A new year brings new challenges and opportunities to anyone in a job search. This year, we job seekers are facing even bigger challenges due to the global economic recession.

"I'm in a new (or prolonged) job search, and I just don't know how to figure out what companies I should be targeting?"  Does that sound familiar?  There are many answers to this questions, ranging from networking to driving distances.  But today I want to quickly focus on a strong list of of firms that all job seekers should look into.

Most everyone can relate to hiding a job search from a current employer. But how can job seekers protect their identities from public abuse when the majority of online career and social networking websites require job seekers' personal information to sign up and for potential employers to find them?

It’s been several weeks since my last post, so I want to bring you up to speed on the progress of my job search.

To start, the economy has continued to make finding my next great permanent position difficult. Finding opportunities and getting interviews does not seem to be an issue (it's quite possible to find a job in a recession); it’s finding employers that are ready, willing and able to move to actual start dates that seems to be my problem in this recession.

Is there a time when a job seeker should stop trying to find a new job?  If your job search has been going on for months, maybe over a year, is there an appropriate length of time or some other condition when a job seeker should "put a fork in it" and quit?

It’s been just over a year since I officially started my job search.  Since then, I've been offered six jobs — three of which were cancelled due to the economy, just as the employer and I were in final negotiations.  I've also come in 2nd for nearly a dozen other positions.  Darn frustrating, let me tell you!  So in one sense, I’ve been successful in my job search: I have received several job offers, landed several contracts, and directly assisted a number of my peers in finding employment. But I have not yet achieved my own final goal.  I've analyzed why this is, and I’ve come up with four major issues that I need to address.

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Like you, I look at all the articles about layoffs, the financial crisis, the bailout, and I wonder, “How will I get through this?” If you are still working, there are numerous articles that explain how not to get laid off (here are 9 tips for taking control of your career in the face of layoffs, here are 5 more ways to protect yourself from a layoff, and this article explains what tech workers need to know about the financial crisis and their jobs). These stories are everywhere, but I have not yet seen what I feel is the most obvious way to prevent being laid off.