For the past year, Dario Diaz Jr. has had more free time on his hands than ever. Unemployed, he's spent that time looking for a job. He started his mornings by walking his girlfriend, Eneida Neris, to the A train stop a few blocks from the house they rent in Ozone Park, Queens.

After working out, he'd sit down in his home office, surrounded by a giant plush Mickey Mouse doll and football action figures - it’s also his ten-year-old son Isaiah's bedroom - and start another day of his job search.

Now, this morning routine is coming to an end.

Diaz was laid off from U.S. Trust as a business analyst in August of last year. Bank of America acquired the company the summer before, and it became clear that the new company was going to eliminate his position. Diaz was given the chance to move to another office in Rhode Island, but he couldn’t accept the offer, even during the worst recession in 70 years.

“I have my son here [who lives with his mother]. I have my girlfriend here. So I couldn’t consider that,” said Diaz.

When an opportunity at a start-up with a former boss didn't pan out, Diaz started to get nervous. Even the normally optimistic Diaz became frustrated when interviewers told him he'd be perfect for their company, but they weren't actually hiring. With unemployment benefits set to run out in December, the pressure increased.

"I'm not going to walk around every day pulling out what little left I have of my hair," he said, "But I know in the back of my mind, it's wearing me down."

Most of Diaz’s job search took place at home, where he scrolled through his web bookmarks, and often signed into Job Zone, a New York Department of Labor web site. Once a week, he rode the subway to Baruch College, his alma mater, for job seminars and coaching. He'd use the trip into Manhattan to call contacts and meet up with friends for coffee.

Diaz estimates he's been to 20 job seminars at Baruch and the job search center at the 34th Street Public Library. Usually, these seminars covered networking or resume building. Some of the career coaches brought in, Diaz noticed, used the free seminars to drum up business for their private coaching sessions.

He'd realized he'd stumbled upon exactly what he wanted from a future career in business analysis only months before he was laid off. So with unemployment benefits backing him up, Diaz focused solely on finding another analyst job. As time wore on, however, he started reevaluating his search.

“I’m considering fields I wouldn’t be interested in otherwise,” Diaz said. “I gotta get my foot in the door. That’s the mentality now.”

Diaz decided, however, not to take just any job offer. He resisted the urge to go work in his family’s grocery business, or work at a retail job, partly thanks to the money he received through unemployment benefits.

“Unemployment dollars are more than I would make there,” he said.

Diaz and Neris’ budget is around $1850 per month. Neris works as a legal secretary at Wall Street law firm Cahill, Gordon, and Reindel. Combining her income with Dario’s unemployment benefits and savings allowed them to survive without making drastic lifestyle changes.

Diaz has done small things to save money: unplug electrical appliances after he's done using them, combining errands to save on gas, and putting off movie purchases. The couple still enjoyed going out to the occasional dinner, but their entertaining mindset changed.

“My birthday just passed. We always try to do something big, but instead we had people come here. People brought food,” he said. “That was nice. It definitely saved us some money.”

Diaz hasn't had health insurance since being laid off from U.S. Trust, but the risk of being hurt didn’t outweigh the need to stay sane by staying active during a long job hunt. He went to the gym at least once a week and played racquetball, paddleball and flag football.

The job search, however, is winding to an end. After Dario accepted a temporary data entry contract at Fiduciary Trust, even more good news came in: an offer of an analyst position at MetLife in White Plains, N.Y. After months of job fairs and online searching, a friend’s referral got him the interview.

The prior month had been especially frustrating to Diaz. The recent flood of professional activity changed that.

“I noticed, even in my emails, there’s this confidence boost I got back.”