Chances are you saw this Yahoo! article: finance.yahoo.com/news/Outofwork-job-applicants-told-cnnm and panicked - especially if you are an unemployed job seeker in a tough industry. So what can you do? After all, NYC is already the toughest place live and work - and now you have this to think about?

My advice is to take the article with a grain of salt. While the information is pretty discouraging and employers do have a long-standing reputation of preferring employed candidates over unemployed ones, it doesn't have to mean the end of the road for you. In fact, in one's career, there is rarely an "end of the road" anyway - just lots of hurdles and a few potholes that need to be dealt with.

So, if you need some ideas on how to navigate your search follow these tips. They will surely give your search the "umph" it needs...

1. Don't label yourself as a "consultant" unless you have some real meaty projects to talk about on a resume. Being a consultant is a transparent tactic - unless of course you can demonstrate quantifiable results for at least 3 clients (or 3 problems for 1 client).

2. Try to negotiate a phantom presence at the job from which you are being laid off. Ask if you can keep the company listed as your present employer for the sake of your search. You'll likely have to limit this to a few weeks or months - often the same amount of time as your severance pay covers. On the plus side for the company, it creates good will in an otherwise difficult situation which will serve them in the long run.

3. If you've been out of work for a while, take a sentence in your cover letter to mention the reasons behind the unemployment. Perhaps you left the workforce to care for a sick relative and are now ready to return full-time. Maybe you were laid off in a corporate-wide cost-cutting initiative that impacted your entire department.

4. Do something that you can talk about! Take a class for professional development. Volunteer your professional expertise for a non-profit organization. Get involved on the Board of Directors for a charity. Teach classes on your industry and field. Set up informational interviews. Travel to far-off (or close-by) lands and think about how you can bring what you see from different cultures back to a professional setting. Write articles or a blog that demonstrates your deep industry know-how and talents...just don't use a blog to complain about your job search!

5. Market yourself aggressively. Be your own recruiter. Make a list of 10 companies for which you’d like to work. Identify 5 very specific and deep reasons you are valuable to those 10 companies. Find 3 ways to get in front of the right people at those 10 companies. Do those 3 things with aggressive tenacity and determination but not stalker behavior. Communicate the 5 reasons that you are valuable to the people from that list of 10 companies. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And, repeat again if necessary.

6. Do what you should be doing in good times - keep in touch with your network! This includes social networking tools. Be specific (being “open” is a dead end!) about what you want in your career and let it be known (without pressuring people) that you are seeking a new job opportunity. Share your expertise. Use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to publish articles and promote your professional blog.

7. Get out. Get out of your own head; get out of your house; get out of your social circle.

8. Get your tools in order. Hire a professional to create an eye-catching, content-rich resume and cover letter. Get help with your value messages and interviewing strategies. Create a job search action plan and find a partner to hold you accountable to the promises you’ve made to yourself.

Job seeking isn’t easy. It is a full time job that often requires overtime and bit of teamwork and support from others. Sometimes people feel that this is a road they must travel independently. Hog wash. Partner up with other job seekers as determined and focused as you are and work together to keep each others spirits up!

Remember, as I recently read on Facebook - when you add "Try" to "umph" you get "Triumph!"

Want more one-on-one job search support? Contact me directly: kimberly@citycareerservices.com.