Dennis Costa sat before a video camera Wednesday, looked into the lens and talked about his retail management skills.

The 57-year-old Modestan was among 210 people who made video résumés of up to 1 minute at The Bee. The free service, a partnership with "Good Day Sacramento" on Channel 31, aimed to give job seekers a boost amid a recession that has pushed Stanislaus County's unemployment rate to 13.6 percent.

"I was a little bit nervous going on video," said Costa, most recently an assistant manager at The Home Depot on Carpenter Road, "but I think that with today's technology, it's certainly what you need to get your exposure. It's a new world."

The videos are being posted at gooddaysacramento.com, a process expected to be done by late Friday afternoon. Job seekers can wait for prospective employers to browse them, or they can e-mail them to a company.

The valley's economy has been rocked by a dramatic downturn in the housing market, which recently has shown an improvement in sales. But job losses in construction, finance, real estate and related fields have spread to manufacturing, auto dealerships, restaurants and retailers -- Mervyn's closed and Gottschalks is in bankruptcy protection.

Read the complete story at modbee.com