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.

Richelle Konian knows a thing or two about life on Wall Street, both from her experience working on it and now for it. After leaving a career in management consulting, she cofounded Manhattan-based recruiting firm Careers on the Move, which helps hundreds of job seekers find work in a seemingly impossible market. Her most recent success story? Finding a job for the poster boy of unemployment, the “Sandwich Board Guy” (aka: Joshua Persky, pictured above.)

Konian doesn’t paint any rosy pictures for 2009, but insists that jobs exist for those eager to do their homework and embrace change. “In this type of market, you have to figure out ways to set yourself apart, and you have to work that much harder to get to the place you were previously,” she says.

Here, Konian offers her tips for finding your way back into the job market.

Know what you’re up against:

“One of the things people should be aware of, particularly in financial services, is shrinkage. Sometimes I don’t think people understand the big picture. We’re now in a second wave of job losses; 9/11 was the first wave, and we’ve never recovered from it – we had some good years, but some jobs just haven’t resurfaced. Take asset management: there are far fewer jobs now than there were a few years ago. There are people who worked in equity research who have never got their jobs back, and they had excellent resumes, excellent backgrounds, and they were considered to be the upper echelon of candidates. Some of them have taken positions in other areas using the same skills. But there’s a lot of people with specific expertise who have been unemployed for years.”

Be Flexible:

Those lucky enough to find jobs have to flexible about their expectations, Konian says. “People who say to me, ‘I’m at this salary range right now and I’m not going to accept anything lower’ need to know that it’s the wrong market for that right now, and those who have made that assessment a year ago probably regret it now.”

Also, try imagine yourself in positions you may not have considered before - in all likelihood, you won’t wind up in the same job you left, Konian says. “Someone with a background in equity research might put those skills towards a career as a trader. Or somebody who was very familiar with vendors like Bloomberg or Thomson, they might become a specialist and go into something like financial software.”

Know who’s hiring:

“One area where we’re seeing a lot of hiring is the energy sector. I encourage all of our candidates to take a look at companies in this sector because a number of financial software companies are in the energy markets. The other areas are in restructuring and bankruptcy. It’s a sign of the times. A lot of the positions we see available are in companies who are valuing companies, restructuring.”

Be prepared to leave the country for work, too. Europe and Latin America are two areas that are recruiting North American talent, Konian says.

Make your resume count:

In a tight market, the jobs that get filled first are ones that require a specific skill set, Konian says. “For example, one skill set worth highlighting is specific experience in valuating companies. People who are familiar with FAS requirements. It’s such a specific skill that not a lot of people have it,” she explains.

If you have broad skills, Konian suggests drafting several versions of your resume to specific jobs, and provide detailed examples of how your background meets certain requirements.

Network, network, network:

Make professional connections, preferably before you’re out of a job, Konian says. “You need advocates from someone who know your work, whether it’s a former colleague or even a recruitment firm that knows you. One of the things I’ve noticed in this market is the number of excellent resumes and excellent job skills out there that would normally be highly sought after,” she says. But these days, interviews are hard to come by without connections.

Got advice to share with financial industry jobseekers? Email us at tradingplaces@reuters.com