Out-of-work Americans pining for a bright spot amid the still-bleak unemployment landscape should welcome news that the federal government is in need of new recruits. A lot of them.

The feds need to hire close to 273,000 people over the next three years to fill so-called “mission-critical” jobs across the U.S. and abroad, in part because more federal workers are inching closer to retirement age, a new survey of 35 federal agencies by think-tank Partnership for Public Service shows.

Perhaps not surprisingly, agencies in the public health and medical fields are in need of the most new bodies. A total of 54,114 people are in demand to fill positions in areas ranging from radiology to consumer safety, according to the study.

Job seekers should also look to the security, law enforcement, legal and administrative fields, all of which are projected to boom over the next few years.

Of course, as the Washington Post notes, the projections are just that - projections. Hiring campaigns could be slowed if more federal workers choose to put retirement off or if Congress refuses to put up the money to meet all the hiring needs. The government could also decide to outsource some of the jobs to contractors.

Still, the potential surge in full-time, government jobs should have many Americans dusting off their resumes in a hurry.

(An armed forces recruiting poster is shown outside the U.S. Armed Forces Career Center in New York’s Times Square in this March 6, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

It’s no secret that the economic downturn is having an impact on the careers of millions of Americans.  Just ask Matthew Derra (pictured here), who found himself pursuing a degree in renewable energy after his job at American Axle disappeared.

As the U.S. braces for yet another monthly dismal jobs report, thousands more will be faced with one big question: what now?

Turns out, not everyone is looking for jobs in the field they once called home.

“We’re seeing people more willing to consider opportunities in places traditionally they wouldn’t locate to,’ says John Flanigan, VP of staffing company Aerotek.

Just as Derra found himself back at school, people are finding themselves in some unlikely scenarios. One former executive took an entry-level job after losing his job at Hewlett-Packard, a move he says set his career (and his salary) back by two decades.

Sound familiar? Now that the job market has narrowed, what are you doing with your career? Share your thoughts below.

– Bob D. Scharin is a senior tax analyst for the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters. The views expressed are his own. –

It’s bad news when a spouse loses his or her job, but the blow can be softened by several smart tax moves.

1. Reduce income tax withholding. With only one wage earner in the family, you can have less income tax withheld from your pay. Before making the change, consider potential increased eligibility for tax deductions and credits that have income phaseouts, as well as the tax effect of any severance payment to your spouse. Also, bear in mind: up to $2,400 of unemployment compensation is tax-free in 2009.

2. Health care flexible spending account (FSA). Generally, you cannot change a health care FSA contributions election mid-year, but your spouse’s employment status sometimes translates to an exception. You’ll need to check rules on this mid-year change with your employer’s plan. If your spouse was making health care FSA contributions at his or her former job, your best bet, if you are permitted, is to opt for a higher contribution rate on your own plan.

3. Dependent care FSA. Here, too, mid-year changes in contribution levels are generally not allowed—subject to exceptions that depend on the terms of the plan. You are generally not eligible to receive an FSA reimbursement for child care expenses incurred while your spouse is not either in the workforce or actively seeking employment.

4. 401(k) accounts. Should your spouse leave the funds in the 401(k) plan account that’s been building for years through his or her former company or roll them into an IRA? Many people keep the money in the 401(k) so they don’t have to make new investment decisions, but there are often benefits to rolling it over, though not without possible tax ramifications. Also, if you need to choose between withdrawing some funds from that 401(k) to get cash or reducing future 401(k) contributions to your own plan, keep in mind that the withdrawal could subject you to a 10% additional tax. By reducing your contributions to your plan, you may lose matching contributions from your employer.

5. Health insurance. If you and your spouse had health insurance coverage through your respective employers, you should now decide whether to add your spouse to the coverage provided through your employer or have your spouse elect COBRA coverage through his or her former employer. The benefit of choosing the employed spouse’s plan? It usually allows you to pay premiums with pre-tax earnings.

