In a recent New York Times article, Steven Greenhouse takes a look at professionals returning to school and their reasons. As you might expect, many workers want to refresh their skills and catch up on the changes that occurred since they graduated. For the unemployed, closing a gap in skill levels is their best chance to get their résumés on the top of the stack. For employed workers, it’s a way to advance in the company and stay ahead of job seekers applying for jobs.

Greenhouse explains:

“Some people have worked at a prosperous company for five years and are eager to move up, or are unemployed and eager to reinvent themselves. Still others are in an industry where successive waves of downsizing have made job security seem shaky. And more of them are concluding that if there is an answer to their problems, it’s more education.”

Returning to school is not as simple as deciding to get any degree or take a few courses and see the job offers and higher salaries pour in. Continuing education students can earn a degree, earn a certification or take only the classes that interest them. The important thing, as Greenhouse notes, is to know what you want and to find and program that gives you the proper guidance. Not every industry is the same, much less every employer. A second master’s degree won’t give every person a boost, and in the end you could end up losing plenty of time and money.

“Any good continuing education program, [dean of the University of Minnesota’s college of continuing education Mary Nichols] said, takes an individualized approach to its students. ‘We’re not in the business of steering people toward things,” she said. “We’re in the business of helping people capitalize on their strengths and put together ways to build on their interests and passions.’

“Cathy A. Sandeen, dean of continuing education at U.C.L.A., suggested, ‘Look at trends in your field. Look at your current skills and what do you need to augment your skills to make you more relevant and more attractive in your field.’”

Greenhouse, Nichols and Sandeen make a good point that many job seekers forget. Education is a serious commitment, and unless you have plenty of time and money at your disposal, returning to school comes with tradeoffs. The time you’ll spending going to class (online or on site), studying and researching means less time with your significant other, family or DVR.

And you’ll need to pay for this schooling, which might be a difficult feat if you’re unemployed. If you are employed, perhaps your employer has a continuing education benefit that covers some or all of the cost. Either way, crunch the numbers, consult the financial aid department and look for grants and scholarships. Education is an investment, yes, but you want to be certain you’ll recover the cost of that investment.

For one of the interviewees in Greenhouse’s article, the cost was less damaging than not returning to school.

“Mr. Torres, who had been laid off from his job as a senior database marketing analyst at Scholastic, said that before taking the course, he had been getting many job interviews.

“’They kept asking me whether I had any Web analysis experience, any experience in search engine marketing, search engine optimization or mobile marketing,’ he said. ‘I had to say no, and that hurt my chances.’”

Fortunately, the time and effort paid off with a new job.

Judging from your responses to a recent post asking what reasons you’ve heard for not getting a job, education is a common response. Have you returned to school, taken online courses, earned a certification or mulled over any other education options recently? Let us know what you’ve done and what worked (and didn’t work) for you.

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Well, that’s cheery.

Young job seekers who have graduated from college or graduate school are struggling to find work. Some of these new job seekers are struggling not only to find the perfect jobs in their fields, but also to find any jobs that will cover their living expenses. It goes on to talk about the competition between these job seekers and baby boomers who are deferring their retirements.

“A quarter of workers postponed their retirement in the past year, with 33 percent of workers now expecting to retire after 65, according to a retirement survey by The Employment Benefit Research Institute.

“If they do manage to get hired, younger employees are often the first to be fired in layoffs. And when Millennials do land a job, it probably won’t be as lucrative due to intense competition for jobs. That means that this generation’s potential earning power is likely to lag over the course of their careers.”

Millennials are overqualified, from an education perspective. Yet, many of them lack the work experience needed for many positions so they’re not experienced enough. They can’t seem to win.

If you’ll recall, we recently asked you to weigh in on the overqualified debate. And you weighed in with passionate responses. Judging by your comments on that post, it seems that employers are turning away candidates who have too much education or too many years of leadership or just too many years in the workforce. They’re afraid you’ll jump ship the second the economy bounces back. By their logic, a 40-something year-old job seeker with 20 years of experience is a flight risk. Yet, as you readers have also told us, many baby boomers with decades of experience are being edged out by companies who want younger workers who are in tune with technology. But aren’t these younger Gen Y workers considered too inexperienced, as the Today article explains?

