The American Dream is dead and you can thank the unsuspected villain -- student loans. How do you look a new graduate in the eye and say here take this low wage $15 per hour job to pay off $80,000, $90,000 or worse $100,000+ in student loans. Basically, student loans have turned professionals (recently graduates) into indentured servants. So who's to blame? You know who...the other guy. It's always the other guy. The GOP blames the Dems for financing students that don't stand a chance. Meanwhile, the Dems blame the GOP for holding jobs over the heads of students with six figure student loans. So who's telling the truth...well the truth of the matter is that there's a little truth to both positions. At the same time, how is it that bright intelligent new graduates are walking around with "will work for food" signs while Big Corp execs get golden parachutes for running the housing market in the ground? Gee let's ask Bank of America (purchaser of CountryWide Mortgage), maybe they know something. Book em' Danno!

Jobs aren't exactly in abundance these days, there's no doubt about that. On the other hand, how much is "fear factor" playing into the overall job crisis?...or should I say perception of a job crisis. After all, companies still are looking to sell products, goods, and services. Moreover, one company falling by the wayside means more opportunity for the next company. So, there are always winners and losers in either an up or down economic situation. What's happening in the USA economy, today, is more so that the larger more visible companies are experiencing problems and to the uninformed job seeker, it may seem like the sky is falling.

Granted a 1- 2% GDP growth is nothing to brag about but that doesn't mean companies aren't still hiring. Sure there are some larger corporations hanging out and waiting for the 2012 elections before getting back to business in a serious way. At the same time, let's not forget that small businesses employ 55% of American workers. So while a lot of these growing small businesses keep the economy running, they either don't have the manpower or cash to focus on human resource marketing strategies in a big way. So, that just means job seekers just need to be a little more thorough during the search. Finding a job online is not so bad once a plan is in place. Realtime job search is a becoming a big deal. Static job search is still alive, at least for now. Social networking is also a big deal. Let's not forget about researching a a given company's website as well walk up job inquiries. So again, jobs are are little more scarce, today, but don't let the job crisis fear factor prove failure by not trying or giving up too soon.

The economy is weak, policy is in flux and unemployment is high, what should you do? Go back to school, maybe, or skip the college degree and go for the OJT (on the job training)? Depending on who you're talking to the answers may support each of the questions asked - mutually exclusive of course. So which one is which? The right answer depends on the situation. For a spotty career track or just recently getting started on a career journey, it may be a good idea to head back to the blackboard and get some schooling in while you can. This of course is especially true if you're currently out of work. What do you have to lose?

For some, the OJT route is a better option. Why? well for starters the cost of going back to school for a degree. Last i heard, it wasn't free, despite all the ads almost suggesting that the Feds are giving away money to go back to school. Make no mistake about it, considering the student loan aspect is a wise decision. This of course, is why OJT is in a lot of times more valuable - both in terms of money and time. You get real world experience doing it -- versus the classroom which is often well behind what the workplace is actually doing. On the flip side, it almost like a conundrum, you need to gain the experience "on the job" but you need to have the experience to "get the job." Yep - that's a classic catch 22, that apparently is even worse these days as employers get more and more leery of hiring the long time unemployed. Now to throw one more monkey wrench in the equation, even if you started work on a college degree today, would the economy be better 4 years from now? Who knows. It's a gamble - not quite like Vegas but a gamble none the less. Bottom line is that you're going to have to sit down and weigh the pros and cons (for your situation) as far as skipping a college degree and going for training on the job. That's perhaps the best way to see what's what rather than a knee jerk reaction to unemployment or paying for school.

Do you have a knack for customer service? How about in the world of bits and bytes? If so, Micro Center is hiring. If you don't know, Micro Center is sort of a blend of Best Buy and RadioShack. You can find all your computer parts and accessories there from transistors to whole systems. With that in mind, a job at Micro Center likely means you should know something about computers or at least you should be able to catch on pretty quick. Hey hanging out with the tech geeks isn't the worst thing in the world. You might be lucky enough to talk one of the techies into cleaning off the spyware and viruses off your computer. Techies live for this stuff so it shouldn't be that hard of a sales job convincing them to lend a hand. In any event this is a great job for college students out for the summer looking to save up for the fall fun when school starts back. Head on over there now and start schmoozing before the mad rush gets there too. Be sure to let them know you found out Micro Center is hiring on the Job Seeker Blog.