Business Week ran a fascinating article a few weeks ago about how to find a job during America’s economic recovery. As I’ve long been harping on here at the JobMonkey, the earliest growth will be in one of four fields: health care, education, government employment, and green business. In fact, these four fields have been some of the most stable over the past 8 months of the recession, posting positive growth numbers over a number of months despite record-high layoffs in nearly every other field. Here are some of the highlights from BWeek’s article on landing one of these &#...

If you are interested in earning green by going green, there is good news for you, according to a recent USA TODAY article: Students can choose from a variety of new “green” degree programs. The growth of the green collar job sector has led a number of colleges and universities to incorporate sustainability into their course offerings. David Soto of The Princeton Review says student interest is driving colleges to create programs that offer training in sustainability. Two-thirds of students surveyed for the company’s recent “College Hopes and Worries” survey said ...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the United States has reached its highest unemployment rate in 25 years: 8.1%. More than 4.4 million jobs have been lost since December 2007, including the 651,000 lay-offs in February. Even worse news, say some economists, is the fact that so many of these jobs are in the manufacturing industry — a sector that is likely going to have be permanently altered as a result of this recession. These jobs aren’t coming back anytime soon, if ever, say the experts. Which means that if you are dealing with a job loss in one of those sectors,...

According to Scotland’s The Herald newspaper, green jobs aren’t just on the rise in the U.S., but in the U.K. as well. The British company Centrica recently announced plans to create 1,500 new green jobs, from engineering positions to green collar assignments. Jobs will include energy efficiency advisers and wind farm installers. On Monday, I posted about four recession-proof careers and working for green industries definitely made the list. According to economic experts, as many as three to five million new green jobs will be created in the U.S. over the next decade. If you are in...

Dear JobMonkey, My husband has worked for one of the Big 3 auto manufacturers for the last 14 years. He got his first job out of high school and has worked his way up the ladder. Then in December, he was laid off. He didn’t even get a real severance package. Until September, I had been a stay at home mom to our three kids, but thankfully we saw the writing on the wall and I was able to get a job outside the home. Unfortunately I don’t earn nearly as much as my husband did and I don’t have health insurance benefits with my job. So to say we are struggling would be an understat...

Newsweek online has a great piece this week about ten recession-proof careers.  Here’s a look at four of the job fields that are still hiring (Halleluyah!) and links to corresponding sections about these career options from JobMonkey. 1) Security Jobs with the Defense Department and America’s Homeland Security are on the rise. According to a 2007 report, there will be more 80,000 new jobs in these fields in the next two years. If you include local crime fighting in these figures, I’m guessing the numbers will be even higher — much higher — since the recently pa...

Sorry I’m so late with the link love this weekend.  Not sure where my head has been, other than trying to avoid the rain that turned to ice that turned to snow that turned back to ice.  Winter is such a delight with that first pristine snow, but the shine wears off quickly, doesn’t it?  Hopefully you are managing to stay a bit more optimistic about your job searching than I am about the rain/ice/snow. I have some great links tonight, including a recent piece from the CBS Early Show about how to find holiday work.  If you are currently on the hunt for a full-time job, a seaso...

 Another Friday, another week zoomed by.  The financial markets are still in a whacky freefall and unemployment numbers are creeping toward record highs.  The news is rather bleak for you job searchers out there, but there is some hope on the horizon, too. If you’re having trouble finding the silver lining, check out some of these links. Hopefully you’ll find some encouragement and inspiration, so you can hit the pavement running next Monday morning.  In the meantime have a great weekend!  I know I will — it’s a perfect fall day here, cool but n...

Welcome to Hot Jobs Wednesday. Each hump day, I’ll be helping you get over the mid-week lull by spotlighting three of the hottest jobs on the JobMonkey job boards. To find more job opportunities, visit our free boards. In the meantime, here are three great positions you may be interested in: #1. Assistant Garage Mechanic @ Glacier National Park Remember the definition of Green Careers that we talked about on Monday? Blue collar work in a green setting? Well, here’s a job that fits that bill: Montana’s Glacier National Park is looking for an assistance mechanic. This person...

You’ve heard of white collar jobs and blue collar jobs.  Now there is a third category: green collar jobs. This week, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at green collar jobs — what green collar means, how many green collar jobs are available, and what you need to know to land a green collar job. What does Green Collar mean? According to San Francisco State University’s Raquel Pinderhughes, green collar jobs are "blue collar jobs in green businesses."  This cross-over definition seems to be the most widely accepted. In a New York Times piece, for exa...