Judging by the comments you leave on the Work Buzz, Facebook, and Twitter, you’re frustrated with what you’re hearing from employers. (Or, in some cases, not hearing.) We want to know what feedback you’re getting and whether it’s helpful to you in your job search or if it only confuses you further.

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Here are the highlights:

• The number of unemployed persons decreased to 14.8 million
• Employment fell in construction by -75,000, in transportation and warehousing by 19,000, and in financial activities by -16,000
• Temporary help services added 52,000 jobs,  retail trade employment rose by 42,000, the federal government added 33,000 jobs (including 9,000 temporary positions for Census 2010) and health care continued to trend up by adding 14,500 jobs.
• The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to trend up in January, reaching 6.3 million. Since the start of the recession, the number of long-term unemployed has risen by 5.0 million
• There were 1.1 million discouraged workers — not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them — up from 734,000 a year earlier. 

Even though the Bureau of Labor Statistics job loss numbers could  were negative for January, unemployed Americans continue to be resilient in their job searches. In fact, 58 percent of those laid off in the last twelve months have secured new positions. According to an updated survey by CareerBuilder, 51 percent of workers who were laid off from full-time jobs in the last 12 months have found new full-time positions, up from 48 percent in June 2009.

Want to know how those people found their jobs? Watch CareerBuilder’s Jason Ferrara discuss the survey on First Business.

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In addition, about 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force last December, an increase of more than half a million from the previous year. Marginally attached persons are defined as those individuals who were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Have they simply given up?

“Unemployed people are facing some historic numbers and formidable competition. However, they need to pinpoint those areas they may be able to change, make a difference and increase their chances for success. Despite the odds, people are still landing jobs every day. Job seekers need to continually make adjustments, learn to run a focused campaign and never give up,” said Bob Wilson, managing partner of OI Partners-High Potential Inc. in Chicago.

If you are feeling the stress of long-term unemployment, here are some tips from Wilson and his colleagues at OI Partners:

Double-check your references: “Make sure that your references are telling potential employers what you think they are, and they are up to date on your skills and accomplishments. We suggest that our clients ‘groom’ their references constantly and determine in advance exactly what their references will say about them. Finally, use only those that will ‘sell’ you the best to potential employers,” Wilson says.

Be sure you are targeting the right industries: The health care industry has added 630,000 jobs since the recession began. Also, the financial services, manufacturing, and professional service industries are the most likely to re-hire people they have previously laid off, according to an OI Partners survey, indicating they may have cut back too deeply.

Increase your face-to-face contact: “Some long-term unemployed may be spending too much time looking for jobs and posting resumes online, and have not had enough face-to-face contact. Join networking groups, and increase your networking contacts by volunteering your services with civic, charitable, and religious groups. Continue attending professional association meetings, as well as finding out from your network what your target companies are doing in the marketplace,” Wilson says.

“You want to become knowledgeable in the areas of your interest. The often used term ‘networking’ is so very important. When you meet a contact and are able to tell your story, you don’t know who or how many that contact will be sharing your story with in the days and weeks to follow your meeting. That is why face time is key – be sure to keep your network up to date and informed. It is how jobs are being filled today,”  Wilson adds.

Use social networking Web sites to identify contacts within targeted companies and possible jobs that have not been posted or advertised: Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter are particularly helpful for finding inside contacts. “Work these electronic networking media to identify fellow alumni, friends, and former colleagues who may be internal contacts who can be helpful in getting your resume reviewed,” Wilson says.

Focus on the immediate value you can bring to an employer: “You may not have clearly communicated to potential employers what you can do for them right now and within your first three months on the job. Be sure to clarify your value proposition, including a performance pledge and a timetable for achieving results,” Wilson says. ” Employers want to find people who can help with one of three things: increase revenue, decrease costs, or mitigate risk.”

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Over at Novaurora Blog, Jason Putorti made a handy word cloudfor Obama’s speech. Front and center, sandwiched between the oversized text of people and America is jobs. Obviously, getting people back to work is as much on his mind as it is on the average American’s.