Last December, Reuters reported how one innovative New Yorker’s desperate search to find a job had paid off big. Joshua Persky, known to many as the “Sandwich Board Guy,” found employment at accounting firm Weiser LLP in midtown Manhattan. Persky, who wrote for Trading Places about his search for work last year, explains how he ended up leaving Weiser to start his own business:

When I received the offer from Weiser, my wife and I were ecstatic. I had been unemployed for 10 months. We had quite a sincere Thanksgiving celebration in Omaha where she was living with our children, but they decided to remain in Omaha to finish out the school year. It was difficult to leave my family, but I returned to New York to get my feet on the ground and focus on my new job as Senior Manager, Valuation & Corporate Finance.

When I started working in December, I was treated to a second round of viral publicity and became a feel-good “Happy Ending Holiday Story.” Whereas before I had been the “Face of the American Economy”, a “Sign of the Times” and the “Sandwich Board Guy,” suddenly I was an inspirational and extreme job hunter who could give expert job hunting advice – and I did:

Be creative.
Be open to change.
Get professional help.
Redo your resume.
Figure out your brand and sell it.
Don’t give up.
Get your family on board.
Be patient.
Lower your expenses as much as possible.
Do what you need to do to keep your spirits up (exercise, eat right, meditate and/or pray).
Don’t lose hope!

It has been quite a challenge living 1,300 miles away from my wife and children. I visited them several times on weekends. They visited me during spring break and are with me now for a few weeks.

Then the group at the accounting firm where I was working underwent a restructuring. Now I’m taking my career to the next level by working for myself. Things are very different for me now than when I left my previous job and walked straight into the global economic crisis. I think the worst of the Great Recession is over, I have a much expanded network and some exciting opportunities on my plate.

As Founder of www.oracleofny.com, I am concentrating on writing, inspirational speaking, career coaching and business valuations consulting – being my own boss for a change. My wife has always wanted me to be an entrepreneur.

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

by Eloah James

My husband, Jason, an employee at a Saturn dealership in Texas, says co-workers are experiencing “short-time fever.”

Jason has worked for Saturn and GM for nearly 15 years as a service technician. For the last 10, he’s worked at the Saturn of Austin dealership.

With a steady decline in repair work over the last year, GM’s looming bankruptcy is not a big surprise for our family. With Saturn’s demise coming two years earlier than we anticipated, and the announcement of 1,200 GM dealership closings, it looks like his job may be a lost cause altogether.

At my husband’s dealership, folks are not bringing in their cars for repairs as frequently. And when they do, the repair work is often under warranty, so Jason is paid less for his work. This means he may only get paid for two hours worth of work for an eight-hour job because most of the work is under warranty. That leaves a technician like Jason making $50 or less for a day’s work.

Unlike autoworkers in Detroit and at plants, service technicians at Jason’s work are not unionized. If the dealership closes, he won’t receive a severance package or other compensation; he’ll simply lose his job. He told me he thinks about doing something else “all the time.” He says he knows if he sticks it out until Saturn of Austin closes, he may have to rely on unemployment.

“GM used to have more money than anybody,” Jason told me. But now his income has dropped off sharply over the last six months. His current year-to-date salary is around one-third of what it should be.

We do see some reason for optimism, however. If Penske and Nissan-Renault bought out portions of Saturn, the new company could rebadge Nissans under the Saturn brand. It’s not ideal, but it could protect many Saturn jobs, including my husband’s, as Nissan would utilize existing Saturn dealerships.

Jason said this was the best news Saturn service technicians had this year. But with GM’s news that it’s shuttering dealerships, it may be too late.

Pfizer has launched a new program to provide free drugs, ranging from cholesterol fighting Lipitor to its infamous little blue pills, to Americans who have lost their jobs in 2009.

“The current economic environment has added considerable new stress to the daily life of millions of hard-working Americans, and our colleagues are responding to help their neighbors in the communities where they reside,” said Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler.

