Watch the news. Read the paper. Layoffs Cuts. Unemployment. 1,000 today. 3,000 yesterday. 21,000 tomorrow.

In December my “position was eliminated” and I have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Rather than being the one watching from the sidelines, I’m on the field of play in my own Super Bowl, trying to beat the competition.

There are jobs available, many of them, but the playing field has a crowd of players far greater than the number of openings. To land one of the jobs, you need to be qualified, show up at the right time, have the right skills and experience, and be extremely lucky.

The hardest task is staying motivated no matter how bad things get. Get motivated right away but keep up the pace, because the race can be very short but it can also be very long. It is a marathon that can end after 2 miles or it can go well beyond 26 miles. You won’t know where the finish line is until you get to it.

Here are my tips for staying motivated and finding a job during these tough times:

1. Think like the employer

Even if you’ve never hired anyone, think about what you would do if you had to hire someone. How would you choose? You can go through 10,000 resumes to find the needle in the haystack, or you can ask to see if someone you work with or hang out with knows someone who’s good for the job. I am more likely to call the plumber my neighbor recommends than to pick one at random from the phone book. The more you go online, the better your changes will be to be the person your friend or neighbor recommends.

2 Call and talk to people

It is very easy to send emails, emails, text messages, emails. Instead of just replying by email, use the phone. If you find out about a job at a company that sounds interesting to you, call and ask about it. You can find out if it is worth applying, and if so, your name will already be known. If that call gets your resume pulled out of the huge pile and looked at, just think how far ahead you are.

3. Send thank you notes to everyone who helps you

Thank you emails are easy. Handwritten thank you notes are a bummer. Take the painful exit. The last person who took the time to write a personalized thank you note I hired. It shows that you will go the extra mile, an excellent trait that a hiring manager looks for as a skill.

4. Be a salesperson

If a seller doesn’t close the deal and make the sale, the business suffers. It doesn’t matter how many sales calls are made; what is important is what is sold. You are the seller and the product. Don’t tell yourself you’re lousy at sales. If you are not good at sales, learn how to improve. Some salespeople are hundreds of times better than others. You can always improve, so learn from the pros.

5. Do the network thing

Attend a job transition group, read an article on job hunting, read a book on finding your next big opportunity, and you’ll hear the same thing: grow your network. Re-read point 1 above; If you are an acquaintance (through networks), your chances are much better than the strangers. Become an acquaintance.

6. Read

There are many good books and articles available on job hunting. Read and apply them. You will learn little tricks that can give you a competitive advantage over other candidates. To win any race, you only need to beat your opponent by a fraction of a second. If you can get the equivalent of that fraction of a second from a book or article, chances are good that you will end up beating your competition and landing that job.

7. Expand your range of options

I have talked to too many people who have set their minds on the only job they will accept and the basic minimum wage they will accept. Months go by where they lose opportunities because of this stubbornness. They eventually land somewhere, but often after they finally decide to take less. Expand your range of options now. You may end up acquiring a new experience that, combined with your previous experience, makes you even more valuable in the market.

8. Help others

Keep your eyes and ears open for others as well. If you hear of a good opportunity that might suit someone you know but not yourself, pass on the information. You will be surprised that the more you help others, the more things will come back to you.

9. Relax your mind

Take some time to relax. Work hard on your job search, then relax. You can’t be looking for work 24 × 7 and keeping your sanity. Make a plan and stick to it.

10. Use the web, but don’t just rely on it.

Finding jobs on the web is very easy. You can post your resume, click to apply for a position, automatically track the positions you have applied for, receive daily emails with new positions that match your criteria, and set up automatic email alerts. The problem is that everyone who is competing for the same position is doing the same thing. Use the web to find jobs, but then take the time to find and work with company contacts. Most employers are much more willing to look at a candidate referred by an employee than to make a change to the content of a resume.

Remember the old saying: “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”