By the time you’ve been out of work six months or more, your mind starts playing tricks on you.

The past starts looking pretty darn good and you forget how much you hated the first 15 years of your career and conclude with almighty certainty that you really did like purchasing. Or that being in information technology wasn’t so bad after all. Before you know it, you’ve convinced yourself that you should go back to your previous, lackluster career.

That might be. Or you could be falling for the when-all-else-fails-go-back-to-the-past strategy.

I keep meeting more and more people banking on former careers they left years ago as a new and improved place to hang their hat for the next decade or so. Many reason that, “I just need something secure for the next 10 or so years.”

If that is what’s making you nostalgic for the past, better rethink your plan.

First, you don’t want to end up miserable again. Second, it’s not necessarily an easy sell. Obviously you will have to answer sticky questions from potential employers about your change of heart. They will also compare you to newly minted graduates eager to jump in. How can you beat that? If a return to the past is truly what you want, you need a three-pronged approach to be a serious contender:

-Anticipate employers’ objections.

It’s only natural for an employer to probe. So expect to hear questions like, why after ten or more years, do you want to go back to what you did before? Why did you leave the field in the first place? And, if you’ve held management or leadership positions, why do you want to give it up?

You can bring up their concerns before they do: “You might be wondering why I want to get back into accounting…” Then give your well-thought-out response that explains your new career objective.

One of my clients who had been in information technology ten years before becoming a teacher explained how, even as a teacher his focus had been on helping students understand and use technology — a subject he loved. Now he wanted to apply his teaching skills to help adults understand technology by working in a customer support role. It’s a logical step, and he also had a story to tell.

- Explain how you’re up to speed and will keep up to date.

If you’ve been out of the field for years, you need to be up on the latest and greatest processes, issues the industry faces, as well as required skills. So be ready to explain how you’ve done that. What training have you taken? What do you read to stay abreast? Be prepared to talk about how you’ll stay ahead of the curve.

- Explain what has reignited your interest and why you’re excited about the work.

Employers can smell it if your heart’s not in it. How will you explain your renewed interest in a field you haven’t worked in for years? What is it about the work that you can’t wait to do again? What has happened in the last ten years that might add to your value in this new direction? How do you see yourself developing in this field?

If you can’t seem to come up with a story that you believe with all your heart, how can you convince someone else? In that case, perhaps heading back to your past is not the best plan for moving forward.

—

Andrea Kay is the author of “Life’s a Bitch and Then You Change Careers: 9 Steps to Get Out of Your Funk and On To Your Future.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Road, No. 133, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208; www.andreakay.com. E-mail: andrea@andreakay.com

I value my life and am counting on workers whose hands I put it in to take their jobs very seriously. People such as train conductors, pilots, bus drivers and others who operate machinery or tools that require their full attention. Unfortunately, as demonstrated again recently, the temptation to do otherwise is too great for some.

The latest poor judgment call that turned into multitasking-gone-terribly-wrong took place in Boston. A trolley operator ran a red light while text-messaging his girlfriend and crashed into another trolley injuring 49 people. What was he thinking?

Psychotherapist Charles Lawrence calls this behavior “faulty estimation.” Someone overestimates their ability to do two things at once or underestimates the importance of paying attention to the task at hand. Or “They are trying to fulfill what they believe is an important desire and have concluded that it is more important than the situation they are in.”

What could be so important that looking away from your job – even for two seconds – puts lives in peril? The sudden thought that you left the door unlocked, which causes you to text your roommate to go home and check? This, says Lawrence, is a desire to avoid something painful.

Or it could be your desire to win control or power. An example is the frustration you feel about your girlfriend’s family always getting in your business that ends up being an argument via text. Or it could be your desire for physical or emotional gratification. Example: You’re supposed to be focusing on the machine in front of you when you get a text from someone you’ve been longing to hear from.

You make a choice that that text message or conversation “has to happen now to get an important desire fulfilled,” says Lawrence. You get distracted and look down. Then it’s too late.

