Also be sure to maintain your network of industry contacts. An example of this networking approach involves a friend of mine who was laid off from Lucent Technologies. When I met him for lunch, he didn't seem very upset, and I was curious as to why. He told me he had "his list." When I inquired as to what exactly "his list" was, he told me that he kept track of all of his colleagues who got laid off from Lucent and where they went! Brilliant. Guess what? One of the people on his list went to a start-up telecommunications company. As a result of keeping track of his colleague, my friend had a great shot at an excellent opportunity in his field. So, it makes a lot of sense to keep a current list of contacts.