If you go to the New York Times site, you can see video of the speech and the accompanying text. Along the top is a timeline of the address, so you can see when he moves from one point to another and see just how much of this speech was about the job situation. At 1:43 into the speech, he first mentions our current (or most recent, depending on whom you talk to) recession and unemployed Americans. At 9:18 he references unemployment benefits. At 10:51 he continues his discussion of employment and continues until 13:50, when he begins to discuss his plan to create jobs. And it goes on and on–you can read the full text (sans video) here. The point is that the state of our union depends on jobs, and surely most of you reading this know that. If you’re looking for work either because you’re unemployed or want a change, you realize how much your career influences all other aspects of your life, and that affects everyone else in the long run.

Here are just some of the speech’s moments relating to jobs:

One in 10 Americans still cannot find work. Many businesses have shuttered. Home values have declined. Small towns and rural communities have been hit especially hard. And for those who’d already known poverty, life has become that much harder.

That’s why we extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans; made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who get their coverage through COBRA; and passed 25 different tax cuts.

But I realize that for every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from; who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response. That is why jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010, and that’s why I’m calling for a new jobs bill tonight.

We should start where most new jobs do –- in small businesses, companies that begin when companies that begin when an entrepreneur — when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream, or a worker decides it’s time she became her own boss. Through sheer grit and determination, these companies have weathered the recession and they’re ready to grow.

We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities — and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient, which supports clean energy jobs.

But the truth is, these steps won’t make up for the seven million jobs that we’ve lost over the last two years. The only way to move to full employment is to lay a new foundation for long-term economic growth, and finally address the problems that America’s families have confronted for years.

Last year, we made the largest investment in basic research funding in history -– an investment that could lead to the world’s cheapest solar cells or treatment that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy ones untouched. And no area is more ripe for such innovation than energy. You can see the results of last year’s investments in clean energy -– in the North Carolina company that will create 1,200 jobs nationwide helping to make advanced batteries; or in the California business that will put a thousand people to work making solar panels.

Obviously, it’s a bittersweet topic–for every bit of enthusiasm, it’s tempered with the reality of today’s unemployment situation. And it’s controversial depending on your ideological standpoint, I’m sure. Certainly not everyone reading this blog agrees with Obama–either with what he says or what he’s done. And perspective certainly comes into play, too. The AP released its fact check of the speech. Some points he made were labeled as false, others true. And one key jobs assertion? Well, that depends…

OBAMA: “Because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. … And we are on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year.”

THE FACTS: The success of the Obama-pushed economic stimulus that Congress approved early last year has been an ongoing point of contention. In December, the administration reported that recipients of direct assistance from the government created or saved about 650,000 jobs. The number was based on self-reporting by recipients and some of the calculations were shown to be in error.

The Congressional Budget Office has been much more guarded than Obama in characterizing the success of the stimulus plan. In November, it reported that the stimulus increased the number of people employed by between 600,000 and 1.6 million “compared with what those values would have been otherwise.” It said the ranges “reflect the uncertainty of such estimates.” And it added, “It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.”

So what does this all mean? Ultimately, everyone is trying to figure out how to get the job situation under control. You and I–aka regular people–want to know that we’ll have a paycheck tomorrow or find a new job when we want to. The president and Congress are trying to figure out how to make that that hope a reality (if for no other reason than to get reelected). We’ve also posted about the stimulus package of the last year, too. (See Stimulus package for job seekers and Great Jobs in the President’s Stimulus Plan) Everyone’s thinking about jobs–from you and me all the way up to the president.

If you watched last night and are reading this blog, jobs are certainly on your mind. So what was your reaction to Obama’s address? Let us know what your thoughts are on the job situation, his plans and what he’s done about jobs so far.

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In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged. Additionally, October’s number was revised from -111,000 to -127,000, and the change for November was revised from -11,000 to +4,000.

What does this mean for you? To get a better understanding of these numbers and what they mean, watch CareerBuilder’s CEO Matt Ferguson discuss the latest numbers and the 2010 job forecast on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

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So are there any bright spots?

Yes, actually. Health care added 29,000 jobs in October. Temporary employment services had steadily lost jobs in the beginning of the year, but in October they added 34,000 jobs. Companies have the need for more workers, but they’re cautious of adding new permanent employees. If the economy struggles again, they’d prefer to not renew temporary workers’ contracts rather than layoff a group of employees.

