Even as an optimist I foresee at least two quarters of the economy declining before we might even begin to detect improvements – and longer on Wall Street. We see this already with daily announcements of major job losses across industries. However, despite the job losses, job seekers and businesses trying to remain afloat can find some sectors with a glimmer of growth and hope. It is a matter of looking for the opportunities and positioning yourself with the skills for these new roles.

From an executive recruiter perspective, October and the first half of November was dismal. Companies suffered ‘deer in headlights’ paralysis, cancelling, freezing or stalling any decisions about hiring until they knew more about what the economy would bring. Many companies put off lay-off decisions until after the holidays -- lay-offs we now see and will continue to see with technology companies not reaching 50% of sales quotas.

But there are pockets of hiring. We have some interesting new searches though companies may be slower to contract, interview (one client took two months to schedule the first phone interview,) and make hiring decisions. But they are still hiring for critical needs. Now look into my crystal ball for projections on the market.

Tech Sector
The technology sector is feeling the decreased spending across industry sectors though there are some areas of hiring. In addition to hiring in engineering roles, companies are upgrading sales and critical roles. Even while announcing lay-offs, companies continue to upgrade staff. Career coach Patti Wilson calls this trend “topgrading.” Look for this especially as we start to see more confidence for an upturn in the market; companies on the top will be building their executive strength.

As I look at specific areas within technology, wireless and smartphones are better poised to weather the economy. Anyone who lives on their cell phone or has teens that may be more immune to the economy will be slow to cut back on this essential service. And, with additional functionality making your phones, Blackberries and Treos take on more functionality of computers and televisions, we will continue to see new applications.

CIOs will be looking for opportunities to reduce cost and improve efficiencies. Top of their list is looking at virtualization and cloud computing. Virtualization reduces infrastructure cost by sharing resources of one computer across the network. Cloud computing, distributed processing across the Internet, follows the lead of Software as a Service (SaaS) in providing application processing with lower up front infrastructure cost.

ABI Research predicts that video surveillance and tracking will grow in 2009. Think more mobile workforces in healthcare that need to use Wi-Fi to link to medical databases or RFID tags for tracking movement of expenses equipment or inventory. Also look for GPS in cell phones and everywhere. Where these technologies generate a return on investment may see a better 2009.

I find it fascinating looking at the next generation of Internet users and how technology continues to evolve in our lifetime. What are the next applications such as LinkedIn Company Buzz or Slideshare and Facebook Notes (did you receive your friend’s top 25 random facts?) that make LinkedIn, Facebook Google and Twitter more productive for connecting and managing our lives? Talk to high school and college students to learn of opportunities.

Other Industries
TheLadders.com, a job board for $100K+ salaries, is also seeing increased hiring in healthcare. Think positions that require Wall Street-esque quantitative analysis for modeling in operations. Accounting also has a rise in quantitative roles such as forensic accounting and risk analysis.

Clean tech is still being talked about and may benefit from economic stimulus funding. Because there are few people with this industry experience – think when dot.com started ten years ago and no one had Internet industry experience – companies may be hiring executives with transferrable skills.

After spending time recently in New York City talking to job seekers I have to add some perspective on financial markets though even my optimism sees little chance of a turnaround in 2009. It’s all about looking for opportunities. With services disappearing from the large banks, where will mid-cap companies get debt or other services? Just like technology companies upgrading talent, boutique banks are looking at cherry picking talent once reserved for the top tier firms. Or, private equity and hedge funds may extend their services. Whatever the landscape, change is inevitable. With the change will likely be Sarbanes-Oxley type regulation and compliance. Companies will need to stay on top of trends and change brings opportunity.

I think it is a year for entrepreneurial ingenuity to add incredible shape to the images in the crystal ball for 2009.