Out of Work and Independently Poor - Who's Hiring?

By Career Alley

It can be a long hard road from the first day of unemployment to the first day of a new job. There is the frustration, the stress and the worry about if (or when) you will run out of money. And to add insult to injury, most of us have seen our personal investments and life savings (including company 401k plans) plummet 30%-40% (or more). It does sometimes feel as if we are truly Independently Poor.

But the good news is that this won't last forever, and the better news is that there are plenty of jobs out there. The trick is to be the first in line, but you need to know where the line starts and you need to get there early. So today we continue our hunt for Who's Hiring.

Hallmark - Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Hallmark is known for greeting cards and gifts. Their career site has a basic look and feel with links down the right hand side of the page: Retail Stores, Corporate Headquarters, Creative Design, Working Here and more, including a College Students link. Click on Search Jobs to see job opportunities, but you will need to search from three main categories: Corporate Headquarters, Creative Design and Retail Stores. A quick search returned 5 opportunities in Corporate Headquarters and 8 in Creative Design.

Palm - Known for its Treo Smart phone (and originally for the Palm Pilot), Palm is based in Sunnyvale, California and has approximately 1,000 employees. Their career site provides a company overview, with links on the right-hand side of the page and a search function at the bottom of the page. The links on the right are mostly company background/informational links. Clicking on job search returned 25 job opportunities. Applying for any of the jobs will allow you to add a cover letter and upload (or build) a resume to submit.  There are not job alerts or saved search features.

KFC - aka Kentucky Fried Chicken, they have an interesting careers page ("Life Tastes Better with KFC"), with visual links to company background and why you would want to work there (Life with KFC, Room to Grow and Apply Now). Clicking on Apply Now links to another page where you have two choices: KFC Restaurant or Kentucky Offices (there is a resource link on the right hand side of the page for interview tips). You must click a city and state for the restaurant search and applying for a job will take you to the registration page. Clicking on the Kentucky Offices (not all jobs on this page are in Kentucky) links to the Yum Brands (Taco Bell, A&W, etc.) where you have a broad range of opportunities (308 when I checked) across a number of cities and states.

AIMCO - AIMCO runs a number of communities in 47 States. They also have an interesting careers page where the link choices look like rooms in a house or apartment. The choices are: Benefits, Location, Your Profile (registration), Job Search and more. Job search is fairly basic and returned 101 career opportunities across many cities and states.

Good luck in your search.

Article courtesy of the RecruitingBlogSwap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

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