While companies are hiring -- albeit slowly, carefully and quietly -- many of the jobs most in demand are highly technical or require advanced degrees.

"There are not a lot of jobs you can just kind of drift into," says John Prescott, director of the Institute for Career Research in Chicago.

What's hot right now?

Health care is No. 1 on the lips of career counselors, strategists and futurists. Indeed, the need for nurses, mammography technicians, inhalation therapists, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians is critical, says Joyce Gioia, a strategic business futurist and president of The Herman Group (www.hermangroup.com) in Greensboro, NC. "It's on the bleeding edge."

Adds Prescott, whose organization provides vocational guidance information to more than 20,000 schools and public libraries in the United States: "Allied medical and health professions. That's where I would go today if I was a young person."

Other hot career paths include engineering, computer programming, personal services, finance and anything to do with security -- whether it's protecting people, assets or computer systems, says Janet Scarborough, founder of Bridgeway Career Development in the Seattle area.

And don't shortchange the trades. They're "in a world of hurt," Gioia says, because "for years we discouraged people from going into the trades. When was the last time you tried to call a plumber or an electrician, and you couldn't get a call back?"

What's not hot? Anything to do with manufacturing, the experts say.

Of course, geography plays a huge role in which jobs are taking off where. While health care, security and the like are enjoying a universal upswing right now, other jobs may take the prize in your particular part of the country. To find them, Gioia says, take a look at www.careervoyages.gov. That site, compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor, includes state-by-state data on which jobs are expected to grow fastest from 2002 to 2012.

But what if you aren't adept at the hot job du jour? Prescott is right about not being able to just drift into some jobs. For example, if you're working in sales, you can't decide you want to become a production engineer and easily hop right into that field.

Don't sweat it, says Scarborough.

"Basically, I don't believe in the concept of hot jobs," she says. "The problem is, by the time they position themselves to take advantage of the shortage of talent in that field, they've missed the opportunity."

A better idea, she says, is to use career data as just one of a handful of job-hunting tools. Look at Department of Labor information, but also spend time asking yourself some tough, career-building questions:

• What are my career values?
  
  
• What would it take for me to be OK weathering a job's ups and downs?
  
  
• What are my career strengths?
  
  
• What are my career preferences?

"Then establish a track record," Scarborough says.

And take heart: companies are hiring. They just aren't advertising it. Rather, they're focusing on specific talents and approaching the individual people they're interested in -- a concept the Herman Group dubs "stealth hiring."

They're also much more careful about who they hire.

"It's no longer about what you say you can do," Scarborough says.

Instead, companies want to see you in action -- before they offer you a position. So if you're job-hunting, expect multiple interviews. Expect to meet the team you'll be working with. Expect to field questions from that team. Even expect a prospective boss to ask you to write a marketing plan or make a presentation.

"The job market is tough," Scarborough says. "There's really no way around that. My message to clients is this is the reality of where the job market is. So go with the career path that's a great fit for you."

Susan Bowles is a business journalist based in Washington, DC. She has 20 years journalism experience and has written for USA Today, USATODAY.com, the Washington Post, the St. Petersburg Times and The Palm Beach Post.