Unemployed?

Are you unemployed?

If so, you might have already realized that job searching is much better when you're actively and happily employed!

Afterall, if you are happily employed and earning money, searching for a new job can be something you do from time to time just to see what opportunities are out there.

You might not necessarily even interview for new jobs or even apply for them, you might just keep your options open by remaining aware of what jobs are available in your industry or profession.

In this case you might simply choose to keep your eyes open for a new job and if a good one comes along, you might consider it.

When you're unemployed however, things are different. You need to find a new job and may not have the luxury of taking it easy.

When you're out of work, desperation can set in, you can become depressed and you might even become lazy in your job search.

The worst part of being unemployed can be where you want to find a new job but simply don't have the motivation to look for one!

I felt this way when I was laid off back in 2000. I wanted to find a new job but found it difficult to get motivated and actually put forth a good effort to find one.

In order to remain motivated and increase my chances of getting back into the workforce quickly, here's what I did immediately after getting laid off:

• Updated my resume immediately and got it ready to apply for new jobs.



• Let my friends and family know I was looking for a new job in case they knew anyone I could speak with to further my job search.



• Carefully thought about what jobs I really wanted and made a list of companies I wanted to work for and prepared to contact them directly.



• Maintained the same sort of schedule I had when I was working ie. I didn't start staying up until midnight and waking up at 11am. I pretended I was still working and stuck to my usual routine.



• Got my references ready ie. I made a list of who I planned on using as reference checks and contacted each of them to ask permission to use them as references.

The Job Search
This page covers many options for job searching including job fairs, job boards, cold calling employers, working overseas and temp and contract work.