Two CareerBuilder.com experts were on TV to discuss the job numbers and the job outlook this morning.

First up, watch CEO Matt Ferguson on CNBC.

And senior career adviser Michael Erwin was on CBS 2 in Chicago. Watch that clip here.

You can also read the detailed, full report from the BLS on its site.

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We were waiting for two big announcements this morning at CareerBuilder. One was about Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics  – our corporate headquarters are in downtown Chicago — and the other was about September’s unemployment numbers. Well, the Olympics are going to Rio de Janeiro and the job losses were higher than expected.

The Labor Department reported that U.S. employers trimmed 263,000 jobs last month. While that number is slightly higher than predicted and the more than the number in August (201,000), it still is much lower than the numbers we saw in late 2008 and into 2009. The largest job losses were in construction, manufacturing, retail and government.

“We’re not going to see job growth until the second half of next year. And even when it does start to grow, it’s going to be slow,” said  Marissa Di Natale from Moody’s Economy.com in today’s New York Times Economix blog.

Because the economy is still healing, we’re likely to see some fluctuation month to month, but CareerBuilder’s recent survey indicates that less employers plan to decrease staff levels in Q4 compared to Q3.  If you look at the number of jobs lost from May 2009 through September 2009, that average (307,000) was half of the average we saw from November 2008 to April 2009 (645,000). 

While the national unemployment rate hit 9.8% in September, there are areas in the country where that rate is much lower and much higher. If you’re thinking of relocating to greener (as in money) pastures for work, take a look at this interactive map from Forbes. It breaks down the unemployment rate of every county in the United States. Did you know the unemployment rate in Bismarck, N.D. is 3.3%?

Although the rising unemployment rate may mean more candidates applying to jobs, attendees at a recent conference for recruiting professionals discussed how this influx of candidates has not made it any easier to find the right, qualified talent for available positions. Translation: As a job seeker, you might be down, but you’re definitely not out. You just need to be competitive – something you should practice in your job search no matter the market.

What you want to do is continue to market yourself aggressively and look to those areas that are hiring today.  Currently, we’re seeing a demand for workers in health care, sales, customer service, technology and education.

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I was flipping through the pages of Pink Slipped: A post-layoff survival guide and figured one chapter in particular would be helpful to you. Edie Milligan Driskill, CFP, CLU, author of Pink Slipped, devoted an entire section to post-layoff identity.

The answers to the following two questions will tell us a lot:

1. Who were you the day before you lost your job?

2. Who are you today?

If the answers to those two questions are not exactly the same, then you’ve got some work to do.

Driskill goes on to explain that the title on your business card (real or imaginary) doesn’t mean that’s actually who you are. It can. As she says in the book, an accountant is an accountant as long as he or she has a CPA license. Whether or not the accountant is on someone’s payroll is irrelevant. Or another example she gives is that a physical therapist who gets a job as a waitress in order to make ends meet might not consider herself a waitress. She’s a physical therapist working as a waitress.

That might sound a bit hokey to some of you, but think about it this way:

One strategy that employers use to encourage people to be productive and stay around is to find titles that will feed their egos and give them status within the organization. If you were handed one of those titles and you bought into it, you forgot that it was a rental contract. Believing that you actually owned it will cause you to have an overall harder time dealing with the loss of your employment.

Losing a job is hard on all aspects of your life. It’s an unwelcome surprise. It affects your finances. You’re reminded of it daily when you’re at home instead of at work. If you connected yourself more to the idea of the job than the actual work you like doing, you’re going to have a hard time coping and a hard time finding work. Job titles differ from company to company, as do the responsibilities and expenses that come with them. Your job search needs to encompass a range of options that let you do what you like (and hopefully make what you’d like). That’s why we like to recommend job seekers:

• Search for jobs by skills, not just by titles
• Know what they’re good at and what they like doing so that they can find work that suits them–not just another job they hate like the last one they  had
• Know what they don’t want to do, because ruling out what doesn’t work makes it that much easier to find the job that will work.

Pink Slipped: A post-layoff survival guide is out now if you want to read more about handling unexpected unemployment.

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