Career Spotlight for this week: Market Researchers – $59,000/year, with expected 10-year job growth of 20%. More about other careers in Job-Hunt’s Career Changers’ Guide.

And, three great new articles were added to Job-Hunt this week:

• Military Veteran-Friendly Employers – article by Job-Hunt’s Veterans’ Job Search Expert Diane Hudson Burns.
• Handling Puzzle Interviews – article by Job-Hunt’s Job Interviewing Expert Laura DeCarlo.  
• Online Salary Surveys & Your New Job – blog post by Job-Hunt’s Online Job Search Expert Susan P. Joyce.   

Don’t forget to visit Job-Hunt’s  Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group. Introduce yourself to the Group by telling us the job you want and the location.  And join in the Discussions, check out the Jobs, and review the News.

1.  Carol McClelland, author of the new Dummies Guide to Green Careers, will continue and expand Job-Hunt’s Green Jobs Job Search Guide section, and

2.  Mark Cohen, experienced HR Manager, will answer your questions in Job-Hunt’s brand new “Ask the HR Manager” section.

Three great new articles were added to Job-Hunt this week:

• Expanding Your Local Green Network – article by Job-Hunt’sGreen Jobs Job Search Expert, Carol McClelland.
• How Do I Get a Reference from my Boss? and Can I Negotiate My Severance Package? – answers from Job-Hunt’s HR Expert, Mark Cohen inAsk the HR Manager section.
• More Than Just Numbers – article by Barbara Safani, Job-Hunt’s Finance Industry Job Search Expert.
• Career Change: Charting a New Course for Your Career – research and exploration to determine the best direction, the newest blog post by Susan P. Joyce, Job-Hunt’s Online Job Search Expert.

Career Spotlight for this week: Salary & Benefits Specialist – $50,000/year, expected 10-year job growth is 18%. More about other careers in the Career Changers’ Guide.

• Finding a Work-From-Home Job – article by Nancy Collamer, Job-Hunt’s Lifestyle-Friendly Careers Expert.
• Preparing for the Economy to Rebound – article by Dr. Jan Cannon, Job-Hunt’s Mid-Life Careers Expert.
• Career Change for Academics – article by Kate Duttro, Job-Hunt’s Academic Careers Expert.

Career of the Week: Legal Assistant/Paralegal – $22.88/hour average wage, expected 10-year job growth is 22%.  More about other Careers…

Three great new articles were added to Job-Hunt this week: Susan Guarneri’s first article on Career Assessments, Diane Hudson Burns, Job-Hunt’s Veterans’ Job Search Experts, and Erin Kennedy, CPRW, Job-Hunt’s Marketing & Sales Expert:

• Choosing a Career Assessment – article by Susan Guarneri, Job-Hunt’s Careers Assessments Expert.
• Military vs. Civilian Cultures – article by Diane Hudson Burns, Job-Hunt’s Veterans’ Job Search Expert.
• Preparing for a Sales Interview – article by Erin Kennedy, CPRW, Job-Hunt’s Marketing & Sales Job Search Expert.

Career of the Week: Health Services Manager – $73,000 median annual income, expected job growth rate is 16%. More about other Careers…

With fewer people able to afford buying new homes and foreclosure rates up, the market has become saturated with properties. This has severely decreased the need for new projects, which has had an adverse affect on construction jobs.

One hope for the federally appointed stimulus funds was that they would increase hiring in the construction industry. So far this has not been the case. According to a recent press release put out by the Associated General Contractors of America, the stimulus plan has yet to have any real significant influence on the industry’s job market.

One of the reasons that stimulus funds have not created a large number of jobs in the construction industry is the fact that this money has yet to make its way outside of the transportation sector, according to the AGCA.

“While the construction portion of the stimulus is having an impact, it is far from delivering its full promise and potential,” Stephen E. Sandherr, AGCA chief executive officer said in the release. “With construction unemployment at almost double the national rate, it is disappointing to see so many stimulus programs getting off to such a slow start.”