Click here for an application to the MAINTAIN (Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need) program, which kicks off on July 1.

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

By Steven Bryan

For years, I clung to the “Leave it to Beaver” business model, in which the breadwinner worked at an office for 40-plus years before quietly retiring with a gold watch and pension. Unfortunately, the eroding American economy has made that particular fantasy more of a pipe dream than ever before.

But recent economic news isn’t all doom and gloom. For me and other working Americans, it took, as Jimmy Buffett is fond of singing, changes in latitudes plus changes in attitudes. After working 12 years for A.G. Edwards, a brokerage firm with headquarters in my hometown of St. Louis, I abandoned the security of a permanent position to become a contract employee at a new firm.

My hand was forced a bit. Wachovia Securities purchased A.G. Edwards and made massive staff cuts, including yours truly. My original “out date” was March 31, but I chose to leave early to become a contract employee at what is known as a “pharmacy benefit manager.” My co-workers and I like to joke that we are legal drug dealers, making sure that people who are injured on the job get the proper medications.

I was one of the first new contract employees to come into that firm. Within the past two months, at least seven technical specialists have joined our department, each with an employment contract.

Flying without the safety net of a salary and benefits is not all bad. I’m paid by the hour with a generous amount of overtime thrown my way; my monthly income has seen a sharp increase in recent months. I’m also constantly learning new things that look good on a resume.

Traditionally, contract employees have been the “paper towels” of the work force — use a few times and then get a new one. In 2009, though, I have seen the contract worker evolve from a disposable employee into more of a “Soldier of Fortune.” At my current job placement, I go where I’m needed, lending my expertise and talents to various managers.

For my efforts, I have money in the bank, credit cards with decent limits and enough spare cash to help out friends who need financial assistance.

For publicly traded companies, contract employees make good sense for the bottom line. We are listed as “variable expenses” and not fixed costs on the corporate books, which looks good to investors.

For me, it’s been an interesting experience. There’s a weird sense of detachment and of not fully belonging. But I’ll keep coming back as long as the paychecks clear.

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

Written by Sylvia Cochran

Bills are piling up, creditors are calling even before the grace period has elapsed, the kids’ college funds are virtually zero, and I hear a drum roll whenever I open the IRA statement.

Welcome to a day in the life of a Los Angeles-area stay-at-home mom.

After my husband made it through the latest round (third round? fourth round?) of the cable industry’s layoffs, we were relieved. Nevertheless, California is hit hard by the sudden loss of home-equity capital, rising food and gasoline prices and state sales-tax rates that just went up by 1 percent — now about 9.25.

Frugality started small. I learned to ferret out money-saving billing options from the utility companies. For example, Southern California Edison offers customers the opportunity to apply for a level payment plan. Summer electricity use is higher, and winter use is significantly lower. SCE takes a year of charges and averages the amounts, making the monthly bill predictable and easy to budget for.

Then something interesting happened. To pinch pennies, we learned to go green. We rarely glanced at the Home Depot and Lowe’s displays about energy-saving innovations. But with the cost of energy going up (SCE announced in March that it would raise rates by 2 percent), these displays suddenly held great interest.

Because of the recession, we learned to reduce energy consumption. Now the thermostat on the water heater is set to warm not hot, and one night we turned off all the lights to be surprised just how many blinking status lights were still on.

Since then I have hooked up virtually everything to kill-all switches that I can hit at the end of the day, when I really do not need to have the radio, TV, VCR, DVD player and all the other appliances sucking energy from the wall in exchange for being ready for use.

Being green also means setting up a container vegetable garden. Growing veggies in containers is so easy that it makes me wonder why I hadn’t thought of it before. Seeing how nutritious tomatoes are and how much a single watermelon vine will produce, it’s a no-brainer to grow these in the sunny Southern California climate. I like to take full advantage of the sun and the convenience of the container garden. I am now experimenting with artichokes. Who knew that they come back each year?

In some ways, it is a sad testimony that going green did not happen until a recession virtually forced it on us.

