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As I was driving home that day I thought to myself: “What exactly would I do if I had to find a decent job in this economy in six weeks or less?”

I have never addressed this question in my blog, nor have I ever seen anyone else tackle it. It’s one thing to read a job search book that’s filled with theories about finding a job when you’re unemployed and desperate. It’s another to actually do it.

What you are about to read assumes that you will continue to run a conventional job search, complete with cold calls to recruiters, job board resume submissions, and chicken finger networking events. And the reality is that if you make +$100K per year, the following method might not work. You’ll need to take a more traditional approach. But if you can settle for a lower paying job, then here’s what I like to call the “Any port in a storm” blitzkrieg job search method:

Step 1

Collect yourself. Not too long ago, my 12-year old son, an aspiring Eagle Scout, brought home a copy of the U.S. Army Survival Manual. I swear, this book reads like a job search guide—at least as far as the mental conditioning aspects are concerned. The Guide mentions 10 personal qualities required to survive in a life-threatening environment. They include:

1. Being able to make up your mind.

2. Being able to improvise.

3. Being able to live with yourself.

4. Being able to adapt to the situation—to make a good thing out of a bad thing.

5. Remaining cool, calm, and collected.

6. Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

7. Having patience.

8. Being able to “figure out” other people—to understand and predict what other people will do.

9. Understanding where your special fears and worries come from, and

10. Knowing what to do to control them.

Don’t those tips apply to a desperate job seeker?

I have seen my own career crash and burn this century, and I know from experience that not only will you survive it—but, if you are cool headed, you can also emerge from it with a higher-paying, more fulfilling job than you had before. Just relax. Your anxiety is like your skin color: there is nothing you can do to change it.

You can manage your anxiety with prescription medications, but basically you are going to have to deal with it yourself. Freaking out won’t help you survive. In fact, it will only make things worse—and then you’ll still have a problem. Anxiety adds no value. I know what I’m talking about. Simply inhale. Hold it. And exhale. Now lock and load.

Step 2

Make sure your former employer will give you great references. Preferably, they should do this in writing on an undated letter on their letterhead. This letter will be added to the envelope you prepare for Step 6, so don’t let your former employer slide on this. Good references are a MUST.

Step 3

Call a bunch of nonprofits and ask them if you could work for them in a white collar capacity for free 1 or 2 days a week while you look for a new full-time job. After you see Step 6, you’ll know what you are going to be doing with the other 3 days a week.

Call 50 nonprofits if you have to. You’d be amazed at how tough it is to get a job working for free, but you must persevere. Job One is being able to look a human resource (HR) manager square in the eye when he or she asks you, “So, what have you been doing in your free time?” because nobody wants to hire a victim.

Tell the HR manager that you are working at such-and-such a charity, “because you have always believed in the cause, and now—thank heaven—you have a couple of days a week to give back to society.” Now you have gone from being a victim to being a positive, outcome-oriented survivor who can make lemonade out of lemons. PLUS—and this is a big plus—you can put the nonprofit on your resume and use them as a reference. It’s a beautiful thing.

To find nonprofit organizations, check out www.Guidestar.com, a database of more than 1.7 million nonprofits.

Step 4

Order some nice stationery