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After still feeling the after effects of the 2008 recession, unemployment nationwide hovered between 9 and 8.6 percent in 2011, with California having the second highest in the country- between 11 and 12 percent.

According to Ayse Imrohoroglu, professor of finance and business economics at The USC Marshall School of Business, there are a number of factors of why not as many companies are hiring even though the recession is over.

"People have different theories.  Mine is that they are still facing a lot of uncertainty about the future," Imrohoroglu said in a phone interview.

As far as what the future holds for 2012, the hiring rate may not improve by much.

A survey conducted by job search website CareerBuilder.com found that less than a quarter of companies surveyed plan to hire more people, said The L.A. Times.

• In a survey of more than 3,000 human resource and hiring professionals, 23% said they’ll add full-time, permanent staff in 2012, down a bit from the 24% who said the same this year. The percentage of companies that plan to cut staff -– 7% -- hasn’t budged year over year.
• Seven in 10 firms either intend to keep their staff at the same size or are unsure of their hiring and layoff plans, according to CareerBuilder. Slightly more employers in the western part of the country will recruit new workers than in other U.S. regions –- but more companies there also plan to downsize their staff.
• And employees jumped ship at 34% of companies this year, with many complaining of low salaries and work overload. Next year, 43% of hiring managers are worried that top talent will resign.

However, even though the survey's forecast for 2012 may be bleak, it does not mean that finding a job is impossible.  With some research and creative thinking, there are ways to compete.

"The best thing to do right now is to find a way to upgrade your skills and find what’s different," said Rodrigo Aguilar, a consultant within the Labor Market Information Department for the California Employment Development Department.

Aguilar also suggested researching the industries that are expected to grow the most in the next several years; some of those industries within California include education and health services, professional and business services (such as lawyers or accountants), and trade/transportation or utility industries.

Aguilar also recommended looking at California's Labor Market Guide, which gives projections of occupations and salaries for the next 10 years.