As the war in Afghanistan winds down, the impact on the nation’s employment picture goes beyond veterans returning home who are looking for work.

There are thousands of civilian jobs related to the war effort, and cutbacks in defense spending have already led to reductions in these defense-related jobs, including direct government positions or those with defense contractors. The loss of these jobs isn’t good news for the still-dim employment picture.

“It will create a greater supply of workers and create more pain overall for the U.S. work force,” said Gautam Godhwani, CEO of jobs website SimplyHired.com.

For May, the number of openings for defense-related jobs across the Web, including job boards and company jobs sites, declined by 4.2 percent compared to the previous month, according to SimplyHired.com research. And unless Congress acts to curb some of the projected defense cutbacks, he added, things will only get worse next year.

Indeed, Boeing officials recently warned that any further cutbacks to defense spending could devastate the defense industry and lead to thousands of jobs lost. 

The decline in defense and aerospace employment has already begun. Last year, contractors shed nearly 35,000 jobs, and through May nearly 11,000 more have already disappeared, according to a report from Challenger Gray & Christmas released this week.

There has also been a significant downsizing of civilian workers at the Department of Defense, which saw its work force drop to 790,000 from more than 800,00 in fiscal year 2011, stated a report from the department's comptroller.

And the number is expected to drop further. A story in FederalTimes.com from December reported that in the next decade the Department of Defense’s civilian work force will plummet by 20 percent to 630,000, “the smallest since the Defense Department's creation in 1947.” 

The combination of the war winding down, vets returning to the work force, cutbacks in defense-related industries and the inevitable reductions by their suppliers, Godhwani said, all add up to a recipe for fewer job opportunities.

But, he maintained, some states and occupations will benefit from the influx of more civilian workers with defense-related skills.

For example, in cities such as Detroit and Las Vegas,  the number of workers for each job opening is about five to one, compared to Washington, D.C., and Boston where there are one or two individuals for every job, Godhwani said.

Also, he added, workers with specialized skills in defense-related industries, including technology and engineering, could be hired by employers who are having difficulty filling jobs.

Among defense-related occupations, all of the top 10 have been declining since 2009 and are expected to decrease even further through 2015, according to a 2011 Secretary of Defense report titled “Defense-Related Employment of Skilled Labor.” These occupations include business and financial, record-keeping clerks, construction trades, maintenance and computer specialists.

Even if some of these workers are able to fill a talent gap in the civilian work force, overall it’s going to be tough to add more jobless individuals to the long lines of the nation's under- and unemployed.

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Veterans have to get out of the military mindset if they’re going to adapt to the civilian workplace. And that means gearing up for a new outlook even before they leave the armed forces behind.

While it’s important to be proud of military service, it’s also critical for a vets career to know how to play up and play down their years serving your country, advised Randy Plunkett, the director of community and government outreach for Military.com, during our live web chat Wednesday.

“Two common mistakes transitioning military make are to not start early in transitioning and to use military jargon on their resumes,” he told readers.

One reader, Phil, a captain in the Army with a degree in history from West Point, asked Plunkett: “What kind of jobs are available for someone with my background?”

Plunkett’s response:

“Think about your ancillary experience. Not only do you have a degree, you have more than just your army job. You are a human resources manager - talking with soldiers about their careers, you supervise and manage extensive training programs, you actively participate in performance reviews, and you have extensive diversity and inclusion workplace experience.”

It’s all about taking your experience in the military, he explained, and pointing out how what you did can fit into the real work world.

“We need a fundamental change in thinking,” he stressed. “Military members have to think in terms of their big picture, large category experience, not just their classification.”

Here’s the entire Q&A with Plunkett:

 Join us next Wednesday for another live web chat with an expert that will address money or work issues.

What would you value more? Mom cooking dinner for the family, or Dad killing a spider in Junior’s room?

While women are still dealing with the gender wage gap at work, when it comes to the unpaid work moms do at home, their imaginary paychecks would be bigger than those of their husbands.

As Father’s Day approaches this weekend, it’s time to take stock of what dads do for their families beyond just bringing home a paycheck. Alas, the household chores they tend to do aren't worth as much as the sweat equity moms put in at home year round, according to two recent reports.

Insure.com calculated what they deemed to be daddy duties, including things such as barbecuing, killing bugs and mowing the lawn. The study found the domestic tasks would total about $20,248 a year if they were paid work. That compared to $60,182 annually for moms for doing things such as cooking, cleaning and nursing wounds. The value of the work was based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for how much similar jobs out in the real work world would pay.

Another study by Salary.com found that the value of what working dads do at home is actually rising. The company looked at online responses from nearly 3,000 dads who reported on the number of hours they put into tasks at home, including everything from cooking to driving kids around, and found the value of what the dads did jumped to $36,757 this year from $33,858 the previous year. A previous study of work done by working moms found what the moms do at home is valued at $66,979, compared to $63,471 in 2011.

