The recession has made new jobs few and far between, and applicants for entry-level positions can range in age from baby boomers to current college grads.  In 2008, Liam Daniel Pierce had an offer to intern at The New Yorker and a degree from an Ivy League school in hand. But then he got the news that his internship had been cut under new budget restraints. Undeterred, he moved to New York anyway and began a several month stretch of temp work and odd jobs. But this former college newspaper editor has more than a proficiency in Microsoft Word on his resume: he is a trained gondolier.

Up until just a couple of months ago, Albert Becerril thought of Warrenville, Illinois as his hometown. It's where he grew up, where he went to school, where his friends are. And it's where he was on the day when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers came to arrest him, and send him to Mexico. Albert's one of these kids who was carried across the border as a baby.

Not so long ago, the military was having trouble reaching its recruitment targets. The recession has changed that. Jorge Muela was working as a real estate appraiser in Florida when the housing crisis started to take a toll on his income. He looked for other work without a lot of luck and eventually realized he'd found his best option inside an Army recruiting office.

Dianne Reinhardt runs a small artisan bakery outside of Atlanta, and she's thriving despite the bad economy. She says she runs her business like a family budget: she doesn't spend money she doesn't have. When the price of an ingredient goes up, she simply cuts it out of the recipe - or she makes smaller loaves.