Given the shaky ground the economy has traveled for some time now, many laid off jobseekers and otherwise unemployed have had to resort to odd jobs to survive. The bills have to be paid right? Can't argue with that. On the other hand, odd jobs, part-time work and run of the mill auto salesperson jobs do stack up high on the top 100 employment choices. So what does one do if they are in between work and trying to transition back to career [a real job]? Hate to say it but you're going to have to work like a slave to get back in your groove. Why? Employers don't really care about your employment woes; they care about how current your skills are and how applicable such skills are to their bottom line. What that means is that you're going to have work somewhere [anywhere] to get a check and you might need to seriously consider volunteering somewhere that will allow you to keep your skills fresh. There a many charitable and nonprofit organizations that could use a hand these days. At the same time, you get to keep your skills fresh, acquire new skills and network in the process. It's a win-win for everyone. Thus, moving from simply having a job back to a career will be tough, but it can be done with the approach above. Now go get em'

Some say the job market is healing, while others think the job market is struggling. One thing is true -- the current job market trend is good for some and bad for others. If you're in one of the industries like Information Technology (IT), you could very well be one of the winners. Why? The lack of hiring from the unemployment pool is signaling that IT employers are having a hard time finding good help within the huge pool of unemployed -- well over 12 million plus unemployed. You know what that means. Supply and demand kicks in buddy. A low supply of experienced labor in the IT job market in conjunction with rising demand for IT services means wages in the IT job market will continue to rise. Good news for the geeks huh. What about the rest of us?...well i guess there is always "door #2" or "door #3" -- keep hope alive.

Apparently job seekers are still having a hard time with find a job; needless to say since the unemployment rate is still above 8%. In those difficult times "who you know" can be a big time help. If you don't have a lot of friends and resort to finding a job online, you might want to at least keep up with the challenges of doing so today. Just because job postings are up doesn't mean you should shoot off your resume to every Tom, DIck and Harry.

As far as job search is concerned, social media and "who you know" are still amongst the most effective ways to get your name out there. "Who you know" needs no introduction since the GOB (Good ole' boy) network thrives on "who you know." Social media on the other hand, is little different not much but a little if used correctly. Basically, that means Facebook isn't all about pictures and Twitter isn't all about hashtags. Job seekers that leverage the sheer social base of just Facebook and Twitter alone means way more job opportunities via realtime job search. By tapping into the power of realtime job search, it quickly becomes apparent that the problem isn't so much jobs...or the lack thereof. There has always been a hidden job market. Unfortunately, for job seekers the hidden job market becomes even less transparent during challenging economic times. Thus, the real problem is discovering how to get plugged into the hidden job market. Some things never change such as "who you know," while others such as realtime job search and social media have changed the job search game. Chances are a great many job seekers are going to get left behind waiting for a huge surge in job postings via job boards. As the old saying goes, "Adapt to survive."