Dear CareerBabe:

I'm losing my job with the Long Beach naval shipyard in September. I love doing CAD stuff. I have 15 years experience with government CAD programs and use Autocad 13c4a (Autocad map). I use this to create virtual reality files with database linking to the objects. How can I get "freelance" type work? Thanks.

Dear Freelance:

You have a multi-step process ahead of you which should find you in the RIGHT job in not too long a time. Start reading the paper and searching web sites like http://www.job-hunt.org/recruit.shtml. (This site provides a Meta list of contract technical recruiters.) Or you might want to go to the home page of the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses. Rest assured, recruiters will be brutally honest in analyzing your background and skills to tell you whether you match current opportunities. If you don't, ask then what you need to ADD to your skills so you become a desirable candidate. Then IMPLEMENT those skills. Also ask if people with government Autocad backgrounds are evaluated negatively by business. If so, what do you need to do to overcome this? NEXT: Call the hot companies in your field to see if there is any software certification you can earn that would make you a HOT candidate and get those certifications under your belt or visit some of the Internet job sites and newsgroups (like www.dice.com or misc.jobs.offered) to see the qualifications required for jobs you want.

Last, you will also find JOB FAIRS excellent sources of information from recruiters and companies. If you use a search engine like EXCITE or INFOSEEK and type in the term "job fairs", you'll find over 7,000 hits, which you can pare down by geography, or you might try this site: http://www.infoseek.com/Job_fairs

It may take you a little time, but you will be successful.

Best of Luck!