This Labor Day will not be joyful for many Americans, as more than 14.6 million people will be among those who count themselves as the unemployed—nearly half of whom have been out of work for more than six months. Those numbers are staggering and have reached a crisis level. Not since the Great Depression has the nation seen stats quite as bad.

The prospect of facing this situation for a prolonged period of time is a daunting reality for many. But how are some of those unemployed dealing with this reality? What is considered the “new normal”—when it comes to finding employment right now?

Well, for millions, it’s about learning to play a whole new game. Finding work requires a consistently well-informed strategy; a mix of smarts, savvy, and realism. It is not impossible to get a foot in the door, but taking that first, fundamental step requires a more focused, patient approach than in many years past.

At its most basic level, finding a job results from having the right skill to bring to the right employer at the right time. That’s the formula, and it’s also why so many unemployed presently armed with skills in one field must consider a recalibrated search, including retraining. Secure jobs do exist. In many cases, positions for which there is great need right now lack qualified applicants. Newsweek recently listed a dozen jobs likely to flourish in the next 10 years, including nursing, the hospitality industry, customer service, retail, green engineering and construction, cooking and food preparation, high-tech manufacturing, security, and, perhaps not surprisingly, career counseling. Being alert to where the jobs are now, where they will be in the future, and preparing for them is indispensable to creating an employment game plan.

Beyond having the right skills, though, actually working may be the most important way to find work. Every study shows that it is dramatically easier to find a job if you already have one. Easier said than done, right? Well, the key is that, in these difficult times, permanent employment can be tough to come by. With such high unemployment numbers, how are those who’ve lost a job getting by?

Well, for many, it’s about turning toward temporary or project-based work to find a job in a new field or industry. For Americans, part of the “new normal”—as some are calling it—might be working in such a temporary position. There’s no better way to get that foot in the door. It can be the most direct and cost-effective way to enhance a résumé and to learn new, marketable skills that will help propel one’s career back as the recovery progresses.

And despite high unemployment numbers that suggest otherwise, companies do need people. Paradoxically, given how troubled the economy is, many leading businesses are doing very well in terms of profitability. Flush with cash reserves accumulated as a hedge against another dip in the economy, these enterprises are doing well while remaining cautious amidst uncertainty of what Washington and the Obama administration will do next, what the fall elections will mean, how health care reform will play out, and where Wall Street will go.

After massive layoffs at the outset of the recession, many companies are staying streamlined, but they also need a workforce to support and continue their growth. They are meeting this need with temporary work. Virtually all skill sets are in demand, from bookkeeping to IT to light industrial workers to finance specialists. These are real jobs, with real potential in a real job market. For companies that prize flexibility and talent, it can be, of course, the best of all possible worlds.

Some temporary jobs—from clerical support to very highly skilled positions—even include health care, 401(k) and, in some instances, paid vacation. And, importantly, retraining is frequently part of the employees' jobs. This investment in the employee in turn becomes an incentive for employers to bring that individual on full-time when the time is right. That’s part of the “new normal” too; temp work, “permalance,” call it what you will, is increasingly the best path to a permanent job. Every job seeker should be aware that being vetted first on a temporary basis has become standard practice for many employers.

It’s also a better time than ever to supplement unemployment insurance with temp work. In the past, taking on work could mean diminished unemployment benefits in the future. President Barack Obama ended that with the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Fix (EUC Fix), which he signed into law with the extension of unemployment benefits on July 22. It’s no longer a strike against you, in other words, to be working while you are looking for work. Since unemployment is done on a state by state basis, the amount someone can work and collect differs based on a variety of factors including salary/wages before unemployment, and the amount of income earned in a certain time period. State Department of Labor websites offers guidance on this issue.

The prospect for jobs this Labor Day is as troubled as it has been in recent times. Without a major economic expansion, it will take years to return to the 5 percent, pre-recession unemployment rate the country enjoyed just a few years ago. Ten million jobs have to be created. To just maintain our present unemployment levels, the country needs to create at least 1.5 million new jobs a year, or about 125,000 a month. That isn’t happening just yet in the recovery cycle.

We are a country filled with entrepreneurs and self-starters. We have come back from hard times before, and we will again. Workers who prepare now by refocusing their skills and taking advantage of temporary work will benefit most when future Labor Days are truly celebrations for 15 million Americans who have found new jobs.