Many are asking these days: who is hiring now? Where can I get a job? Seems like the priority is no longer about looking for a hot new job anymore; nowadays, it’s unfortunate that people will take almost any paying position available.

While reading the paper recently, I took a look at the job offering page, just out of curiosity. What I noticed was that most ads in this era of steep unemployment are directed toward the medical profession, focusing especially on nurses and nursing aides.

One facility even offers a $7,000 bonus for the first year, others give you $4,000 in cash just for signing up. Case managers, ultrasound technicians, medical records clerks, clinical documentation clerks, pharmacists, and a multiple array of abbreviations such as RN, LVN, CNA dot the employment page. There were also a few ads, very few, for security personnel, heavy forklift operators and body shop technicians.

Who Is Hiring Now?

As a whole, the wanted ads reflect the present situation in the US. With such a heavy load of senior citizens, medical care of all types must be the fastest growing field of employment. Unfortunately, few Americans nowadays are interested in the daily toils and travails of nursing, a labor of love that requires total dedication. It explains the great proportion of nurses from Mexico and the Philippines who are admitted every year to compensate for the lack of American citizens in this field. If you’re unemployed, where can you go to direct your job hunting efforts if you don’t have the training or vocation to become a nurse or nursing assistant?

Jobs In Demand

You may get some job ideas from this list of best jobs to ride out a recession, but for more suggestions, the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics offers the following advice for those who have a high school diploma but who didn’t finish college. They point out these particular occupations, which should fare well during these trying years:

The food industry, which includes preparing food for schools, nursing homes and clubs, should offer a good opportunity for chef aides and short order cooks. Training is on the job, unless you want to attend a vocational school. Note that many high schools offer training in various areas, including food management, so check with the local school if your son or daughter wishes to work in this area after graduating.

Careers that fall into the medical field, such as Occupational Therapist Aide and Physical Training Aide are in demand since many rehab centers cater to the elderly who need to reacquire certain manual skills after an operation. Again, training is on the job and requires only a high school diploma.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics sees these two occupations as growing much faster than others in the next few years.

California requires the following jobs in 2009, according to a state government website; we need correctional officers, carpenters, electricians, people in law enforcement and sales people, all of which offer on the job training. The list is of course not exhaustive, but it could be good news for returning vets who plan on going to college and want to make a few bucks while studying.

Online Job Resources and Employment Sites

Check out these online job resources to aid you in your search:

• Monster.com: ranks in the top 20 of most visited web sites in existence. It’s recognized as one of the most popular job search engines in the world. It’s also the largest, as it houses job postings and resumes numbering in the millions.
• Job.com: a resource for local jobs, career advice and other services to manage your job and career.
• Executive Search Online: a leading nationwide job matching service for more experienced executives. Pay levels for these executive jobs are typically higher.
• Beyond.com: an extensive career network that’s set up as a community of niche sites in various industries.
• EssayEdge: an essay editing resource for those who need a little help with their college, graduate or other academic admission essays. They help out students seeking to gain admission to the colleges and universities of their choice.
• ResumeEdge: a resume editing resource for those who need a little help writing a high quality resume and / or cover letter. They are the leading provider of resume writing services online and the chosen resume partner of well-known job sites such as Yahoo! Hot Jobs, CareerJournal and Dice.com.
• Resume Rabbit: a resume distribution service that submits your resume to top online job banks such as Monster, HotJobs, Career Builder, Dice, etc, as well as job search engines.
• Snag A Job: a tool to help you find hourly jobs. This job site specializes in finding part-time and full-time hourly jobs.
• Yahoo Hot Jobs: a popular online job board.

Massive Job Losses Abound

The areas that suffered the most mass lay-offs in January 2009, again according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, were in order of importance:

• Temporary help (makes sense)
• Bus transportation for schools and employees (how do kids go to school?)
• Light truck manufacturing (same as cars)
• Automobile manufacturing (no surprise there)
• Hotels and motels, except casinos (Hmmm…)
• Movie industry (that’s a surprise indeed)
• Department stores (of course, no money to spend at the mall)
• Suppliers of automobile parts (logical)
• Plastic manufacturers (which depend largely on automobiles)

As you’d expect, these numbers vary by region and by state. Detroit has been hammered by the recession because it relies so much on one industry, so if you can help it, avoid places that have a high reliance on a single source of work. Or move if you can (a survey revealed that 7 out of 10 Americans would move if they could).

Where Can I Get A Job?

Yahoo! Hot Jobs recommends the following areas as offering the most promise: Accountants, Nursing Administrators, Management Analysts, Technical Writers and, surprise (!), Massage Therapists (must be all the demand from stressed out job hunters). Except for massage techniques and skills which can be learned quickly, the other positions do require college degrees or associate degrees at a minimum. So if you are a high school graduate, prepare your future accordingly.

Best of luck on your job hunt!