I run a small business, which means I’m always scanning the horizon for threats. In some ways, this isn’t a very nice way to live one’s life; it can seem as if you’re always focused on the bad possibilities instead of the good.

Still, who can take a chance? If my landlord sells the building, I’ll need new space for my office. It would be idiotic not to look around now and then so I know what’s out there. And while I’m on the topic of office space, what if the roof leaks or the windows blow in during a storm? I may not have to make the repairs, but I could find myself unable to use the space while the repairs are being done. Looks like I’d better check my insurance to see what coverage they offer for that.

See what I mean? I haven’t even started on the viruses, or data loss, or any of the zillion things that can happen to my computer setup. And what if there’s a recession and it gets harder to find business? Oops. Looks like that one has already happened.

One thing I do know, since my business exists to help people who are unemployed, is that in my state, business owners like myself are not eligible for unemployment checks. Since it’s unemployment "insurance," if you (or your employers) don’t make payments into the system while you’re working, you can’t take checks out of the system if the work ends.

Okay, I can deal with that. But understanding that people can lose a business in a heartbeat has made me extra vigilant about building my own safety net. Since I’m not able to put much cash aside, I’ve decided the net should be made of skills and networking. On the skills side, I’ve kept up a sideline of sorts, writing blogs, while also committing myself to learn a second language – Spanish – so I can improve my chances of working elsewhere if I need to. On the networking side, I’ve added new work relationships each year so that I can shorten the path to a new job if I were to need one on short notice.

How about you? Even if you don’t run a business, the question remains: Are you building a safety net in case of unemployment? Cash, skills or networking – choose at least one to be your fallback.

There’s nothing like a recession to teach you resilience. Who knew you could cook an egg so many ways, much less raise your own chickens in the city? For better or worse, this economy is forcing people to reach deep in order to make ends meet.

When it comes to balancing one’s budget, there are only two arrows in the quiver – you can spend less or make more. This is true whether you’re a poor college student or high-level executive. Of course, there is one more “false” arrow, and that’s credit. With a high-limit credit card, it can seem as if you’ve found a third way to balance the budget. But that arrow has a tendency to come back to earth pretty quickly, and it’s painful when it does.

Luckily the first two options provide a lot of leeway, even in today’s tough circumstances. For example, if you’d like to reduce your expenditures, you may already know that housing is usually the largest expense in a personal budget. To lower that cost, you can add roommates, find cheaper digs, work as a caretaker or nanny where housing is provided, or even couch surf for a window of time.

Transportation is another high-cost item for most people, and a similar array of options exist: For example, you can trade your car for something cheaper to operate, share a vehicle with others, use your bike or public transportation, or get a job where a car is provided.

When it comes to earning more, you also have a lot of options. Even though well-paying, full-time jobs seem to be elusive for many right now, there’s no shortage of part-time gigs. To make the most of multiple jobs, consider “stacking” your work where possible. For example, if you make some money writing for blogs, you might consider part-time security guard jobs at places that let you work on projects while staffing the night shift. By combining the two positions, you can double up on your income for the same hours.

Other options for earning more include: low-overhead side businesses such as e-Bay sales or house cleaning; additional hours at the jobs you already have; participation in focus groups that pay for your opinion; and selling plasma.

However you have to do it, remember that scrambling to get by is a time-honored exercise – and it’s certainly better than the alternative of not getting by.

Unemployment stinks! Losing your job doesn’t mean you have to spend your days sitting on the couch, though. According to a recent article at Business Insider, there are a number of ways to make the most of being unemployed. These include:

• Changing your Attitude
• Staying Busy with Hobbies and Volunteer Work
• Asking for Help
• Avoiding Unproductive Activities (like overeating)

These are all great tips! If you find yourself without a job, here are even more tips you can use to make the most out of your time:

• Update your resume and cover letter.

If you’re hoping to find a job, now’s the time to review your paperwork. Many community centers even have free help for those who are unemployed to allow you to create a better resume and cover letter, so you have a better chance at getting a job when you apply.

• Work on home projects.

While waiting for those job interview calls, you can get stuff done around the house. Right now, you may not have tons of money for renovations, but you can do small fixes, as well as handle the cooking and cleaning (especially if you have a spouse who is working). You can also take care of the children to avoid childcare cost, do the yard work yourself instead of hiring someone to do it, and clip coupons to save money at the grocery store.

• Take some classes.

