This morning the stock market rose a bit even though the jobs numbers were worse than expected (this makes sense if you buy the idea that there is no logical explanation for daily market movements). Investors expected the unemployment rate to top 7.9% with 648,000 jobs lost in February and the actual numbers were worse -- 8.1% and 651,000, respectively.
But do you really care about government statistics? The simple fact is that if you're now unemployed you're scrambling to find a job and it's probably very tough. And if you have a job, you're worried you won't have it for much longer. I meet with several undergraduate and MBA students each week who are looking for help to find jobs. And the simple reality is that there are no easy answers. But I have three ideas.
Before offering these suggestions, it is worth emphasizing that if you do not have the skills or the interest in these kinds of jobs then these companies will be of no use to you. Also, with the hunger for jobs high, the competition for these positions will be fierce. And if you are trying to "transition" from another industry and you face competition from people within that industry, you will need to do a great job of convincing a potential employer that your previous experience in another industry is valuable.
Without further ado, here are three suggestions:
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Go Green. Within the next two years the $787 billion stimulus spending is expected to create or save 3.5 million jobs -- 79,000 in Massachusetts where I live. $83 billion of that is targeted for green jobs. One company creating those jobs is Conservation Services Group (CSG), an energy-efficiency company, which has hired 50 employees in its main office. Because of the stimulus bill as well as several new contracts, it plans to add 200 more jobs in 2009. CSG currently employs about 400 and does business in 22 states.
- Follow the money. Another suggestion is to look where venture money has been invested most recently. Companies that have received venture cash probably have solid business models -- otherwise they would not have gotten the extremely scarce venture cash. And those firms are likely to use some of that cash to hire people. This MoneyTree Survey gives you an idea of where that money has been invested most recently. It's not easy though -- you have to do some digging to get the names of the companies.
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Go where the growth is. Finally, you can go where the growth is. I have been writing a series of Growth Matters posts on BloggingStocks that currently covers about 30 growing companies -- most recently, Evernote and MocoSpace. You could read each of these posts and if you're interested in the company, you could contact its CEO. I have no idea whether these companies are hiring, but if they're growing chances are they need people to manage that growth.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And things are really tough.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book is You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-06-2009 @ 12:31PM
W. B. Wilhite said...
Why should anyone trust these unemployment numbers? Next month, they will be revised by another 100,000 lost jobs.
3-06-2009 @ 2:41PM
JJ said...
OBAMA IS DESTROYING AMERICA !!!!!!!!!
3-06-2009 @ 2:56PM
midr47 said...
Obama isnt destroying the country BUSH beat him to it !
3-07-2009 @ 12:44AM
Iridium said...
SO essentially you are telling people to find jobs created by stealing money from other hard working Americans.
A subsidy to create jobs where they would not exist if not for the subsidy is not job creation or growth. It is false data that only hides the true state of the economy just like the economic boom created by false equity over the past 15 years.
If there is a real market for green jobs they will be created through the natural progression of the market. Giving government money to hire people performing a job to create a product nobody wants is insane.
3-07-2009 @ 2:08PM
solomonesq said...
I am sick of people blaming our politicians. Yes they are inept but Ukraine, Russia, England, France and most of the world is in financial trouble so how is the American president responsible. It is a cycle that the mortgage industry artificially allowed ot not take its course, now we are just making up for lost time and crashing. In 3 years because we have politicians who mistake themselves for magicians we will spend 50k for a loaf of bread.
If I cook dinner to last one month I will have no work to do for the next 3 weeks. We built too much inventory now we need to eat use up our inventory and be smarter next time
3-07-2009 @ 9:35PM
J.K. said...
The stock market has been dropping since Obama got into the White House. Our 401K's have become 101K's.
He has destroyed America in 2 months time. Socialism has come to America.
Obama has made a nightmare out of the American Dream. These are America's dark days.
3-07-2009 @ 3:00PM
Russ said...
Working for others and making others rich will never work out. The only way to get ahead and have real satisfaction is by doing it yourself, http://www.excfo.com will give you the opportunity but you still must work.
3-07-2009 @ 3:40PM
John Fleming said...
Look at Congress! Their approval rating is abysmal, and rightly so. When we receive the medical benefits, perks, and other money making oppertunities that these incompetant idiots are getting, then the economy will do just fine. By the way, in 1990 the cost of funding 535 Congressman and Senators was 2.1 billion dollars.
And they aren't even doing the job we elected them to do. We need to clean house come next election, and require term limits. There should not be such a thing as a "career politician".
