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There has been a lot of talk about the recession. Things have been bleak economically and in many people’s careers over the past two years. In this article, I’m going to share six strategies to help you to navigate what might be ahead and to recession-proof your career. If you take these steps, you will be well-positioned to navigate a career setback, such as a layoff.

Keep your skills updated. Staying up to date on technology is incredibly important in this increasingly digital world. Think of what skills are most relevant to your specific Is there a certification that you can earn? Is there an online course that you can take? Think about what will make you competitive in your field. Do everything you can to make yourself as marketable and current as possible. Nearly every field has courses and ...

You don't need a college degree to get a good job. Yes, you read that right. It’s okay if you don't have a degree – and you might not need to get one.  It used to be true that not having a degree would hurt your job prospects. However, the world has changed so much just in the last few years.

Even before the pandemic started, college was becoming overrated and too expensive. Today, many people struggle to just break even and pay off the education that they invested in. Is a degree worth it if it takes 20 years to pay off? And is college really the only path for your career?

Thanks in part to the pandemic, remote learning is more common than ever, as well as more affordable and more accessible. I don’t believe that ...

I get a lot of questions from job seekers about breaking into a new industry. This is a common goal among professionals who like the skill set they’re using, but feel bored, maxed out, or even pigeonholed. For example, you might be a sales professional interested in changing from healthcare sales to tech sales. Or you may be a project manager in telecom who’s looking for a project management role in software.

These types of industry transitions are what I call  “career pivots” that often take two to three months to achieve. These are quite different from full-blown career changes, which are more time- and resource-intensive.

Here are some specific strategies for entering a new industry and shaking up your career:

Identify your transferable skills. What knowledge and skills ...

There comes a time in almost every career when you have to change directions. You have to take a step back or sideways in order to take a step forward. Maybe you have reached a ceiling in your current position and you’re no longer growing. Or, maybe you’ve simply lost your passion for what you’re doing and want to do something completely different.  Or maybe you are like a lot of people that I work with, and you settled for a career that was never really a good match for you to begin with. If so, that’s okay. It happens. You might even have the desire to start your own business. It doesn’t matter what the change is, what matters is how you approach it.

Step One: The Why

There are a lot of barriers that prevent ...

When I coach clients on LinkedIn, I always make the distinction that LinkedIn serves as a networking tool first, and job board second. Its primary purpose is to help you make new connections and nurture your current ones, in order to support your long-term career growth.

Since Microsoft purchased LinkedIn, we've seen a number of new features rolled out. The latest is Career Advice. This feature helps you to identify mentors within your industry who can provide advice, and possibly other connections. You fill out a short form about what type of advice you are seeking and LinkedIn will send you notifications with people who can support you. The concept of a mentor can be useful whether you are a job seeker, business owner, or otherwise.

With or without this feature, seeking out mentors in your line of ...

This week's article is a guest blog from Careerminds. Careerminds is a next gen career transitions company focusing on outplacement, retirement lifestyle planning, and leadership development coaching. They specialize in high-touch, high-tech solutions that give their clients personalized experiences while still using the most sophisticated technology on the market. For more information about Careerminds, please visit their website.  

Job searches are always hard, but going through them after being let go can make them even harder. Not only is your morale low, but there is a sense of pressure to quickly find a job as to not feel the impact of lost wages. It takes an organization an average of about fifty-two days to hire on a candidate for an open position. While a month and a half might not seem like a long time, it is long enough to cause serious harm to the morale ...

Most job searches are confidential. Unless you’re retiring or relocating, it’s unlikely that you’d want your current employer to know that you are thinking about leaving. A few months ago, LinkedIn tapped into this concept by introducing Open Candidates.

This a new setting that you can turn on and off in your profile to confidentially signal to recruiters that you are open to new opportunities. This feature is useful for you as a job seeker, and for recruiters. Often recruiters will reach out to potential candidates based on their LinkedIn profiles to build a pipeline of candidates. This new feature will now let them know that you are open to them contacting you about potential opportunities, which may increase the likelihood of them doing that.

Unlike putting “Seeking New Opportunities” in your headline, this feature does not ...

I use the phrase “job search strategy” quite a bit with clients and I often wonder if I need to take a step back and explain what that actually means. It’s more than just fancy words that career coaches use to sell your services.

There really is more than one approach to a job search and it matters very much which approach you choose. A strategy isn’t about the what, it’s about the how. Any time you craft a strategy to accomplish something, you are essentially asking yourself: How am I going to do this? What action steps will I take? What will be my message?

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the components that make up your job search strategy:

What type of jobs you look for: Are you looking ...

Changing career paths or industries is a common reason why people turn to a career coach. There’s a lot of moving parts to the equation. How do I explain the change on my resume? Will they pay me the same salary I had? Will I enjoy it, or regret it? Can I afford to take a risk in my career right now? These are all questions that I help job seekers answer.

Personally, I’ve made two significant career changes myself. Three years ago, after a layoff, I made a clean break for a career in human resources and recruiting after six years in retail management, sales and corporate training. Then, just two years later, I transitioned again into what was my ultimate destiny all along, coaching others into personal and career transformation.

Here’s some quick tips for ...

There comes a time in almost every career when you have to change directions. You have to take a step back in order to take a step forward. Maybe you have reached a ceiling in your current position and you’re no longer growing. Or, maybe you’ve simply lost your passion for what you’re doing and want to do something completely different.  You might even have the desire to start your own business. It doesn’t matter what the change is, what matters is how you approach it. There are a lot of barriers that prevent more people from leaving where they are and doing what they really want to do.

I’ve been in this situation myself, twice. I know what it’s like to start over. In my case, making the decision to change fields ...