If you have a web server, either one on the internet or at your house, download the SugarCRM community edition. My CRM database is installed on a FreeBSD system, but it should work on any system that supports LAMP. I would recommend making sure the PHP modules needed for email are working with the install of SugarCRM. The installer will tell you if email will work or not. On my FreeBSD system, I had to do a recompile of the php additions in the ports package.

The next step is to update your resume, and upload to job boards, such as dice, monster, etc. Then, as recruiters contact you, start to add their companies and their names and contact information to your CRM database. The idea here is to keep accumulating names and contacts. Should the time ever come that you are laid off, you will have a nice database of prospects to call on and look for work.

Hopefully you will never need to use the database because of layoff. The database could be used to just ask around and keep track of the market. I’ve maintained several relationships with recruiters, and I’ve found that they can give valuable advice as to the kinds of work out there, and hourly rates and wages. In the age of social networking, sometimes just using a database like a rolodex can be a very powerful tool.