By Yvonne LaRose

It's a fact of life. Your last job ended. It wasn't because of any sin of omission on your part. It wasn't because of lack of knowledge. It wasn't even a matter of personality conflict. It was plain and simple. The economy is in the toilet. Budget allowance dictated that 50 percent of the entire staff had to go. With the size of your company, that meant that only management and mission-critical core staff stayed. Your position was one of those that could be parceled out among two or three people who worked a little longer.

It's a fact of life. Your unemployment benefits are going to run out in four to six weeks. Even though you followed the sage advice of putting aside six months' wages for the sake of emergency and you sensibly took out debt protection insurance on all of your major purchases and credit cards, other standard of life expenses necessitated a little chip at that hedge fund. Moths fly from your checkbook because you use it so seldom. You haven't used your charge card in eight months. You're considering using it as a wall decoration.

It's a fact of life. It's time to stop being picky and waiting for the perfect job to be offered and do some proactive things to take care of yourself.

Reassessment

Perhaps this is the time to reassess your search strategy. Determine what your ideal is. Then start looking at the realities of:

• What's available
• What they want in terms of education and experience
• What you have to offer
• How aggressive you've been in your search strategy
• How effective your present networking and networking circle is
• What alternative, vertical markets are available
• Whether some other form of employment or even free agency is the answer.

If you haven't done so already, this is the time to register with a temporary agency. View this not as a cop out but instead as another strategy in your networking arsenal.

Temporary agencies are just what they are called. They act as agents to get someone in for a short-term project. They do the looking for both the employer and the employee and, many times, match the skill to the needs of the assignment. If they are also in the business of doing permanent placement, it is to your advantage to let them know that you are looking for permanent work. This way, as the agency goes through its catalog of talent, it can keep your card at the top of the list when it comes to placing someone in a position that is a temp to hire. They're having knowledge of your being active in a permanent job search will also let them know that you may need some flexibility so that you can attend interviews with potential employers with impunity.

The other benefit of using temporary work is that it keeps some sort of income stream for you. Just keep sight of the fact that this is a temporary job. If it ends, it is no reflection on you and it is not the end of the world. Because of the current economy, more companies are cutting budgets by using short-term outsourced talent rather than incur the costs attendant with having a permanent, full-time position. Until the economy picks up again, temporary and outsourced work will predominate.

Another alternative is to take a position that is slightly less than that of your last one. Here you need to negotiate very carefully so that you have an understanding that you are interested in growing with the company (if that is the case and you see that the culture and the direction of the company is favorable).

Another way of looking at "a little less" is the same as the temporary situation. You realize this employer will never have the type of situation that you desire. This is a situation that will tide you over until the right thing comes along. There's a caveat with this alternative. Make certain you don't lock yourself into this and find a year later that you're in a dead-end job that is eroding your track record. Make certain that you keep learning and stay marketable. See things realistically and act accordingly to your advantage.

It isn't necessary to tell the potential employer this. In all likelihood, it's as obvious to them as to you. You both will serve the needs of the other until the basis for the relationship and its future no longer exist. If you don't plan to stay at this situation, it will do you a good turn to start checking around for who would be a good candidate to fill your shoes once you're ready to leave. About a month or so before you make your transition, become their mentor. Show them the ropes.

What you'll have accomplished is to save the employer search and training costs and to get yourself a plumb of a track record. If you're even smarter, you made the employer aware of the cost savings so that they will want to give you a good recommendation later.