Job Hunt: 3 Success Stories

Last month, employers cut only 11,000 jobs — totally the Great Recovery we've been waiting for. OK, maybe not so much (unemployment is still at 10%, down from 10.2% a month prior), but it certainly beats a few months back when we were hemorrhaging hundreds of thousands of positions per month in the U.S. It was brutal. Job losses appear to be tapering off. And some are actually finding work: legitimate, full-time, even with benefits in some cases.

MainStreet wanted to speak with some of these mythical new hires, but catching one of them for an on-the-record interview is a bit like trying to snap a photo of a unicorn or Big Foot. (Not only is the job market still brutal, but those who have been graced with offer letters are often unwilling to speak about it for fear of spoiling a good thing before it even begins.)

We found three brave souls, though. The first, Kristin Davie, landed a job at a New York public relations agency. How’d this 22 year old recent Marist College grad do it? “I tried my best to remain active after graduation,” she explained, adding that fluency with social media applications and writing guest posts for popular blogs such as EduInReview and What Would Dad Say helped get her name out there — and also allowed her to build up a portfolio of work. Her social media background is especially valuable to employers these days.

Another recent hire and Stanford grad, Sean McGraw, 44, found a full-time position at MyLawsuit.com, which is an online marketplace where users can find qualified lawyers willing to work on contingency. How’d he land that? McGraw used Jobnob.com, a site which lets “startups who do not have funding offer alternative compensation jobs. [That] could be reduced rates, equity, part-time work, etc. The more mature companies who have funding or are profitable offer full time regular jobs," according to company co-founder Julie Greenberg.