Simply Hired Trends Graph

Simply Hired now has a trends graph that you can use to look at the ups and downs of the number of job postings for your occupation, based on the numbers available in their search engine results.

Generalist Librarian, Reference Librarian trends

Generalist Librarian jobs | Reference Librarian jobs

You can compare various titles, as shown above, to see what has increased, decreased, or what the fluctuation looks like. It can also give you a glimpse into when most of the jobs you are looking for are usually posted. Actually, for librarian, it looks like jobs are posted all year round, with very few extreme high-low periods, unlike, say camp counselor.

What I found most valuable was using it to discover how jobs are listed, i.e. jobs with similar skills and what the preferred title is for the job posting. This may not come as a surprise for anyone, but I found that I got more relevant searches if I used a number, as in Librarian 1, than if I just searched for reference or generalist, though those searches also returned relevant results.

The percentage of matching jobs refers to all of the results harvests by Simply Hired, which indexes lots and lots of jobs, so don't freak out because the percentages are low. This tool is only available on the US version of the site.

This is Agent Scully, and I'm Agent Mulder

Update: According to this post on Careers that Don't Suck, the overwhelming response to the FBI hiring initiative temporarily shut down their servers. If you were interested in this opportunity, try again later on in the week.

According to this article in Reuters, the FBI plans to fill almost 3,000 positions in a wide variety of professional fields, as well as special agents. I couldn't get into the job postings (said the servers were down) to check for other positions beyond the special agents, but the FBI Careers site is up and slightly active--you can apply for positions, but you can't see all of the occupational profiles--though that may change in coming weeks.

If the front-lines of law enforcement doesn't appeal, librarians have many of the necessary skills to work in intelligence and data management careers, possibly in some of the computer careers. This employer may not be for everyone, but, in general, the government may be a good choice for the graduating class of 2009, since NACE has indicated that government hires will increase by almost 20%.

It's not as cool as when Jennifer Garner helped recruit new CIA members, but a job with a badge has its own cachet for some, as well as the public service and all that.