This compulsion to respond to a ringing cell phone or text message no matter what, stems from various interrelated issues, says clinical hypnotherapist John McGrail. Distraction is one. Since work routines are “often viewed as boring, single-minded mundane activities, the ‘illicit’ communication provides a distraction,” he says.

Isolation is another. Living in a competitive society that has evolved into “an ethos of isolation,” getting a call or text “creates a feeling of connection and intimacy that we all subconsciously crave.”

Then there’s multitasking – which despite how talented you think you are – is simply not possible. Your brain is designed to focus on one task at a time, McGrail says.

Even with your brain’s 100 billion neurons processing information at a rate of up to a thousand times per second you simply cannot effectively do two tasks at the same time, say Vanderbilt University neuroscientists Paul E. Dux and Rene Marois.

Just as one generation hates to let a phone ring, the Net generation hates to let a text go unanswered, offers Marcia Reynolds author of “Outsmart Your Brain.” “So they think they can do two things at once. The truth is, while you are texting, you are giving 100 percent to your text and none to your job.”

Until this train accident, Boston transit employees were prohibited from talking or texting on cell phones while working. Now the chief of the transit authority is banning train, bus and trolley operators from even carrying cell phones and other personal electronic devices while on duty.

I’ve seen job descriptions that list and resumes that brag about the ability to multitask. Trying to do two things at once is not only unproductive, it’s not humanly possible. For some jobs, it can be deadly. And that’s a fact worth giving your full attention.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

I get uneasy nowadays with so many people saying they want to work for the government. The same way I got uneasy years ago when lots of people said they wanted to “get into computers.” They didn’t know why. Just that it was where the jobs were.

Government jobs may be aplenty and growing. Some estimates range from 250,000 to 600,000 new jobs, primarily due to the stimulus bill and changing government priorities, says Stewart Liff, author of Managing Your Government Career, who also suspects those numbers are too high.

Nevertheless, if that’s the direction you’re pursuing, know what you’re getting into.

First, let’s look at the main reason many people – maybe you – want to get a government job: security. Job security is indeed one of the advantages of working for the government, says Liff. The government offers more job security than the private sector because it’s funded by taxes, doesn’t have to make a profit and will always exist in some shape or form. You also don’t have to worry about corporate mergers or jobs moving overseas.

But plenty of people lose government jobs. And there is always the risk of consolidation, Liff points out. Indeed government workers do have strong protections. And “the federal government offers an incredibly attractive array of benefits,” says Liff.

On the other hand, government jobs may not pay as much as the private sector. (Sometimes they pay more or about the same.) There’s all that bureaucracy due to the sheer size and scope of government, says Liff. And don’t forget about the rigid and complex rules and a “culture that far too often enables poor performers to skate by” and can “sometimes result in pressure to promote, reward, protect or retain undeserving people.”

Another disadvantage is that since elected officials change, agendas shift. “New procedures may be diametrically opposed to the approach taken by the last administration” and you may “have to change course 180 degrees and follow the direction of a political appointee who does not really understand the organization that the civil servants have devoted their working life to,” says Liff. This can be extremely frustrating.

One of the best reasons to work for the government is because of its core mission: to help your fellow citizens. Government workers defend our country, aid returning soldiers, help protect the environment, educate our children, maintain our libraries, fight fires and improve public health. They were part of the team that sent Neal Armstrong to the moon. Government employees certainly have the chance to make a difference and do.

So if you’re going to be in a job that exists to serve your fellow citizens, being in touch with that is key and can help keep you going when you’re drowning in red tape. Serving your fellow citizens is admirable and your empathy for what we go through can make you better at your work. It would certainly make those interactions at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles more pleasant. And think of how much more satisfying it could be for you.

Getting into computers because it was where the jobs were or because it was thought to be “secure” was foolhardy. Just as getting into government or health care is today for that reason alone. I can introduce you to thousands of people who hate their jobs and lives today because they blindly applied the it’s-hot-and-where-the-jobs-are criteria. Many of them have – or want to change – careers. A career in government might be perfect for you. But only for the right reasons.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

Job hunters have always fretted over how to handle this interview question: Why did you leave your last position? Today, even though we all know someone who has lost their job due to the recession and there’s a perfectly understandable rationale, job hunters are just as worried about how to respond to this question.

