Everyone is claiming (and hiding the proper claims) about the unemployment rate and sniveling about how the can't get a job....

A couple of months ago, I got canned from my former employer. It was a little stupid really, but it happened.

It doesn't pay much, but now I have a job again!

No eight/fourteen/twenty-four months of being unemployed and "on the dole" (I still have yet to receive a DIME of unemployment..... HUH???

We're not broken, we're not defeated, we're not finished yet-- not by a long shot. We're AMERICANS!!!

Yes, I got canned. Yes, it sucked. Yes, I'm rolling pennies for gas money today (which pays less than minimum wage I could argue), but I ain't dead yet!!!

SO, now that I've "done the needful" and poured gasoline all over myself, I'm going to light myself on fire. COME AND WATCH ME BURN!!!

Here is how I did it (some of this is in retrospect, but still helpful)....

First I considered that day )that i was discharged) a legitimate waste-- whine, snivel, be in emotional shock, whatever. That day (or maybe it was the next) I FORCED myself to respond to a job posting. I hated it. No return phone call. What that failed resume did was get me "back on the horse" to finding a job days/weeks sooner (and kept my wife from worrying for awhile-- I was showing evidence of getting another job again).

Next I had to realize that technically I hadn't had to look for a job in three YEARS. Yes, the market was a little better than it was in '09, but the market had changed. Therefore, I had to change my attack.

Craigslist and "temp" agencies. Especially if you live in/near a metropolitan area, there isn't even a contest for other job boards to get into unless you just happen to run into someone that says: "So and so is hiring now". By far and away (and then some), all my action came from those two sources. One of the benefits of temp agencies is that it gives you chances to interview ("practice" interview) to brush up-- the days of yore where you could fire off a half-dozen resumes and fake a couple of interviews and thus have a job are gone-- interviewing isn't that simple anymore.

On Craigslist-- do NOT just fire off resumes blindly. STOP DOING IT! Yes, you're broke and in danger of losing your mortgage, I understand that. Aside from wasting your time and ISP bandwidth, what you are doing is convincing potential employers that they can sift out "the pick of the litter" of resumes and then pay only the best employees less than they are worth. True story-- I went to an interview where the "husband and wife" admitted that within a week, one posting for a single data-entry position at $10 per hour produced 200 responses via Craigslist. Sadly, 25% of them were from people who had NO business responding to the ad-- house cleaners and auto mechanics with zero data-entry or even typing experience on their resume. DON'T fire resumes blindly and think you're getting a job anytime soon-- or even anytime next year. It doesn't work. Be selective. Your prospective employer will be using a barrage of excuses to kill your resume and thus save him/her having to take the time to even read it. For example, you DID put your full contact information on your resume, didn't you? If you didn't you should have. Anyone reading your resume will likely read what city you are coming from, You may be willing to commute 90 minutes to work every day but anyone reading your resume will assume that within a week you will become disillusioned with the job because of the commute and then quit or become a basket case. Usually, they're right.

If you don't have a resume yet, get one-- even if you are a garbage collector (ahem, sanitation engineer). If you don't know how, do your homework first on what you want your resume to say (and what it shouldn't say) and then have a friend/relative/employment agency help you.

On the interview: Yes, wear a tie. You DO want the job, don't you? Arriving 15 minutes early is a waste-- but don't be late. If you are unavoidably late, call at LEAST five minutes before your interview and let them know or reschedule if you have to. As long as it's true, asking for directions when you're almost there is understandable. That said, you don't want to waste your time, they don't want to waste their time either.

There is so much more to this that is outside the scope of a single blog post except to say: Find job listings/Send Resume/Get a Phone Call/Interview/Job offer. Where in this process are you breaking down? There is the problem. For example, a few days ago a friend of mine went upstairs and came back down about ten minutes later. He said: "You're going to interviews so I know that it's not your resume that's the problem." then he tossed me a couple of books on the subject of interviewing.

On books: Unless you don't need a job and have money, don't buy any. Use that money for gas money to GET to the interview. Go to the library for free. No money? No quality books in the library? No problem. Go to a book store with a coffee shop. Bring a sandwich and stay awhile (saves trips and gas money). As long as your clothes are clean and neat and you're not wearing a big cannabis plant or hate crime on your chest, they will leave you alone (don't steal the straws for an arts and craft project at home either). Give each book a chance, but don't read any one book "cover to cover" either. A waste of time. As a rule of thumb, go to the table of contents and find the chapter on where you are having trouble in the process. If by the end of that chapter you're not thinking: "AhHAAAA...that's what I'm doing wrong!" at least once, find another book.

Be selective. Read. Prepare. This will convince your interviewer that you ARE the man/woman for the job.