MANPOWER

Madison, WI:  
Most of the positions are assembly, line work, production help.  A few were IT and customer service related.  Most of the jobs are contractual, leading me to think they are not long-term positions.  Some of the positions required formal training but others did not.  One even said that candidates must have "a solid work history."  These positions didn't look very intellectually challenging.

Blooming Prairie, MN:
Not surprisingly there weren't any positions in good ole BP.  But there were some close by in Austin, MN.  The 3 positions were in the Administration and Secretarial Industry and all required a relatively high level of technological skills - strong Word and Excel skills.  Also, they required strong customer service skills.  However, these still don't really look like jobs I would consider pursuing.

Seattle, WA:
The jobs in Seattle seem overall much more intellectually challenging.  It is a bigger city so certainly there are more options.  Some were permanent positions but most were still temporary or contractual.  There were a few job postings for multi-lingual speakers. Most of these postings require familiarity with computers and most commonly used programs. One thing I noticed was that many of these were pretty much entry level positions and they had relatively decent pay.  I did find it interesting to find a consulting position in the mix of these jobs.

Overall I think this exercise was interesting because it made me  think about what is really considered "entry-level" now. What types of technical skills are necessary but kind of slip through the cracks as ones that go without saying like the ability to use the most basic functions of a computer.  I think we take for granted the exposure we to these types of things in our day to day lives and our education.