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

By Heather K. Adams

Living in a small town has its advantages, especially during an economic crisis.

Take a walk down the main street of Harvey, N.D., and you will find a menagerie of small businesses that are thriving. When the town has only the essential businesses, what’s left to close? Despite the recent economic downturn, Harvey manages to survive.

How does Harvey remain unscathed in a recession? Residents shop locally. When money is tight, who wants to fill up the gas tank and drive 75 miles to the nearest big city to go shopping or go out for lunch? In turn, local shops are stocking a wider variety of goods so consumers stay satisfied.

As a community-conscious consumer, when I made the decision to purchase a newer vehicle with my tax refund this year, I went car shopping here in Harvey. I spent $3,200 at Country Motors for a 1999 Buick LeSabre. Maybe I could have found a better deal in a bigger town, but I know the car dealer. I knew I could help Harvey’s economy and his small used-car dealership by spending my tax refund locally.

I work for the local weekly newspaper as a bookkeeper. In that capacity, I have noticed that local businesses are advertising more. They aren’t relying on word-of-mouth methods. Instead, the shops are getting more aggressive, trying to draw outside money into the community.

Thanks to the “Making Work Pay” provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, my take-home pay has increased by approximately $25 every pay period. For the first time since high school, I was able to open a savings account and invest in my future. Twenty-five dollars may seem a paltry amount, but over the course of just one year I will have saved $650. For a single mother of two children, not having to live paycheck to paycheck and being able to set aside money is a powerful feeling.

I have also seen an increase in the amount of county assistance I receive. Last year, making less money per month than I do now, I received $250 to $265 of monthly food stamps benefits. This month, even with the additional income, I received $350 to feed myself and two children. My friend’s food stamps benefits jumped almost $200 from last month to this month.

While the national economic crisis wasn’t felt as hard here in Harvey, I can say I have been breathing a little easier these past few months. For a community to survive a recession, it has to pull together, something in which Harvey excels.

This is part of a series of personal accounts about how people are surviving the recession. The writers are contributors to Associated Content. For more stories in this series, click here.

By Kristen May

It worries me how oblivious I was to this recession. I knew bad things were happening. But then I blinked and suddenly this country is in the worst recession in my lifetime.

I do have something to blame my lack of attention on: I’m in love.

I got engaged Dec. 24, and my fiancé and I are planning a wedding for June. This is not the best time to be making big changes intentionally. But I’ll be giving up a paying job and moving to a city where he’ll be in school. Then I’ll have to find a job. We’ll be dealing with the intricacies of being married while trying to pay the bills with nonexistent money. Maybe it’s just the rose-colored glasses, but I’m confident it will all work out.

My parents are graciously paying for the wedding, but my fiancé and I have been keeping costs low for their sake, knowing that they are living under financial stress. (They had retirement accounts that were hit hard, and we haven’t started saving yet.)

We decided to reduce costs by serving cake and hors d’oeuvres at the reception instead of the traditional sit-down dinner. That way, we can still send out 200 invitations and expect 150 guests without too much cost per person.

In addition, we are planning to use recorded music during the wedding and reception, to hire a friend with experience as a photographer and to have fewer bridesmaids and groomsmen. Our dress scheme for the wedding party is also cost-sensitive. We gave them basic colors they need to stick to rather than requiring them to purchase or rent specific elements.

In addition to moving our belongings a few thousand miles from Northfield, Minn., to Columbia, S.C., my fiancé and I are responsible for the honeymoon and wedding bands. My parents have a timeshare and his have frequent-flier miles, but the two of us are saving for a rental car, food and additional expenses for our honeymoon.

Our wedding bands are a bit trickier. We want them to match my platinum heirloom engagement ring, and platinum is far more expensive than gold. Because of this, I have been especially cautious in my spending and especially quick to take any money-making opportunities I can find.

The last thing I want to do in this economy is to go into debt. That’s much of the reason we’re in trouble.