As Workers Get Ax, Friendships Also Cut

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But how about reaching out to others who also have been laid off by your employer? Surely that's one way to eliminate all this "us against them" unpleasantness -- right?

Not necessarily.

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In tight-knit professional circles where jobs are being swallowed up like parked cars in sinkholes, your fellow pink-slip casualties might not be the best ones to confide in about your current job hunt.

"We're all competing for the same tiny pool of jobs, and this makes it pretty awkward," said Roe of the journalists she's befriended in her decade in the business, a number of whom are also out of work right now.

"Normally, you help your friends out, but in this case, your friends are also the competition. You never know who is applying for what, and nobody really talks about it. It's kind of a like a conversational third rail."

That's not to say you should avoid hanging around with your competition altogether. Just shift your conversations away from grainier questions like "What are you going to do now?" and toward more general, long-term ones like "What would you like to do next?" Wallaert advised.

And whatever you do, keep your prized job leads close to your vest.