The dads in Salary.com’s sampling were doing more laundry this year, about 1.4 hours, compared to 1.2 hours in 2011; but they cut back on their kitchen time, from 2.7 hours to 2.2 hours.

Women are still the ones doing the heavy lifting at home, said Nancy Folbre, a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts. But she cautioned against giving this type of data on what dads do too much credence.

“They underestimate both what mothers and fathers do,” she noted.

Indeed, Emmet Pierce, a spokesman of Insure.com, said his firm's research was not a scientific study but rather a “lighthearted view of fatherhood. It’s not that every dad conforms to this, but it gives a broad view of what fathers do.”

Dads are doing more around the house, but a shift from that 1950s mentality has been slow.

A study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics released last year found: “On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework — such as cleaning or doing laundry — compared with 49 percent of women. Forty-one percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 68 percent of women.” And a 2008 Gallup poll found that women are much more likely to do most of the household chores, while men are primarily taking care of the family cars and doing yardwork. 

But traditional family roles are being questioned. A report released Monday by Boston College’s Center for Work & Family found that those dads who choose to stay at home with their kids made “a conscious choice and commitment to be home with their children to the benefit of their families, their wives’ careers, and their own personal fulfillment.” And the center reported 3.4 percent of at-home parents are dads today, compared to 1.7 percent 10 years ago.

“Nearly all fathers are increasingly likely to experience active caregiving, and the result will require employers to adapt their thinking and their actions regarding who needs support to do so adequately,” said Brad Harrington, author of the study and executive director of the Center for Work & Family. “This is not simply a women’s issue.”

Folbre believes that gender responsibilities as they relate to household work are being “renegotiated” but there’s still some resistance and inertia when it comes to change. “We still have a really long way to go,” she added.

Here's a rundown on what working dads do at home and the value of their household tasks from Salary.com:

Warner Bros.

If you interviewed for a job as a customer service representative at one company you may be asked this question: "If you were in the movie 'The Wizard of Oz,' which character do you most relate with and why?"

“Why are manhole covers round?”

Most of us are prepared for standard job interview questions such as “What’s your biggest weakness?” and “Are you a people person?”

But what happens when you get hit with a bizarre and unexpected question from a hiring manager such as:

“How can I get to some gold in the middle of the Amazon in the cheapest way possible?”

This question was asked of a job seeker who interviewed for an associate project manager position at Google in Mountain View, Calif., and it’s No. 1 on the Top 10 list of oddball interview questions asked by hiring managers. The list — compiled by Glassdoor.com, a jobs website where people post their job-hunting experiences — was culled from thousands of questions submitted by job seekers this year. 

While unusual questions have always been part of the interviewing landscape, things have gotten increasingly weird in the employment trenches during the tough economy, said Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor’s career and workplace expert.

With more than 8 percent unemployment, some human resource professionals may think you guys are willing to put up with a lot.

Given that power seems to have shifted from the employee to the employer, Rueff said that some interviewers “take advantage of some people and there can be a little hazing that goes on. That’s not fair, but it is what it is.”

In many cases, he added, employers just want to see how creative you can be, and whether you can think on your feet and not get flustered by a curveball question.

His advice: “Put your best foot forward, roll with the punches and don’t get angry.”

He suggested talking out loud through complex and strange questions so a hiring manager can hear your thought process.

For example, if you’re asked, “Why are manhole covers round?” you should take a deep breath and think to yourself, “Why are they round?” Then, answer the question out loud in several parts if need be, such as: “They’re easier to move, or stake. And they could be round so they can’t fall through the hole.”

Bottom line, he stressed, you can’t prepare for such questions so don’t sweat them.

Or you can just write off hiring managers who ask such crazy questions, suggested communications consultant Mark Jeffries, author of "What's Up With Your Handshake?"

“If you’re asked how to get to a pot of gold in the middle of a jungle it’s time to say bye-bye,” he said, adding that employers are going through so many job candidates these days that they’ve “gone insane. Do you really want to work with a company that approaches employment like that?”

Here’s the rest of Glassdoor's Top10 oddball question list:

• “Tell me the restaurant where you dined last night?” – Ernst & Young consultant candidate (location n/a) 
• “Do you feel you had a normal childhood?” – Gentex mechanical engineer candidate (Zeeland, Mich.) 
• “If you can grow anything on a tree, what would it be?” – Red Frog Events event coordinator candidate (Chicago, Ill.) 
• “If you were in the movie 'The Wizard of Oz,' which character do you most relate with and why?” – National Contract Management Association customer service representative candidate (Ashburn, Va.) 
• “Would you rather be ranked No. 1 in the office and hated by everyone or No. 15 in the office but well-liked?” – ADP outside sales representative candidate (location n/a) 
• “If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want to have with you?” – Cisco Human Resources manager candidate (location n/a) 
• “Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it?" – Amazon product development candidate (Seattle, Wash.) 
• “My clock is nine minutes slow every hour. At noon, it tells the correct time. After how many hours will it again tell the correct time?” – Bloomberg L.P. financial applications engineer candidate (New York, N.Y.) 
• “If you had five red balls that contained four red balls and those red balls contained the original five red balls, then how many sets of sets of balls would I take to have a double set of red balls of varying sizes inside each next largest red ball?” – Goldman Sachs investment banking vice president candidate (New York, N.Y.)

