Who's Hiring Now? Places that help people save money—or find jobs

Getty ImagesWhile headlines continue to report on the grim state of the job market, people are finding jobs every day. This ongoing series will bring you snapshots of who's getting hired now with the backstories of how they snagged their jobs.

This week's stories come from Coupons.com, an online coupon distributor in California, which is rapidly expanding, and Bottomless Closet, a nonprofit in New York that trains low-income woman in job interviewing skills, and which just added one new position. I liked these two stories because they show that job opportunities have a relationship to the news. The growth of Coupons.com feeds off of two big news trends -- everyone is looking to save money and newspapers are cutting pages. Another big news story is that volunteerism is up (both because of President Obama's call to action and the large number of unemployed people who are giving their time), so again, it makes sense to see new hiring at an organization staffed by volunteers, especially one whose mission is to help women find jobs.

Steve Horowitz, Silicon Valley, California - from a position at Google to Chief Technology Officer for Coupons Inc.

Timing: Horowitz wasn't looking for a new job when he was approached by Coupons.com, an online coupon company. From that conversation to his hiring took about 5 months.

The backstory: Horowitz was working at Google where he led the team developing the Android operating system and knew Steven Boal, the CEO of Coupons Inc, because their wives are friends and their kids go to the same school. Whenever they got together, the men talked about the industry and their interest in technology and gadgets. When Boal called Horowitz to meet for coffee one day, Horowitz had an inkling that their friendship was moving into "courtship" mode.

The lesson: Don't rule out getting hired by friends or acquaintances. In all likelihood Horowitz was being "interviewed" way before Boal ever called him for that coffee date. When I heard this story, I realized that on two separate occasions, friends had recently called to ask my opinion about a mutual friend being considered for a job or consulting gig. In the new less hierarchical world of work, we should all expect to be hired by our friends, our colleagues, even those we manage.

Jessica Land, New York City - from a position in corporate philanthropy to Volunteer Coordinator at Bottomless Closet.

Timing: About 3 months.

The back-story: Land was laid off from her job in early January and immediately started looking for jobs through all the usual means -- trolling web sites, working her network, following up on all leads. "I'd talk to anyone who would return my call," she said. When she saw the Bottomless Closet listing on Idealist.org, a site that posts jobs in the nonprofit sector, she knew she was a good fit; she had the right experience and had been a gender studies major in college. She put extra effort into her application, writing an impeccable cover letter and asking friends in human resources to proofread her resume and cover letter. It turns out that over 400 candidates applied for the position, 40 were interviewed by phone and Land was one of seven invited in for in-person interviews. Even though the competition was intense, a good portion of the applicants did not present themselves well, according to Kendall Farrell, Executive Director of Bottomless Closet. "If someone failed to address me or the organization personally, I knew it was a canned letter," she said. "And in at least a few cases, the cover letter was for another job." Once the interviewing team narrowed their candidates to those they would meet in person, Ms. Farrell says that certain things you could tell instantaneously when a person walks in the door. "I now believe that statistic that you make a hiring decision within the first 30 seconds of meeting someone," she said.

The lesson: When an employer is sifting through hundreds of resumes and cover letters, there is little room for sloppiness. And once you're in the door, you sell yourself within the first few moments.

For more about who's hiring now, listen to the podcast of my appearance on the public radio show, The Takeaway, yesterday.

If you have a recent job success story or you work for a company that's hiring now, please email me {heymarci@yahoo.com} a brief summary of your story so that I can consider it for a future "Who's getting hired now" post. For these stories, it is essential that both the job applicant and the employer are willing to do a brief telephone interview.