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Fred Wright and Tyrone Gatson live about 55 miles apart and worked as technicians for poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp. until they were laid off last month. But Mr. Wright, who lives and worked in Arkansas, is eligible for nearly twice as much in unemployment benefits as Mr. Gatson, who lives in Louisiana and worked at a different Pilgrim's Pride plant in that state, just over the border from Mr. Wright. Under Arkansas's more generous system, Mr. Wright can get $431 in weekly benefits, compared to Mr. Gatson's $284. He is also eligible to receive benefits for three more months than Mr. Gatson.

A very popular cultural activity that is actually very creative and one that brings people together and get to know and understand - Mr. and Miss freshers is a fun, entertaining and knowledgeable event. It is always a great way to welcome the more shy (since they are still new) and help them come out of their shell, show off to their colleagues what their strengths are, be able to know the other new hopeful and the most important is that, this is a great platform to motivate and boost the morale of the freshers by making them feel included and part of the family.

"When James Watson was 24 years old, he spent more time thinking about women than work, according to his memoir "Genes, Girls and Gamow." His hair was unkempt and his letters home were full of references to "wine-soaked lunches." But when Mr. Watson wasn't chasing after girls, he was hard at work in his Cambridge lab, trying to puzzle out the structure of DNA. In 1953, when Mr. Watson was only 25, he co-wrote one of the most important scientific papers of all time."

"NBC made two critical missteps six years ago when the network signed Mr. O'Brien to replace Mr. Leno in 2009, say management consultants. It's a bad idea to promise someone a promotion in order to retain him, they say, and so is naming a successor too far in advance. "

Julie M. Heup, an unemployed structural engineer from Slinger, Wis., recently attended a networking event where she handed a local employer two business cards: her own and that of her husband, Mark. Mr. Heup, a jobless supply-chain manager, often returns the favor. The two 40-year-olds never anticipated simultaneous layoffs. "I figured the likelihood of it happening at the same time was slim to none," says Mr. Heup, who lost his job three months after his wife did in November. That's why "we are supporting each other," he says.

The unorthodox gambits failed these job seekers-but taught them plenty about finding work, and could provide a playbook for countless unemployed Americans. Mr. Persky learned to become a multi-faceted entrepreneur. Mr. Williamson discovered why personal networks matter. Ms. Greco recognized the importance of targeted marketing.

"GARY, Ind.-Fifteen years after high school, the working lives of Tremell Sinclair and Phyllis Sellars have evolved very differently, largely because of a single decision. Ms. Sellars went to college; Mr. Sinclair didn't."

"At 29, Wes Swank has several friends entering full-time M.B.A. programs. Mr. Swank, a managing director at the hedge fund Hayman Advisors LP in Dallas, isn't joining them. He earned his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business at age 24, matriculating just a few months after completing his undergraduate studies."

"Victoria M. Holt, a senior vice president of PPG Industries Inc., quit late this summer to take command of Spartech Corp., where she previously was an outside director. "I hate to do this to you,'' she recalls telling PPG Chief Executive Charles E. Bunch during a meeting in his office. No wonder. Ms Holt left just three months after colleague William A. Wulfsohn resigned to run Carpenter Technology Corp., where he also had served on the board. Mr. Bunch wishes both "success in their new positions,'' a PPG spokesman says. "

"Can you teach a dinosaur to dance? More importantly, can you teach him to network in 21st Century style? I was skeptical. But George Langis, a veteran turnaround executive, dispelled doubts by learning new networking steps that may hasten his job hunt. He went from conventional handshake networking to creating a personal brand that would be easily marketable online. Though Mr. Langis still hesitates to plunge into "tweeting," his experience could benefit countless other older applicants with rusty job-hunting skills. "

At least twice a month throughout the recession, headhunters have dangled job opportunities in front of Ryan McAllister, an actuary for Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. in Novato, Calif. "If I were ever unhappy with my employer, I could pick up the phone and find something else very quickly," says the 28-year-old Mr. McAllister. He joined the high-net-worth property and casualty insurer after graduating in 2005 from the University of California at Davis, with a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics.