Not too long ago, losing a job wasn’t always so understandable. Situations can be complex. So you needed a well-thought out response that forbade bashing your former company or revealing dangerous details of a relationship gone sour. Doing so could unleash a flood of questions and open an unfortunate can of worms that could easily have stayed shut.

Today, you still don’t want to go into a boss- or company-bashing tirade. Granted, half the world may be rooting for you because they’ve been adversely affected by the economy. And today when someone hears you lost your job, eyebrows are not quizzically raised and doubts of your ability immediately cast. Most people get that many job losses are likely due to the economy.

But even if you lost your job due to cutbacks, the same no-bashing-he-said-she-said rules apply. You don’t want to come at this with an attitude. Steer clear of phrases like: “Our company was stupid enough to let our entire department go” or “The company didn’t appreciate me or never listened to my ideas. If they had, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Something simple will do:

“I worked for the S. J. Mathers Company for the last 15 years and enjoyed my position. But like many companies these days, they were hit by the recession and downsized the work force. Unfortunately, my division was affected.”

What if personalities, improper handling of situations, goofing off or lying led to your departure? Well, I suppose you have a choice. You can take an easy out and chalk it up the economy. Or you can, as others before you have had to do, come up with a reasonable explanation using artfully chosen words.

Now is a good time to also examine what might make you so uncomfortable about this question. A recent article by Matt Bai in The New York Times Magazine got me thinking about one reason. He talked about how General Motors has resisted bankruptcy, believing that “going under would mortally wound its brand.”

He goes on to say, “There probably was a time when a well-publicized bankruptcy would … have destroyed the viability of a brand. But in the 20 years since Silicon Valley startups began transforming the workplace, younger Americans … have largely dispensed with the mythology of the infallible institution. Transparency and reinvention, rather than stability and regality, are the more valued assets in an economy where entrepreneurs expect to stumble more often than they succeed and where employees expect to have to change jobs (if not careers) multiple time. In the fastest-growing quarters of the economy, admitting your failures and remaking yourself is the new American work ethic.”

This is a useful way of looking at and accepting job loss. It would take dispensing with the mythology of the infallible career. It would mean realizing that a job loss is not a mortal wound, admitting to shortcomings and remaking yourself into a new, more valued asset. That’s something that people definitely understand these days.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

I was mowed down by a job hunter holding an interview on her cell phone who, aimlessly wandering the aisles of the store, was oblivious to the rest of us hunting down ingredients for that evening’s supper. So distracted was she, she didn’t notice she knocked me over and that the apple I was examining had flown into the air and landed in a pile of kale.

Picking myself up from the floor I got to thinking. Not about how inconsiderate public cell phone talkers are. That would be, forgive the pun, fruitless. But about how much job hunters – and the gainfully but worried employed who are looking for a new job – miss by not paying attention to what is squarely in front of them.

Take for instance, this interaction a small-business owner had with a would-be employee. The man said he had approached the woman who works for another company that’s going through a tough time about a role at his company. “Would you be interested in talking to me about a position?” he asked her. Her response: “I’m open if the job is secure.”

What is she so blatantly missing? Let’s begin with the ripe opportunity most people would kill for just to talk to an employer who in these uncertain times, is eager to hire.

And how about the fact that right under her nose she’s got someone who obviously sees value in her (although now may be having second thoughts.) Even if she loves her present job and has no plans to leave until the business goes off the deep end, when someone reaches out to you like that, it’s a gift from career heaven. It’s a chance to make a new business acquaintance and become part of their bountiful network.

Third, and most amazing, she misses the chance to better understand what a flourishing business needs these days. Apparently, she didn’t get the memo that the job she has now is not secure and that unless you are a Supreme Court justice with life tenure, security does not exist anywhere.

