Kathy Lam prepared for the worst.

On her last job hunt, in 1995, the veteran executive assistant looked for six months and had to endure a string of temporary assignments first. This time, she expected much the same, setting her sights on a part-time position with lower pay.

Instead, the search took less than a week. The offer of a full-time job came within a day of the interview. And the salary was 25 percent higher than her last paycheck.

"I didn't think I'd find one so soon after I started looking," said Lam, 44, who works as an executive assistant to millionaire real estate investor Joe E. Robert in McLean. "There are so many jobs now and very few applicants."

Especially in Northern Virginia.

As the unemployment rate in Virginia this spring reached its lowest point in three decades, 2.8 percent, Northern Virginia's rate fell to 1.4 percent, one of the lowest in the country.

Fairfax City's unemployment rate of 0.7 percent was third-lowest out of more than 3,000 jurisdictions nationwide, and Fairfax County's, 1.3 percent, was second-lowest for large counties, half the rate of similar suburban jurisdictions such as Orange County in California and Nassau County, N.Y., on Long Island.

The thriving Northern Virginia economy gained three times as many jobs in the last year as the suburbs in Maryland, which also have relatively low unemployment. The Virginia suburban boom has been fueled largely by the computer and telecommunications sector. But now almost every other type of business is feeling the labor squeeze, from coffee shops to construction companies to law firms.

"This goes way beyond what are considered the hot industries such as high-tech," said Ken LeVasseur, a senior economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "In Northern Virginia, everyone seems to have a hiring sign in the window."

Companies of all kinds are increasing pay and benefits to recruit and retain workers. Department stores are slipping pitches for personnel into credit card bills. Some firms have even stopped hanging brass plaques celebrating their best employees.

"The recruiters see those plaques, and they steal people," said Barbara Mitchell, a Fairfax human resources consultant.

The frenzy leaves unemployment offices nearly barren, occupied mainly by those with only marginal job skills and experienced professionals unwilling to flip burgers.

In the technology sector, fierce competition has made $10,000 signing bonuses and other perks commonplace. But the courtship extends to support staff as well as technical experts.

John Eldridge, a 30-year-old Arlington resident who lost his sales job in a corporate restructuring this month, was showered with five offers in a week -- two of which could mean a 50 percent pay raise and a six-figure salary.

It was a jarring shift from Eldridge's first foray into the job market, in 1991, during the most recent recession.

"I had to pretty much take what I could when I got out of school. Now there's an amazing abundance of jobs," Eldridge said. "I've actually been telling my friends, 'This is the time to get out and look around.' "

Lynn Cooley knows firsthand that even entry-level workers are looking around. She often finds herself negotiating with teenage employees who threaten to leave her McLean bagel shop for Safeway or other corporate competitors unless they get more pay.

Chronically short-staffed, Cooley has had a red-lettered "Help Wanted" placard in the shop since she bought it a year ago. She has yet to find someone for a third assistant manager position.

"You can't even get people in the door for minimum wage anymore," said Cooley, who owns two Chesapeake Bagel Bakery franchises. "People have the attitude now that if they don't want to do the job, they can just walk out the door and get another one down the street."

Mike Miyasato's company pays better, but he can't find workers either. Miyasato is an executive at Sovereign One Industries Inc. in Chantilly, which specializes in installing and servicing windows.

The window business is booming. Volume has doubled in one year for the seven-year-old firm, which now has 15 full-time employees. The workers install windows in as many as 60 homes a week, traveling to subdivisions in Virginia, Maryland and even New Jersey.

Yet the company's managers are frustrated. They could do twice as much work -- if only they could find the help.

Virginia gained 10,000 construction jobs in the year that ended in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a growth rate 30 percent above the national average.

"Things are really, really tight," said Miyasato, who could barely steal a few minutes to talk during a particularly hectic day.

"Everybody seems to be building, but we don't have enough quality people to go in the field," he said. "They're jumping jobs like I've never seen before. One week they're here, the next week they're at a different company."

