid.

"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.

While some businesses might run off a nonpaying customer, Starbucks seems to have a "live and let live" motto when there are available seats.

With his application nearly complete, the Temecula resident weighed in on his prospects as of 12:30 p.m.: "Not hiring. Not hiring. Not hiring."

Stressful searches

Donohue has been looking for a job since November, when the furniture company he was working for closed its doors. Before that, he was working for an air conditioning company and before that he was in construction.

He's had three jobs in 2008.

Donohue has tried Internet job sites, but he said he prefers the face-to-face approach.

"I'd rather go in and talk to someone," he said.

Donohue, despite his age, has years of experience in the construction and warehouse industries.

"Anything you can do with your hands, except for working with cars," he said.

Shawn Bellew, a 24-year-old Temecula resident, visited the Starbucks in the shopping center at the northwest corner of Ynez Road and Rancho California Road on Tuesday.

Bellew said the last steady job he had was seven years ago when he worked for a cell phone manufacturing company in Mira Mesa.

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

Starbucks has helped him out during his job search by providing ice water -- the coffee is too expensive, he said -- and offering the use of their restroom.

While neither Donohue nor Bellew ordered a cup of coffee during their time at Starbucks on Tuesday, there are plenty of people combining a jolt of caffeine and a job search. And there are various blogs that offer tips on picking a good location.

For instance, a blogger in Washington, D.C., recommended avoiding the locations that are popular with the "mommy and me" crowd due to the distraction of crying babies.

For Starbucks, the additional traffic during the business day has to be helping the chain get through a tough 2008.

Due to oversaturation in some markets and the economic downturn, Starbucks announced this summer it planned to close 600 stores. Last week, in response to what was called by company officials a "challenging" holiday season, Starbucks announced it could stop or reduce the amount of money it had been spending to match employees' contributions to their 401(k) retirement plans.

Backlash

The Starbucks job hunting trend has become so pervasive that there is a backlash.

Stephen Viscusi, author of the HarperCollins book "Bulletproof Your Job," sent out a press release in December to promote his book that urged job seekers to avoid Starbucks locations.

"Misery loves company, and the jobless seem to all love Starbucks. But drinking expensive coffee all day does not help you find a job," he wrote.

Reached on his cell phone, Viscusi elaborated on the point, saying job seekers who go the coffee shop route spend way too much time hanging out when they should be actively looking for a job.

"People don't recognize looking for a job is a full-time job," he said.

If someone has to have a cup of coffee, he said, they should either make a pot at home or, mimicking a work schedule, take a coffee break during their job-searching activities.

Viscusi, who spends time in both New York and Southern California, said coffee shop job hunting -- he also mentioned the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chains as places to avoid -- seems especially popular on the West Coast.

If Viscusi didn't scare off everyone considering going to a Starbucks during their job search, there is the story of Michael Gates Gill.

Gill, author of the memoir "How Starbucks Saved My Life," wrote the book after he was hired by a Starbucks location despite his advancing age -- he was in his 60s -- and his health: he had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

In a New York Times profile, Gill said he entered a world where employees were partners, customers were guests and, in what the author of the piece said was most impressive to Gill, everyone seemed to be treated with respect, "even homeless people who need to use the restroom."

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.