She has overlooked the chance to simply talk to a business person to find out what’s happening in his business and where he needs help. And since one never knows what could happen, she has let the opportunity to consider her next possible step slip through her fingers.

On the other hand, take this enlightened professional who pays regular attention to what is in front of him – people who have helped him along the way. Jason, an assistant director in the movie industry, sent an e-mail this week to those folks:

“I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. This month marks the four-year anniversary of my move from Cincinnati to Los Angeles. In that time, I have managed to transition from grip to assistant director. By no means am I rich or famous, but I have been fortunate enough to have some great opportunities in the business. And those opportunities have come from the knowledge that each of you imparted on me as I came up in the business … you all have been instrumental in helping me get to where I am.”

That probably took him five minutes to write and send. Yet the effort gained him oodles of good will, appreciation and career capital.

As for that preoccupied job hunter who ran me down, I would have been happy to offer a few interviewing tips – especially a smarter way to handle the salary question that she totally blew. If only she had been paying attention to what was in front of her.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

Everywhere I eavesdrop (I can’t help that people shout while yapping on their cell phones), I hear nothing but trash talk about the economy, prospects of finding a job or the future. We’ve got to stop acting so gloomy and powerless.

But how, you ask, when everything is so glum and out of control? Good question and one I’ve been asked every time I’ve given a speech these days. To help lift this veil of darkness that has blanketed the planet, I’ve compiled my observations of how you might be perpetuating bleak foreboding and not realize it (like any type of change, it begins with awareness) and created my “Stop Doing That & Start Doing This Instead” list.

For openers, stop starting your sentences with “In this bad economy …”

I know, you know and now we all know the latest stats of surging unemployment and plummeting net worth. So stop setting the stage for every conversation that inevitably leads to droning on about the bad economy.

Two, stop fretting that you won’t be able to get another job if you lose the one you’ve got because you’ve been with your company for umpteen years.

Why worry about something you have no control over? You made a choice to stay put. It’s been good and still could be. Instead, if you do need to look elsewhere, you’re perfectly capable of coming up with a fine explanation of where you started at your company, what you’ve accomplished and how you’ve developed professionally while there. End of story.

Three, stop wringing your hands because you don’t have a degree.

Again, why get bent out of shape over something you can’t change – the past? If you’re so inclined to change that, now is the time to embellish your skills and knowledge.

If you are not so inclined or want to take classes but not necessarily get a four-year degree, pick up a book like “300 Best Jobs Without a Four-Year Degree.”

Based on information from the U.S. Department of Labor, author Laurence Shatkin created a list of such jobs expected to have high growth through 2016. They include veterinary technologists and technicians, medical assistants, social and human service assistants, physical therapist assistants, environmental science and protection technicians, preschool teachers, environmental engineering technicians, court reporters, bill and account collectors and vocational educational teachers.

Four, stop spending time on wasteful activities that have little or no return on your investment of time. This includes blindly sending out resumes and letters and asking everybody you know for a job.

I get letters all the time from people offering me their services. They want green jobs, teaching positions – you name it – and say things like: “My resume speaks for itself…I am willing to relocate…” I can’t figure out why they waste their time sending me their resume. What do they think I’m going to do with it?

Instead target the people and organizations who have a need for your services.

Five, stop going around telling everyone, “I haven’t lost my job yet.”

Quit anticipating the worst. Instead prepare for what is possible by making decisions that can create your desired future. Apply a lesson from Peter F. Drucker, the “father of modern management.” As William Cohen, one of his students and author of the book, “A Class with Drucker,” explains Drucker’s philosophy: “You can’t predict the future, but you can create it.”

Create yours now. There’s never been a better time or reason.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@)andreakay.com.

Someone sent me the results of a survey that said employees spend nearly three hours a day worrying about job security. Based on what I hear people discussing on elevators, at lunch and while standing in halls waiting for meetings to start I would guess they spend more time than that worrying about their jobs while they’re at work. And it doesn’t end there.

