Many find it harder to enter the profession than it sounds in the recruitment literature. This article outlines how one librarian's job searching strategies after she experienced a layoff from her dream job due to budget cuts, can help others gain, or regain, a foothold in the profession. The author of this article offers many suggestions for survival while job hunting, such as telling friends, relatives, former classmates, colleagues, former coworkers, church members, and more. She was amazed at how many contacts and leads she received in response. Many career management experts concur that most jobs are found through personal contacts. In the article, "New Rules for the Hunt" (Newsweek, 2/17/03), Linda Stern advises job seekers to "hit everyone up you know for introductions." Some other suggestions to help job seekers remain confident and solvent between jobs include throwing yourself an unemployment shower where you ask co-workers and friends to bring you networking contacts and job leads instead of cards and cake. Doing freelance or project-based work, like word processing or research is another option. Volunteering at a library or other organization, will help you gain new skills, keep active, and add the experience to your resume. For students who are soon to be graduating, and moving into the job market, she suggests applying for internships and/or practicums, working in a library part time or signing up with a library placement firm, and--if there is one in your area--connecting with a mentor through the career placement office. If your career placement office does not offer a mentoring program, suggest they start one. The author also offers a number of online resources for other librarians in the job market.