You don't say, "I got laid off and we have 2 hours of money left in the bank." You say, "Oh, by the way, I am scouting around for a new job in the systems analyst field if you hear of anything."
Have a one-minute spiel at the ready.
Networking, networking…I saw Twitter described as “digital macarena,” so that sorta killed that for me…for now, at least. I am on Linked In, but for some reason, in a writing group, there appeared a lurid tale of incest…er, OK, thanks, made my morning.
I take networking to mean asking around if anyone has heard of an opening. Word of mouth.
There are also networking groups, where people meet weekly to exchange leads on business or jobs—these can cost.
The important thing is not to be shy. Tell people you are looking. This means at church (I used to write a bulletin insert of people and what jobs they wanted when I lived in DC), your home owners association, librarians, at the barbershop, everyplace.
Again, I also suggest weird approaches—such as targeting a company where you would like to work, find someone (thru networking) who works there, try to get on an inside track of posted jobs and so on.
Go down every alley, follow every lead.
Most importantly, do something--make a call, check ads, send materials--every day of the week. Preferably more than one thing.
It's easy to put things off--but don't.
