The hiring outlook for fall is looking cool and stormy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t locate work.

With the U.S. debt’s downgrade and worries about another recession taking root, hurricane damage and consumer skittishness, companies are not likely to hire in huge numbers. Job postings may be scarce in parts of the country, and service employers especially cut their hiring in August, according to the Society of Human Resource Executives Leading Indicators of National Employment. The monthly stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also have shown anemic job growth.

Yet you, like millions of unemployed individuals, are eager to start back to work. So don’t look just on Monster or at your local university career center – though don’t skip those either. Instead take “the road less traveled” as Robert Frost famously wrote, and find jobs before they’re posted. Here’s five ideas to get you going on the hidden job market:

1. Look for a new CEO or other senior leader.  This goes way beyond Steve Jobs at Apple Computer. More than 100 CEOs a month have left their jobs recently, Challenger Gray Christmas reports, with CEO turnover especially high in the health care and technology sectors. Each new CEO  brings in new people, new projects and new priorities. They may want their own team -  fresh faces around headquarters. Or they may need some independent contractors to help change the culture or inject some engagement and innovative thinking.

2. Search for earnings stars. Companies that are exceeding Wall Street’s expectations and growing in the United States, not just internationally, could be better bets for hiring, now or in coming months. This means companies such as Cisco, Dollar Tree and Nordstrom, which reported stronger than expected quarterly results. I watch for these at MarketWatch and in the New York Times; choose your own sites – including some local and regional ones. Watch for healthy private companies, those adding offices or new equipment or advertising in the founder’s alma mater football stadium. They may not reveal their financial fortunes directly, but you can see clues on their success in business weeklies, magazines or on some economic development blogs and sites.

3. Develop an opportunities antennae. Or find someone else who has one, and follow their tweets, their blog and their suggestions. These antennae are out there in front, sensing, locating new prospects and possibilities. Some of them work as journalists and some work in business development or sales. Cultivate this by looking three or four steps beyond today’s headlines and seeing the future changes, shortages and opportunities.

4. Walk around. Head to a business park or office building. Spend an hour or two going in and asking questions about expansion plans, potential job openings and more. Bring along a small notebook to jot down notes and some business cards or your pocket resume. Sometimes one business owner will send you to another that has recently said they want to add to her staff. Sometimes you will arrive just as they’re discussing the need for new crew. This approach, recommended by Richard Bolles in What Color Is Your Parachute, works – and it may develop your opportunities antennae too.

5.Befriend the connectors. You know the ones – the people who know everyone in the organization or whose Facebook friends number in the thousands. Some o them work as recruiters or in sales, others just used to be their sorority’s president or their hometown’s football star. Choose those who are gracious and generous with their contacts and by all means, start by identifying projects and problems where you could help them.

When your search includes face time and a variety of methods, not just one or two, your chances of success improve considerably.  So go where there’s possibilities and don’t slow down even if the economy does. Good luck!

Sometimes, especially in a summer job, we end up with work that sound like it came straight from a cartoon or second-rate musical.
You’re the law firm’s go-fer so all summer you pick up papers and food. Or you spend every weekend at festivals selling light-up necklaces and wands.  Maybe you buckle people onto a ride and say the same 30 word message over and over and over.
When the job winds down you wonder: How do I put this on my resume? Or: How can this silly job serve as a stepping stone to something better?
Start with this: Many people held similar jobs at some point. I worked at Cedar Point as a “sweeperette” for a summer in college – and these days, I spend a few hours a week at Mity Nice, smiling, scooping and planning for our next charity event.  Your future boss may have made fudge on Mackinac Island or spent a summer delivering puppet-grams.
Next look at your work carefully to identify accomplishments – future resume points – that could impress current and future bosses.  Here are some more ways to turn that silly job into a stand out, that sounds superior:

