Companies Cash-Rich, But Not Hiring, Yet

Companies think like corporations, not job counselors eager to get America back to work.

What they're thinking now, reports Jia Lynn Yang at the 'Washington Post', is all about their stockholders. Many of them are currently cash-rich. But they are plowing those funds into increasing the share price of their stock. They're doing that by buying back shares.

When will they start investing that money into hiring? Probably, that will happen when the recovery has fewer uncertainties and corporations are less nervous.

How to prepare yourself for opportunity? Invest in yourself. That means finding where you can enroll in free or low-cost training in software, communications skills, and doing more with less. Just doing that lifts you our of the horror of the past few years and into a present with hope. Also, your resume will look better and you will present yourself with more confidence.

But don't count on the new normal having a lot of those full-time jobs with benefits of the old normal. More of you will be putting together a living based on multiple streams of income. Those could include a steady part-time job with some benefits, temporary placements from an agency, freelance assignments, and some self-employment.