The numbers are staggering. Each day hundreds of jobless folks pass through my One Stop Career Center. Some looked dazed, some look tired and worried, beaten down by the loss of their livelihoods.  Most people need to work to pay for the basics of survival. Often, there is no choice in the matter, especially if one must support a home, a spouse, has kids in college, etc.

They shuffle in to hear about how to write a resume and interview from counselors in these progressive times when many jobs have been eliminated like the childhood game of Musical Chairs, and wonder what they will do next.

In these times, it’s wise to pay attention to two gems on how to land your next job—Who-You-Know (aka Networking) and cold canvass targeting companies YOU want to work for.

Believe it or not, I’ve seen it work now in the so-called worst of times. One woman targeted 200 companies in her field of work. She invested in 8x11 folders with two pockets. One side for her cover letter saying how she wanted to explore opportunities with them and what she had to offer them as far as being an accomplished office manager who helped profits. The other side held her resume. She felt that mailing them flat in a folder would make a good impression.  She mailed them bulk (a little cheaper than first class at the post office). How right on she was about not sending emails instead. She received four responses. One led to a job offer. Single and on her own, she couldn’t afford to let bad economic times become an obstacle; after all, she had just finished 8 weeks of chemotherapy for breast cancer.

The other job seeker was a married man at a very high IT level in a big finance conglomerate. He accepted a one-year salaried buyout and landed a lateral paying job 6 weeks later. To hear him describe his strategy, you realize that the way to land a job is so very different and much more sophisticated and deliberate than in the days of merely responding to want ads and playing the waiting game, never to hear anything from anywhere. In his works, he “aggressively worked” LinkedIn, the professional online networking site of 35 million people. He sent a tailored email to every one of his several hundred connections in December, wishing everyone happy holidays and new year. He heard back from several people and after much perseverance, he managed to find an old colleague who led him to some news of an opening appropriate to his skill level. He got around the receptionist and human resources with a Blackberry and a cell phone. Next thing he knew, he was meeting the hiring manager in Starbucks and got an offer. He didn’t even have to negotiate salary. They met him at his previous salary and bonus—hard to believe in these times—especially in the world of finance!

People are reluctant and when counseled on their career directions, they hedge and balk at the idea of attempting either of these two strategies. Most people sit and wait. But the business world waits not. Perhaps a malaise sets in because so many people are out of work, it almost becomes a culture of the jobless. Perhaps they feel immobilized and adapt a ‘what’s-the-use-there-are-no-jobs’ attitude. But never before has thinking outside the box been more urgent than now in seeking reemployment. The unemployment figures in the US hover around 7% at the moment. However, that means that 93% of working people are working!

You have nothing to lose by trying. Now is the time to get out there and engage in the meaningful activity of finding work. If you do it right, it won’t resemble anything you’ve known before. Step out of your comfort zone. It just might lead to your next job!

-By Gloria Schramm, Career Counselor & Contributing Writer