 Have you been asked an odd interview questions recently? If so, what was it?

Andrea Mulhearn Brobst wants a full-time job.

Despite having a four-year degree in business, she’s only been able to find a low-paying part-time retail job since she was laid off “from a real job at the beginning of this economic mess,” she said.

And Kathi Nguyen has been relying on temporary jobs since she lost her full-time corporate position in 2007. “It's just an extremely frustrating situation,” she said. “I want full-time.”

Unfortunately, finding a coveted full-time gig has gotten harder since the Great Recession hit, and last week’s May unemployment data showed the problem is getting worse.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an uptick in the number of workers classified as “involuntary part time,” or those who’d rather be working a 40-hour plus week. The data shows the number of people working part time for economic reasons climbed above 8 million in May.

There are two types of employees that come under the involuntary part-time category: those who are working fewer hours because their present employer cut back hours due to business conditions, and those who just can’t find full-time jobs.

While the number of employees who saw their full-time work schedules cut by their existing employers stayed about even with last month, and declined 8.8 percent from last year; the number of workers who could only find part-time jobs rose about 12 percent to 2.6 million in May, and increased about the same percentage compared to the same month last year.

And since the recession began in 2008, the number of people who were part time because they couldn’t find a full-time position skyrocketed by 1.4 million individuals, or 117 percent, according to research by Heidi Shierholz, economist for the Economic Policy Institute.

“It’s probably more a story of job opportunities,” she said. “Desperate workers have to settle with what they can find.”

Companies are just not willing to take on many more workers in this economy, even though employers are starting to see signs of economic life.

“Employers are reluctant to add full-time, permanent employees and they’re looking for innovative ways to respond to business,” said Craig Rowley, vice president of human resource consulting company Hay Group.

The big question, he said, is how do they respond to an uptick in sales without adding fixed expenses such as permanent workers? “They look at temp workers and employing more part time employees,” he said.

While Rowley said companies will add more full-time workers as the economy continues to improve, the employment world is shifting to a more just-in-time model. “They are looking for a more flexible workforce,” he said, especially in retail and healthcare.

That flexibility, however, isn’t good news for workers who want full-time, permanent jobs.

“The constant fluctuation in hours from week to week means that workers face ongoing uncertainty about their earnings,” stated Nancy Kauthen, a sociologist and policy consultant in a 2011 report titled: “Scheduling Hourly Workers: How last minute, just-in-time scheduling practices are bad for workers, families and business.” “The financial instability alone can create tremendous stress for low- to moderate-income families who never know whether their wages will cover the monthly bills.”

What’s your take? Are you working part time but would rather have a full-time gig?

If you want to get a job in this economy, it's becoming increasingly clear that you better also be thinking about getting an education beyond just a high school degree.

The government reported Friday that the unemployment rate for college graduates fell slightly in May, to 3.9 percent from 4 percent a month earlier.

For people with just a high school degree, the unemployment rate increased to 8.1 percent, from 7.9 percent a month earlier.

The overall unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. That reflects even higher rates of unemployment among those who don’t even have a high school degree.

In general, it’s long been the case that people with a college degree have an easier time finding a job, and make more money, than those who have just a high school degree. But in the past year or so, as the job market has improved slowly and in fits and starts, the gap between education levels has become especially stark.

That’s a trend that experts expect to continue as the job market increasingly comes to rely on more skilled workers and has fewer options for people with just a high school degree.

“We’re not creating jobs in that arena, period,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

The number of college graduates who are employed increased by about 1.5 million in the past year, to nearly 46.4 million people as of May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number of people who just have a high school degree and are employed has actually fallen very slightly, to 33.9 million people, the government data shows.

The trends in the employment data aren’t surprising to Jack Downing, a managing partner with the job placement firm MRINetwork WorldBridge Partners.

In the past six months or so, Downing said he’s started to see such high demand for college graduates, particularly in fields such as engineering and information technology, that some candidates are fielding multiple job offers.

That’s a situation he said he and his partners hadn’t encountered in three years, and that is catching picky employers off guard.

On the other hand, Downing said, he’s finding that the job search is much tougher for people with just a high school degree, particularly if they’ve had a long bout of unemployment and may face the perception that their skills and experience are out of date.

