With our current worldwide recession now taking a firm hold, there are many people who have spent most of their working lives in one job and suddenly they have found themselves out of work and on the statistical ranks of the unemployed. Initially, just like their previous work mates, they simply accept their fate and go off home on that last fateful day of working. However, within a short period of time they find the second stage of affect starting to set in and with it can come depression and a feeling of panic and overwhelming thoughts. What will they do and where will they go from here they ask themselves and also statistically, there is a tendency for verbal aggression to suddenly become part of their life. They have been in the one job since leaving school all those years ago and as such, have had no other training or further education to prepare them for alternative work choices. This in itself can give rise to both panic and impulsivity.

In reality, if logical thought processes are retained and are working correctly, there are actually many options open to many of these people, although with the options there comes little or no assistance from our beloved Canadian Government. Unless of course, you happen to qualify for Employment Insurance payments and want to count that as assistance. So what should these people do then? Firstly, they should sit down are draft out a new resume, as the chances are they haven't done one for many years. They can find free help of resume writing on many of the job sites on the net, such as workopolois.com or monster.ca and in drafting this document, it is important to make themselves stand out from the crowd in what ever way they can. A resume is a selling exercise with which you wish to sell yourself to an unseen audience, namely the potential employer. Remember that even in times of recession, employers will always look seriously at anyone who appears to be good at presenting themselves and shows that they know what they are talking about.

The first page of a resume should be your covering letter and it can be far more important than anything stated within the resume itself. You really have to attract the employer and especially within the first nineteen words statistically speaking. Be bold and tell them straight why they would gain from employing you as against someone else and always remember, you only get one chance at giving a first impression. Tell them what you can bring to their table. Such as, reliability, dependability, work ethics, people skills, enthusiasm and an ongoing willingness to learn more. You are now looking for permanency of employment so let them know you are hoping, if successful in your application, to take the position on a long-term basis as employers really like to hear that. Before finishing your resume, do a little research on the net. Go to the employer's web site and find out all you can about what they do, how they do it and what type of culture they have with their employees. Knowledge of their business is an important factor should you be asked to attend an interview.

Do not become despondent when you start sending out your resume to numerous employers and get no replies to many of them. Most employers now operate a system where they will only contact the applicants they have decided to interview and as such, nothing is ever sent back to all the others. The cheapest way by far to apply for jobs is by using the Internet and sending your applications in by email. There is almost a science to writing a professional resume and I personally have been doing this for people for some years now. However, you are more than capable of doing it yourself and you must keep telling yourself that fact and that you are the best applicant for what ever jobs you decide to apply for. You age, race, sex, colour or creed cannot be held against you when making an application for employment, so you can leave all that information out and concentrate on your personal strengths and skills. If, even out with your working life you have made some significant achievement, then get that in to your resume also. You are trying to impress your potential new employer with every word.

In my professional life, I see numerous resumes almost every week and the majority of them tend to be written in point form, like a list of skills and achievements. These do not impress me in nay way, compared to the resume that jumps out from the crowd and usually land on top of the pile. It has been carefully thought out, designed and planned to provide interest and paint a picture. It tells a story of the applicant, detailing where they started, how they progressed and where they would like to be. It give some personal information and generally, lets me know what type of person I can expect to see if I decide to interview them. That is what you have to do now as the market place is currently much smaller in terms of positions available and it is also much larger in terms of the number of people making application for the available jobs.

Get the support of your family and let them know you are really trying to find another job. If you have teenage kids, then in many cases they are more than capable of helping you set out things correctly for the Internet applications. Even in times of recession like this, there are many people out there who will gain even better jobs than they had before and equally, many who will manage to make that hyper jump on to a much higher level and higher salary than they had before.

Do not accept defeat or even think you have been defeated. All that has happen is you have lost your job, just like many other people. You are capable of turning your situation around and to your advantage and all you have to do is carefully think about it. Every problem in this World does have a solution. It is just that some solutions are harder to find than others. During the reign of the famous Scottish King Robert The Bruce all those hundreds of years ago, Robert had occasion to hide out in a cave to escape the English soldiers who were searching for him. While sitting there in the cave, he watched a little spider trying ever so hard to fix a line to the cave top so he could construct his web. Time after time the spider could not make it to reach the cave top but he kept on trying and trying, till finally he got there and secured his first line to build his web. King Robert left that cave and again reclaimed power and the words he spread have become a very famous saying in that "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Bob Littlejohn MBA BSc