For my 6000th post, Please allow me to say that job hunting and unemployment really SUCK!

[Waiting For Everyman]

40. grantcart, that was a really great and simple "how to" network plan

including what to say and do step-by-step. It really wouldn't be a bad OP if you're so inclined.

MarianJack, I'll spare you my long story in a similar boat but I can relate to what you're saying, and have my fingers crossed for you. My daughter (32 and living with me) has been going through a 5-year nightmare too, of underemployment and freelancing, culminating in a layoff just before Thanksgiving from an awful company which paid very little with no benefits where she worked for the last year and a half. At least it was a paycheck. She has sent out so many resumes, and scoured every newspaper and job website, and applied to so many openings, it's crazy - both targeted and scattershot. She signed up with local agencies and the state Job Center. She has worked her tail off looking, and keeping up with Unemployment requirements.

But last week out of the blue, she was suddenly hired by a company she got from a friend's casual tip, which seemed like just another dead end at first. It led to an agency she had never heard of, which does most of the preliminary hiring for her new employer. The agency coached her like crazy before the interview, it took her two days to do the homework she was given as preparation for it. She was also told who she would meet, what to do, wear, and say - everything. It turned out that what got her the job was partly the advance information, and partly her own on-the-spot improvisation during the interview - there's always an element of chance in anything.

Her new job is for 1/3 more in salary than she was making before with fantastic benefits and a short drive to boot. It's a very solid old company, and by all indications they treat their employees very well (they're actively looking to hire more people too, there is paid overtime until they do). I'm so glad for her because her last job was so insecure and stressful - the two owners were highly irrational and fired people for no reason at all if they felt like it. (After she was laid off, the remaining employees all got a hefty pay cut, they're under $10/hr. now.)

Stay optimistic, MJ and try to think outside the box. I had been urging her to do that and the kind of thing grantcart outlined above (I had worked in an employment agency when I was young), and it paid off. Things looked very black for her too up until two weeks ago, and she was really drained and discouraged. As I kept telling her - you never can tell when a break is coming. Stay confident, and don't think of yourself as unattractive to an employer (even if that flies in the face of facts that you know - even thinking it is deadly, people pick up on that vibe and think it too.)