Before you find a job, you have to zero in on what you are looking for. Your skills are so broad that they do not define anything. Yet, you are obviously skilled at many things. You many need a bit of job counseling to focus on specific job markets to approach.

You are being too negative right now and you have reason. You are frustrated by circumstances. You need to stop and look at how you approached finding a job. So far, your way didn't work. That is why I'm recommending seeking some job counseling. They can't give you skills but they can help you make a more productive search of the marketplace.

New York is so big that it is almost impossible to work it as a single territory to look for work. You need to break down the market into segments - Institutions, Corporate, Educational facilities, etc and prepare a resume that is specific to THEIR needs, not your wants. You negotiate the specifics after you get your foot in the door.

In today's highly competitive job market, it's no longer good enough to just send out resumes to help-wanted ads. It's critically important that you shift into a more proactive mode and actually target the firm you want to work for, then go present your "value proposition" to them.

There is a quick-read book that can help you along this path--How to Land Your Dream Job (Fox).

You can also review the material in TBD's Career Change Workshop, especially stages 4-6.

http://www.tbd.com/content/article/basic_article.article:::work_ccw_stage0

Quinie:

I feel a lot like you. I had my third nervous breakdown three years ago when I was laid off for a second time in three years (but I've been laid off four times total in my life). I was laid off July 31, 2001 from one ad agency, found out a few months before that my father was terminally ill with cancer, had two car accidents within five weeks of learning this, and was laid off. Then, after searching for full-time work for two full years, I finally found a job in October 2003, only to hear that by January of 2004, the company was undergoing major restructuring, to impact 8,000 jobs worldwide. And so, I was hit in August 2004. I have since been unemployed, other than performing TEMP jobs. I have an MA in Advertising, have attended and completed degrees and certificate programs at four universities, am fully bilingual, plus speak a third language a bit, and have many interests. However, I can't find a job.

I am unable to relocate, because I can't afford at this point. So, I am stuck in the GREAT city of Chicago, but can't find any decent work in advertising or marketing. I used to love what I do, but now, with all of the rejection, I guess I hate it.

I LOVE film.

I love writing.

I love to sing.

I LOVE politics.

I really like research.

I LOVE to travel.

I've thought about becoming a travel writer. I've thought about going to law school (but don't want to incur any more debt....I paid for all my schooling on my own already). I've thought about becoming a movie critic (though have no formal training film critique)....at the urging of friends.

I've lost all contact with my friends...all of them, because all of them were in marketing and advertising, and it was too hard to maintain these relationships. I became bitter that they still had their jobs, and I didn't have mine.

My mind is turning to mush, and I just don't know what to do. Unemployment is going to run out soon, which means I'll have to take another temp job that I CAN'T STAND. I'm in my forties, with a masters degree and being bilingual, and I have to type letters and answer phones for kids ten years younger than me who can't even spell properly. I hate being an executive admin, as I am working twenty years below my skill set, and have absolutely no interest in it.

I've just ordered three books by Barbara Sher, hoping to get inspired. I feel paralyzed...I don't know where to begin, and I have almost no funds to invest. The thought of changing my life and career excites me, but being broke doesn't.

Any advice? I know, I don't understand it....well-educated people not getting hired. Have you read "Bait and Switch" by Barbara _______. Forgot her last name.

I'm sorry if I've made you more depressed. I guess the standard advice is find out what you want to do, and go for it. I need to find out what to do with the rest of my life...how can I combine as many of my true interests into one or maybe two jobs? But at the same time, can I make a decent living? I'm living with my mom, and I want to buy a house some day. And, I need health insurance (haven't had any for 2.5 years).

Perhaps what you need to do is rethink what work is. If it was fun, they would charge you to enter at the beginning of the day. Work is a means to earn money to attain your other goals.

Of course, it is best to have a job that provides for your inner needs as well, but sometimes, that is not possible. The door to working in the field you want to work in is education. A degree is a ticket to ride. if you already have a degree and it is taking you nowhere, find out from your local college what extra courses would provide you with a new career opportunity.

All of the things you love don't seem to add up to any career path. Do them on the side. Earlier in my career, I combined an interest with my career. I always wanted to write a book. My career in psychotherapy provided me with the opportunity to write two that got published because before I wrote them, I became an expert in the small corner of my field that I wrote about. Everything ultimately fits together when you focus on one thing at a time. I wanted a home for my family. I worked at a job that was not the ideal one until I built skills to name my own place.

You talk about what you want and what you need, but you don't talk about what you are willing to sacrifice to obtain them. You say you have a MS. In what? What can it lead to with a little tweaking? Being bilingual is worth its weight in gold unless your second language is Hutu. Even then, maybe the UN needs a translator.

Much of your problem appears to be in the fact that you are unfocused. reading books only stalls the inevitable. You need to take a job and use it as leverage to get a better one. As you get older, there will be more younger people over you. Accept it.

Nuf sed.

I've been laid off several times in a row as well and the first two times, it seemed so hurtful and personal. I'm working a contract job, with no benefits, for another financial company and am so grateful for the position. It's not what I want to do, but it pays the bills for now. The guy who is my boss hasn't a clue about managing people, but I look past his inexperience and know that he's doing what he can within his experience level. THe lesson is "NOTHING IS PERMANENT" these days and it forces us to push ourselves to experience things both challenging and boring, and make our lives good in spite of what is going on in our work fields. Easy to say, difficult to accomplish, but I will be damned rather than to allow the economy to rule how I view my life or the world.

I hate to give advice so to you I give a blessing that you will find work that fulfills some part of you so completely that you can see the silver lining of the storm cloud that seems to be following you around.

I got my current position when I started visualizing the call that came that invited me to work and how it fulfilled the financial needs I have and the new people that I would meet and learn from. It took two months of that visualization. Hope it works for you!