3-07-2009 @ 4:20PM
MyKisa said...
maybe as a government server in a cheese line
3-07-2009 @ 7:32PM
casey said...
taxes on your wages are illegal and unconstitutional. the IRS has been ripping off the american public since the civil war . lets all stop allowing the vulures who control the money supply (the international banking cartel )to steal our hard earned money by hiring the govt to act on their behalf I say lets as one nation stop paying this illegal tax and abolish the cartel referred to as the federal reserve and put our currency back in the hands of the elected officials of the usa or soon we will be living in the ussa
3-07-2009 @ 7:46PM
casey said...
obama is ma good talker but everything he,s doing is the opposite of all his talk hes the best bullshitter ive ever heard after watching what he is doing another sad case of being bought and paid for by the friggin banking cartel called the federal reserve as long as his agenda is implimented at the instruction of the banks america as we know it is finished . the economy will never recover as long as the friggin central and now global banking cartel is allowed to exist and control money supply and interest rates. we as a nation have been slaves to the friggin banks ever since the formation of the private company deceptively referred to as the federal reserve
3-07-2009 @ 8:20PM
Pam said...
Take control back over your own lives. Consider a career in direct sales!
It seems everyone is looking for a way to make an extra dollar. Here is a way you can make your own work schedule around your families activities. I demo soy candles at home parties. I usually earn 25.00 plus per hour, depending on the size of the party. I also sell to individuals and offer fundraisers. Did you know that 90% of women purchase candles daily!
Check us out at www.foreveryhome.net/pam
3-07-2009 @ 9:41PM
Kel said...
You cannot just blame Obama for the mess...we have career members of Congress & the Senate who have been onboard for over 20+years. Voters need to remember to vote out these incumbents just because they voted without reading the spending bill recklessly to get it signed.
3-07-2009 @ 11:32PM
jobsforchristina said...
Anybody know what the requirements are for Citibank to adjust a mortgage. I lost m job 2/11 and my husband lost his 2/13. The only way we are going to make it is if they lower our payment to 31% of our new income, which is unemployment. We never refinanced and are lucky enough to still have about 15000.00 in equity. Did I mention, we live in Metro Detroit, and we are looking for jobs.
3-08-2009 @ 12:07AM
tonyasbwt said...
ALL THIS WAY PLAINED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND ALL BIG BUSINESS,BECAUSE UNITED STATES WAS GETTING BEHIND IN THE JOB MARKET.COST FOR PRODUCTIVITY TO HIGH PAYING JOBS,UNION AND WORKERS DONT WANT TO WORK ANY MORE. LESS WORK FOR MORE MONEY THE MODEL OF AMERICANS WHICH WILL NEVER WORK AND ITS HERE,ALSO C.E.O.MAKING MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONSSSSSSS DOLLARS BONUSES ALL ABOUT THE MONEY AND YOU WILL FAIL
THIS WAY ALL THESE COMPANIES NOW GET TO CLEAN THEIR BUSINESS GET RID OF ALL HIGH PAYING JOBS AND GET RID OF ALL LAZY WORKERS
WALL STREET GUYS CAN MAKE MILLIONS OFF THE STOCKS GOING UP AND DOWN
3-08-2009 @ 12:20AM
tonyasbwt said...
hey
3-08-2009 @ 3:59AM
jd said...
Anybody who has debt, anybody who voted for Bush or Obama, anybody who does business with a failing bank or brokerage, anybody who has a credit card and anybody who doesn't pay their taxes is responsible for the current mess. I am a business owner with no debt (no credit card, nor loans, no mortgage). I am profitable, I pay my taxes, I manage my own money without advice (and made money in the market last year by shorting stocks like crazy). Everyone who meets the above criteria for responsibility disgusts me. They ought to do the world a favor and commit suicide.
3-08-2009 @ 6:03AM
jh said...
you know, people keep blaming the government for job/money loss, but there was enough of both to go around and live ---lets just say ok. Where did the money go? It went to foreign soil , thats where. Take all the illegal people here, working off the books. Average out 800 weekly for each person, multiply that 3 million people. They send most of there money home, instead of spending it here, back into OUR economy, they dont pay taxes, back into our economy, seems to me, if we stopped that , we would have billions per year back into OUR economy.
3-08-2009 @ 3:07PM
RON said...
Stop blaming Presidents for our own failures. We wasted energy in our businesses, homes and big cars and trucks. We should have taken care of our energy needs back when Nixon was President but NO. We found OPEC and cheap oil and now look where it got us. Stop blaming others and help fix the problem. It starts now with us.
3-08-2009 @ 5:06PM
Vistalegalllc said...
BUSH destroyed America in more ways than one, by trying to accomplish his father's agenda. There is no way in hell he ever thought about American's needs and wants as his #1 priority, he thought of his needs and wants only. No wonder Chavez and Bush don't get along, they are very similar in many ways.