According to Sandherr, there has been roughly $135 billion spent on construction projects in the five months since the start of the federal stimulus program. Despite this, he says that there has not been a notable change in the hiring and purchasing patterns of companies doing stimulus-funded work and those that aren’t handling such projects.

To illustrate this, Sandherr pointed to the fact that 36 percent of construction companies that have stimulus-funded work reported that they expected to hire more workers. This figure is almost the same as those who aren’t in the process of working on projects with this funding.

In addition to this, Sandherr noted that 36 percent of construction companies handling stimulus related projects are planning to purchase new equipment and supplies. This figure is somewhat lower than the 43 percent of companies not working on these projects that reported plans to buy such materials and equipment during the same time frame.

According to Sandherr, some of the areas of the construction industry that have lost jobs and need the most help are not related to transportation. At this time, he believes that while the money is not creating new jobs, it is helping companies to save already existing positions. To support this, he said that 60 percent of construction firms working on stimulus related projects have reported that they have been able to save jobs or retain workers as a result of the federal money.

According the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9.5 percent of the nation’s population was unemployed in June. This figure is now 3.9 percent higher than it was during the same month in 2008.

But hope may be on the way, at least for upper level management jobs. According to a recent press release, the CareerCast.com and JobSerf Employment Index, which measures online recruitment activity for managerial positions across the country, experienced yet another increase.

The number of available job listings for C-level, VP, Director and managerial positions rose for the third month in a row during July. During the month the Index saw the largest increase it’s had since January of 2008.

According to the release, the number of listed jobs online for these positions increased by 17.8 points. This rise follows June’s increase of 3.8 points and May’s gain of 15.2 points. In July, the number of executive and management-level jobs had an index value of 78.2. This shows drastic improvement from April’s Index value of 41.4 points.

Despite the rising unemployment, the release went on to say that white-collar job seekers are seeing “more opportunities than since the beginning of the downturn last fall.”

Of those jobs monitored by the Index, positions for all levels of management increased by 20 points. Jobs for VP-level candidates saw a rise of 14 points, while C-level management positions grew by 7 points.

The area found to have the largest number of jobs posted online for this level of employment was Washington, D.C. The nation’s capital had one-and-a-half times as many jobs available as the second place metro area, Boston. The remainder of the top five areas for managerial jobs were Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.

When the results were broken down by region, the West was found to have the strongest gain in management positions, going from 55.9 points to 75 points. Despite this 19.1 point gain, it is still behind the Northeast, which climbed to 18.9 points to stand at 87.5 points, an the Southeast, where there was a 15.9 point gain. Currently, the Southeast stands at 80.3 points. The Midwestern region continues to struggle, regardless of gaining 11.5 points, with an Index value of 72.4 points.

“While all regions saw a rise in hiring, cities with the lowest hiring levels are concentrated in the Midwest, Southwest and Florida,” JobSerf’s Chairman Jay Martin said in the recent press release. “Although the Index is still 22 points lower than it was a year ago, the gap is slowly closing. We are encouraged at both the direction and magnitude of July’s gain. It shows the positive recovery, which started in the late spring, is still continuing.”

According to an article by Reuters, state green power mandates and regional cap-and-trade plans on emissions have been useful in pushing local economies to begin converting from fossil fuel plants to green jobs.

A national climate bill that could soon be seen by the Senate would require utilities to generate 15 percent of their power from renewable energy. The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives.

Another $10 billion plan, the Clean Energy Deployment Administration, included in the carbon bill passed by the House would provide direct loans and government loan guarantees to alternative energy companies despite the failing credit market.

A good thing for those in favor of green jobs, passing climate legislation is one of President Barack Obama’s main goals. However, other lawmakers are becoming impatient with how long climate legislation is taking, afraid that many potential jobs will be sent overseas.

A successful example of how green energy legislation can be beneficial, New Jersey’s cap-and-trade plans are helping to provide jobs. The state’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – a 2003 plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants – has further helped more jobs to be created.

On top of that, tax incentives have helped New Jersey become one of the top state’s for solar power. This is impressive, as the state doesn’t have a lot of the natural resources that other states, such as Arizona and California, have.

