Unemployment is an unfortunate and depressing circumstance that can befall anyone in days where outsourcing is rampant, layoffs are looming, competition is high, and companies are looking at the "bottom line" more than ever. Worse yet is the fight to find another job - and fast.

This page is dedicated to ideas and options for unemployed people to use in their toolkit, with the pure honesty and point-blank information that you'll truly respect.

Finding a job is a job in itself. It greatly depends on what field you're in, what kind of area you live in, and how much you have under your belt. Since you're competing with tens of thousands of other unemployed people within your area (and, like most of us - you don't have an executive uncle who can place you in a cushy position by next week), your tactics must be on target.

Let's face it - you're unemployed; not simply working in a job that you hate, while looking for something better. Your situation is much more dire. This page will offer ideas and suggestions for your personal plan of action!

• Contact a job agency (a Google search will reveal several in your area), and set up a profile with them. Don't e-mail them - call them. Let them work for you - it's free for you, and it expands your horizons while you start doing your own legwork. Never rely solely on a job agency, since you may never hear from them again. Additionally, you will have to contact them weekly to remind them that you're still looking.

• Register for unemployment pay (if in the US, otherwise, research your country's policies). Start by locating your state on the web site. It's your right as a citizen to receive this, if you have been layed off or downsized. If you've been fired, you cannot receive unemployment, in most cases.

• In the meantime: get a job, no matter where it is, even if it's just a part time job. Whether you want to be a cashier at the local supermarket or a helper at Home Depot, you'll need to start getting some kind of income while looking for your next full time job! Don't worry about it harming your job history or resume in any way - it won't.

• Realize that it could be months until you get another job. It's a possibility you can't ignore, which is why you need to remain vigilant and persistent.

• Write, re-write and/or perfect your resume. It is the declaration of who you are as an employee, and it must be absolute perfection! If you can afford it, utilize the help of a resume-writing service to do it for you.

The resume should be a one (or at the very most, two) page statement of your most significant achievements. List your "Career Objective" at the top - a brief & abridged paragraph describing what you do and are looking to achieve in your career life. Your education section should be next (if you had a high GPA, list it!) followed by your working experience. Lastly, computer skills and awards can be listed, but only if they truly relate to the job.

If you are applying to jobs of different categories or branches within a major profession, tweak your resume to suit each of those individual jobs, on an individual basis.

Never, ever forget to send a customized cover letter to each job you apply to. By not doing so, you will certainly not even be considered. That goes for traditional and online applications! The cover letter should 1) express your interest in the job, and why...2) state your skills, education and competencies in a convincing manner, showing that you can really do a great job in this position...3) ask the person to review the resume at their earliest convenience, and kindly let you know how you may contact them to discuss the position further.

Job search websites will always give you the opportunity to send a cover letter to each job you apply to. Take advantage of this option, but don't save your cover letters for future use - they should always be completely tailored to each job in some way. Also, you don't want to send a cover letter that has a previous company name on it (that would be embarrasing!)

Be confident, concise and direct - list what you've done for your past companies. Remember, the screener will look at your resume and think about what you would do to help their company succeed. If they see nothing of relevance (or any inexcusable grammar or spelling mistakes), it gets ditched. It's your job to be a salesperson and sell yourself. Use 'resume power words,' like directed, succeeded, increased, managed, improved, innovated, introduced, led, and surpassed, to name a few. This is not a joke - if you don't have an extremely powerful resume, someone else surely will - and they'll get the interview (remember, resumes don't get you jobs - they get you interviews).

Job sites are a big help - not only to find new job openings with, but to help recruiters find you. The "big two," of course, are Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com. It's in your best interests to get your resume on all of them, immediately.

These sites rely on your daily visitation in order to keep your resume "refreshed" and at the top of the pile. So, if you don't log in to your Monster account and click "refresh" next to your stored resume, it will get lost in the pile rather quickly and will assuredly not be seen.

