1. Create a budget: Working with your financial advisor, significant other and/or friend(s), take a hard look at your financial situation and get a good sense of what you can and cannot afford. This will inform your thinking for the remainder of your job search and help you prioritize your activities.

2. Pick a date: Although we usually would say “as soon as possible”, determine your absolute drop-dead date for employment by keying off of your budgetary exercise. This also helps you to treat your search like a project plan with milestones, deliverables and outcomes.

3. Choose a location: Rapidly assess your geographic options and try and lock down your first, second and third choices. This helps to narrow your search criteria and ensures you remain focused on the right opportunities and organizations for your specific location(s).

4. Inform your family: Some of the most important people to leverage are your loved ones. Although most of us hate the idea of asking certain family members for help, you never know what stone they may be able to turn over on your behalf.

5. Assemble the wedding party: Each of us should have the equivalent of a job search wedding party. These are the people who will go the extra mile and employ extraordinary means to assist you in your search. And don’t forget to leverage all your virtual friends via online social networks sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

6. Send out invitations: You should use the same type of selective logic in submitting resumes as you would in wedding invitations. Who do you want to associate with? What firms and positions are you passionate about? Create lists and be sure to personalize everything you do.

7. Plan the honeymoon: In addition to all the rigor of the job search, you should also take some time to assess what truly makes you happy. Many people use unemployment as a trigger to reinvent themselves, so wake up your inner entrepreneur/dreamer/philanthropist and focus on the difference between what you can do versus what you want to do.

8. Find that perfect dress/suit: Make sure you have the appropriate wardrobe for interviewing. If it has been some time since you last searched for a job, ensure you are up to style and stick to the basic classics of business-wear.

9. Breathe: It’s stressful out there right now, and when things are rough, we tend to hear bad news much louder than good. Keep your wits about you, get away from the computer and remember to find ways to relax and calm your inner neurosis. Everything will be okay.

10. Enjoy the big day: After all the prep work, the endless resumes, the mock interviews, the networking and the anxiety, be sure to take a moment to celebrate your accomplishments. Whether it’s the securing of a hard-to-get interview or the attainment of an offer, remember to congratulate yourself on a job well done. Much like marriage, a good job is often a result of what you put into it, so raise a glass and enjoy your moment in the sun.

What did I forget? I’m sure there’s something we missed so be sure to share your job hunt/wedding stories. Having seen plenty of quality candidates left at the alter, I’m certain you each have one hell of a tale to tell. So throw out your written bouquet below and let’s keep the conversation going.

This is the longest time between posts in the history of our little blog. If you’re thinking, “This is an outrage!”, I agree completely. So who is to blame for this travesty, this lapse in judgment, this abandonment of an HR community whose path is asunder without the wisdom and guidance of our Zen-like posts? I want names!!

Victims of the empty RSS feed, I present you with the cause of our radio silence – JobAngels.

What is this JobAngels thing and how did it begin?

Rumor has it that my crackling cornflakes whispered an idea to me on the morning of January 29th. It was apparently hard to decipher over their milk-drowned voices, but eventually I could make out their message – “help people find jobs”. Their whole-grained wisdom spread to the world and all were saved. (End scene) Wow. So inspirational!

The real story is this. I was eating breakfast and thinking about the economy. We were in the throws of a debilitating week of job loss announcements and things looked to be worsening in all sectors. I had been spending a bit of time on Twitter and had accumulated about 700 followers, a large percentage of whom are experts and professionals in the HR sector. So I wondered, what if each of those followers helped just one person find a job? Could we actually make a difference? Here’s the original Tweet:

“Was thinking that if each of us helped just 1 person find a job, we could start making a dent in unemployment. You game?”

Where did the name come from?

