Here we are -- I'm sitting and Denise is the pretty blond at the back.

Miracles can happen – just look at my friend, Denise. She announced in December that she was looking for a job. In January, she had three job interviews. This week, she announced that she found the perfect part-time position.

How did she do it? That’s exactly what I asked her so I could share it with you. And she said it was a mix of luck, connections and persistence. Denise is just like all of us, in a way. Her story, hopefully, will be an inspiration for you.

Her experience started simply…Her children are old enough for her to go back to work. Denise has two children: a 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. This year, both are in school all day. Her husband works full time, and Denise has been a stay-at-home mom for the past eight years. Before that, she worked full time at a major car company in Auburn Hills.

I know Denise through my local mother’s club. She is a well-educated, well-organized woman. Her older son has many medical issues stemming from birth, and her daughter is just about allergic to everything on earth. So she spends lots of time in doctor’s offices, volunteering at her kids’ school and hanging out with her mom friends.

That is one of the big reasons she wanted part-time work. She would hate to have a full-time job and ask for every third Friday off to attend her son’s regular doctor’s appointments. So that was Step No. 1: Know what you want so you can make it happen.

Step No. 2 was contacting all of her old bosses, family members and friends, Denise said. She was surprised to find her former employers remembered her – and they started asking around their work to see if anyone had an opening. There’s a great example of it’s not what you know as much as WHO you know.

She put her father-in-law to work on the problem as well. He still working in the automotive industry, and he knew lots of places where they could use Denise’s mega-organization skills. He contacted just about everyone he knew and got her one of her three interviews.

Then she put the word out on her social networks. Step No. 3: Denise posted her job search on Facebook, LinkedIn and wherever else she could think of. LinkedIn got another hit – and another interview.

The final interview – and the one that lead to the job offer – she got entirely on her own. She cold-called a few headhunters, recruiters and the like at the places here she wanted to work. Turns out, there wasn’t a job for her at this company…but they liked her so much that they made a part-time position for her. Granted, this won’t happen for everyone. But Denise got lucky, and she knows it.

Denise told me that she believes firmly that her early decision to stay active in work and the community during her time at home is the main reason she was able to find a job. She both did consulting for a small company one of her friends started, but she also maintained relationships with people in leadership roles through her school and her son’s social groups. That kept her in the public eye, and it kept her busy as her children got to school age.

So keep up the good work, moms. Your time in school will come in handy as you start to search for a job. Your volunteer work will pay off. All of the friends you are making in school, at work and at your kid’s school may lead to the job of your dreams. It can happen. Miracles are all around us.

Regardless of your situation, many people aren’t aware of the many career and job resources available to people trying to make career decisions. Exploring job options, utilizing career tools, and other career resources can help you make a better career decision. Instead of wondering what a job is like, you can even take advantage of internships and networking to get a better idea of what career you would most enjoy.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started in finding the right career for you:

Take a career personality test. These tests can actually be kind of fun to take. When you are done, you actually get a list of careers and jobs that would best work for your learning style, personality, interest and communication style.

Do an internship. An internship can help you gain hands-on experience in one of your career field options. You’ll have a much better idea if it is something you would like if have the chance to actually experience it.

Interview someone. Interviewing someone who is currently working at a job you are considering can offer you some good insight into what that particular job is like. You can ask about the positives as well as the negatives and get honest feedback about the nature of a specific job.

Overall, any effort you make to learn more will help you throughout your career search!

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You get online, search jobs, apply, submit your resume, hit 'send', and then… and then, well, nobody knows what happens. Unless you're the creme de la creme, hiring managers don't call or write. You don't even know if they got the dang thing. For all you know it goes to some cyber-shredder in the back alleys of cyberspace to become mulch for… something. For all you know, it gets printed up in Albuquerque to become the cheeseburger wrapper for some trucker named Bubba. For all you know, it gets read aloud in some club somewhere for comic relief. There must be a better way.