Career Development

The recession is complicating job hunts-and the lives-of two-career couples, particularly when one lands an offer out of town. The search for employment is forcing more couples into long-distance relationships.

After earning his degree in Russian linguistics, Jamie Hyneman worked a number of odd jobs, including animal wrangler, building inspector and Caribbean charter-boat captain.

Growing up in Florida, Mr. Gould enjoyed working in restaurants as a waiter and bartender. But he also liked working with numbers, and after graduating from the University of Florida, he went into finance. He got a job in New York as a fixed-income trader in 2000, and later raised money to invest in new markets and help develop avenues for investments.

When unemployment is high, job-seekers may need to go where the jobs are, "to make ends meet, to get on with their lives," says John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

According to Stephen M.R. Covey, author of "The Speed of Trust," trust is the confidence one instills in others based on character and competence. Mr. Covey says that a lack of it has a major impact on performance. "Everything slows down in a company with low trust. You see an increase in bureaucracy and redundancy, and excess policies and procedures. Organizations are becoming painfully aware of how expensive this is, and they are taking steps to become trusted players from the inside out," he says.

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So many working people out there feel frustrated and stuck in their careers . They feel trapped in jobs that don't fit, unable to make a change. Eventually, a negative perspective starts to permeate everything.

Honestly, most of us only care about the salary when we choose a career, even it begins at choosing the major before entering the college.

I'm frequently asked how to make the transition from working in an organization to striking out on one's own. But here's a question that's rarely discussed: What if you're an entrepreneur or solo practitioner and must decide whether to return to the business world? Can you -- and should you -- go from your living room back to the boardroom?

We all know people who were not laid off. These people can be described in any number of ways: as the "nervously employed" (Feller & Wichard, 2005), or as those suffering from "recession rumination" (USA Today, 2008), or, as they are referred to here, as the working worried. Whatever we call them, the number of people going to work each day hoping it won't be their last appears to be at an all time high. While news reports indicate signs of economic recovery, for most, this doesn't change their personal reality.

Many creative children are taught from a very young age that there is no real place for them to shine. From a young age, these children are trying to learn skills to which their talents are not applicable. As a result, these adolescents are frequently unable to create a satisfying future career. Career counselors are in a position to effect significant change in the lives of creative adolescents but often lack the understanding of this population that would make their interventions more effective.

Career counseling courses have been perceived as plain and theory-based learning by many counseling students. The opportunities for learning should not be limited to lecture and textbooks. Readers who are interested in developing a creative curriculum for your career counseling course may find this article inspiring.

Traditionally, career counseling has focused on career exploration, career redirection, assessment, education/ training, job search skills and placement. Little consideration has been given to the complex emotional dynamics of grief associated with job loss. Understanding grief in the context of job loss and lifestyle adjustment is particularly important when clients are confronting a major life change. Oftentimes, an overwhelming sense of loss distracts or impedes a person's readiness to conduct a job search or effectively move forward with a positive career-life change. Career Counselors working with clients who are experiencing a job or career loss compounded by the need to adjust lifestyle expectations need to comprehend the grief process if they are to empower their clients to succeed.

The unorthodox gambits failed these job seekers-but taught them plenty about finding work, and could provide a playbook for countless unemployed Americans. Mr. Persky learned to become a multi-faceted entrepreneur. Mr. Williamson discovered why personal networks matter. Ms. Greco recognized the importance of targeted marketing.

In April, a job candidate scheduled an hourlong interview for himself by sending a meeting-request invite via Microsoft Outlook to New York executive recruiter Kim Bishop, who ignored the request. Ms. Bishop canceled the meeting and won't speak with the job hunter. "I just thought it was inappropriate and too aggressive," she says. "It would be like walking into someone's office without an invite."

Executive Coaches See Steady Demand

Out of work for months? Prevent your professional skills from atrophying by taking steps to brush up.

Plenty of people claim to be qualified to help you make your next career move. To make sure they can deliver the goods, heed these 9 tips.

But I don't give a hoot that you are "having a busy Monday," your child "took 30 minutes to brush his teeth," your dog "just ate an ant trap" or you want to "save the piglets." And I really, really don't care which Addams Family member you most resemble. (I could have told you the answer before you took the quiz on Facebook.)

Q: My wife joined a mentor program that was suggested to her by a very senior company official. The same official recommended a mentor who is only one level above her while everyone else has a mentor three levels higher. She feels very slighted and is not sure what to say -- or if she should say anything at all. I know in this current uneasy environment workers probably don't want any added responsibilities, which would make it difficult to find quality mentors.