COLUMBIA, Md.

NANCY FINK is a career coach for Maryland’s department of labor, running seminars for the most skilled unemployed workers.

For 17 years, she has counseled professionals, business managers, engineers, accountants, scientists  people who are mature, middle-aged, highly motivated, well-educated, well-spoken. But in all that time, she’s never seen so many of the jobless with such impressive skills as this last year. “Last week I had seven lawyers in this room,” she said. “I’ve had lots of folks from TV and The Baltimore Sun. This week I’ve got five human resources directors  I’ve never had that.”

The number of professionals and managers in unemployment programs at this suburban work-force center halfway between Baltimore and Washington is the highest it has been since the state first made this group a target for outplacement support in 1992.

They ask questions young workers don’t. David Kozlowski, 52, a systems vice president laid off in June, wanted to know how far back to go when an interviewer inquires about his work experience in information technology. “I’ve had 30 years in I.T.,” he said. Many of the 53 people at a recent two-day seminar had themselves hired employees before being fired. When Ms. Fink quizzed them on the first question interviewers ask, Jim Chrzanowski, 45, a systems engineer who once oversaw 83 workers, knew immediately. “ ‘Tell me about yourself’  it was the first question I always asked,” he said.