This past week, I gave two speeches to nearly 1,000 people in my home state of Michigan and fielded dozens of questions from job seekers of all ages.

Since time and space are short here, I’ve boiled them down to three job-search questions with broad appeal.

How many apply to you and your job search?

Question: “How can I stand out in a hyper-crowded job market?”

Answer: Try unconventional, “guerrilla” job search methods to get the attention of employers.

Here are examples of tactics used by creative job seekers to land interviews -- and jobs.

• One Michigan man mailed cover letters with two aspirins taped atop each. His opening sentence: “Your customer service headaches are over!” This message resonated with employers, who called to interview him.

• A Las Vegas man mailed a paperweight and cover letter to an out-of-state employer. The paperweight was a miniature of the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. His cover letter began: “Not everyone who lives in Vegas wants to stay in Vegas,” playing off the famous slogan, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” He was flown to an interview in California.

• One aspiring assistant basketball coach mailed the right hand from a store mannequin to the coach he wanted to work for. Rolled up and gripped in the hand was his cover letter, which began: “I can be your right hand man.” He was hired.

Do any of these methods strike you as gimmicky or too offbeat to work in your industry? Fine. Don’t believe me.

Try mailing something unusual along with your resume and cover letter to a few companies you have no intention of working for -- test and prove them for yourself.

Question: “I had to close my business and look for a job. What do I do with my skills?”

Answer: If you can’t find jobs to match your skills, here’s a tip: Use one of the big employment web sites to generate ideas for you.

Example: I went on a large employment site and searched for these three skills: writing + training + German. This brought back 11 job openings nationwide, including German Help Desk Analyst, Customer Service Associate, and Web Editor/Writer.

This brainstorming exercise can help you select potential jobs to go after next, no matter what job you had before. You can then approach people in your network with a focused list of job titles, making it more likely they can help you find something.

Question: “How can I improve my networking? I’ve been networking for months, but it hasn’t produced a job.”

Answer: I happen to dislike the term networking because it’s freighted with unpleasant connotations for so many people who have had slow results -- or no results -- doing it.

Here’s a thought experiment: Forget everything you know about networking. In fact, stop networking altogether for a week.

Instead, start helping other people get what they want. Give freely of your information, personal contacts, expertise, knowledge, time, etc.

Example: Pick 10 people you know who are connected to people you’d like to meet. Spend an afternoon researching the needs of these “top 10” contacts. You can even call them and ask, “What would help you do your job better?” Then make a plan to help them get what they want.

When you focus on helping others, your ego is removed from the equation, which makes you less self-conscious and more relaxes. That’s because, while not everyone can be a natural networker, everyone can help another person. Done right, this is networking -- helping other people to the point that they’re happy to take your calls and send you job leads.

Despite being carpet-bombed by economic bad news on a daily basis, the Michiganders I spoke to displayed -- to a person -- a rock-solid resolve that I’m convinced will solve the labor problems in their state and our nation.

I hope you and my audiences found these job-search Q & A helpful.