Downing said one problem for people without an advanced education is that low-skilled jobs are increasingly moving overseas or being consolidated.

Another issue is that employers are increasingly asking for candidates with a college degree even for jobs that might once not have had that requirement.

“They have an option now, so they’re going to take somebody with a college education over somebody that’s not (got a degree),” Downing said. “It shows a commitment to themselves. It shows that they can learn, and most likely are going to be committed to career development.”

Downing doesn’t expect the preference for more educated workers to change, even if the economy starts to improve more quickly and more jobs become available.

Still, college isn’t for everyone, and Swonk said the changing job market does have options for people who don’t want to get a four-year degree. She said there is high demand for people who have done certain shorter-term, specialized training in trades like welding, or in fields such as aerospace.

The key is making sure you get trained in a field where there is demand for workers.

“You need, minimally, some kind of an education to get a job,” she said. “The question is, are you getting the right education?”

The unemployment rate for people with some college or an associate’s degree was 7.9 percent in May, slightly lower than for people with less education.

Of course, in this economy even people with a college degree are finding the job market difficult, and that’s particularly true if they are fresh out of college. The unemployment for younger workers is generally higher than for older workers, and many are struggling with high student loan debt loads.

Talking about Fido, or your kids, is a good way to bond during a job interview, but don't get too personal and try not to come off as a greedy stalker.

That’s the advice from communications expert Mark Jeffries, author of “Art of Business Seduction: A 30-Day Plan to Get Noticed, Get Promoted and Get Ahead” and “What’s Up With Your Handshake?” He was on hand Wednesday to take questions about job interview dos and don’ts during our live weekly web chat.

He was asked by one reader, Hannah, about what to say when an interviewer asks that common question, “Tell me about yourself.”

Hannah wanted to know if she should “stay away from personal family information and just talk about information that will help me get the job?”

While many career experts tend to suggest you keep personal matters out of any job interview, Jeffries offered a contrarian opinion:

“Apparently, if you ever are unlucky enough to get kidnapped, the advice is always talk about your family and your personal life, then it allegedly becomes harder for them to harm you. Same in an interview, feel free to tell them a little about you personally. Let them get to now you. After all they will have to work with you every day and you want them to like the thought of having you around – 80 percent business, 20 percent personal. (Also if you see a picture on their desk of a dog or cat and you have one - make sure you reference that you enjoy time with your pet - instant bond!)”

Mark Jeffries

When trying to bond with a hiring manager, doing a bit of digging about the person before you meet them is also is good idea, but don’t let on about all you’ve dug up, Jeffries advised.

“If you have uncovered an interest that you both have, you clearly need to reference it for that NBB ‘Non-Business Bond.’ However, you don't want to come across like a crazy stalker,” he wrote during the web chat. “So, here's what you do. Within conversation about yourself, reference how much you enjoy (insert common interest here) and wait for your interviewer to spark up and suddenly say, ‘ooo, I like that too.’ After this, you have to fake it just a tiny bit and feign surprise at such a happy coincidence. Result: ‘Wouldn't it be great if we worked together?’ Nice!”

Another reader, Titus, asked that perpetual question job seekers are often wondering and worried about: “I have always heard that it is a good idea to ask questions at the end of the interview,” he wrote. “What are some good questions to ask?”

On this, Jeffries stressed that all interviewees should always ask questions.

“It shows that you are interested in the job, the company and the opportunity,” he explained. “Just make sure your questions are never about salary increases, bonuses or vacation. You need to ask questions about plans, strategy, approach, culture, vision - you know all those things corps really love. Show with your questions, that you are going to truly fit in with the team and that the management will be able to get on with you.”

For a full transcript of the Q&A with Jeffries go here: 

You can also follow Jeffries on Twitter or check out his blog. And don’t miss next Wednesday’s live web chat about money and work with another expert who’ll be read to take on your questions.

AP

Sure. Celebrate now. Because tomorrow you have to find a real job.

Nearly 2 million college graduates will be heading out into the tough job market this spring, and even though job opportunities are growing, the last thing grads need is to make dumb mistakes.

Many employers are eager to hire newly minted graduates. According to a poll by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies expect to hire about 10 percent more graduates from the Class of 2012 than they did last year. 

But that doesn’t mean you’ll easily be able to land the gig you want, because with an unemployment rate above 8 percent you still have to make a good impression.

According to a study of human resource managers by The Center for Professional Excellence at York College of Pennsylvania , there were three mistakes young job-seekers make that were among the most damaging to their job hunt:

• not dressing properly for the interview (39.9 percent),
• being late for the interview (29.1 percent)
• and not being prepared for the interview, which includes not knowing about the company (25.9 percent.) 

"Recent graduates might be dreading the job market, but if they know the common mistakes people their age are making, they can hopefully avoid some job-hunting pitfalls,” said Josh Tolan, CEO of online jobs site Spark Hire.

