Dear Rachel,
I need to turn to you for help for a good friend of mine. She was recently cut in a reorganization of her media department, and she's pretty down about it, though she won't say it in so many words. She was caught totally by surprise, I should add. She got a decent buyout, which helps, but while she talks about looking for work she just can't seem to get her self started, beyond making a few calls. She just doesn't seem all that interested in the opportunities that do come her way. I worry that unless she snaps out of it she will find herself without a job and her buyout money running out. Any advice you can give to get her cranked up to find a new job? She's really very good. Sign me, Worried for a Pal

Dear Worried.
She's hardly alone. I hear the same story, or versions of it, about once a day, and no wonder with all the layoffs and restructurings and downsizings in media.

The problem, as you can appreciate, is that your friend has had her whole world ripped apart. Along with losing her job, she's taken a body blow to her self-esteem. After years of being told she was very good, she finds herself being told she's suddenly no longer good enough to keep her job, and she sees that job go to someone younger and less experienced, probably someone she trained at one point.

In the back of her mind, as she thinks about getting a new job, she has to be wondering, how do I know the same thing won't happen again at my next agency?

It's a special pain that often stays with people in her situation long after they've picked up the pieces of their lives and landed elsewhere.

Also, she's had her whole life disrupted and likely at a point in her life where things were pretty organized and on schedule. She did this on this day and that on that day. Now her whole life has been turned upside down.

And add to that the general state of the job market for media people these days. There just aren't that many jobs to chase after, and that has to blunt her interest in hitting the streets in search of her next position.

What's the remedy here?

For answers I turned to Karen Katz, a principal in the Forum Group of New York, and a woman who has long experience counseling media people who have gone through the same thing.

Here's Katz's advice:

"Your person needs to take a deep breath and assess. Take out the pencil and paper and write down the good, the bad and the ugly" about her old job, and let that guide her in determining what sort of job she ought to be looking for.

It makes no sense to go looking a job doing what she did in the past if she disliked much of what she did.

This is an ideal time, in fact, to think of changing careers entirely, finding work that plays to her best skills, be it negotiating or managing others. And those skills typically are highly portable.

Then she has to pump herself up for the search, as tough as that can be, advises Katz. "No one has ever said to me that they 'loved’ the job hunt experience."

But that said, there are smart ways to do it. Do it smart and she'll get the right job, and that much sooner. Do it not so smart and she'll be at it far longer and likely end up worse off than she was before.

Here's some practical suggestions from Katz to get that process under way.

“Read the comments on career blogs for new ideas. Some of the smartest job search ideas come from smart job seekers. Being different does help you stand out from the crowd."

There's a lot to be said for walking into an interview with a proposal for a position that would fill a critical need for the agency. People will listen.

Next, advises Katz, she should look back over her career.

"How did she find out about every job she’s gotten? Examples: She networked with a professor in 1988, networked with a neighbor in 1992, answered a want ad in 1994, called a recruiter in 2001, etc."

One or all of those approaches could land her her next job.

She also needs to look to others for ideas.

Katz advises, "Ask five of the most successful people she knows to send her their resumes and cover letters. What parts can she adapt and use? Her friends will be flattered that she asked. Plus, she’ll be networking when she sends them her revised resume and cover letter to review, which is a nice secondary benefit."

And of course, she must network. "She needs to network, network, network. Make it a daily self-challenge to add two new contacts to her LinkedIn network or join a new LinkedIn group.

"Try to end every conversation or meeting with a next step or new lead. Keep moving forward. The next door might just lead down the right hallway.

"Be responsive. Respond to calls and emails. You never know where that call or email might lead."