One of the first things Joel Collamer did after being laid off from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in July 2001 was e-mail 10 colleagues who had also lost their jobs. He was setting up a private group on Yahoo.com for them to keep in touch. He wrote: "This can help us stick together and trade job leads."

A virtual networking group was born.

Today, 40 senior-level executives with technology and insurance industry expertise are plugged into Mr. Collamer's group, dubbed "Collamer's Connections." One member lives as far north as Maine, another as far west as Iowa; most have never met face to face. But they regularly trade industry news, contacts and tips about job openings. So far six have found jobs as a result of the network's help, says Mr. Collamer, who lives in Greenwich, Conn.

In prior downturns, unemployed workers relied solely on personal networks, recruiters and cold calls to prospective employers. This time, the unemployed have a new resource to harness: the Internet. As a result, the current tough job market has seen a wave of people creating or enlisting in online networks to share job information.

After recent massive layoffs at companies such as Enron Corp. and Global Crossing Ltd., for instance, ex-employees set up Web sites to stay connected and share company news about such matters as severance payments. Many smaller online networks, meanwhile, are geared toward job seekers and often targeted to professions or regions.

A.J. Lawrence, a 33-year-old New Yorker, formed a group called NYC Job Search in July. Mr. Lawrence was laid off last November as a director of business development at Daedalus Technology Group, a New York technology consulting company. The group's 20 members trade information and job leads through a Yahoo group; several members also meet weekly in coffee shops to discuss their progress. "This was a method of trying to talk to other people and say, how are you going about your job search? Is there a better way?" says Mr. Lawrence.

Another New York-based group called WeWantWork.com, formed in August, has garnered publicity for its street rallies, in which members wear sandwich boards and pass out flyers about the organization. But the group's 43 members mainly keep in touch with one another and pass job leads online.

Gayle Snible, who was laid off from a public relations job a year ago, says she receives between five and 10 e-mails a day from the group. "Some are anecdotes about job searches, and some are hard job leads," she says. Ms. Snible, 35, recently started a part-time marketing position she discovered through the network.

Some career experts remain skeptical about the value of virtual groups where members never meet in person. "Basically it's too impersonal," says Richard Bayer, chief operating officer of The Five O'Clock Club, a career-coaching and outplacement firm based in New York. "Networking is something that is a little more 'high touch.' "

Indeed, the groups struggle to stay useful. For instance, many carefully vet applicants before letting them join. Mr. Collamer personally interviews people who ask to sign on, occasionally asking for a resume, and cautions prospective members that they're obligated to contribute to the group.

Mr. Lawrence, who has been freer about accepting people into his fledgling network, has already had to kick one person out. "He was demanding stuff ... just being belligerent," Mr. Lawrence says.

Yet members say that even the relative strangers who belong to virtual networks provide emotional support in addition to job leads.

"One of the great values besides the job leads is not feeling terminally unique," says Greg Black, a 45-year-old Nashville, Tenn., resident and member of Mr. Collamer's network who has been hunting for a job since June. "You get a greater sense of loyalty from a virtual group like this than from most employers."