Even though there aren't a lot of advertised positions in your city right now, there are still jobs that are being filled. Writers call this the "hidden job market" and you'll need to be in the networking pipeline to reach these.

Things went along OK for a time until he started showing me some of those ink-blot pictures and doing word associations. "Too weird," I thought.

If you are on the job market, I can assure you that you will be "referenced" in the near future. Now is the time to start gathering people who will be on your side throughout the process.

Failure is a part of succeeding, and if you are regularly shooting down your ideas because you are worried that they may fail, you are only costing yourself wins.