About six or seven months ago I had to quit my job. I was in a state of extreme psychological duress. I was hospitalized a few times over a few months prior to quitting; I also went through a month and a half or so of ECT, which didn't help at all.

The job I quit was very stressful, my boss was kind of awful, subtly so, but awful. I ran the invoicing department at his law office and did other administrative duties outside of that function. It was the most stressful experience in my work history. The only good thing about the job was that I functioned with almost full autonomy.



I've found all of the jobs I've had as an adult through online searches/applications. But, a couple of weeks ago I read an article in Forbes or a similar source stating that the author found that only 4% of people surveyed found their jobs through online searches and about 40% found theirs through networking. There were other methods, but none were near as high as networking.

I've got many friends and professors/mentors from college that work in a wide variety of fields that I suppose I could contact for networking. But, I'm hesitant to ask for them to vouch for me because I feel like I'd have to tell them of my psychological health, if only vaguely, and there is the worry of embarrassing myself when/if I fail(lose the job or have to quit for health related reasons).

It's hard being alone out there in the job search. Especially, when I put limitations on myself because I'm worried about a job being stressful, resulting in another psychological collapse. And...I no longer have any professional references.