You’ve been unemployed for an extended period.  Too long!  You’ve applied for hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs.  You’ve sent out hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes.  Your savings are running out or gone.  You feel like a failure, and you’re desperate.

Probably difficult for you to believe, but it’s NOT you, particularly in this economy. This bad economy has made it difficult for everyone.

A job search is often a very demoralizing situation – worse than dating! Rejection, being ignored, being told you don’t have the skills or experience needed, etc.  Do NOT do it alone and do not spend all your time at your computer applying for jobs online!   You do have other, more productive, options.

1.  KNOW THE JOB YOU WANT NEXT.

You can’t find what you are looking for if you don’t know what it is when you find it.

It’s counter-intuitive for most people, but being too “flexible” can mean you waste a lot of time and energy chasing every possibility, no matter how inappropriate for you.  And, the sad truth is, if you landed one of those inappropriate jobs, you wouldn’t succeed at it easily, you’d hate it, and you’d be job hunting again waaaayyyy too soon.  Don’t do that to yourself!

If you don’t know what you want, read “What Color Is Your Parachute?” by Richard N. Bolles.  Do the exercises, and you will learn more about yourself, what you are good at, the transferrable skills you have, and what you would probably be happiest doing.  If your local public library has only one career book, this is the one.  So borrow or buy it, and use it to help you find focus for your job search.

2.  GET HELP!

A job search is a lonely, discouraging process in this economy particularly when you are all by yourself, sitting in front of your computer day after day.  So…

     *   There are thousands of job search suport groups – through your community, your church, your state government (in the US). Connect with one; go to at least 3 meetings so you get to know the other members. Find out what’s going on – help someone else with their job search and they’ll help you with yours.

Check out Job-Hunt’s Local Networking and Job Search Support Groups for help.  It links to hundreds of local job search suport groups, but new ones appear all the time that don’t get on this list so ask at your local churches, public libraries, and local branch of your state’s employment office for more.

     *   If you’ve attended college, the school may help you, as an alumnus, through their career center.  Some don’t, but many do, particularly during this economy.  And, you don’t always have to be a graduate to qualify as an “alum.”  Often just attending for a semester or two can qualify you.  When in doubt, ask.

     *   Go to your state’s employment office.  It’s their job to help you find work, and they have lots of resources to do that, including counseling, classes and workshops, lists of local employers, and job postings.  You can often use the services online, but go into the office a few times to connect with the people there.

3.  TEMP.  Try working for a “temping” agency.  This gets your foot in the door with an employer, gives you a chance to see what it’s like to work for them (whether or not you like them is as important as whether or not they like you), a chance to have some income, and a chance to see yourself as a valuable human being.

4.  VOLUNTEER.  Volunteering has many benefits:

     *   Helping someone less fortunate or a cause you believe in. You’ll accomplish something positive in someone else’s life or for your cause, you’ll meet other people who share similar values, and you’ll see that you really DO have value, that you are worthwhile, smart, kind, creative, whatever…

     *   Learning a new skill.  Filling in a gap on your resume.  Adding new knowledge. 

         Everyone and every business is getting more “green” now, so volunteering for some sort of environmental organization should give you experience and knowledge that may well have greater value in the job market than many other volunteer activities.  If you are interested in being green, anyway,…

     *   Meeting new people, with whom you share some values or interests.

         People are hired by people they know, even in the Internet age.  So, this is a way to meet a few other people (it doesn’t take thousands, it just takes the “right” people), to get known in that small circle.  Do enough small circles (2 or 3), and you’ve got a good network of people who know people who know about job openings, employers who need help, etc.

5.   NETWORK!  Go to industry/professional organization meetings. 

If they charge for meeting attendance, don’t be afraid to ask if they have a special rate for “people between jobs.”

When you go, don’t ask everyone if they know of any jobs open.  You learn more by asking than by telling.  But, when you are asked, do share that you are looking for a job – when asked! – and DO have a 15 or 30 second description of the job you want and the employers who interest you.  Being vague, “Oh, I’m thinking about something in marketing or administration” is wasting the opportunity.  This is your chance to tell people what you want!

Recent studies have show only 12% of job are filled through a job board.  So, you need to get away from your computer and reconnected, re-energized, and caught up with what’s going on in your industry or profession:

     *   Learn about the latest trends in your industry or profession.

     *   Learn about new employers.

     *   Meet new people

Liz Ryan, Job-Hunt’s Job Search Networking Expert has written over 20 articles on how to use networks for your job hunt.  And Wendy Gelberg, Job-Hunt’s Job Search for Introverts Expert has written several articles to help introverts get more comfortable with job hunting.

Bottom Line:

A job hunt can be a lonely, demoralizing experience.  Don’t do it alone for 2 reasons: because you need something positive in your life to offset the negative, and because you’ll be more successful “with a little help from [your] friends” as the Beatles told us many years ago.

According to a recent Business Week article, based on U.S. Department of Labor data, the occupations with the lowest unemployment right now are:

Current
  Rate      Occupation

  3.0%      Professional and related occupations
  3.7%      Managment, business, and financial operations
  6.7%      Sales and related occuptations
  9.0%      Transportation and material moving occupations
  9.4%      Production occupations
12.1%     Construction and extraction occupations

The official August to September U.S. Unemployment Rate stayed steady at 6.1%. Not bad news (although we hope for better, of course).

On the other hand, the “long term” number has climbed to over 20% of those currently counted as unemployed. The “seasonally adjusted” rate for September is 21.1%, a 1.5% increase over August’s seasonally adjusted rate of 19.5%.

[Note: when the U.S. Department of Labor talks about "long-term unemployment" in the October report on unemployment, they are referring to the people who have been unemployed for more than 6 months ("27 weeks and over" in DOL jargon).]

In addition, the seasonally-adjusted number of people taking part-time jobs because they couldn’t find full-time employment also increased, by nearly 6%.

So, while some indicators are clearly not headed in the best direction for job seekers, all the news isn’t bad.

While that is definitely an increase in the average length a typical person is unemployed, the good news is that, STILL, nearly 80% of the unemployed find new jobs in FEWER than 6 months. Wise job hunters will take that information into account, and while expecting that their job search will last fewer than 6 months, they will plan and allocate their spending as though it will take much longer. 

Best Job Search Strategies:

Check Indeed’s database of jobs posted to find promising smaller employers in your area who are hiring.

Check the online business news for press releases or press coverage of these employers.

Set up Google Alerts on the organization’s name.

Use the Internet to research those employers -

What do they do, and how well do they do it?

Are they growing? New contracts, new big customers, new locations, or new divisions announced on their Website or in the business news?

Reputation?

Financial standing?

Contact members of your network (family and friends, former colleagues, other alumni/ae of your college, etc.) for points of entry into the target employers’ organizations.

If at all possible, find that job BEFORE you become unemployed.  Waiting for the proverbial “ax to fall” (or waiting to collect a nice severance package) before you begin your job search is a gamble that may or may not pay off for you long-term.