In many cases, if you qualify for unemployment, you also qualify for free education at local colleges. Now’s the perfect time to go back to school for more career education! Even if you don’t get your degree, taking some classes can make it easier to find a job, and as an added bonus, you’ll be able to take advantage of the school’s career service department and alumni network programs to help you find a job. You might even be able to take classes online.

• Check out other locations.

Losing your job might give you the perfect excuse to do something daring and making a move. Have you always wanted to live at the beach? Do you dream of a home in the mountains? Does working in a foreign country seem like an exciting prospect? This might be your chance to do it! Take some time to at least explore the various location options open to you.

Unemployment doesn’t have to sink you. Look at this as a time to find a job you really love, rather than as a bad thing. It might be tough, but with hard work, you’ll make it through and find a job you like even better than your last one!

When you’re out of work and out of money, the smart thing to do is to get a job – any job. So for tens of thousands of American workers, the chorus has been “Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to Wal-Mart I go.”

Not to pick on Wal-Mart or any of the other companies currently benefiting from incredibly overqualified employees. It’s just that an awful lot of people hustling retail jobs these days never thought they’d be on the other side of the cash register.

While asking “Do you want fries with that” has become the iconic punchline for today’s job search punsters, the reality is that a lot of families would have gone under these past few years without the cash flow provided by these jobs. It’s time to put this whole issue into perspective and stop going for the easy pathos / laughs when discussing interim and recessionary jobs.

Here’s my take on the situation.

First, I really do think any (legal) job is better than no job, provided it isn’t patently dangerous in some way to the worker. I have found that meeting a work schedule makes people more efficient and productive with their job search, and keeps basic work skills sharp.

Second, I don’t see anything wrong with working below one’s capacity. Just because a person can do astrophysics doesn’t mean they must. The whole argument about college graduates not using their degrees at work has never impressed me, largely because I know that every job uses the fundamental skills developed in college -reasoning, writing, getting along with others, etc. Using the exact knowledge gained from one’s degree is a standard of success I’d like to see dropped. Not only is it unrealistic (how many art curators does the world need next year?), but it doesn’t acknowledge that peoples’ interests change.

Third, whatever job one ends up in, it’s only a dead-end if the worker lets it be. Internal options for job cross-training and promotion, as well as external options for networking back into one’s primary field are just two of the strategies available to people working below their capacity.

So if you’re under-employed right now, stop a moment and ask yourself: Is this really a bad thing? And if it is, What’s my strategy to change it? Then lay out your plans and get moving. You’re the only one who can do this for yourself.

Yesterday, Los Angeles County officials approved a plan which will create thousands of new transportation jobs using a voter-approved tax. If you’re looking to find a transportation job, they’ll be giving special hiring consideration to applicants living in areas of high unemployment. Says LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, “We are demonstrating that we are serious about job creation and job opportunity, and jobs that are good-paying jobs with benefits that support families.”

According to the plan’s specifications, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be authorized to negotiate labor agreements. As part of the negotiations, at least 30% of the new hires have to live locally, which will help strengthen the Los Angeles community. So, if you’re interested in one of these jobs, consider moving to this area if you don’t live there already! In addition, at least one in ten must be from an area that was hit hard by the recession, with social problems such as homelessness. Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, says, “What we stand for today is good jobs, good jobs, good jobs, and it’s not enough to say we’re going to create jobs. We want them for the people who need them most in our region.”

The construction industry was hit especially hard in California and across the country, and this new employment plan could help some of these out-of-work contractors find a new construction job that provides a stable, livable income and benefits, since Metro jobs are available not just for bus drivers and train operators, but also workers who will help expand the public transit system.

Interested in finding out more about the thousands of new jobs coming to LA? Check out this article by the LA Times.

There’s a lot of conversation these days about the “long-term unemployed” and discrimination by employers against people who have been out of work a while. If it were to be discovered to be true, one obvious question would be, “Why?”

The answers range from the somewhat logical (I want the person with the freshest skills) to the highly subjective (I’m not sure that person really wants to work). But between these layers, I think I see some theories of successful selling poking through. Since job search is frequently compared with sales, these ideas might be particularly apt.

First and foremost is the rule of success: “Success attracts success, confidence breeds confidence.” That is, a person who already seems successful is the one most of us would choose to bring on board. In a bitter moment, you could re-interpret this to “Them’s that has gets more,” but that would be self-pitying. And probably true.

