Clark is making it part of his new mission to be a resource for the unemployed and the underemployed during this tough economic cycle.

The conventional wisdom about education and employment -- as your level of education rises, the less likely you are to be impacted by lay-offs -- has been completely flipped on its head this time around. This recession knows no boundaries in terms of education, skill level, training or years on the job.

If you have skills of a certain nature, try picking up some consulting work (aka freelancing) on a per-job basis. The Internet offers a variety of sites that hook freelancers up with employers. The San Francisco Chronicle's Tom Abate has compiled a list of such websites, including the following ones:

- eLance.com
- oDesk.com
- Guru.com
- crowdSPRING.com

These sites are being called "virtual hiring halls" because they're a modern adaptation of the union hall idea where workers would go to await job orders.