Tony Aukerman is quite fond of his new job.

"It's been great," he said. "I love the people that I work with (and) the management's been wonderful.

Aukerman is a Financial Services Associate for Prudential's North Carolina office.

Basically, he meets with people and helps them make investments with their money.

"With the economy the way it is and with people's confidence being shaky about financial decisions they've made in the past, now's about the best time available to be in this business," Aukerman said.

He knows just how shaky the economy can be.

On a snowy March morning, he was one of the hundreds of people who came to a job fair in Research Triangle Park.

That's where he found his current job.

"I knew that there were a lot of people out of work at the time and there were scarce jobs available as well," Aukerman said.

In the midst of massive job losses and career fairs with thousands of job seekers, it's easy to forget about the people like Aukerman who have found jobs in this economy.

It had been four months since he was laid off from his I.T. job, but now he says the experience changed his life.

"When I was out of work, it really gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate what made me happy," he said.

Aukerman discovered that he didn't really like the way his career was heading, so he decided to use his layoff to switch careers.

His new job also gives him hope for better economic days.

"I'm definitely hopeful," he said. "You know as soon as I got this offer from Prudential, I actually got another offer on the same day so I definitely think that the economy's picking up a little bit."

People need to know there are jobs out there, Aukerman said.

"You have to keep at it," he said. "You have to get out there, meet people, network, (and) do everything you can and get yourself in front of anyone that has the possibility of providing leads."