Other sales rules that apply? How about “People buy from (hire) people they like.” And here’s one from the world of management: “If you want it done, give it to a busy person.”

In all of these examples the common theme is that we tend to gravitate to those who don’t need our help, not to those who do. In business, this is especially true.

So how do you look like one of life’s winners when you’re one step from the bread line? There are image tricks involving interview outfits, and strategic moves that include part-time work or classes to fill time gaps on your resume. But most important will be the attitude you project through words and actions. You don’t have to be a motivational speaker to learn how to communicate with confidence. You just have to square your shoulders and eliminate the “victim-y” phrases like “I haven’t been able to find work,” and “This market has kept me from moving forward.”

Substitute more upbeat statements such as “I’ve been keeping up in my field and meeting new colleagues during this period,” and “This process has allowed me to expand my understanding of the field through my conversations with other companies.”

And strengthen your phone skills, since so many of your contacts and interviews start there. If you improve your physical and telephonic presence, you just might find that interviewers stop asking why you’ve been out so long and start asking how soon you can start.

There’s a scary trend building among employers, according to a  recent article on The Lookout.

If you’re hunting for a job, it’s getting harder and harder to find opportunities if you aren’t currently employed. Job placement professionals and recruits, such as Matt Deutsch of TopEchelon.com have reported seeing an increasing number of employers who won’t consider candidates out of work for longer than six months, and some won’t consider the unemployed at all.

That’s frightening news, considering these long-employed individuals are the ones facing an end to unemployment benefits. Over six million Americans are already at that point, unemployed for longer than six months, and there are nearly five unemployed candidates out there for every one job opening. So far, discriminating against the unemployed isn’t illegal in any state, though some are questioning whether or not the practice violates civil rights laws, and in a few states, legislators are exploring the legal implications of this kind of discrimination.

Employers are refusing to consider these candidates for a variety of reasons. Some believe that employees’ skills erode after not working for so long, and others are worried that there’s a good reason these candidates haven’t yet been hired (i.e., they’re not good employees). It can also be a worry that the person is getting desperate for a job, so could tell some white lies to get hired.

But the fact is that finding a job is just tough. If you’ve been out of work for over six months it might simply be because you just haven’t had luck when up against other candidates.

So how can you overcome this hurdle if you need a job? Here are some tips:

• Get a job. Easier said than done, right? Isn’t getting a job the whole point? Well yes, but what I mean is this: go out and find a job, even if it isn’t in your preferred industry or is a lower-level job than what you want. Having even a call center job or retail job will help you qualify even with employers who won’t consider unemployed candidates.
• Go back to school. Employers don’t necessarily consider you unemployed if you’re attending school for an advanced degree, and depending on your unemployment benefits, you might even be able to take classes for free. of course, the added benefit is that you’ll be more qualified.
• Check out other locations. Moving might be scary, but if you’re motivated to find a job, check out the best cities for job hunters in 2011 and consider hitting the road to pound the pavement.
• Volunteer. Non-profits across the country are happy to have some extra help, and although this isn’t work in the traditional sense, it shows employers that you’re keeping your skills sharp. This also helps you “work” without losing unemployment benefits.
• Open your own business. While you’re job hunting, you could serves as a coach or consultant if you have expertise in a field where this is possible. For example, if you can’t find a teaching job, set up a website offering virtual tutoring for college students or if you can’t find a construction jobs, offer consulting to local real estate agents who work with clients interesting in find properties to flip. You might not bring in tons of money, but it looks better on a resume than nothing.

Not every location in the United States is experiencing the same high unemployment rates. Recently, CNN published the results of a study showing places across the country that have actually seen a growth in job availability from 2000 to 2009.

If you’re job hunting and don’t mind moving, the following areas might be able to offer you a new start to your career:

1. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

If you’re interested in jobs in the healthcare industry, the Sioux Falls area is home to both Sanford Health and Avera Health, which are coincidentally the largest employers in the county. While the banking industry hasn’t had the best few years, you can also find jobs at stable companies like Citibank and Wells Fargo, which are both found in this area, and the retail in the downtown area is booming.

2. Williamson County, TX

Williamson Country has such a strong job market for two major reasons: Dell and Sears. Dell is headquartered in this area, as is the Sears Teleserve, which is Sears’ call center. Round Rock, one of the cities located in this county, also offers job training classes through their Chamber of Commerce in order to help you learn about starting your own business or climbing the corporate ladder.