According to an article by The New York Times, veterans who want to do green work are a benefit to both the employer and the veteran themselves. A few companies have taken note of this and begun helping veterans find green jobs. At the same time, many veterans have been touting the importance of going green.

For instance, former General Wesley Clark now serves as the co-chair for Growth Energy, an ethanol lobby group. He also recently joined the board for wind company Juhl Wind. Clark is a strong proponent of the need for energy independence and has had an influence on the military’s focus on renewable energy.

The Lucas Group is a job placement company that specializes in helping servicemen transition into civilian jobs. John Ward, who served in the Navy for 24 years, now works for Iberdola, a Spanish wind developer.

“For me, it was nice, because it’s not just a desk job, it’s a field job — and as a career naval officer, I kind of like to be out and about,” Ward said in the article, adding that he also considered management jobs at traditional power plants. “This one was just a little more exotic and a little more exciting.”

Ward found his position managing operations at a wind farm in Missouri through the Lucas Group. Many employers prefer veterans because of the military’s emphasis on safety and training.

“We love guys coming out of nuclear submarines (because of safety mindsets and equipment training),” Iberdola Spokeswoman Jan Johnson said in the article.

Veterans Green Jobs, based in Colorado, trains veterans for work in energy efficiency and other businesses. Bradley Morris is another military job-placement company that’s even planning a military hiring event specifically aimed at energy and renewables. Bill Scott, vice president of marketing at Bradley Morris, said the company also focuses on the importance of nuclear training.

“Many job seekers come out of the military with training that is directly applicable to civilian energy needs, for instance in the nuclear power sector,” Scott said in the article.

A recent report showed that the number of people collecting unemployment benefits for one week or more reached a record high of 6,271,000. According to an article by CNN Money, that means its taking more people longer to find jobs. But there are a few ways to put yourself ahead of the competition.

You should start by focusing on your resume and the ways you’re applying for jobs. Only applying on a company’s Web site or on job boards isn’t a good idea, as the number of online applications actually viewed by a human ranges from only 5 percent to 25 percent.

That’s because many companies use software programs such as applicant tracking systems to screen candidates. You can help yourself by placing certain phrases and keywords found in the job description on your resume and cover letter. You also can use online resume services that include things like videos, pictures and audio to help catch an employer’s eye.

If you’re using social networking sites to find a job, make sure you’re using all the tools available. For instance, instead of only creating a LinkedIn profile, join groups, post comments and actively update. On Facebook, search for job listings in Facebook Marketplace and message hiring managers directly.

Finally, if you get an interview, make sure you’re prepared. It’s easy to do research about job expectations and the company itself. Most information can be found online, specifically through a company’s Web site.

One way some companies are doing this it by manufacturing products in the United States instead of turning to low-cost options like China. A recent survey by AMR Research found that 10 percent of U.S.-based manufacturers consider political pressure a primary reason to manufacture in the country, an increase of 4 percent since November 2008.

According to an article by Reuters, part of that shift can be attributed to the recent passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which comes with the stipulation of saving or creating jobs in America.

“With the Obama Administration, there is more awareness about the need to bring jobs back,” Noha Tohamy, AMR vice president of research, said in the article. “This is driving some global companies to look at their sourcing strategy, and instead of going for low-cost countries like China, they are starting to either bring jobs back home to the U.S. or closer, to places like Mexico and Brazil.”

For instance, Intel Corp said last month that it would invest $7 billion during the next two years to build next-generation chip manufacturing plants. At the same time, Mexico, Canada and Brazil may benefit from the trend of “near-shoring,” or bringing operations closer to America.

The survey found the number of companies planning to increase such activity is five times higher than those expecting a decrease. Companies looking at their supply chain have to consider not just the direct cost of operations but also political factors and issues like product safety and failure rates, Tohamy added.

Product quality failures remain among the top risks to the supply chain, but more manufacturers now consider the slump in consumer spending their biggest worry. Of they survey respondents, 37 percent said they identified lower consumer spending as the top risk, while only 15 percent expect the risk to decrease by next year.