They worry when they see the news that points out around the clock the rising unemployment rate, disappearing jobs, slower hiring rates and layoffs. And of course there are those 3 in the morning worry-wake-up calls.

Psychologists say that worry is a habitual way of thinking that comes about because certain thoughts get triggered. And then there is such a thing as “productive worrying” which is when your worry motivates you to do something productive about what you’re worried about.

Almost every worker I’ve talked to who says they’re being productive about their worry is doing two things: Updating their resume and talking to recruiters. That’s not enough.

If you want to be prepared in case you lose your job or you’re already conducting a job search, you must do much more to compete with all the other qualified folks. You need to start by arming yourself with answers to these questions:

- How does what you do everyday – or have done – translate into something that matters to your company or a new one at this particular point in time?

- What kinds of things do you know about that your company – or ones you want to work for – depend on – especially now?

- What special talents and skills do you have that your company or another one rely on and need now more than ever to stay in business and be competitive?

- What can you do that goes beyond what’s expected in your job or the one you want – especially now?

- What specifically can you do to not only help your company or another one get through this economic period, but evolve?

- What would you tell a new employer they need to do to prepare for the future of their industry? And how will you help them accomplish that through the work you’re qualified to do?

Most people won’t take the time to answer these questions. It’s work to figure out why you matter in such concrete, precise ways. It’s not easy to think like your boss and the owner of your company. It’s tedious to think through what makes you better than the other 300 people applying for the same job in 60-second sound bites.

It’s easier to call a recruiter and just update your resume. It’s what everyone else is doing.

If you want to be the one who intrigues a potential employer, buckle down and figure out these answers. If you want to be the one your company is more likely to consider keeping as times get tough and layoffs loom, give them good reason. Put on your thinking cap and know these answers.

What are you waiting for? I’ve just handed you a tool that helps you do something productive about what you’re worried about. Not to mention that it just might cut down on those three in the morning worry wake-up calls.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

There’s a lot of talk about green jobs, but do you understand what it means?

When I ask the average person what they think a green job is, they say, “It’s something to do with the environment” and “It’s related to energy.”

People who consider themselves involved with green jobs offer a variety of perspectives. Words like “renewable” and “sustainable” pop up a lot. They say such jobs are related to corporate social responsibility, recycling, waste reduction and eco-tourism. They also say green jobs create alternative energy or everything from cars and computers to lamps and clothes in “environmentally sustainable ways.”

But what does that mean and how many jobs are we talking about?

Although no one can say for sure how many green jobs exist today or will be created, it seems safe to say that the future looks bright for green jobs, especially “given the change in direction indicated by (President) Barack Obama and his support for all things green,” says Bronwyn Llewellyn, a co-author of “Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment.”

So in the hope of shedding light on the green-job segment, and with so much to say and many ways to look at it, I’ve broken this subject into several columns over the following weeks. Today, I’ll start to talk about what green jobs are and where to find them.

First, green jobs don’t fit neatly into one area of the marketplace. There are companies that specialize in producing green products such as energy-efficient buildings, lights, trash bags, solar panels and cleaning products.

Then there are organizations, like universities, retail operations and non-profits, which have people on staff who deal with green issues. Titles include sustainability manager or chief green officer.

There also are companies and professionals who specialize in green issues, such as an investment professional who establishes funds focusing on renewable and clean energy.

And then there are “regular” jobs that exist within companies that produce green products. By this, I mean managers, janitors and people who work in marketing and sales. Their work per se is not “green,” but they do it at “green” companies.

Some folks involved with green jobs say you don’t have a green job unless it reduces waste and pollution and benefits the environment or does something useful for people.

Others, like John Kaufman, a recruiter with AgentHr, point out that these days, green jobs are primarily engineering and scientist-based positions and that there’s a great need for the following:

1. Electrical engineers who can design power, storage and distribution systems or solar, wind, ocean, biofuel and geothermal energy sources.

2. Chemical engineers who discover new processes to increase efficiency of biofuel generation and develop new materials more efficient at capturing solar energy.

