In the traditional sense, the world entrepreneur refers to someone who takes ownership of a specific personal skill or marketplace niche to develop a means of living, or potentially, a profitable career. In today's job market, however, some career experts are advising working Americans to begin thinking of their careers as their own entrepreneurial small businesses.

Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and CEO of the staffing and employment company Act 1 Personnel Services, advises job applicants who engage her company not to think of their jobs as an exercise in giving their lives away to the company, the New York Times reports. Rather, she says the happier and more productive employees view employment as a cooperative process in which they identify with their jobs.

Another staffing agent, Joy Chen claims that seeking employment in a slumping economy can change the way people feel about their career and their worth.

"Many companies noticed that after all the layoffs and uncertainty, skilled people were available at lower salary demands than in former years," Chen told the news source. The lesson, she concluded, is that workers must view pay changes as a "change in the market, not a deprecation of who you are as a person."

Resume tests and aptitude tests are also available for workers seeking personally tailored career advice.