Put Being Before Doing in Job Search
According to Yahoo! hotjobs and despite what some might think, there are occupations that are still hiring, even in this recessionary period: truck mechanics, physical therapists, special ed, teachers, environmental engineers, healthcare workers, nurses, finance and banking employees, veterinary techs, and wind energy techs.
Investipedia.com's Bobbi Dempsey, the article's author, took her data from a wide variety of sources, including a couple of job search engines (Monster.com and Simply Hired); a nursing college; and, an interview with Jeff Cohen, author of The Complete Idiots Guide to Recession-Proof Careers.
Now, juxtapose this bright, helpful information with a recent very gloomy forecast (also posted on Yahoo!) from Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI). Of the current employment picture, Achuthan says, "Forty percent of the unemployed are long-term unemployed. They've been unemployed for six months or longer."
These jobs, Achuthan says, are either "associated with the bubble that burst" or are in manufacturing. "So, those people are displaced. The recovery is happening. It’s very real, but the economy doesn’t want their skills for one reason or another."
According to Achuthan, they are permanently unemployable. He predicts a resultant elevated rate of unemployment for the foreseeable future. "[Unemployment] was down around four or five percent," he says. "Forget that! Forget it!"
Does this conclusion follow? According to Achuthan, manufacturing jobs have seen a steady decline over the years. And yet we somehow managed that 4 or 5% unemployment rate back during the 1990s.
More likely, these workers previously employed in manufacturing learn how to repair trucks and windmills and life goes on as before.
Compared to Achuthan's gloom, the hotjobs approach in the present economic climate sounds very nice: simply figure out what employment sectors pay well and are hiring, go get the training, look for a job, get hired and live happily ever after. But most would agree that it doesn't really work that way.
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