Happy New Year to one and all! As you may have noticed, your Unemployed Lawyer took some holiday time, but  I have returned to my post today.

One of the things I did over the holidays was open rejection letters from firms or offices outside my present, and preferred, geographical region. On one hand, you can see that I have taken my own advice; I would have been pleased to pack up my things and to accept any one of the jobs, had it made itself available to me. On the other hand, I found myself unable to follow my own advice about how to stand out in a crowd. I pulled the job listings off links on this site and, after thorough study, concluded that I didn't know anyone, or anyone who knew anyone, or even anyone who might know someone. So, I did what I've advised you to do only in a last-stand scenario; I wrote cover letters to the recruiting contacts, attached my resume to the emails, and fired them off on a wing and a prayer.

The speed of those applications on their return to me made my head spin. It was comical, in fact. I felt like Wile E. Coyote with his body coiled like a spring after Road Runner has hit him on the nose ans sent him spinning.The first returned at such lightning speed that I knew instantly I possessed at least one of the "instant elimination" criteria. One firm was even kind enough to reject me twice--just to be certain I got the message, I suppose. But they all came back faster than I have ever had anything come back. I don't think even one made it out of the recruiting office, so I will reiterate my previous advice to you: find a way to get your resume in through someone you know. If you can't, then find one person in the firm to be your correspondent for the best reason you can find, and write to that person. That way, you stay human and individual, rather than morphing into a piece of cheap paper on its way to the circular file.

I can't begin to tell you what is going to happen now. I don't foresee a hiring boom, certainly. I am afraid that we will now see more layoffs/firings/whatever. I think we all, whether employed or not, should be prepared if things get worse. The question is: what do we do to prepare?

More thoughts on that later. Maybe from you, too?