I took some time off after college to travel so I guess I shouldn’t count that. When I came back I got my first job pretty quickly and even found some per diem work immediately for the days that I didn’t have interviews and for when I was waiting for my employer to finish the paperwork so I could start.
As RickJay said…
Three months or 5-1/2 months, depending on how you count it.
I got laid off from my programming job in April of 2003. I got re-hired (by my old company, now doing better) beginning immediately after Labor Day that same year. If they wouldn’t have been in a position (or had a desire) to re-hire me, I don’t know how long I’d have been jobless.
From late June until Labor Day I took a job as a supermarket check-out clerk to make ends meet. I suppose that means that during that time I wasn’t technically “unemployed,” but I sure as heck didn’t feel like I was employed.