Amid the doom and gloom the jewelry business has faced during the painful recession of the last two years, there has been one major silver lining for independent jewelers: an available pool of employee talent unlike any the sector has seen in decades. Experts note that there are large numbers of experienced, highly skilled jewelry people looking for work, especially those with chain, department store, and mass retail backgrounds. This has created an opportunity for independent jewelers to employ some staffing "superstars" without necessarily paying superstar salaries. JCK spoke with a number of independent jewelers who have hired staffers with chain store backgrounds. In general, their experience has been positive. They say the right chain store people bring certain benefits to smaller organizations including a willingness to work flexible hours, particularly weekends,