Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of “Janet Raiffa’s Recessionals,” a column by a laid-off recruiting manager in New York. Prior columns are collected [here]. You can reach Janet Raiffa via LinkedIn, leaving a comment here, or emailing 405club@gmail.com.

After I was laid off in March I quickly realized that my job search would be different than the one I’d engaged in only the year before, and all the other job searches I’d undertaken in two decades as a recruiter.  A significant number of my former colleagues were out of work, and senior level jobs in the industries I had experience in – consulting, law, and banking – were increasingly hard to find, and still undergoing contraction. I knew I’d have to take on some part-time work to fill the days between interviews, and I was lucky to find a wide variety of odd jobs that kept my spirits up even if they didn’t exactly fill my bank account. I “babysat” for the bird of parents whose children I’d minded years ago, I dodged flying clothing while doing a retail stint at a sample sale, I cater-waitered for a comfort food entrepreneur, I petitioned for a Democratic candidate for District Attorney, served as a guinea pig for psych and science experiments at Columbia, and hit the streets to cast shopaholic women for a reality television show.  Some of the jobs made me feel like I was back in college again and that all my years of professional experience had been mysteriously dissolved, and others proved valuable largely because the manual tasks involved helped me burn more calories than I ever had while working at a desk job.  Of all these short-term gigs, the one that I’ve been doing the longest and still find the amusing is my job as a trailer-checker – a marketing research associate who gets paid to go to the movies.

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It’s getting to be summertime and hiring will slow down as managers go on vacation.

Here’s how you can maintain your work ethic:

Volunteer!

In the summer months, nonprofit groups often experience a mismatch of increased demand for help and decreased supply of folks to pitch in. Their staff and usual volunteers go on vacation, which makes the need for more hands especially acute.

Whether you use your professional skills, or simply lend a hand where needed, your assistance will be appreciated.

Since my layoff in December, I’ve volunteered as a Public Relations professional for The Roosevelt Island Historical Society, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, JASA, SmartVolunteer and Habitat for Humanity New York, in addition to The 405 Club.

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If I were a good unemployed girl I’d wake up early, get dressed in business or business casual attire and approach my job search as if it were my new job.  Each new day would be an opportunity to network and spin my years of successful multitasking into model cover letters for the next exciting chapter in my career.  Instead, I’ve developed a number of alarming habits that interrupt my focus when I remain at home.  These include the following: misty-eyed reviewing of  old paychecks, gazing lovingly at old business cards, checking the balances of my checking and savings accounts multiple times a day, questioning the strategies employed by players in the daytime version of “Deal or No Deal,” and surreptiously returning my neighbors’ empty bottles to the supermarket  for nickels.

As a lifelong workaholic, I’ve realized that the only way I am going to make it through a period of unemployment while retaining the better part of my sanity is to go with a hybrid approach.  I need to interrupt sending resumes into a black hole and hearing that I am conversely overqualified or underqualified for every position I’m interested in with some type of actual paying work, even if these short-term or one-day gigs have nothing to do with my career goals or pay so little that they make me question the fiscal consequences of having lunch.

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Park Slope is one of New York City’s better neighborhoods for the downsized.  While the median one bedroom rent of $1800 it is still expensive for the average 405er, the multiplex on 15^th Street features matinee prices before 4pm, there’s a well regarded food coop to reduce grocery costs, a wide variety of coffee houses to substitute for offices and many freelancers and stay-at-home moms to keep you company during the day.  There are also lots of opportunities to score free things from neighbors who leave boxes of books and clothing outside for others to take, and a popular way to make a little money from items you no longer want.  Nice weather brings stoop sales on brownstone steps or in front of apartment buildings, and particular blocks and buildings will often team up to host multi-family sales to generate more business.

Last month, on one of the warmest April days on record, I joined a neighbor in hosting a stoop sale.  We live just off of Prospect Park, and hoped to attract foot traffic from people making their way there for the sunny afternoon. He was selling furniture, many pieces of which he’d cleverly rehabilitated after other tenants tossed them out, and I was selling a motley mix of CDs, knick knacks, and black bags I’d accumulated from many years of attending conferences and career fairs. Even though I was only charging $1 to $3 for most items, I wouldn’t be parting with anything I was attached to or had spent much on. I’d loaded all the CDs onto my computer and iPod already,  the knick knacks were mostly corporate gifts I’d received from appreciative vendors in a better market, and I have enough black book, computer, and conference-logoed bags to bury me alive if I don’t stand back when opening one particular closet.  After a stint of nearly three hours I made $20 and got my first sunburn of the year.  I also received a newly painted dresser my neighbor and co-host couldn’t unload, and discovered what seemed like a huge demand for costume jewelry when several folks who perused my offerings asked if I had any to sell.

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