3. Hays County, TX

If you’re interested in working in retail, Hays County in Texas is your Mecca. There are a number of outlet malls and other shopping centers in this area, and since many major highways run through this county, there’s never a shortage of shoppers. In addition, this is a hot spot to find a teaching job, since nearly half of the population is under the age of 18 or in college at Texas State University.

These top three locations for job hunting aren’t the only places in the United States where it is easy to find work. Other locations that made the top ten list included the following:

4. Highlands Ranch, Colorado: telecommunications, aerospace, military
5. Fort Bend County, Texas: education, energy, engineering, electronics, healthcare
6. Laredo, Texas: farming, retail transportation, government
7. Collin County, Texas: banking, retail, technology
8. Broomfield, Colorado: technology
9. Hamilton County, Indiana: construction, financial services, food distribution
10. Logan, Utah: medical services, manufacturing, education, technology

Man, it was a long winter. In some parts of the country, the snow fell like something out of a disaster movie, and people got plain tired of the struggle.

When you add the endless economic woes and the stalemates over political actions, it can seem like things will never lighten up.

If the weather, the recession and the politicians aren’t putting you in the doldrums, your own job situation might be doing it. In these circumstances, it seems like no one feels more trapped than those who are seeking work or wish they could change jobs. It can feel impossible to make the changes you need to break out of the situation you’re in.

Energy is the key. When you have energy, you build hope and momentum. Action begets action and pretty soon things start to happen. Ah, but how do you get that energy and then sustain it until it can perpetuate itself?

Energy is a tricky thing. Once you lose it, it’s hard to regain. I was reminded of this recently while dragging myself through a tenacious head cold. After weeks of sneezing and hacking and keeping myself up at night with the symptoms, I’m finally around the corner. I’m getting my sleep, losing the drugs, and feeling my energy return. Now things seem possible, but a couple of weeks ago? Even taking out the trash was overwhelming.

If you have job search or career goals that aren’t being realized, maybe an energy drain is the culprit for you as well. Just in case, here are five tips to plug you back in.

1. Check all the usual stuff: Sleep, diet and exercise. Are you taking care of yourself? It’s easy to fall into sloppy patterns when you don’t have a work schedule, so the unemployed need to be especially aware of these factors.

2. Check your physical health. Get yourself a physical and make sure you’re not missing vitamins or something simple.

3. Check your mental health. Do you think depression could be playing a role? Find a counselor to talk to; you need to stay on top of this.

4. Check your support system. Are you talking every day with people who believe in you?

5. Check your job search plan. Remember that a good plan will be a source of energy all by itself, since it creates and builds momentum.

I have to give a presentation tomorrow to people who have been unemployed a year or longer. They’ve asked me to talk about fear, a subject that fascinates me.

I know they’re thinking about the day-to-day fears that hold job seekers back, such as a fear of rejection and a fear of telephoning strangers – tactfully known as “call reluctance” in the sales world.

But even though I know this, I’m inclined to talk instead about what I think is the real issue: Fear of getting on with your life.

It’s not that being unemployed is such a comfy place to be. Except that after a while, it is. If you’re out of work for a few months, you can’t help but fall into a routine that includes getting up on your own schedule and tending to your household chores before you attack your job search. Some days, depending on the circumstances, putting your job search last means putting it off altogether. Pretty soon the experiences of going to work and being pressured to produce and being reviewed by a boss all become a memory rather than a goal. And the prospect of returning to that unknown land creates an anxiety that rivals your financial problems in intensity.

When I get a chance to talk with someone immediately after a job loss, one of my first and most insistent pieces of advice is to pick up a part-time job somewhere, anywhere. I don’t care what the work is, or how much it pays. My real goal is to keep this person in the groove of working, so they don’t forget what it’s like. To keep them indoctrinated, if you will. Because the longer someone is away from this lifestyle, the more difficult it will be to return.

So what does that have to do with fear? Just that people tend to avoid the things they fear. It’s only natural. So someone who thinks he wants to return to work, but who secretly fears that prospect, is not going to make as much progress in job search as someone who has nothing holding her back. If we don’t resolve these major fears lurking beneath the surface, all the cold-call training in the world means nothing. When people don’t make their daily outreach goals for job search, I don’t think they’re afraid of being rejected; I think they’re afraid of succeeding.