Looking for a job with upward mobility? Debt Collectors are hiring!

While the economy is likely entering the early stages of a recession, few industries are hiring. Much less are any growing at eye-popping rates. If you're into TV ads, you may have noticed the recent spike in debt collection commercials. With thanks to credit cards, student loans, housing mortgages, car payments, and missed doctor's bills, America has created an entire industry capitalizing on people's inability to pay up.

Not to slight America, since debt collectors have been around since man figured out how to loan money. Unfortunately, the world has learned how to live while owing money and not how to eliminate it permanently. America is beginning to remind me of the old millionaire who dies and all that remains is unsettled debt.

So in such a nervous economy, what better time for the debt collection industry to shake off the dust and beef up it's image a bit? After all, “Collectors actually care about consumers,” said Rozanne Andersen, general counsel of ACA International, the main industry trade group. “They want to teach consumers how to get out of debt. They’re trying to put themselves out of business.”

Put themselves out of business? REALLY? For being such a booming industry, I don't find that to be a very savvy business move. Or maybe that's just some good old spin. The industry has even begun to call debtors "our customers." Somehow, that doesn't quite fit the stigma. How "customers" are handled has been overhauled industry-wide. “You attract more flies with honey than with vinegar,” the ACA foundation’s chairman, William E. Wilcox, said.

In short: customers = flies. Hm.

So here's the perception dilemma. Don't be fooled by the sugar-coated approach of the debt collection agencies. The bottom line is still clear: PAY UP!

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

And there's no better time than now to put this old phrase into action. By 2016, employment in it is projected to exceed half a million workers - 23 percent in a decade. In 2005, 150,000 debt collectors took in $51.4 billion, a PricewaterhouseCoopers study indicated.

I wonder if they've started calling their phone operators "Customer service representatives" yet.