Dawn Fallik, WSJ, Aug 18, 2009, says you have to keep your skills sharp while sitting at home and/or job hunting.
Stay connected with your industry associations—check those websites once a week. Get the magazine or whatever.
Go to conferences in your industry. Ask if they have special rates for the unemployed—they may even comp you if you were a past member.
Join local groups—like the chamber, offer to run a committee, get involved.
Take classes—not online, in person.
Take entry-level courses in stuff you don’t know, such as web design. Get an advanced certification in your field.
See what training programs you can get courtesy of the state (the state state, not this behemoth welfare state).
Write about your industry, start a blog, find five people you always wanted to talk to and interview them for your local paper.
But on that last—don’t get all gushy and offer to do it free, see what they say. Eager freebers are ruining my business.
