Help Wanted: Must Already Have Job

As if being laid off wasn't enough of a burden, it turns out that many employers prefer to only interview people who already have jobs, the thinking going that if you've managed to hang onto your position this long into the recession,you must be a top performer. According to an executive recruiter interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, many companies say they "prefer to fill positions with 'passive candidates' who are working and not actively seeking a job." How's that for a Catch-22?

I guess that's good news for those of us who still have jobs -- our companies think of us as having "significant value," at least if the WSJ is to be believed.

Meanwhile, for those who are out of work right now, USA Today has put together an interactive map that highlights exactly when jobs in a number of sectors, including manufacturing, are likely to rebound in every major city. Unless you're living in Rust Belt city dependent on automotive (sorry, Flint, Mich.), the prognosticators believe that manufacturing jobs will start coming back within a year, i.e., third quarter 2010. Exactly how the unemployed will be voting in the mid-year elections of 2010 will, of course, be a cause for concern for both political parties.