Job Openings Are Available if You Look in the Right Places

Have you ever heard the one about the woman who was walking down the street at night when she came across a man searching frantically on the ground for something in the light of a streetlamp?

She asked him, “Sir, what are you looking for?” He said, “I have lost my keys."

She said, “I will help you look. Did you lose them right here?”

The man said, “No I lost them across the street in the alley”

The woman asked, “Then why are you looking over here?”

And the man responded, “There’s no light over there.”

That joke makes me think of some job seekers I have met….they look for jobs in places they are comfortable looking but that aren’t necessarily where the jobs are. The key to finding employment in a tough economy (and make no mistake, many people, including about 70% of my clients, are finding jobs now) is to go where the jobs are. You may have to leave your comfort zone whether that means your current geographic location or your industry. Use the internet to conduct research on which companies are hiring and what industries are growing.

Here is a list of a few of the companies that are recruiting for job openings right now:

Edward Jones is hiring financial advisors and branch office administrators in St. Louis, MO and Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale, AZ

Google is hiring engineers, marketing professionals, product managers, and sales professionals in Mountain View, CA, New York City, and San Francisco, CA

Cisco is hiring engineers and customer advocates in San Jose, CA, Research Triangle Park, NC, and Boxborough, MA

Genentech is hiring product development professionals, manufacturing employees, and legal professionals in San Francisco and Oceanside, CA

Methodist Hospital System is hiring management, nurses, clinical professionals, IT and HR professionals, entry level support services and administrative jobs in Baytown and Houston, TX locations.

Whole Foods Market needs to hire a wide range of people in Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, and New York City. Supposedly they have around 800 job openings.

Microsoft is hiring despite their recently announced layoffs. They are recruiting software design engineers, financial analysts, HR professionals, marketing and sales professionals in Redmond and Issaquah, WA and Mountain View, CA

Ernst & Young, Accenture, KPMG, and Price Waterhouse Coopers plan to hire thousands of employees in 2009. E&Y alone plans to hire approximately 2,400 experienced professionals and nearly 5,000 students from campus into Assurance, Tax, and Advisory practices. Openings are in New York, Chicago, IL, and Dallas, TX.

Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world is hiring software and systems engineers, information assurance and security engineers and intelligence analysts in McLean, Herndon, and Arlington, VA

If you are concerned about your job security or have been laid off you should put your resume together and find a company that is hiring people like you - jobs are out there but you may have to do a little research to find the jobs.