“The biggest mistake recent college grads make is overestimating their degree and underestimating experience,” he said. “The degree is certainly important, and you’ve put in a lot of hard work to be able to move that tassel. But hiring managers and recruiters are looking for professional experience as well.”

Here’s a rundown of some other common mistakes grads make when they start pounding the pavement for jobs:

Relying too much on job boards: Job boards are no subsitute of networking, but don't tell that to most recent grads.

Larry Chiagouris, a professor of marketing at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business, has done his own research of graduates and has found that 55 percent still rely heavily on job boards rather than personal connections.

“Use of a job board is not a mistake. What is a mistake is misuse of job boards,” he explained. “What many students do is they fool themselves into thinking that spending 15 or 30 minutes a day searching on job boards and clicking on job to submit a resume will result in a job. Fewer than 5 percent of jobs are obtained from the use of job boards.”

Not singing your own praises: One thing grads have to learn pretty quickly is that they have to become their own best cheerleader.

“Given the fact that there are thousands of graduates joining the search pool with each commencement weekend, if you aren't able to articulate clearly and plainly why you are uniquely positioned to be the successful candidate, you will not be competitive in the job market,” said Mary Evans, executive director of the Career Center at Hamilton College.

Liberal arts graduates, for example, have to be able to convey “how their education differentiates them from the other candidates using real examples of demonstrated leadership, critical thinking, and writing, research and communications skills,” she advised.

Wasting your time on the wrong job: Sometimes graduates aren’t quite sure what job they want when they get out of college and end up applying for positions that just sound fun, or lucrative, instead of figuring out what suits their background best.

“Grads shouldn't waste time applying for positions for which they are not qualified — it's a waste of their time and the time of recruiters,” said Nancy Mobley, CEO of the HR consulting firm Insight Performance. “If the posting requires three to five years of experience, the company will want to see a resume that outlines that experience.  If the graduate doesn't have it, they shouldn't be applying.”

And sending resumes out willy-nilly is also a no-no, said Kristi Milczarczyk, senior recruiting manager of campus recruiting for The PNC Financial Services Group. 

"It’s good to have a few companies in mind, but new grads need to have a plan to keep their job search focused," she advised. "Same goes for applying to too many positions with the same organization."

Can’t let go of mommy and daddy: We’ve all heard about helicopter parents. But for those grads who want to look professional and persuade a hiring manager to hire them, they probably want to leave mom and dad out of it.

“I am hearing from employers who refuse to hire another recent graduate because they have encountered too many with parents who are overly involved,” said Tim Elmore, president of Growing Leaders, a non-profit that mentors Gen Y. “Parents are accompanying their kids on interviews, delivering their resumes and negotiating salary.”

His No. 1 tip to grads: “By no means should your parents be involved in any part of your job hunt.”

You may also want to consider leaving the nest. 

"Don’t volunteer that you still live at home with Mom and Dad if you don’t have to," advised Beth Gilfeather, CEO of Seven Step Recruiting. "Employers would much rather hire people who are out on an edge and have to support themselves." 

Not cleaning up your digital dirt: Younger job seekers tend to be more social-media savvy than their older job-hunting counterparts. While that can help grads, it can also be a liability if they’ve shared too much of their personal lives online.

“Social media posts and photos can hurt you,” said Lisa Marsalek, director of career development at Defiance College. “Employers are savvy and know to check places like Facebook. You want to make sure your online presence does not turn off an employer.”

How competitive is the post-grad job market this year, and what can you do to boost you chances of success? Below, college counselor Kat Cohen has tips for landing a coveted job offer that she shared on TODAY: 

Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum got a lot of heat earlier this year for suggesting not everyone needs a college degree, but he may have been on to something.

There are lots of jobs out there that don’t require a four-year degree and pay pretty well. And at a time when so many college graduates are drowning in student loan debt and many not finding the jobs of their dreams, bypassing higher education isn’t the dumbest financial option.

You can make over $40,000 a year if you become a dental hygienist or web developer, and the job growth for both occupations is robust, according to a study released this week by jobs website CareerCast.

“Even with a college degree, finding a good job in today’s economy is hard and can be very time consuming,” said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast. “Although those with degrees often earn more money, you can still earn a very good living without one.”

Indeed, a degree from a university will likely end up making you about twice as much starting out and in the long haul of your career. But the high cost of college may just be too much for some, not to mention the fact that many people never end up finishing a four-year degree.

About 70 percent of high school graduates do head off to college, but only four in 10 end up with an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by 25, according to a report titled “Pathways to Prosperity” by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. The study found only one in three adults actually end up graduating.

“Given these dismal attainment numbers, a narrowly defined ‘college for all’ goal -- one that does not include a much stronger focus on career-oriented programs that lead to occupational credentials -- seems doomed to fail,” the Harvard researchers maintained.

