The announcements have been almost daily: 53 to be laid off at a Middleton financial services firm, possible "mass layoffs" at Stoughton Trailer, 15 positions cut at Madison's Overture Center.

As the economy falters, unemployment is likely to touch those it normally wouldn't — skilled, educated workers or those with long, stable work histories.

"Looking forward ... everything will be harder for everyone," said Laura Dresser, a labor economist with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. "Everybody, I think, shifts down."

Dresser said the state's employment picture stated looking bad about two years ago, long before Wall Street's well-publicized woes.

Nationally, as in most recessions, manufacturing and construction were hit first, she said, but now tighter payrolls are being seen in areas like retail, finance and journalism.

The result is a broad softening of demand for all kinds of workers, including those like Jackie Ihm.

Ihm spent 17 years working in the insurance industry before taking a job selling radio spots about a year and a half ago.

The 51-year-old, who had been a licensed insurance agent and did mostly customer service and sales, said she has always been able to find work.

Then last month she was laid off. Much of her job had consisted of selling ads to companies looking to recruit workers, she explained. But with about 26,000 more people making unemployment claims statewide today than a year ago, firms aren't exactly having a lot of trouble finding applicants.

Demand for the ads "came to, like, a screeching halt," she said.

Since then, Ihm said she's applied for about 15 positions, resulting in one interview. She's not been looking very long, but already there are discouraging signs.

"I've never had a problem picking up jobs on the side," she said. "It's very difficult this time. ... It's scary."

Dresser said she doesn't think it's "impossible" to find a job in these conditions, but "the lines for every job get longer."

With that in mind, what follows is a primer of sorts on how to navigate the pink-slip fallout — geared toward those who would usually think of their jobs as safe, and in the hopes that it won't be needed.

Unemployment pays what?

While the formula for determining unemployment benefits is complicated, in general, your weekly unemployment check will only come to about 4 percent of the most you made in one quarter over about the last 15 months.

Worse, it's capped at $355 a week, which roughly correlates to an annual salary of $35,500. Make that much, and you get $355. Make twice as much, and you still get $355.

Seth Lentz, the deputy director of the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, said most people exhaust their state unemployment benefits in six months, although they can last longer if you work during that time and you draw a smaller weekly check. Action by Congress over the last six months also has added up to 20 weeks to the time people can collect the benefit.

On the plus side, any money you have set aside — like in a savings or retirement account — will not be factored into how much in unemployment you get.

The state also has tried to streamline the process for applying for benefits. You can do it online or over the phone.

"There is no unemployment office anymore," Lentz said.

Lentz said it takes about a week to get your first check and continuing to get checks is contingent on weekly reports to the state of your job search efforts.

Avoid cashing in the 401(k)

Financial planners regularly advise against taking money out of a 401(k) account or IRA before retirement.

But if you've lost your job and are looking at what could be a long period of unemployment in historically tough economic times, does that advice still apply?

In general, yes, said Erik Mikkelson, a certified financial planner with Madison-based RMR Financial Advisors.

"Emotions can drive us to ease the pain quickly," he said, leading to decisions that have bad long-term consequences. "I would recommend strongly that those types of resources be accessed as a last resort."

Careful what you sign

Laid-off employees should walk out of their exit interviews with a stack of documents from their company's human resources office — on their health and dental benefits, their retirement accounts, insurance plans and any severance package, said Kristine Hackbarth-Horn, director-elect of the Wisconsin chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

This last item is particularly important to review, possibly with the help of an attorney.

"No one should be asking them to sign (a severance package) on the spot," she said.

A good exit interview will leave you knowing when your health insurance will end, for example, and what happens to any flex spending accounts you have.

Know thyself

If you haven't been doing so already, write down your career accomplishments in as much detail as possible, advises Clara Hurd Nydam, who councils job seekers as the president and principal consultant with Madison-based Career Momentum.

"Identify how (you) have added value to (your) employer," she said. "The more specific you can get the better."

Being able to explain how you improved a system to eliminate supply bottlenecks and get your company's product to customers more quickly, for example, can be helpful in resume writing and in interviews, she said.

For older workers, it's important to leverage one's experience in such as way that you don't come off sounding like a know-it-all, she said. Tell potential employers that those many years in the work force have left you a flexible employee with a broad range of experience, but emphasize that you are eager to learn.

'Hi, I'm _____ and I'm out of work'

Losing a job isn't exactly an ego boost, so probably the last thing you want to do is go out and tell everybody about it.

Nevertheless, that could be key to getting regular paycheck again.

That's because somewhere around 70 percent of jobs are found through networking, not want ads, according to Sybil Pressprich, a senior counselor at the Adult and Student Services Center at UW-Madison.

"Don't be shy about telling people you're looking," she said. "Don't be embarrassed about that."

Janie Winston, 28, who left her job as real estate agent in Cleveland to move to Madison last summer, said she sent out about 60 resumes over about 60 days after arriving in town.

But she's having more luck outside the traditional route, including a short-term job last fall.

"I'm at a point where I don't think it's even worth sending out resumes," she said.

Pressprich advises the recently laid off to start small, maybe by talking out the situation with a friend or relative who's been through the same thing recently. Then, once some of those negative emotions have begun to subside, try reconnecting with the trade or professional organizations that apply to your work history. Volunteering in a field you hope to get a job in can be helpful, too, she said.

Ihm said she's making the search for a job a full-time job in itself. She's already had lunch with a human resources director she's acquainted with to get some job-search tips and she was planning to take part in a support group for job seekers.

"It's about just keeping yourself out there and networking," she said. "Just being with people really helps (in) getting your name out there."

TO GET HELP

To apply for and get other information about unemployment insurance: dwd.wisconsin.gov/uiben,  608-232-0678

For career counseling and assessment, job-seeking help and other support for unemployed workers:

• State's job center site: jobcenterofwisconsin.com

• Dane County Job Center: www.danejobs.com, (608) 242-7400

• UW-Madison Adult and Student Services Center: www.dcs.wisc.edu/info, (608) 263-6960