How will we view our career, retirement and professional development post-Great Recession?

There is no fast money. You need to chart your own career. There is a long-term impact to your decisions. Understand the long-term fit and chart how your career progresses. Don’t wait for someone else to build your career.

In J’s case, retirement is ten years away. There is no financial security to carry through his retirement years. He needs to build a new nest egg since he spent most of his long-term savings on survival and conducting an extended job search. Even with retirement in ten years, J has no desire to stay at home. He’ll continue working part-time to use his brain power.

It’s now about personal brand image vs. company loyalty. It’s what we offer the company vs. what they offer us. With the significant economic impact of the Great Recession and many companies downsizing, we need to focus on “my brand” and think of it first. With current technology, you can find out about people instantaneously. There are serious ramifications to your self-image, and you need to mange that image.

You need to stay loyal to yourself, not your company, and have an ongoing and continuous job search. Watch the signals for job changing needs and planned staff reductions. It can happen to you at any time. Define yourself, your personal skill set, and work for yourself vs. the institution.

Continue to redefine yourself. We all need to work until 80 now, not 65. Can we afford to dream? Dreams we had at the start of our career have disappeared.