The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Within several minutes, the discussion evolved to the use of a hashtag to help those in need locate those willing to help on Twitter. But what to call it? A few ideas floated around and then I sent this message on a whim:

“Wish we could come up with a site/plan to link all this positive energy to. How’s #jobangels sound? ”

And thus JobAngels was born. It was literally that simple. This was not rocket science and there was no divine intervention. It was one simple idea that somehow tapped into people’s desire to stop being victims to a seemingly endless stream of angst, depression and relentless negativity. When faced with hundreds of thousands of job losses, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. But if the idea is for you to simply aid one person – a friend, a family member, a colleague or a complete stranger – that somehow not only seems possible, it seems probable.

How have people responded?

It has been four months since that original message, and in that time, a movement has begun. In this short period, over 18,000 JobAngels have already assembled across Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Over 500,000 JobAngel messages have been sent across a myriad of online platforms. Angels have donated their time, their networks, their expertise and their hearts to this grassroots initiative (and we are just getting started).

Let me be clear about one thing. JobAngels is not my movement, but it has changed my life. I am blown away by everyday people deciding to step up and aid those in need of employment. This is a chance to truly impact someone’s life and it is amazing to watch the goodwill grow at a time when it’s tempting to thrust your head in the sand.

Please join us if you haven’t already. I’m humbled to be part of this initiative and look forward to hearing your stories of success in the weeks and months to come. Thanks to those of you who have joined thus far and remember, just one Angel can make a world of difference.

NOTE: Five “Guardian Angels” have gone well beyond the call of duty in helping JobAngels become a reality. A warm and heartfelt thanks to Mark Cummuta, Chris Connolly, Deirdre Honner, Charee Klimek and Chris Bailey. Our current and future success would not be possible without their generosity and commitment to this cause. I’d also like to thank Greg Grigoriou of VanPaul Design for creating the JobAngels logo on such short notice.  Coming soon - JobAngels.org.

• Lehman Brothers – 26,000 global employees; files for bankruptcy.
• AIG – 116,000 global employees; seeking lifeline from the Federal Reserve.
• Merrill Lynch – 60,000 global employees; acquired by Bank of America.
• HP – 320,000 global employees; announced 24,600 job cuts from EDS acquisition.

Those who lose their jobs may be provided job placement services, counseling and the like, but in the heat of the moment, does that all really matter?  And what of the employees who remain, the hundreds of thousands who are paralyzed into waiting for the other shoe to drop?  No one is the victor in these situations, for everyone loses due to fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Regardless of what industry you occupy, we all get to a point where you simply take employment for granted.  You plan your life based on current earnings (and perhaps an annual bonus) combined with some measure of continued increase in your base salary.  You don’t necessarily envision yourself in your current firm forever, but you also don’t plan for the unexpected termination of your position.  You expect to make job and life decisions on your terms.  

The kick to the stomach of sudden unemployment can take your breath away.  Whimsy is replaced with the ugly reality that the end is here.  You wrack your brain to network, franticly reaching out to everyone and anyone who may be able to use your skills.  Then you pause, embarrassed perhaps to admit that you were unprepared and hadn’t really thought through what to do in this situation.

My advice is this – plan as if your last day were tomorrow.  This is not to suggest that you sit with your hand over the panic button, but instead that you’ve thought through a wide variety of scenarios and outcomes and ensured that you are prepared for the worst.  For those of us who run small businesses, this is a part of our everyday existence.  But I didn’t always think this way…. it took the shock of a horrific reality to shake me from the foundation of stability that I used to take for granted.  

My other piece of advice is to ask for help.  I find that this is more difficult the more senior you are, for ego gets in the way of your necessity to press on and seek assistance.  Do not go dark and insist on traveling this road alone.  It will take longer than you expect and you will miss opportunities through your insistence on isolation.  Talk with people you trust and learn from people you don’t.  A sense of vulnerability doesn’t really matter when you a faced with a stack of bills you suddenly can’t pay.

Finally, learn from the experience.  It’s always easy to get upset and blame others for your situation.  Of course others are to blame, and of course you should be upset, but you are responsible for your own career and no one else can carry that burden but you.  In these times of turmoil and uncertainty, your mettle will be exposed and tested.  You don’t have to win every battle, but you do have to press on.  Let’s keep the conversation going.