Others to try: Yahoo's HotJobs.com, Dice.com (for IT professionals), Career Shop, Job Bank USA, Get The Job and America's Job Bank. Never underestimate the power of Craigslist - more companies are using it because it is free, and because they are tired of getting irrelevant applications from the bigger sites. You will have to weed through an occasional "get rich quick" entry, but it's worth your while.

SUPERTIP: Sites like Monster and others will let you select the locations that you want to focus your searches in. However, this is basically worthless - as recruiters in those areas will either ignore someone who lives too far away, or will flat out never see you. Recruiters find resumes by the ZIP code that the account was registered in; so, if you're looking for a job in northern California but your ZIP is in Chicago, you'll probably never get noticed in CA. Get around it by creating a separate account and setting your ZIP code to the second area!

Social networking isn't just for connecting with old classmates or finding a date, you know. It has become one of the most prominent ways to find a new job, advertise yourself and get your resume in front of hiring representatives from small to Fortune 100 companies! These days, everything is about social networking, and about "free" - keep in mind, companies become reluctant to spend money on a Monster.com account when they can simply get the same volume of quality responses with a free alternative. Here are several top social networking services to help you overcome your unemployment rut...or at least add more tools to your belt!

• LinkedIn: Create your profile today - seriously, don't delay with this site! Most business professionals will expect you to have an account, especially if you're in a technical field.
• Plaxo.com: Very similar to LinkedIn: simply copy over your information from your LinkedIn account (remember, getting yourself on as many of these sites as possible is the key!)
• Jobster.com: Tons of options for creating an interactive online resume. Employers will search through resumes and contact you, or vice-versa.
• JobFox.com: This site will "match" you with an available job that it feels would be a good fit...an interesting concept that's worth a try!
  
• MyWorkster.com: Got Facebook? MyWorkster will pull in your work history information from your account, nice and easy.
• Ecademy.com: It's an online job networking site. Introduce yourself to others, share or ask for advice, and join niche job networks.
  
• VisualCV: It's an online portfolio of easy-to-make charts, graphs, slideshows, and more that give a visual representation of your experiences.
  
• Twitter.com: Yes, even Twitter can be used to find your next job, with the right strategy! This article from social media magazine "Mashable.com" gives you pointers on how to use Twitter as your job search engine!
• Craig's List: It's not just an eBay alternative, but also a place where jobs are posted in your local area. Sure, there's some spam, but there are also quality jobs, too!
  

Once your resume has been perfected, you can now begin research on your job field. In doing so, you'll gain the insight needed to start your roadmap to getting a new job.

Each job field is unique in the sense that they each have their own level of "saturation," in terms of how many other people do that same job within your immediate area (which is usually within a 25-30 mile radius, give or take). They each have expectations, competencies, and most importantly - demand. If your particular job is the kind that many people do, or one that is difficult to find even under normal circumstances, then your journey ahead is about to be a very rough one. Woe is the unemployed graphic designer, actor or musician...

Let's face it: it's not the 1950's anymore. Hard work and a great attitude is not sufficient enough in today's job market, where companies are trying to pay as little as humanly possible, for an employee that will do as much as humanly possible. Your 'salary requirements' and other requests will have to ease up, if you want to beat out the other job candidates who are looking to take a drastically lower salary than what their previous job paid, just to be employed again. Your tactics and outlook will have to conform to this ideology. Depending on the mix of where you live and what you do, getting that next job might be as hard as winning $10 from a scratch-off card.

Listed below are ideas for your consideration. Each point involves some thought process on your part, to determine the attributes about your job field, as mentioned above! Start with a pad and pencil (you'll most likely need an eraser, too), or just use MS Word. Write things down so that they become more clear as your thought process becomes more refined. Keep everything in a folder and refer to it frequently.

1) Your Job Field and Its Status

By getting the low-down on several facts about unemployment and your area, you'll have a better idea as to where you should commence your search - and what other professions you might be able to move into.