The CareerCast report includes such occupations that individuals can go into with some training but that do not require a college diploma. The list also includes data on expected income and employment growth for these jobs over the next decade.

Here's a list of the top 20:

1. DENTAL HYGIENIST

Average Starting Salary: $45,000

Income Growth: 109 percent

Employment Growth: 37.7 percent

2. ONLINE ADVERTISING MANAGER

Average Starting Salary: $40,000

Income Growth: 255 percent

Employment Growth: 25 percent

3. WEB DEVELOPER

Average Starting Salary: $43,000

Income Growth: 179 percent

Employment Growth: 21.7 percent

4. MEDICAL SECRETARY

Average Starting Salary: $21,000

Income Growth: 114 percent

Employment Growth: 41.3 percent 

5. PARALEGAL ASSISTANT

Average Starting Salary: $29,000

Income Growth: 159 percent

Employment Growth: 18.3 percent

6. STENOGRAPHER/COURT REPORTER 

Average Starting Salary: $26,000

Income Growth: 250 percent

Employment Growth: 14.1 percent

7. HEATING/REFRIGERATION MECHANIC

Average Starting Salary: $26,000

Income Growth: 158 percent

Employment Growth: 33.7 percent

8. SURVEYOR 

Average Starting Salary: $31,000

Income Growth: 190 percent

Employment Growth: 25.4 percent

9. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Average Starting Salary: $29,000

Income Growth: 131 percent

Employment Growth: 12.6 percent

10. INSURANCE AGENT 

Average Starting Salary: $26,000

Income Growth: 342 percent

Employment Growth: 21.9 percent

11. INDUSTRIAL MACHINE REPAIRER 

Average Starting Salary: $30,000

Income Growth: 127 percent

Employment Growth: 21.6 percent

12. COSMETOLOGIST

Average Starting Salary: $16,000

Income Growth: 163 percent

Employment Growth: 15.7 percent

13. HAIR STYLIST

Average Starting Salary: $16,000

Income Growth: 163 percent

Employment Growth: 15.7 percent

14. TAX EXAMINER/COLLECTOR 

Average Starting Salary: $30,000

Income Growth: 207 percent

Employment Growth: 7.3 percent

15. SALES REPRESENTATIVE (WHOLESALE) 

Average Starting Salary: $27,000

Income Growth: 304 percent

Employment Growth: 15.6 percent

16. CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY OPERATOR

Average Starting Salary: $26,000

Income Growth: 173 percent

Employment Growth: 23.5 percent

17. ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN 

Average Starting Salary: $34,000

Income Growth: 138 percent

Employment Growth: 1.9 percent

18. ARCHITECTURAL DRAFTER 

Average Starting Salary: $30,000

Income Growth: 140 percent

Employment Growth: 3.2 percent

19. TEACHER’S AIDE 

Average Starting Salary: $17,000

Income Growth: 112 percent

Employment Growth: 14.8 percent

20. SEWAGE PLANT OPERATOR 

Average Starting Salary: $25,000

Income Growth: 156 percent

Employment Growth: 11.6 percent.

CareerCast’s Lee advised that individuals do some research before deciding whether to pursue any of these jobs. “If you want to earn a lot of money without a college degree,” he said, “take a look at the amount of training you’ll need, then focus on a job that can still provide a satisfying, comfortable career.”

What’s your take? Do you think you need a college degree in order to have a well-paying, fulfilling career?

Allison Linn

Long-term joblessness can be one of the worst things a person has to go through, but job seekers have to brush aside the pessimism and take action.

Economy reporter Allison Linn has covered the labor market throughout the tough economic times of nation has faced in recent years and Tuesday wrote about how the long-term unemployed were losing benefits. She was on hand Wednesday to offer some words of encouragement and some reality checks for readers who tuned into our live web chat looking for advice.

One reader was down in the dumps about overall job prospects and asked:

How do you stay encouraged when you've been unemployed or underemployed for a long time, and what's the best response to prospective employers who ask, "What have you been doing during your period of unemployment?"

To that, Linn advised:

That is such a good question and something that many long-term unemployed people struggle with. The first thing I would say is to expect that any employer will ask about your resume gap, so come up with a good answer. If you've done any volunteer work in your field, gone to school or really had anything happen that may seem relevant or make you look eager and hard-working, that will help.

And, she added, “Don't dawdle on that answer, though. Address the elephant in the room and move the conversation toward what you can offer to the employer.”

Linn, who you can follow on Twitter, took on topics ranging from updating your job skills to work-at-home scams.

You can view the entire Q&A with Linn here:

Nanine Hartzenbusch / for msnbc.com

Jennifer Moss stands in the kitchen of her Boiling Springs, S.C. home on Thursday May 10, 2012. Her unemployment benefits recently expired.

