Job Hunter's Bootcamp for the Unemployed

The new Labor Department's job forecast reports that hiring remains weak. Of the 431,000 jobs created in May, 411,000 came from the government's hiring of temporary census workers. Is it true that many of these temporary hires were debt-laden college graduates who couldn't find a job in their field?

If you're unemployed, or under-employed, why wait for next month's Labor Department report to tell you the obvious? The Old Economy is in transition. The most interesting stories are no longer about millionaires and billionaires, and celebrities who Twitter; they're about ordinary people finding creative jobs in the rapidly changing marketplace.

So, right now, at a time of economic churn, it just might be the right time for you to take your resumé and shred it. If you are currently unemployed, it also might be a good time to step out of the job line and get yourself aligned to the New Economy.

What's the New Economy? It's not the "Dropout Economy," a term popularized by Time Magazine. And it's not the "Transformed Individual," described by Patricia Aburdene in her book Megatrends 2010. Rather, it's the combination of both: the self-reliant individual who wants to live a live of meaning, prosperity and purpose.

Here's a statistic that underscores this emerging trend: 61 percent of Americans want to be their own boss. Are you one of them? So what would it take to become your own boss?

Take a look in the mirror. What skills, talents, and passions do you have to offer that someone else needs?

If you think you can't get a job because you are unemployed, think again. Are you worried because you just read a news story that said that some companies are ignoring all unemployed applicants?

Let's change the MINDSET here. Take time out to think of something you can do that can be offered as a service to others. Will someone hire you to do it? OK, now you're in business. Go ahead and give yourself a business name and a title.

Today, with the breakdown of business-as-usual, with students studying for jobs that may not exist by the time they graduate from school, with job seekers standing in long lines that lead nowhere, or offer no luck in finding employment, it's time for breakthrough thinking.

You can free yourself from "planned obsolescence" and economic uncertainty, when you take stock of your own skills and talents, then use your creative spirit to fuel your journey forward. Here's a story that may inspire you to take that first step. It comes from my new book, Parkinomics.

Sandra (not her real name) was downsized from her job as a geologist and mapmaker for oil companies and commercial developers. She loved her job and didn't think she could find any job as exciting as mapmaking. So, she became temporarily unemployed.

However, she did love to sew and knit. It didn't take long before she discovered the website Etsy.com, the "eBay" for users to buy and sell handmade goods.

To save money, she went to the local thrift store and bought a plastic bag stuffed with out-dated sweaters with top quality wool, for $1. She then went home and began unraveling the yarn, then re-knit it with an eye-catching design. Her designer sweaters now sell quickly on Etsy and she is thinking about expanding her line. Would she go back into the corporate world? Not likely.

If you could create a job that expressed your unique self, would you follow this path? With the right attitude and free of fear, you can create your dream job.

The transition to the New Economy begins at home, right in our own communities. To find out where you fit in, check out: Parkinomics. It includes ideas and links to resources.

Alexia Parks offers online tele-seminars for people in transition to jobs in the New Economy. With 61 percent of people wanting to be their own boss, she shows how to tap into your skills and passion to create a DREAM job that offers you a life of meaning, prosperity and purpose.