As an unemployed civil engineer I have found that I have a lot of time on my hands. This is a problem of timing I find I share with many other people who graduated starting around the same time I did, since our diploma date corresponds with the real beginnings of our country's recent recession. As companies are downsizing it means that there is a trickle-down of more experienced people seeking less-experienced jobs, leaving those of us without real-world work experience somewhat out in the cold. It can sometimes be a challenge to find things to do to fill the time that this unemployment presents us with, but I would suggest that acquiring a job anywhere is a matter of winning what amounts to an archery contest, with the bullseye in the middle being your best effort, and a potential employer being the judge of the contest.
The worst thing you can do searching for a job is nothing. Nobody does "nothing" when they hunt for a job, but it can appear that way if you should land an interview, if the things you're doing do not have tangible results. If you, like me, are facing a long period of unemployment, the question is going to come up in an interview: "What have you been doing since you graduated/you were laid off?" If your answer is "I've been looking for work.", as mine was for some time, that has an equivalence to nothing -- because it does not have something tangible for the employer to grab onto. It is the equivalent of standing at the line and shooting an arrow that goes completely off-target; you cannot win the competition against other job-seekers if your shot did not stick in the board somewhere.
How do you hit the target? I propose that the outermost ring of the target is to be employed in something -- anything will do. Is it the best thing? No, it isn't; but at least it's a hit of some kind. You could still win by technicality if nobody else manages to get closer to the bullseye than you. It's a long shot but the important thing is that it's something tangible you can hold up to an employer. "I've been working at [x/y/z] while I look for something more in my field." You can also hopefully follow that up with "I've been a good worker and here's a recommendation from [person x] at that company." It also shows that you have a work ethic and don't just wait for things to fall in your lap.
The next ring in from employment is volunteer work. I cannot think of a situation where volunteering EVER looks bad on your resume. It again shows work ethic, but also that you care about the community, and that you're willing to do something with no monetary payoff. It is a fantastic character reference all on its own. You can volunteer in your field, or out of it -- the former is closer to the inside edge of the ring, the latter to the outside -- but in either case it gives you a leg up on the competition and that's always a good thing.
The center circle of the target, and what is arguably the most important in a highly technical field like engineering, is to stay current on current trends in your industry. Seek out training in new software or ways of doing things; things that were useful when you were laid off or graduated, may not be so useful any more. Ways of doing things that you're used to may have been replaced by more modern techniques. If you don't know your way around them then you're not going to be an attractive candidate for The Company -- which, despite ups and downs in personnel, is always modernizing.
There is nothing you can do about the rules of the contest; that is determined by real-world facts that are out of your control. If you've been unemployed for some time, you may figuratively have to stand farther away from the target than someone who was just let go. Your particular field or geographic location may have easier or harder access to some of the things I listed above than others, resulting in a larger (or smaller) circle. You are not, however, limited in how many attempts you can make. Through constant (re-)analysis of past efforts, you can get closer and closer to wowing those potential-employer-judges with a perfect shot.