1. Exceed expectations Understand expectations, how your boss measures success. Then as you  track hours worked, also track the sales for each shift or the metrics that matter. What percent of people who talked to you purchased tour bus tickets? Chart social media gains – or the number of tulip bulbs planted each hour.
2. A wow project.   Ellen scooped 700 servings of red, white and blue Italian ice for Mity Nice to give out after the Jaycees’ Fourth of July Parade. She finished in less than three hours. We were impressed. She took photos of rows of ice and shared it on Facebook.  Sometime in the future, she may share it in a job interview, a great story showing her work ethic, willingness to take important behind-the-scenes assignments and finish them fast and effectively.  Create your own wow project.  If you can’t figure one out, ask your boss what extras would really impress.
3. Show tenure – and train others. If you’re asked to come back to work during school breaks or for a second summer that indicates stellar performance. If you’re assigned to train new staff, you clearly have a great grasp on operations.  A future employer will admire that way a cat appreciates catnip.
4. Expand your role. Much of what your boss does you could handle too. So after you’ve proved your reliability and intelligence, offer to take some things off her overloaded plate. Close alone one or two nights a week. Update Facebook. Look for tasks that sound important, but aren’t too much for your boss to hand off.  Better yet, get promoted or win a raise. Ellen, the super-scooper, earns more than she did at the start of the summer. In some workplaces, you could move up to assistant manager or lead employee.
5. Let praises ring. You’ve won accolades already and we hope more will pour in.  Save every bit of acknowledgment and praise, no matter the source. If your boss is more likely to voice her praise, ask if she will send you an email for your files – and future job hunts.
6. Be the connector. You connect  your employer and your friends, who become regular customers. Or you  bring together your boss and other women business owners. Introduce her to an app to save time or money. Solve a problem or create a new customer pool just by being alert and offering link-ups.
7. Sell your job in corporate terms. Yes, you have swept up trash at an amusement park or served Italian ice to 5-year -olds but those tasks demonstrated skills other employers want. Among them:  customer service mindset and an ability to work independently. You communicated effectively to peers and supervisors. You saved $3,000 a year. If you’re having trouble with this translation, find someone in human resources or a hiring manager who will take 30 minutes to help develop your list of transferable and marketable skills.

Sometimes it’s easy to see the simple silliness of summer jobs and harder to view the impact and value you instigated.  Once you start looking though, your role seems stronger and more resume-worthy.

Very few of us spend our days in a pharmaceutical research laboratory watching the reactions of chimps and apes for clues whether a wonder drug could cure Alzheimer’s. Fewer still end up taking home a super-intelligent young simian, as the scientist and co-star does in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Yes, this new movie by director Rupert Wyatt is science fiction and it’s far afield from our 9 to 5 experiences. Yet it contains lessons that may apply in most workplaces, and for anyone who’s eager to shine or move into a leadership role.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes offers some cautions on bending and breaking rules, both ethical and safety, and some insights on managing your ideas and team. Here’s five that I observed after seeing this film over the weekend:

1. Sell your ideas with confidence. Scientist Will Rodman makes bold assertions to investors about his first big drug, called AOZ-112. He gives them an enthusiastic endorsement of its potential – though it had barely been tested. He also masterfully convinced his success-driven CEO to test a second compound later in the film. Perhaps to sway him more effectively, Rodman, played by James Franco, delays sharing a crucial detail – the drug may make you smarter and more capable, not just reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s. It’s not clear how much time he spent practicing before the investor meeting, but I’m betting he received some coaching. The lesson: Prepare to pitch your ideas, and hone your sales skills.
2. Prepare for surprises. While you may never experience an angry ape breaking into your business presentation, you could suffer through many lesser disruptions and interruptions. Your laptop may freeze up; your assistant could be ill; a key decision-maker may run late or may be full of surprisingly tough questions. Anticipate what you’ll do in a variety of “surprise scenarios” and you’ll come off as polished and prepared, for almost anything. You may even want to develop an alternate script in case there’s a major problem or glitch.
3. Know your moment to lead. Caesar, the super-smart ape, mostly seems content to live with Rodman, though he clearly grows more restless and eager to understand the world as he grows up. Once he is imprisoned for attacking a difficult neighbor, he unleashes his leadership abilities. He wants to escape – and bring along the other primates who are badly treated and bored. He enlists the biggest gorilla there and gradually develops a plan and a following. You may never lead such a dramatic escape but you can show leadership in tough times or when others waver. And you can seize on opportunities to take charge and offer valuable direction. To do this well, though, you must win the confidence of your peers beforehand.
4. Move toward clear goals. Rodman wanted to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s, or a drug that would counteract its effects. Caesar wanted to create a home for himself and the other apes amid the redwoods where they could be free. They started with on a clear end in mind and stayed true to the goal – even when the scientist’s lab was disbanded and his project labeled a failure and even when Caesar was offered the chance to return to his human home. That make it or else mindset can prove powerful in achieving career successes – especially if you gain your boss’ backing on your goals.
5. Beware of blurred boundaries. When the lines between work and family and your life become too blurred you may never find a peaceful moment. Or you could lose your objectivity or your ability to draw distinctions between personal and professional pursuits, as the scientist seemed to. This can lead to problems including ethical lapses and lost credibility. In the movie, Rodman ended up helping himself to the experimental drug because he believed it could help his father. He kept conducting research from home without approval of his bosses – and that could have cost him his job and his credentials. In today’s complex, overlapping world, it’s important to have clear ethical standards – and a personal rules that give you space for a personal life unfettered by work or career. Even if you integrate work and life seamlessly, sometimes you need boundaries and limits on each.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes captured my attention for its mix of humanity and technology, surprise, planning, action – and workplace dilemma and lessons.  What lessons did you pick up from it? What did you think of it?