Small businesses such as Sovereign are hampered in competing with big corporations, whose size and resources allow them to offer lucrative pay and benefit packages, even to part-time workers. Training a new employee can take weeks, Miyasato said, yet many leave quickly because larger companies will often pay more than Sovereign, which starts most workers at $9 to $12 an hour.

This year, the company signed up with C2 Portfolio Inc., a Sterling firm that acts as a satellite personnel department, pooling the resources of small businesses so they can offer competitive health and benefit plans.

Business is booming there, too.

"With the tight labor market, small businesses can't keep afloat and worry about all the paperwork and benefits at the same time," C2 owner Jackie Asencio said.

At the Edelman Financial Center in Fair Lakes, keeping employees has never been much of a problem. Getting them in the door is tougher.

Ranked as one of Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing financial companies three years in a row, Edelman Financial is known for generous pay and alluring perks. Last year, all 85 workers and their families were treated to four days at Disney World to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary. Each employee is required to take a paid four-week sabbatical every seven years, such as a trip to Greece planned by one executive.

"Keeping people has never been difficult for us because we place such a strong emphasis on culture and environment," said Ric Edelman, who runs the firm with his wife, Jean. "But our challenge increasingly has been recruiting. It's definitely a different world than it was five years ago."

In the old days, hiring was a leisurely affair. The resumes would dribble in by mail, and the first candidates wouldn't be called for weeks. It might take two months for the whole process to run its course.

The new era is about speed. Resumes are sent by fax. Managers rush through the applications. Employees are hired in a week.

"We've had to develop a much greater sense of urgency," Edelman said. "We can't take the time to do this that we used to. We might lose good people, so we have to make the time and do it fast."

Compensation has changed, too. The Edelmans say their firm's salaries, which start at $25,000 to $50,000 for administrative jobs, are among the best in the area. But the competition is closing in.

"We used to be head and shoulders above the crowd," Ric Edelman said. "Now we're eyebrows ahead."

With all the noise in the labor market outside, Bill Perry's office is quiet.

Perry is an interview supervisor at the Virginia Employment Commission in Fairfax County, where most of the cream-colored plastic desk chairs sat empty on a recent afternoon. Just seven people were there to collect unemployment insurance, in an office that employs 37 workers.

"Six or seven years ago, this place was packed every day," Perry said. "We still see a wide variety of people coming in, just not that many of them."

Out of a work force of 533,000 and a population of 915,000, fewer than 7,000 people in Fairfax County were counted as unemployed in April. Most fall into two categories, according to Perry and other experts: the unskilled or the overqualified, including older workers trying to reenter the work force.

Most of the office's clients aren't eager to publicize their plight. The widespread layoffs of middle managers earlier this decade softened the stigma somewhat, but not much.

Why, many people ask, doesn't everybody have a job?

"I don't really know the answer to that," said Michael Colburn, 40, a Haymarket electrician who just found work. "I hear people on TV and in the papers talk about how unemployment is down, but it's not always easy to see. There might be a lot of work for some kinds of people but not for others."

Colburn, who was out of work for about six weeks, said layoffs are common among electricians. He expects the market to improve in coming years with the start of large-scale construction projects such as the District's planned convention center and the WorldCom headquarters in Loudoun County.

"From my standpoint, things are a bit slow right now," he said. "I'm hoping things will get better."

So does Stuart Finley, 49.

After being laid off nine years ago, Finley estimates that he sent out more than 25,000 resumes. He found a temporary job and dabbled in real estate.

Finally, he found a permanent, if part-time, position at the place where he had spent so much time: the unemployment office.

Finley feels overqualified for his job as an interviewer, but says that when he tries for other positions, companies tell him, "We can hire two [younger] people for the salary that you want."

His 27-year-old son, who graduated from Virginia Tech with computer skills, has his pick of jobs, and Finley would like to get some technical training himself. But he can't afford to invest the time and money.

"If you can walk on water, someone will want you," Finley said. "I can't walk on water yet."

Staff writer Josh White contributed to this report.