(FORTUNE Magazine) – Dear Annie: I was laid off, and my outplacement counselor keeps saying I have to network. I'm willing, but I just don't know very many people, besides former colleagues. How do I get started? I hesitate to impose on friends. --I Am an Island

Dear Island: You probably know a lot more people than you think. In his new book, Rewired, Rehired, or Retired? A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, $17.95), Drake Beam Morin executive VP Robert K. Critchley gives a handy checklist of a dozen types of connections, besides former colleagues, who could turn out to be helpful:

--Customers or clients from the past ten years. Make a list of the top five from each of your last three jobs and call them.

--Suppliers. These folks have a vested interest in helping you get a job, Critchley notes, since "there's a good chance they'll want to supply you again in the future."

--Support service providers. Accountants, lawyers, realtors...

--Sporting contacts.

--Local business owners. If you've established friendly relationships with a few, talk to them. They may know of job openings.

--Social and church contacts.

--Retired acquaintances. "People who have been active and successful throughout their business lives often maintain associations and contacts well into retirement," Critchley writes. "It's surprising how often they aren't contacted. People assume that because they are no longer actively involved in business, they won't be much help. Make no such assumptions."

--Neighbors.

--Parents of your children's friends.

--Professional associations. If you belong to one, it's there to help you.

--College alumni associations. They usually have active career networks you can plug into.

--Family. "Often the people who care most about us are never asked to help," writes Critchley. "Don't forget that family contacts include relatives of your partner or spouse."

Finally, Critchley recommends that you get over your hesitation to turn to your friends. No one wants to impose, but look at it this way: If a friend of yours had fallen out of work, you'd want to help--right?

Dear Annie: I'm thinking of suing my former employer. I was laid off by a FORTUNE 1,000 company in Silicon Valley, supposedly for financial reasons. But two weeks after I signed the severance agreement, I saw my job posted on the company's employment Website. When I applied, I was told that I wasn't qualified--even though I had been doing the job for more than three years with good performance reviews.

I contacted the state Equal Employment Opportunity office, and it put me on a waiting list, since it's swamped with wrongful-termination complaints. Do you think I have a case? --Out in the Cold

Dear Out: Probably not. First of all, take another look at your severance agreement. Doesn't it say you've waived your right to sue? And even if your former employer's lawyers inexplicably neglected to include the waiver, you have a bigger problem, which is that the facts here don't seem to meet the standard for wrongful termination. "The law doesn't protect employees against unfairness," says Robert Bohn Jr., a partner in San Jose law firm Bohn & Bohn. "Or rather, it does, but only against certain kinds of unfairness." To wit, if your termination was in violation of public policy--that is, you were fired because of your sex, race, religion, or age, or in retaliation for blowing the whistle on illegal activities. But if, as seems more likely, your employer simply decided to change the qualifications for the job or bring in some other people at lower salaries or something purely capitalistic like that, then suing is likely to be futile.

If you're determined to press ahead, Matthew Kaufman, an employment attorney at Harris & Kaufman in Sherman Oaks, Calif., advises you not to let your legal action interfere with your job hunting. "Take a week or so to cry in your Cheerios," he says, "but then you have to get busy trying to find work, or the other side will gripe that you're not trying to mitigate your damages."

Dear Annie: A former colleague of mine was a wonderful professional resource, but we never got to know each other personally. Recently I heard through a third party that her husband had died suddenly of a heart attack, and I'd like to express my sympathy, but it's awkward. As a strictly business acquaintance, I don't want to intrude on her grief. What is the etiquette here? Should I write her a note? --Truly Sorry

Dear T.S.: "We are so uptight in the business world, and so ungraceful in our communications," laments Letitia Baldrige, author of Letitia Baldrige's New Complete Guide to Executive Manners (Macmillan, $40). By her lights, you can never write too many notes--of thanks, of congratulations, of condolence--"and it's never too late, even if you've let six months go by. People love to hear, 'I'm thinking of you in this difficult time.' They crave that." So yes, by all means send a note. Write it by hand, on good stationery, in black ink, she says. "And please, put your own stamp on it, rather than running it through the office postal meter."

E-mail: askannie@fortunemail.com Mail: Ask Annie, FORTUNE, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, Room 1559, New York, N.Y. 10020. Please include an after-work phone number. Annie offers additional advice at www.askannie.com.