• If you're in the United States, refer to the BLS for statistics on your job profession. Look at Unemployment by Occupation. The "latest numbers" column on the right will give you the pinpoint info you'll need to determine the country-wide unemployment and wage information. Find this data for your state, and furthermore, metro area. With this data, you now have a starting point on your knowledge about unemployment and your job field. (If you live outside of the US, refer to your country's official Labor Department website).

• Once you've obtained information about your state and metro area, look at the information for other regions close to your home. Take note of the differences, both positive and negative. Lastly, think of other areas you'd be interested in working in - even if they're out of state. Does the overall outlook appear to differ greatly? Or, is the overall outlook grim for that field? If it's the latter, you may need to think about another branch of your field that you can move sideways into.

2) Your Location

Your location weighs heavily on where your focus should lie. It dictates the number of open jobs available to you in your job search, and the viability of living in a reasonably affordable environment.

• If statistics show that your area is going to be a pain to get a job in, the next step is clear: begin your job hunt in the most 'advantageous' area in terms of better employment prospects. Otherwise, do a Google search on your job field (possibly "branches of economics," "fields of economics," "different kinds of economics jobs," etc., if you are an Economics major, for instance), to start looking into different branches of your profession that you can possibly enter. Another option, if you've gone to college, is to contact your Career Placement office and have them run a test to determine other possible job paths you can take.

• Don't give up on your current area. By all means, keep looking there - but broaden your horizons elsewhere, too. However, learn to balance your efforts in the places where your chances of getting a job are higher.

• When looking in another area, keep in mind the cost of living in that area. If you're moving from a central-state town to a metro area, your rent and other expenditures will skyrocket. Just make sure that you can handle such a fluctuation. Spending more than half of your after-tax income on rent is cutting things close. Also, keep in mind that this is not a task of leisure, it is time to settle and get back to work - not look for an upgrade.

• There are pros and cons to differently-populated areas. Cities have the most jobs, but also the most competition. Businesses residing in cities are certainly more "picky" in choosing candidates - mainly, because they can be, with the number of applicants they have at their disposal. Remember that when a job goes up on a newspaper ad or internet site, the employer may be getting a hundred (or more) faxes or e-mails within the first couple hours. This is the magnitude of how many people you're up against.

• See if you can find a message board for other towns or areas you are looking into. If you can't find them, visit Wikipedia and search for specific towns, more than likely - the website will list message boards for those towns. By asking people more about the job situation in those areas, you'll get a better idea about which areas you should put more or less focus into.

• If you are serious about getting a job immediately due to family issues, outstanding bills and other serious situations that need to be resolved in the short term, your selectiveness will have to be eliminated entirely. Your best option is to get in touch with a major job recruitment agency and explain your situation, so that they may suggest the most logical step you should take.

3) Getting Noticed

Since you've researched your profession in the first step, you now have a good idea about the demand of your position. Obviously, careers with higher unemployment rates are of less demand to some degree (otherwise, the entire 'unemployment' issue would not have come about, to begin with). Let's look at ways to overcome demand issues:

• You'll have to be more attractive - and I'm not talking about looks. Start with your resume! Make sure that all quantifiable results (increased sales by 25%, attained 10 new clients in the past year, etc.) are included, as they are the most important addition. Trim worthless or obvious job traits - they'll just annoy the employer. Avoid using the phrase "Responsibilities include...". Instead, just list what you've accomplished that has benefited your company in some way.

• What else can you do within your field? What else have you done that wasn't in your job description? Play this up during your interview process. Just one important skill or experience in something might be enough to put you at the top of the candidate list.

• Going back to this previously discussed topic: where else can your profession take you? You may need to get into another similar field. For instance, if you're in marketing and can't find a marketing job, why not try advertising or sales? Or, how about an entirely different field altogether that anyone might be able to enter: teaching? Look into these options by speaking to someone you know of who is also in the field - a relative or distant relative, friend, friend of a friend...anyone! It's in your best interest to exhaust all options right now to get pointed in the right direction.