Just before the current recession set in, 35-year-old Just before the current recession set in, 35-year-old Samuel Peery quit a stable job as a vice president of marketing to start his own social-networking company. Unable to secure funding for his start-up, Mr. Peery, of Lehi, Utah, was left unemployed, with an unrealized dream.

"When James Marvin retired from the Navy Seals in September, he had two choices: seek a civilian government position in his current state of Virginia or pursue the unknown. He chose the latter. "We literally put the 'for sale' sign on our home, packed up the minivan, and drove cross-country," says Mr. Marvin, 44, who moved to Seattle with his wife and daughter to pursue a position with an alternative energy company."

"I met Dorothy Walker in my first year of Shades Valley High School, one of several schools in the Birmingham, Ala., area. Confident of little and terrified of much, I entered the honors section of her 10th-grade English class. Known to us simply as Mrs. Walker, she began by using the prescribed curriculum to shape and mold us as her students. Without my realizing it, she began teaching me a lesson that took me three graduate degrees, 24 years of service in higher education, and countless life experiences to understand: the enormous impact educators can have on their students."

"Matthew Gonzales Sanchez calls it his "midterm crisis." Halfway through the first semester of his freshman year here at Our Lady of the Lake University, he considered dropping out. He had failed all of his midterms. "It scared me because, man, I was giving it my all," says Mr. Gonzales Sanchez, 22. "I thought, 'What am I doing wrong? They say college isn't for everybody, and maybe that's me - maybe I'm not one of those people who belongs in college.'""

"As Adecco Group North America CEO Tig Gilliam is closely watching the job market. Mr. Gilliam's company, which is part of Switzerland-based Adecco S.A., provides outsourcing services, temp workers and consulting to more than 100,000 clients worldwide. In North America; it has about 900 offices with more than 100,000 staff on assignment and about 4,850 full-time employees. "

As vice president of a Los Angeles film-production company in the 1980s, Ronald Kaufman had nearly everything that he'd ever wanted in a job -- great pay, friendly co-workers and interesting work coordinating product placements in films. Unfortunately, he hated the job. "The owner of the company was a master at intimidation and would scream at everybody. An hour later, he would be a great guy. It made everybody unhappy to be there," says Mr. Kaufman, now an executive coach.

In October 2007, Susan Guldenschuh lost her job as a human-resources supervisor for Circuit City Stores Inc., which shut all its stores earlier this year. She landed a professional human-relations position elsewhere five months later. But when the downturn deepened, she got laid off again last December. The Louisville, Ky., resident pursued more than 100 openings, including a receptionist's spot. Mrs. Guldenschuh was finally hired again a few weeks ago. She is now an hourly worker, taking online orders for Guess Inc.

The U.S. has shed 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. How long will it take for the economy to replace them? And where will the jobs come from? The questions haunt people from the unemployed in San Francisco to officials in Washington. Glenn Atias lost his job as a $100,000-a-year statistician at a market-research firm in the Bay Area last summer when the work was outsourced to India. At 46 years old, he pores over job ads and online postings daily. "I'm stuck watching hundreds of thousands of people in my position grow in ranks each and every month," said Mr. Atias, who lives in Salton City, Calif., in a house worth less than the mortgage. When unemployment benefits run out, he said, "I literally don't know how I'll pay my mortgage, how I'll pay my health care."

According to Stephen M.R. Covey, author of "The Speed of Trust," trust is the confidence one instills in others based on character and competence. Mr. Covey says that a lack of it has a major impact on performance. "Everything slows down in a company with low trust. You see an increase in bureaucracy and redundancy, and excess policies and procedures. Organizations are becoming painfully aware of how expensive this is, and they are taking steps to become trusted players from the inside out," he says.