If you are on the hunt, the “where to network” part is everywhere. I do mean everywhere.

Recently, I was in an elevator at a medical conference in downtown Atlanta and started up a casual conversation with a sharply-dressed man. Turns out, he was the perfect candidate for a position I was actively recruiting for. I placed him the following month into this position that almost doubled his yearly annual income.

Another recruiter told me of a chance encounter at a nail salon that led to a fabulous placement. While getting her nails done, the recruiter overheard a conversation between a customer and the manicurist and quickly determined the customer was a stellar candidate. An interview was set up and the candidate was perfect for a job in medical device sales in women’s health, a niche she had always had a keen interest in.

Or, what about this true story: Earlier this year, a new college graduate stopped into a Starbucks in San Francisco for a latte. She had been knocking her head up against the wall trying to find a quality job by sending out scores of resumes to online job postings. Like any other day, she engaged in a conversation with a complete stranger at the next table. You guessed it—that stranger was a recruiter colleague of mine! Yes, the grad was hired.

What would have happened if the person in the elevator had been unprofessionally dressed or non social? He certainly wouldn’t have gotten the position I was recruiting for.

Or, if the nail salon customer was dressed in sweat pants and wasn’t in job-seeking mode? Or if the college grad decided to surf the Internet and listen to her iPod instead of talking to the stranger?

Some lessons:

1. Try to be social—even in elevators.
2. Act and look professional—even at nail salons.
3. Know the Internet will never replace real-life networking.
4. Never wear sweat pants out of the house—unless you’re looking for a fitness trainer job. That’s also good fashion advice.
5. Understand that opportunities can and will happen when you least expect them…so always be prepared.

-Kate Miller

While the news implies the economy still has a way to go, the unemployment rate reported on religiously by the media is not the best indicator of the overall health of the economy. Actually, there is no single “best” indicator at all. Rather, only when these stats are viewed together can we get a more accurate picture.

Since the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, unemployment can worsen even after the economy starts to improve. In fact, the unemployment rate is usually one of the last indicators to improve after a recession ends and one of the slowest to worsen at the beginning of one.

Overall jobless numbers are a pretty weak indicator when viewed in a vacuum. There are reports such as hiring surveys and a number of more accurate economic indicators you may not even be aware of.

Take the Pulse of Commerce Index, or PCI. This indicator is targeted—it measures diesel fuel sales at 7,000 truck stops nationwide. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the PCI climbed 3.1 percent in April—the largest monthly increase in 10 years.

Why are diesel fuel sales so important? When industry is expanding, more products are shipped via truck. The goods being shipped by these trucks have a direct correlation with the expansion of the U.S. economy.

Then there’s electricity. Believe it or not, electrical output is a major indicator of growth in the services economy and commercial real estate sector.

The commercial part of a report that Edison Electric Institute publishes weekly increased 10.8 percent during the week of June 5 compared to the same week in 2009, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Bottom line, when more offices are being used—which require electricity—more people are working.

Technology is faring well, too. According to the latest Tech Pulse Index, which measures tech employment, software purchases and other trends, the 12-month growth rate is the highest it’s been in 10 years—25.2 percent.

As for employment, the Bloomberg Businessweek article says 18 percent of employers polled in a recent Manpower survey plan to increase staffing levels in Q3. And 67 percent of staffing firms plan to hire more recruiters, according to a recent report by Staffing Industry Analysts.

There are even seriously quirky indicators ranging from alligator farms to dry cleaning sales that can give us an accurate outlook, according to this story in Kiplinger.

The unemployment rate is an important indicator. However, it is best viewed with a wide-angle lens, not a microscope.

This placement underscores a sizable trend in recent months: A mass exodus from the big guys, and not just PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche, Ernst & Young and KPMG. As companies are hiring once again, they’re looking for accountants and other financial professionals. Meanwhile, the Big 4s are shedding jobs.

They’re shedding jobs not only because other companies are hiring, but also because large accounting firms have placed salary freezes and have increased workloads.

This creates a great environment for financial professionals looking for new jobs.

In particular, I’ve seen a heavy demand for SEC reporting. In recent weeks, I’ve seen a steady, upward increase in demand for accountants with multiple skills, though. In fact, I’m working on 92 direct-hire accounting and finance positions as we speak. That’s almost twice as many as firstPRO had the same time last year.

This week, I’m arranging 20 interviews. That’s more than I’ve seen in three years!

Despite my much busier-than-normal calendar, though, I wouldn’t say the market is robust quite yet. But I would say it’s been steady growth for several months. As much as I’d like to see an explosion of demand, steadiness is always a strong sign of great things to come.

Nationwide, the economy added 27,000 new healthcare jobs in March, according to recent data from Staffing Industry Analysts. That’s a 50 percent increase from the average monthly gain over the past 12 months.

Healthcare is often less affected than other fields during bad economies. But no field is immune. Between the recovering economy and trepidation over federal healthcare reform, healthcare hiring was negatively affected in 2009.

Things, however, are getting much, much better.

In fact, my healthcare vertical registered the biggest percent change in placements from Q1 2009 through Q1 2010 out of any other vertical at firstPRO—a 154.8 percent jump! Much of this increase was in temp-to-hire positions, a sign that employers are still shaky about hiring full-time workers. And economy-wide, early 2009 was dismal. But 154.8 percent is a great sign nonetheless.

I expect healthcare hiring—non MD positions at least—to start returning to “normal” conditions by the third quarter as the overall economy improves and as the impact of healthcare reform becomes better known.

All this and more is detailed in the brand new Inside Hiring Report—a quarterly intelligence brief from the recruiters at the front lines at firstPRO. Inside Hiring Report delves into nine key industry verticals, from healthcare and IT to legal and traditional hiring.

I encourage you to take a look at the report. It contains observations on what positions are hot, a Q2 outlook, intel for hiring managers, and some advice to job seekers.

I’m pleased with our Q1 results. Here’s to an even healthier Q2!

My name is April Fawcett Nagel, CEO of executive search and staffing firm firstPRO, which runs this site.

This blog, however, will not be about firstPRO. Instead, Inside Hiring will contain straight observations from our recruiters on the front lines.

Trends. Interesting stories. Analysis. Advice. Everything in-between.

Inside Hiring contributors run recruiting efforts for a variety of verticals—from accounting and IT to life sciences and sales. They’re the ones best positioned to give you the unfiltered scoop.

Every quarter, they also will publish Inside Hiring Report, which will contain a vertical-by-vertical run-down of hiring trends for the previous quarter and outlook for the next quarter. The first edition of Inside Hiring Report is almost complete.

If you’re in the business of hiring people, or looking for a new job, or just interested in hiring trends, you can sign up for Inside Hiring’s RSS feed.

I plan on this site being interactive. If you have any thoughts, feel free to chime in.

I look forward to your next visit!

-April