Career experts make their living helping the unemployed hasten their search for meaningful work. But what would happen if these same gurus of the employment game suddenly had to look for work themselves?

How would their tune change? How would they cope with the sudden loss of self-esteem? Would their positive, can-do outlook be compromised by a fear of failure?

To find out, California Job Journal invited several career experts to imagine they faced imminent unemployment, and to share with us how they would mount their own job-search campaign.

Their answers provide insight into how you might organize your own professional-level job search. Their candid thoughts also offer greater understanding on how to cope with the loss of a prized career while searching for a new, equally rewarding pursuit.

Fate in Your Face

Founder of her own career counseling firm in Sacramento, Helen Scully is a respected expert in the field. She has written several articles for CJJ, and has presented numerous job-search seminars at job fairs. "Know yourself" is one of her recurring mantras.

What would I do if the doors of my career development company were shut and I needed to find another line of work . . . in this economy? First, I would expect to feel sad and somewhat anxious. Fear of an unknown future would threaten to paralyze me.

But, after a bit of wallowing, I would throw myself into action. I'd take stock of the knowledge and skills I have acquired so I could logically begin to determine "what else I could do." Key factors would be location and job availability. I'd analyze my local area (since I don't want to move) and look for growth industries where my skills would transfer.

Sources for information would include local business periodicals, my professional colleagues, friends, family and perfect strangers. I'd try to identify jobs and industries that would fit my interests and capabilities. For example, I might learn about the thriving temporary services industry. Wow, it's a perfect fit, requiring business management, sales and career development skills. My cover letter and resume would be drafted and the job search would begin.

I would develop a strategy for each contact based on my research. Since the want ads and the Internet are flooded in tight times, I would completely avoid them. My goal would be face-to-face meetings with decision-makers in the industry. Interviews and negotiations would follow.

Based on statistics, the state of the job market and my salary level, it would take me about three months of hard-core pavement pounding to secure a handful of offers. I would need lots of ice cream and several short trips to Tahoe to get through it! No doubt, finding a good job is hard work, but I know that there's always work to be done (and I would find it!).

Make Your Work Memorable

Nationally syndicated career columnist Lona O'Connor is a regular contributor to CJJ. Her words have helped countless readers craft better resumes, conduct better interviews, and make better career decisions. She is also the author of Ten Dumb Career Mistakes. Here, Lona provides more of her trademark common-sense advice. To Lona, the quest for your next job begins with your performance in your present position.

Faced with unemployment, I would do the same thing I have always done. That is, build a network of influential people who remember my work and want to see me succeed. It all starts with the work. If you do a memorable job, people will remember you when they are building their next team of workers.

Next comes your attitude toward work and co-workers. A top-notch attitude is like a booster rocket: whatever your basic skills are, self-discipline, professionalism and team spirit make your skills go that much further in the business world. On the job, you must prove each and every day that you are willing to help others, able to admit mistakes, and committed to improving your work.

Now for practical matters. I would maintain and work my list of business contacts meticulously. I'd stay in touch - a five-minute phone call to each person is sufficient. I'd tell them what I am looking for, how I have improved my skills recently and ask for names of people that I can call. If each contact gives you two more potential leads, you will soon have your own personal phone tree of potential employers.

A Sinkhole of Self-Assessment

East-Bay resident Marty Nemko is an outspoken career counselor who co-wrote the book Cool Careers for Dummies. He also authors a weekly column of career advice snippets, titled Quick Fix, which appears in CJJ. True to his character, Marty offers advice that is candid and counter to conventional wisdom.

To understand the rationale behind how I'd look for a new career, I need to explain a few things:

• I'm a lousy networker and hate doing it.
• Although I've been successfully self-employed for 18 years, if starting over, I wouldn't want to endure the hassles of self-employment.
• Despite what the media implies, I believe this country is getting ever more socialist, so the good jobs will increasingly be in the government sector.
• I don't believe in spending much time on self-assessment. Too often, you inventory all your skills, interests, values, and workplace desires, and you're still confused about what you want to be when you grow up - there still are dozens of careers that fit you. Or if you've settled on one thing, it's often something that too many other people aspire to - like being a talk-show host, novelist, actor, artist, journalist, musician, etc. Too small a percentage of people who aspire to such careers end up making a living at it. And too often, even if you defy the odds, you're not necessarily going to be happier. Having been a career counselor to many people in so-called dream careers, I can assure you that you're as likely to be unhappy in a "dream" career as is Joe Six-Pack. Think about it: how many professional athletes, performers, and politicians have problems with drug addiction, depression, etc. Not a year goes by without some high-profile deaths from drug overdoses or suicide.

So I'd look for my new line of work simply by scanning the government job listings, looking for those that require my core ability (to communicate) and then write knock-'em-dead applications. As for federal job openings, you will find half of them listed at usajobs.opm.gov. The other half are on individual agency websites. For a portal to those, go to resume-place.com and click on "links." For state jobs, go to spb.ca.gov. For regional, county, city, and university jobs in the Bay Area, visit abag.ca.gov.

I'd apply for a large number of jobs within a short period of time to maximize my chance of getting multiple job offers. That way, I can pick the position with the most characteristics likely to make me (or anyone) happy in a job: meaningful work, good boss, opportunities to learn, reasonable work hours and commute, and decent pay.

The Publisher's Plan

Prior to launching CJJ more than 20 years ago, publisher Kathy Masera managed an employment agency. In addition to directing the daily operations of the Job Journal, she is still a career counselor at heart. Here she offers a strategy for concentrating your efforts in conducting a no-nonsense job search.

I would avoid the lazy, mindless job search that's all too common today. For example, sending out blanket resumes by email is the dumbest and most fruitless thing a jobseeker can do. I recently received a resume from a paralegal via email with no cover letter, so I had no idea what position the person was applying for (we don't have any paralegal jobs). What a waste of time. It was like getting spam.

To conduct a worthwhile job search, my first step would be to determine the companies within my industry or community that I am most interested in working for. Even if these companies are not actively advertising job openings, they may still have opportunities. I would research my prospective employers, using the library and the Internet to identify decision-makers and tailor my resume.

Next, I would implement a multifaceted strategy. In addition to looking at ads, I'd check out all the available employment services (free and paid) to identify the ones most suited to my needs. By leveraging their resources, I could build a team of people supporting my job-search campaign.

Finally, I would tell everyone I know that I am looking for work. I would seek out social and business functions that could put me in the loop. Because it's not just who you know, but who you meet.