Once you've gotten into the mode of the intensive job search, be sure to do the following steps each day:

1. Log into the job sites your resume is on, and "refresh" your resume to keep it on the top of the list. 2. While on the job site, run your saved searches and apply to every single new job, even if it remotely relates to your job field. 3. Check local area job sites for newly-posted positions, and apply to them. 4. Manually submit your resume to one new company each day, directly on their corporate website, under "Jobs/Careers."
2. While on the job site, run your saved searches and apply to every single new job, even if it remotely relates to your job field.
3. Check local area job sites for newly-posted positions, and apply to them.
4. Manually submit your resume to one new company each day, directly on their corporate website, under "Jobs/Careers."

So, you've finally landed that interview? Let it be known: interviews sometimes stray away from being about an employer learning about a candidate and how they can do the job...and migrate toward grilling a candidate with ridiculous questions that barely help the process in any way. This isn't true in some cases, but you'll have to be prepared anyway! Interviews almost always yield one or two (or in some cases, many) stupid questions. Maybe the interviewer is on a power trip, or they are undecided on you for whatever reason. Perhaps they want to see how sharp you are, or if you've even prepared for the interview. Regardless, you'll have to think fast, or suffer the "don't call us, we'll call you" conclusion. 100% of the time, your answers will have to be positive, even if the question is negative. Here are some stupid questions, and the best way to get around them:

• Tell me about yourself. The most basic and common one that could be their first question. Of course, they don't give a damn about your personal life. In fact, some interviewers like this question, because it provides an opportunity for the person they're interviewing to "shoot themselves in the foot" by saying something negative out of nervous rambling. Your reply should mention your most important learning points and accomplishments. Speak about your past experience, only mentioning the aspects that are relevant to the job you're applying for. Do mention additional responsibilities, because they are feathers in your cap.

• You seem to live quite a distance from our office...isn't this a problem for you? Explain that you will re-locate at your own expense immediately (the days of companies paying for non-executive level relocations are nearly extinct, so this will almost always have to be the outcome, anyway). Even if you cannot move at a whim, you must be willing to get there on time, no matter what the cost - even if it involves waking up a few hours earlier. Reassure the interviewer that your distance will never affect your availability.

• What is your most negative trait? or If I were to contact your previous boss and ask what your worst trait is, what would he/she say? Take a quasi-negative trait and put a positive spin on it. "I tend to want to work late at times." "I tend to be very intricate in my work." "I tend to triple-check all of my projects before sending them out." If they don't accept your answer and continue to pry, mention something that went wrong during your first week at another position, and what you did to learn from that mistake. Turn a negative into a positive. If they don't accept that - then it's time to wonder about that company, and if you'd want to even work for such an arrogant person.

• So, why are you here today? or Why did you decide to interview for our company? Of course, never mention "because I'm unemployed and desperate." Don't even mention the word "unemployed" whatsoever. Speak about how you feel their company offers the kind of opportunity for growth that you're looking for, which is why you applied. Do research on the company beforehand, and throw some facts about the company and why they interest you.

• Tell me about a time when you really messed up. By far, one of the most stupid questions anyone can ask. It has no other purpose but to shake you up. Answer it by saying that you never "messed up" perse, but have underwent several learning obstacles during the first week or two at some of your last jobs - and have learned and improved from them.

• What was your least favorite aspect about your previous office? Here, the interviewer is probably dying for you to say something negative about your boss - but of course, you're too smart for that. Instead, mention how there was no opportunity for advancement, or anything that hindered your growth within the organization or department - as long as there is no blame put on anyone, and no negativity.

• Name one thing you'd like me to remember about you, once this interview is over. Easy..."that I am the right one for this job, and can provide your company with significant results."

Most people swear that networking is the best way to find a new job, but it can be terribly overrated since it involves putting confidence in other people to be assertive for your benefit. It is a good practice when keeping your options open, though. Spread the word about your newfound job search to friends and family (and their friends and family). Even if you get one lead, it might be worthy!