With all this talk about “Cash for Clunkers” I figured there were probably a lot of jobs available at salvage shops that are crushing the gas guzzlers around the country.

So I headed over to a local one called B&F Towing Co. to offer my services yesterday:

Don’t freak out. I’m not giving up my day job. I hardly could climb into that front-end loader with my high heels on.

I’m trying to make a point here. There have been endless stories on the government’s clunker strategy, and yesterday Congress agreed to funnel billions more into the program.

This from Reuters today:

The U.S. Senate approved and sent to the White House on Thursday a $2 billion extension of the “cash for clunkers” autos sales incentive program.

The initial $1 billion of funding approved in June for “clunker” business has generated more than $920 million in rebates and more than 220,000 in auto sales.

Supported by the incentive program, U.S. auto sales overall were down about 12 percent in July from a year earlier, but it was their best performance this year.

What does this tell you? That somewhere in this country employers that have cut tons of jobs may have to add a few positions to deal with increase. Clearly, many companies are holding off hiring as long as they can, but some are relenting and looking for fresh blood.

The economy is showing signs of life. In a surprise to many economists, the jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent, according to a Department of Labor report released today.

So you should be doing some investigative work to figure out what opportunities there may be based on the news of the day.

When it comes to the clunker initiative, scrap yards and towing companies are two obvious ones. Less obvious is the need for data entry and IT folks. The businesses authorized to participate in the program have an intense amount of paperwork and electronic paper trail they have to follow.

Also, dealerships are another natural for this. Lately I’ve noticed help wanted signs outside of several big dealers in my area.

Many of these jobs I mentioned may not be right for you, but you get my point. Pick up the newspaper, read cyber news sites, even read President Obama’s agenda online to figure out what the next big initiative will be and start digging.

No one is hiding where the job opportunities are. You just have to listen to the sounds of SUVs being crushed in a car crusher.