Spring is in the air, even for print buying professionals. I see signs of life in the job market for print buyers who were laid off during the recession.

Is this a cause for celebration or what?

Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of full-time print buyers lost their jobs last year and the year before. Not only have I sensed a slow down of such job losses, but recently, I’ve learned that print buyers are landing new positions.

The specialized skills of experienced print production professionals are still valued and quite marketable. If you are current with cross-media programs, digital printing applications, and customer expectations and buying behaviors, I am still peddling Hope. Even with the popularity of new media (including social), companies need your expertise to help them shape dynamic print campaigns, source the work with the right print providers, and manage the process.

Over the past 12 months I watched buyer after buyer getting downsized. It has been devastating and depressing for them, as they wondered if and when they would find new positions.

Now, in recent weeks, I’m seeing movement – new positions inside and outside of the field.

Some buyers, who tried for many months to find new work in the industry, decided to look elsewhere. Some are starting over in totally different fields, like health care. Some are following their passion and recreating themselves. I know a woman with serious print production experience who is now a nutrition counselor and fitness guru. (I love it when this happens – one door shut…and this one opened for her.)

But others are landing jobs in the field. In one week, I learned about two cases. One man was out of work for several months, and now, at a request from his largest client in his old position, he’s been hired as a regional director for a national marketing agency. He’s busy developing a custom program to maintain brand control throughout all aspects of the marketing communications supply chain. “I actually feel very lucky to part of a very progressive group that understands the state of our industry,” he wrote.

After being unemployed for 13 months, a woman with decades of experience landed a job through a previous colleague. They’d been discussing the position off and on for 9 months. She never thought it was a sure thing because the company’s very small. Then last month, they hired her. She had held a similar position at two previous employers, in much larger capacities. She works for a mailing company.

They worked their networks, both of them. Nothing could be more important for job seekers right now.

I take these examples as a good sign, and I continue to keep my eyes open.

By the way, do you know how I found out about these employment changes? From daily updates on LinkedIn. Both people are in my ‘network,’ so when I read that they’d updated their titles, I knew something was up. I was right: something very good was up for them, and it made my day. I hope this makes yours.