Blog Post: What I learned the first 3 months of my unemployment...

I hate to admit, but the happiest day and most scariest day of my professional life was January 13, 2008. I was a rising commercial real estate professional earning a six figure income at a prestigious bank. On that day, I walked into work at 8:00 AM and cautiously nervous because the day before the HR manager asked me to come to a meeting that I had to attend.

The bank laid off over 20% of their workforce.

For me, I was happy because my commute of over 2.5 hours a day was over and, being smart and well-qualified for lending jobs, I am very hire-able. I was scared because if the bank was laying off that many people, what did that say about the economy.

At any rate, I was going to be unemployed and wanted to make the most of it. After 20 years of hard labor with little vacation, I thought this would be a great opportunity to take off. I told my girlfriend at the time that I wouldn't even dust off my resume or call my contacts for 3 months. That was the wrong strategy.

Even though I needed a mental break, what I should have done was cultivate my warm circle to have them send out the "feelers" that I'm available. I needed to tell as many people that I knew to look out for me instead of hanging out at the beach. I could have still gone to the beach, but should have been more smart about it.

The lesson you should take from my mistake is that even though you are going to take a "mental vacation", keep networking and let people know you are open to opportunities. If you find a job in this market, the company really needs you. You can always tell the company that you need another week or two of vacation before you start working.

In this market, be open to taking a shorter break.

The next blog I want to share with you what I learned the second 3 months of my unemployment....