3. Civil engineers to build the factories to produce the energy.

Kaufman says that more construction and manufacturing positions, such as machinists, drafters, laborers and truckers, will be needed in the future, but engineers will be needed to continuously improve processes. And that will lead to a need for software and consulting professionals to design and implement the information systems to manage everything from bookkeeping to inventory.

On the other hand, there are people like Mike Hall, president of Borrego Solar Systems, who says it’s a common misconception that green jobs are only for engineers. And that will be the next part of this green job story: Where else are the green jobs?

To be continued, sustained or renewed next time.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

This may seem hard to imagine, but many people’s careers and lives have changed for the better since the financial crisis began. Take Elliot. Well before 2008, he was not a happy camper but didn’t know it. This money manager who made gobs of dough for himself and others working most days and nights for 30 years, also spent family vacations calming nervous clients by phone back in his hotel room.

“I justified it saying it was for my family. But it was for me because it was never enough. I was doing the only thing I knew – make money, the most important benchmark in life.”

When his personal assets were cut in half and his business fell apart this past September, he feared his financial hit would break up his marriage.

“I expected my wife to be furious, to say, ‘You moron, I can’t believe you did this!’ But she said, ‘The money’s not what’s important, you are.’

Elliot feels richer than he’s ever been. “Money doesn’t come first anymore. The stock market doesn’t determine my mood. My new philosophy is put money in perspective, stay on track with goals, be home with the kids and be compassionate to my wife.”

Thomas Wallace of Matawan, N.J., worked nights and weekends for 13 years in restaurant management.

“I thought I was happy,” he says.

He lost his job and at 35 is “living like a college dorm kid,” working at a printing plant and barely covering bills. By the end of week, “I’m totally mentally and physically burned out but happy because a couple hours a night I get to create artwork” – something he’s always wanted to do. Making greeting cards, a comic strip – one recently published by a magazine – “makes me proud.”

He spends more time with friends “who believe in my dream. I don’t make much money, but I give myself small goals. It’s thrilling. I have gained confidence in myself.”

Josh Estrin could read the writing on the wall and left his job as CEO of a national health organization. When he interviewed and was hired as dance and drama instructor at a private school, “I gave my two-weeks notice and now go to work in sweat pants, tights and a big smile. The joy of the arts has awakened in me something that had been dormant for far too long.”

He took a 60 percent pay cut, has “real friends again” and sleeps soundly.

Novelist turned mortgage broker William Hazelgrove says he “finally broke through and published that elusive fourth novel, ‘Rocket Man.’ You can’t ask for more out of a downturn than that.”

When Mark Hayward’s contract as a consultant wasn’t renewed, he and his wife decided to “open our dream business in the Caribbean. We now run a small B&B, Palmetto Guesthouse, in Culebra, Puerto Rico.”

There are also folks like Brandon Mendelson, who with his wife will begin “hitchhiking, driving and couch surfing across North America to fight breast cancer on behalf of the 1 in 8 Foundation.”

Laid off from his job as a computer network engineer, Ron Dilbert started Single Parent Power, an organization supporting single parent families. A woman in New York said that because of financial tightening she and her ex-husband are sharing a sitter for “our common child and his baby with new wife, and his new wife and I have a closer relationship because we communicate almost daily.”

No doubt, this is a financially challenging time. But it can also be one of those times to stop and notice what’s been missing and make your work and life richer than ever before.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

Entrances matter when it comes to rooms, relationships, probably some other things I haven’t thought of, and what I want to talk about – new years. So don’t cower your way into this particular year. Swagger. Yes, as any good etiquette expert would advise, get those shoulders back, walk tall and look boldly ahead with confidence.

