The good news is that a broad range of employment opportunities are expected to open up nationwide, says Joanie Ruge, senior vice president at Adecco North America, a staffing company based in Melville, N.Y. The bad news: It's likely that they won't start opening up until the second half of this year. "Unfortunately, it's going to take some time for us to see the trickle effect," she says. "It's not instant."

The Wall Street Journal spoke to Ruge about the kinds of new jobs are on the horizon and what unemployed professionals can do in the meantime.

Ruge reported that industries most likely to offer career prospects from the stimulus are engineering, manufacturing and construction, information technology, and health care. Jobs are predicted to be evenly distributed throughout these industries and across all job levels, as well as jobs in infrastructure. For example, in construction, workers will be needed to build bridges, but engineers will also be needed to design them and project managers to oversee those projects. Ruge estimates about 3.5 million jobs will be created over a span of one to two years.

Regarding job openings available now, Ruge stated most are available for college-educated workers. At Adecco, there are 1,500 positions in the mortgage field, over 1,400 positions in engineering and IT, and about 1,000 openings today for finance and accounting jobs, most midlevel positions. She says that Demand is especially strong for IT professionals with government security clearances.

Ruge offered these tips for people who aren't qualified in those (stimulus job) areas:
* Be flexible and open-minded with industries, location and even compensation.
* Look for temporary, project-based work by contacting an employment agency like Adecco.
* Realize these jobs offer excellent opportunities to network and learn a new skill or industry, and you can still interview for permanent jobs.
* Contract employment is for all people with skill sets and at all career levels, and there are opportunities in all industries and professions.

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