I was laid off from my job at Jet Morgan Games on Friday. That’s all right. Things never quite worked out at Jet Morgan the way I hoped, and it was time to move on.

I didn’t waste time lamenting my situation. Instead, I sprang into action as soon as I came up and didn’t let up through the weekend.

Here were the steps I took to get myself back into the job market:

1. Filed for unemployment insurance. I did this online, so that there would be minimal delay in receiving my unemployment benefits. There is always some delay, as the agency checks to make sure that the termination qualifies for benefits.
2. Updated my resume. This included not only listing my most recent job, but also rewording some of my responsibilities and accomplishments in previous positions still sounded relevant.
3. Emailed a copy of my resume to the in-house recruiters for every significant game publisher and developer in my area. Over the years, I’ve made sure to connect with all the local staff recruiters, at Activision, Disney, EA, etc. through LinkedIn, just so I would have their contact information should I need their services, which now I do.
4. Emailed every close friend and manager I knew in the game industry and asked them if they were aware of any job leads they could pass on to me. Some have already responded by saying they knew of some possibilities and wanted a copy of my resume.
5. Posted my availability for new work on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, etc.
6. Went to the job boards of all the big local companies and posted my resume and set myself up for job alerts for positions I in which I might be interested.
7. Lastly, I contacted my favorite executive recruiters and let them know that I was looking for work. I’ve never gotten a job through a recruiter before — it’s all been by employee referrals or my direct contact with the company — but you never know. I use recruiters to find opportunities that are, for whatever reason, are hard to find myself

Job hunting can be even more exhausting work than job-doing. How quickly will my efforts pay off? You’ll be among the first to know!