Expedia contracted with Right Management Consultants, a subsidiary of staffing firm Manpower Inc., to offer those workers training in resume writing and interviewing in order to get them back into the job market. The company gave the workers at least 60-day notice and held three job fairs to make the transition as easy as possible, Expedia spokesman David Dennis said.

It just makes sense to help employees who are let go because of economic reasons, he said.

"Expedia has a culture of taking care of its employees," Dennis said. "We did everything we could think of."

Dennis said companies that participated in the job fairs were interviewing for customer service positions for other call centers and hotels.

Barbara Macknin, a Las Vegas spokeswoman for Right Management, said companies offer career transition services such as training in resume writing and interviewing because they want to be considered good corporate citizens.

"The heart of why a company would do this is because it's the right thing to do," Macknin said. "Especially when a person is being asked to leave through no fault of their own. Companies that provide this service value the employees that are being impacted."

Michael Scalzi, a former human resource director at a General Motors plant in Bedford, Ind., said he volunteered to leave the company through a salary- reduction program. He said after 28 years of working for the automaker he wanted to make a fresh start and he ended his tenure there in April.

The company offered him career transition services through Right Management.

Scalzi said he decided to move to the Las Vegas Valley six months ago because his parents have a home here and because of the weather and the valley's growth. He said he is very interested in finding work here.

"I'm not ready to retire," Scalzi said. "I have more years I can work for someone. I don't have to work if I don't want to but I want to."

Despite Nevada's 3.8 percent unemployment rate, Scalzi's job search may not be easy. Macknin said professionals who move here without a job often get a rude awakening about Southern Nevada's job market.

"It is not that easy to find a professional-level job," Macknin said. "I think it is harder because there are going to be fewer corporate positions available. There are certainly a lot of entrepreneurs here. I see a lot of attorneys that open offices. We just don't have that many corporate headquarters here."

Other companies that contract with Right Management Consultants, include Sprint Corp., which announced it would be laying off 150 Las Vegas call center workers in October, and GES Exposition Services.

While Right Management offers career transition services for employees through its contracts with companies, other career transition services companies offer the service both to individuals and through companies.

One company, Millenium Services, is a staffing firm that caters to workers, from entry-level to professional level workers. The company offers career transition services and executive recruiting.

Jennifer DeHaven, executive vice president of Millenium, said her company's core clients are companies that need workers for open positions. However, she said Millenium Services will also go to companies who are letting workers go and make a presentation to those workers about their career transition services.

She said the service is free to both the company making the layoffs and the workers seeking jobs. The company provides temporary to hire staffing options as well as direct hire staffing.

"I'm going in (this week) with a call center. They have about 20 people they need to lay off. I'll tell them about our company and about the different positions they might be interested in. It will immediately give those 20 people hope. Then the company feels better about it too because they're having to do the lay offs and they feel really bad about it."

DeHaven agreed with Macknin that it is difficult for professionals who are new to the area to find jobs.

"A lot of companies don't advertise their executive openings," DeHaven said. "It's amazing (people) with unbelievable experience have trouble getting an interview."

Chris Jenkins, vice president of marketing and CEO of Harrington & Reed Inc., an executive career transition firm, said its all about networking. He said Harrington & Reed is able to give more personalized service to help executives improve their resumes and their networking skills. He said the company approaches the job search of their clients as a marketing campaign.

He said clients often attend networking meetings of various organizations such as the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in order to get in front of decision makers who often make hiring decisions without publishing job openings.

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.