Career Start : Finding a Job Is a Matter of Knowing Where to Look : Employment: The classifieds are only one place. Also useful are job fairs, industry newsletters, bulletin boards, companies’ signs, even the yellow pages.

It’s a fix most of us have been in at least once in our lives. You need a job, and you need it now.

But finding a job these days is particularly tough, regardless of whether you’re experienced and skilled in a certain field or simply making ends meet until you decide whether to attend college.

The recession and the huge cutbacks in certain industries, such as aerospace, defense and automotive, have sharply increased the number of people seeking the same job you want.

Those reasons also make it a lot harder for an aeronautical engineer, accustomed to making $25 an hour, to quickly find the same post elsewhere in Southern California. The high school graduate looking merely for unskilled or semiskilled opportunities might have a somewhat easier time.

“People are having to settle for lower wages because the competition is so much greater than in the past,” said Sandy Gutierrez, manager of the East Los Angeles service center for the state Employment Development Department, which tries to match job hunters with employers.

So landing the job will take persistence, homework, a little luck perhaps and, in some cases, at least a temporary cut in your standard of living. But none of that will matter until you’ve accomplished your first task: Finding all the available sources of job openings.

The typical first choice is the classified ads in the newspaper. What’s interesting about the ads is that, despite the horror stories you’ve heard of dozens of people vying for the same job, there are still employers not only looking for workers but willing to train them as well.

Some recent ads in The Times, for example, included appeals for security guards (“we will train”), receptionists and stock clerks (“no experience necessary”), carpet cleaners (“training available”) and car detailers (“we train”).

Another one sought high school graduates, ages 17 to 24, to be computer trainees. The main requirement: a willingness to relocate. If you look at the dozens of other openings in the computer category, one could do much worse than to start learning how computers work.

Firms that need salespeople also often provide on-the-job training. That’s because they’re interested in finding a certain kind of person more than anything else. They’ll teach the ideal applicant the tools of their trades later.

“We want someone with personality, who’s willing to learn and follow directions,” said Howard Pound, general sales manager of Montclair Chrysler/Suburu, whose recent ad for a salesperson said no experience was necessary. “I’m looking for someone who is going to treat people right. After all, we want repeat business.”

In searching for openings, don’t stop with your local newspaper. Find smaller community papers and industry journals and newsletters. Garment workers, for instance, scan the California Apparel News and Women’s Wear Daily for jobs, while actors read the Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.

Keep an eye out for job fairs and other gatherings meant to bring employers and potential employees together. The Times sponsors such events, for instance, including one scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

While you’re shopping, take a look at the bulletin boards in supermarkets and drugstores, where employers frequently post job openings. While driving through town, keep an eye out for signs in front of corporate buildings, where some companies also post openings.

Such suggestions might sound elementary, but every source of potential employment counts. The Employment Development Department’s Gutierrez suggests “going through the yellow pages and identifying companies that can use your skills. Pick up the phone and call them. It has proven to be very effective.”

Also visit the Employment Development Department itself. For no charge, the state agency records information about your education, skills and goals and tries to match you with employers. It searches jobs listings statewide.

While you’re scanning the phone directory, call some of the dozens of commercial temporary-help agencies in the region. Like the Employment Development Department, these firms try to match you with businesses looking for part-time or temporary workers.

Employment agencies can be valuable sources because their services are almost always free to the job applicant. The employer pays their bill if it hires one of their referrals.

“In today’s economy, if you’re in a job search, I would suggest the more you network and the more you make yourself available to people, the better,” said Gene Wilson, president of Thomas Temporaries, an agency based in Irvine.

Temporary-help agencies are best known for placing secretaries, word processors, receptionists and other clerical help. But some also place forklift operators, accountants and housekeepers. A Canoga Park-based company, Lab Support, has two dozen offices through which it provides temporary scientists and technicians to laboratories.

Some agencies also provide telephone hot-line numbers where you can hear recorded listings of job openings and their requirements. Also, because of the lingering weak economy, many companies are adding temporary help rather than full-time employees until the companies are more confident about their business prospects, Wilson said.

Many job-seekers utilize the agencies simply to gain income between more permanent jobs. Others like the flexibility that temporary employment provides. And some people use temporary work to prepare for more fruitful careers.

“A lot of people seek positions to improve their skill level,” Wilson said. “If they can acquire that skill, then they’re more marketable.”