The improving employment situation in South Carolina should be good news for Jennifer Moss, offering hope she can find finally land a job after a year and a half without work.

But in a way, it’s been another blow. The single mother of three kids is one of hundreds of thousands of long-term unemployed Americans who still haven’t found work - and now also find themselves without an unemployment benefit check.

That is because the falling jobless rate in many states has reduced the number of weeks jobseekers can collect unemployment benefits.

So-called extended benefits were eliminated Saturday in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. The same thing already had happened in April in states including South Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee.

That leaves a minority of states where workers are eligible for that last round of benefits.

The extended benefits provide an additional 13 to 20 weeks of unemployment payouts on top of other extra payments that were made available as part of federal legislation passed in the aftermath of the worst recession in decades. The full package gave some jobseekers up to 99 weeks of unemployment payments.

The precise benefits depend partly on the unemployment rate by states, and in many states the rate has been moving down.

For example, California has one of the nation's highest jobless rates at 11 percent, but that is down from 11.9 percent in August. South Carolina's rate of 8.9 percent has fallen from 10 percent last October.

Nanine Hartzenbusch / for msnbc.com

Moss stands outside her home with her three children, from left, Jami Moss, 5, Josh Moss, 6, and Jenna Moss, 9. A single mother, she's worked hard to hold onto her home during her long stint of unemployment.

Moss, who lives in Boiling Springs, S.C., lost her job doing clerical work and flight scheduling for a small corporate flight department in October of 2010, the same week her divorce was finalized. She had worked in hospitality and other fields, and she’d never had trouble finding a job before.

The weak economy made everything different. Since losing her job, Moss said she’s applied for countless jobs and had maybe 10 job interviews, but nothing has worked out.

“There are many sleepless nights where at 2 or 3 in the morning I might be on a website … applying for jobs,” said Moss, who is 40.

To support herself and her three kids under age 10, Moss has relied on unemployment benefits and SNAP, also known as food stamps. She’s also enrolled in a government program that is helping her cover her mortgage payments.

But Moss received her last unemployment benefit May 1, after South Carolina became one of the states to lose extended benefits because of a dip in the unemployment rate. Her mortgage benefit also is set to expire this summer.

“I’m hopeful that the job will be forthcoming very soon, with everything that I’ve got out there,” she said. “But I’m not above doing what’s necessary, meaning a yard sale or selling jewelry or things of that nature.”

Beyond South Carolina, other states, including Alaska, Indiana and Oklahoma, have recently cut back unemployment benefits even further because those states’ unemployment rates have improved. In Indiana and Alaska, jobseekers are eligible for a maximum of 47 weeks of unemployment assistance, while in Oklahoma the maximum amount is now 34 weeks. The Oklahoma jobless rate is 5.4 percent according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but Indiana's rate is 8.2 percent, about the same as the 8.1 percent national average, and Alaska's is still elevated at 7 percent as the economy recovers slowly.

Nationwide about 12 million people are out of work and actively seeking a job. About 5.1 million of those are considered “long-term unemployed,” meaning they have been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer.

What’s more, one big reason the unemployment rate has been falling is because many people are giving up on finding a job or not entering the labor force to begin with. People not actively seeking a job are not counted as unemployed by the BLS.

“We’re adding jobs, but just enough to keep up with growth in the normal working-age population, not enough to start really putting the backlog of unemployed workers back to work,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, which focuses its research on low- and middle-income workers.

The labor force participation rate, or the percentage of Americans over age 16 who are either working or looking for work, fell to 63.6 percent on April. That’s the lowest level in more than three decades.

Moss, in South Carolina, has relied on her religious faith and church for emotional support, and said that both her and her ex-husband’s family have helped out with some expenses, such as birthday parties for the kids.

With money so tight, Moss said she and her kids joke about how they’ll get the Polly Pocket toys and other things they want when the family wins the lottery.

Of course, Moss isn’t even buying any lottery tickets these days.

“No, Lord no,” she said. “There’s not even enough pennies to roll together to get a lottery ticket.”

Many are in the same boat. At least 200,000 people will lose their last set of unemployment benefits because of the most recent wave of expirations in May, on top of about 130,000 who lost benefits in April, the National Employment Law Project estimates.

Claire McKenna, a policy analyst with NELP, which advocates for the unemployed, said some who lose eligibility for extended benefits may still qualify for 10 more weeks of payouts if they meet certain criteria.

But many people will find themselves without a job or unemployment check.

Dan Maloney, 41, has a law degree, an MBA and years of experience in the insurance industry, and yet he’s been without a job since June of 2010.

Maloney, who lives in Dover, N.J., said that in his specialized field, he’s found fierce competition for the few available jobs.

He thinks employers may see his degrees and experience and think he’s overqualified.

Some days he regrets getting his advanced education. Other days Maloney admits he just feels worn down. His unemployment benefits will expire at the end of the month.

