Washington poured money into defense and aerospace in 2019, and Japan decided to open another big automobile plant in Alabama. Nationwide, the economy is strong, and Alabama is benefiting from that, as well.

Those three facts mean literally thousands of new jobs for the Huntsville area now and in the decade ahead. But how do you find one? How do you change from the one you have to a better one?

One way is getting in touch with the Alabama Career Center, and this Q&A with Mike Fowler addresses some of the key questions. Fowler is manager of the center offices in Huntsville, Scottsboro and Athens. There are dozens more career centers across the state - search for one near you here - and there are job connections here and also here.

AL.com: We’ve heard about Huntsville’s hot jobs market. True or hype?

Fowler: Just booming. Literally, we have employers we work with that really cannot find enough people. The job market is as good as I’ve ever seen it. There are opportunities out there for everyone who wants to work. (Even ex-felons “are having much better luck,” Fowler said.) The auto industry is going to give everything else a run for its money, and they’re going to be good-paying jobs.

AL.com: How do I find out about these jobs?

Fowler: A lot of our customers do everything online and we may never see them. Many just go online to AlabamaJoblink and register.

AL.com: Sounds easy. But what if it isn’t easy when I try it?

Fowler: We try to help the ones that may be having any problem finding a job and see if we can find out what the barrier is. It may be a poorly worded resume. Or it could be the fact that you have to apply for basically 99.9 percent of jobs online now, and that’s still kind of foreign to some folks.

AL.com: What’s the advantage of coming in to the Career Center?

Fowler: We recommend they come in and sit down with a staff member and make sure, even if they have registered (with Alabama Joblink) at home, that everything is completed so when employers make a search, that person is shown to the employer. The system will match applicants with job postings.

If they can come in for an initial assessment, they will have a case manager and good resume before they walk out. That’s a good start.

AL.com: What if I need training and don’t have the money for school?

Fowler: We can send people to school for up to two years. We put a lot of people into training programs at Calhoun Community College, Drake State Community College and Technical Center or other training programs. (Training is made possible by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)).

The state will be doing a lot of training for Mazda-Toyota. You won’t have to have any automotive experience.

AL.com: Are there other jobs that don’t take so much training.

Fowler: There’s a very popular 3-4 week truck driver courses. You can get a Class A truck-driving license. (Fowler also noted the boom in service industries that follows new jobs. There are more restaurants, stores and other service businesses as an area grows.)