Getting the BEST JOBS FAST! YOU can HELP.

Getting the Best Jobs, FAST!

I've been a longtime member and enjoyed all the great information here and I'm hoping the "crowdsourcing" for answers here works for me and others in this serious request.

For the 2nd time in 2 years I've been downsized. As I pursue something in my field of experience (usually low pay and long hours) I'm thinking I may consider another job if the retraining is very short and the job is in a field that has less candidates than jobs. Being 50 years old and cash strapped from the last time of 1-1/2 years of unemployment means things have to move fast.

I've tried freelancing (i.e. my own business) in my field (graphic design) in the last downsizing and it was not enough cash and takes time to get a name and get established in an area. My wife can only get part-time work in her field. With little savings this time and a family to insure, house and feed, I still see the costs adding up fast even when we've dropped all frills and acted super frugal.

I'm hoping "crowd-sourcing" here means someone has an "in" as to what jobs are red hot and easy to get into. I know they exist but are not generally known. If I had 2 years I'd go back to school to learn CAD Sprinkler Design for buildings. My brother has this business and it has less candidates than jobs and kids come out of low cost 2-year technical schools making boatloads of cash and SUV's for signing bonuses.

PLEASE keep to the topic of suggesting jobs and not sniping at the unemployed, no political comments or general bickering. This is serious for me and many others here too. We need real answers and someone here has good information to share.

Thanks in advance.

Some months ago, somebody posted this job...

every state in USA needs BACKFLOW ASSEMBLY TESTERS

How i earn $200.00 bucks or so an hour,, and make my own hours.....
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Do you need to be in a big city for this to pay out? Also do plumbers generally get these certifications and would they be competition (I'm not a plumber)?

Great suggestion and on the first reply! Keep them coming.

I generally always start with "what do you know how to do?" And I don't mean your graphics design skills. Any Carpentry, welding, cooking, etc.? Anything you consider a mundane everyday skill can be leveraged into a new job or at least help shorten a training cycle.

Also think outside of the box on your graphics design skills. Aside from making pretty pictures, all your craft abilities can be used in other areas, such as interior design, or even things like painting cars, boats, planes, etc. If you have any municipal airports in the area, you might consider if there are any companies that customize planes...

Anyway, just thoughts. Exposure to various people and talking a lot about what you can do and your personal interests within those groups of people really can help with finding a job, snce the best jobs these days are not advertised.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Keep in mind, for me, time is of the essence. Building a business over time would put me out of business before I establish it. I lost all my savings after the last downsizing trying to establish my freelance business.

I've tried to leverage my skills in multiple ways in the last downsizing. I made a few bucks but not enough to keep myself self-employed. Leveraging other skills are no use if it's an area or job that has too many competitors for the few clients out there. Graphic design is flooded with people, hence my comment about getting a job having more projects than people to work on them. An underserved market. That is the key. Believe me, I've tried several things with no luck, and that's why I'm posting here to leverage "crowdsourcing" knowledge. The door opens only when you find an underserved market that is not going away or isn't just a fad job.

In an up or down economy there are the hidden gems that can make people good money with little or no education. I know, my brother is in one of those markets and is making a killing, even today. Though in his market the training is a 2-year program to get into the business. At 50 years old, I'm trying to find one with a quicker route. Also, I don't have enough savings if I have to rely on a part-time or low paying job just to go back to 2 years of school and start 2 years out from here. I know there's must be some other options...those hidden gems.

Keep the ideas coming.

Anymore ideas out there?

You being in graphic design, just remembered me of the movie "exit through the gift shop"

Its promoted as a movie about street artist Banksy ( I am sure you know him).
But it's so much more; It s about a Frenchman who just filmed everything. He had no idea why and what for, it was just his spleen. Till he started to film his cousin SpaceInvader (another well known street artist).
So he found his passion: StreetArt. he went on and on til he met Banksy. Wanted to make a movie about him and started to do his own street art. On presenting his movie (which was rubbish) to Banksy.
Banksy told him, why don't you go back, do a little street art and I finish the movie ?

Frenchguy, impressed by Banksy took it as THE mission, wanting to make Banksy proud he rented the biggest warehouse in L.A. and started to do his own art, Warhol style, with many Graphic designer, using the aka "Mr Brainwash" despite his completely chaotic way of "organizing" things the exhibition turned out to be a huge success and he made quite a sum of money from it.

It was very inspiring to watch:
Full movie here.


There is risk involved, but it shows, it's still possible to start with nothing and come out big.

I like your approach of looking at the "outide the box" ideas. Sometime when we're too practical we can miss those opportunities too.

Anymore ideas?

Let's see if we can keep this going. Many people are going to lose jobs this year and need to know what industry or positions are still going strong so they keep from going bust. There must be members here that are in jobs that are hot or know of people that are in a successful industry or position just because that position or industry is hot right now.

Let's share what we know to help others.

Hoping people will post their experiences here. I see other threads on less life-threatening stuff go for 50 pages or more. This stuff is more core to people's existence. Please contribute.

Still unemployed. This is thread that can help a lot of people and I'm hoping to bump it and freshen it up with comments, so please put your thoughts here.

Still looking for more thoughts from readers.

Add your thoughts here.

Training myself as a freelance non military drone pilot. Getting a pilots license is required and it seems like an underserved market as consumer drone photography, photo 3D mapping and video inspection (power lines, windmills, construction) surges.