“You definitely hit a point where it becomes – you feel defeated,” he said. “There are days you want to give up.”

Mary Rojas, 43, also has an advanced education and speaks several languages. She said she lost her job doing customer service for Spanish-speaking customers at a law firm in Fort Lauderdale in late 2010 and hasn’t been able to find a job since.

Her unemployment benefits are set to expire this month.

Rojas, who lives in Pompano Beach, Fla., found out she was pregnant soon after losing her job, and she said that made it hard to land a job.

Her baby is now eight months old, and she still has had no luck finding something that pays enough to cover the cost of child care for her baby and her six-year-old. She estimates she has applied for 200 or 300 jobs.

In April, her family received another blow when her husband, a chef, lost his job.

One day last week, the couple was shopping for groceries and fretting about how they would get enough money together to pay the rent.

“I’m in tears, honestly, just wondering how we’ll get that amount,” she said.

But Rojas said she was still holding out hope that her degrees and work experience will eventually land her a job.

“I don’t want to give up,” she said.

Just as speed dating adds more stress to the search for a mate, speed interviewing is sure to make the job hunt more tense.

Yes, speed interviewing.

In at least one extreme example, workers are being given just one minute to sell their skills to a hiring manager. If they fall short, they are out the door.

That’s the approach MediConnect Global has been taking with its interview process. Even though it may sound like a nightmare for some job seekers, it has worked out great for the medical records company and some lucky employees who passed the test.

When Zane Davis, 34, a client services representative, interviewed at Mediconnect two years ago, he was told before the meeting that he’d have less than a minute to pitch himself to a panel of company managers. “I had never heard of a company doing these speed interviews,” he said.

Davis, who had been a welder and was looking to change careers, said, “They wanted to know why they should hire me within 30 seconds or so.”

When he got to the company’s offices in Salt Lake City, Utah, there were 12 other job candidates waiting for the quick why-you-should-hire-me interview spiel. He recalled everyone else had flashcards they were studying, but he decided to focus on being confident and highlighting the skills he could bring to the table.

“I don’t remember what I said, but it worked,” he said. The company called him back for about five minutes of follow-up questions that day, and about a week later he was offered the job. “It’s kind of a nerve-racking experience, and very humbling.”

While quick back-to-back, rapid-fire interviews with multiple candidates have been a fixture at job fairs, tactic is unusual within the  confines of company offices.

Many job seekers have reported a growing trend in the opposite direction, with employers putting applicants through endless hours of interviews. (I recently wrote about the phenomenon.)

“We have not received much pick-up amongst our clients in regards to speed-dating type interviews,” said Bob Kovalsky, senior vice president for Adecco Staffing. “The process that the majority of our clients uses is one that’s a bit more comprehensive.”

But using the speed-dating type format is not unheard of.

Booz Allen Hamilton uses “a technique where candidates can go from table to table to meet with interviewers who represent differing capabilities of the firm,” said James Fisher, a spokesman for the consulting firm.  “This helps us ensure that we’re making the best match of candidate skills and job opportunities.” 

In a post on the jobs website Glassdoor, one anonymous job seeker likened it to "speed dating."

“I don’t know that we would use the term ‘speed dating,’” Fisher said.

In situations where employers want to churn through lots of applicants quickly, some hiring managers are using the tactic, said Jay Meschke, president of recruiting firm EFL Associates.

He’s not convinced, however, it’s a smart move. “Sure people want applicants to meet with as many people as possible in a short amount of time, but what can you learn in a few minutes?”

Quite a lot, according to MediConnect CEO Amy Rees Anderson.

About two years ago, she heard about speed dating and thought it might be a great way to review many job applicants in a short time. While she began by giving candidates just 30 second to pitch themselves, she ultimately decided one minute was best.

“The purpose of that minute is to get a sense of their confidence, personality, ability to represent themselves,” she said.

Before the candidates make their brief presentations, the company has them complete skills, IQ and personality tests. “By the time they come for the interview we’ve got a pretty good profile of them,” she explained.

Sometimes applicants are nervous, she said, but the managers don’t hold that against them. Too much confidence can get you booted. “Someone that came in was so overly aggressive about why we should hire him, and when his time was up he refused to leave,” she said.

Two memorable applicants, she said, did something out of the ordinary. One candidate brought in 5-hour Energy drinks because he thought the managers conducting the interviews might be tired. And another applicant pulled out a huge stack of dollar bills, laid them on the table before his pitch, and picked them up when he left. “It caught our attention, made us remember him,” she said.

Verisk Analytics Inc. bought MediConnect in March. Officials from the parent company recently asked Anderson to walk them through the speed-interviewing process because they’re considering expanding the technique.

It’s not just about the words they say, or how creative they are, Anderson said. “You get a sense of the person,” she said. “They come in and tell us about themselves.”