There I go again being all full of promise and wide-eyed as that energetic 12-week old kitten running around my house. Some of you think I must be a youthful, cockeyed optimist who wouldn’t know a recession if she saw one. A reader named Paul has such a perception. He e-mailed me last week to comment on my column about why you need to hold purposeful conversations with people about your career. He wrote:

“I can only assume that you are a bright, outgoing, bubbly, twenty-something from a well-to-do home. We are very happy for you! However, the other 75 percent of us income earners probably came from self-doubting parents who raised us with the mind-set that you find a job, work hard, give 120 percent, and retire with a gold watch. … The reality of the current world slaps you back to drain the energy and drive from you.”

I hate discussing age. It makes you seem, well, old. But let me just say that you and I are from the same generation, Paul. And while it can be reassuring to sound the alarm to fasten your seatbelts because it’s going to be a bumpy year, I choose not to – even at my age.

In fact, I’ll go further and promote the philosophy of a self-employed business person from our generation who never knows where his next paycheck is coming from, who told me he’s entering 2009 “full speed ahead.”

His inspiration is a scene from the 1966 movie “Grand Prix,” in which actor Yves Montand plays a world champion race car driver. Montand’s character describes what he does when he sees the yellow caution flag that’s raised after an accident on the raceway. “It indicates to drivers, ‘caution, slow down, there’s been an accident.”‘ But Montand says, “That’s when I accelerate.”

When I asked him how he will be accelerating things in 2009, he says “I’ll be working on many new fronts. I’ll be looking at what greater value I can provide my clients. I’ll be trying out new ideas, working longer hours and doing more work on speculation. I have a software idea I want to find funding for. So I’ve made a list of everyone I know who can help, who would want to be involved and people I have access to who have money and might want to invest in an innovative business idea.”

He says, “I can cut my expenditures and be conservative like others or look at how to position myself to take advantage of the fact that everyone is cutting back their budgets. So while others are being pensive, cautious, paranoid and worried, I’ll be going full speed ahead. I’m playing to win instead of playing not to lose. It’s a big difference in attitude.”

So take your pick. Keep your head down and enter 2009 with trepidation. Or muster your strength and grab hold of a new mind-set with the rallying cry that won a Civil War victory at Mobile Bay: “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

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Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., #133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea(AT)andreakay.com.

AP-NY-12-31-08 1346EST

Let me start by saying that the last thing I want to do is trash someone else’s well-intentioned advice. But reading this tidbit in an advice column that will go unnamed, I can’t help myself. A reader had written this advice-giver to say that everyone says you need to network to find a new job, but what if you hate networking, do you have to do it? The advice-giver’s response, and I quote: “Unfortunately, you probably do.”

Unfortunately? What is so unfortunate about talking to people? What is so horrendous about holding a purposeful conversation with select people to hear their opinions and share your professional goals?

What is so indecent about learning useful information for your career like how you might transfer your talents to another industry or what trends and issues are affecting an allied industry you’re considering? What is so unfitting about tapping into the greatest source of advice and information on earth (even better than Google) – live human beings who have experience, are resourceful and yes, actually like lending a helping hand to fellow humans? It’s in our genes, after all.

Yes, you can even do it by phone. So explain, please, what is so undesirable about having folks who will gladly sit down over coffee or lunch to help you out if only you’d ask?

What’s there to hate? You talk to people all the time. They’re not going to bite your head off. When you ask for their time they may not respond immediately. Do you respond the minute someone wants something from you? Get over the fact that just because they didn’t drop everything and jump for joy to get your e-mail the first time you wrote, they reject you. Yes, that was rude on their part to ignore you once, but if you really want to talk, follow up again. If they don’t respond a third time, move on. There are millions of nicer people in the world.

Think you’re bothering them? You are if you expect them to tell you where your next job is. How are they supposed to know? That’s not networking. That’s annoying. Ask for something they can give – advice and insight to help you tweak your career. Depending on who they are, they might have worthwhile thoughts on where your particular field is headed. Based on your situation and goals, they might shed light on obstacles you’d encounter and how to overcome them. If you play your cards right, they could know organizations expanding in this area, actual openings and other people you can talk to. Is that so bad?

You’ve lost touch with people, you say? Apologize for being such an out-of-touch fool. Then promise yourself you’ll never do that again – and make sure you don’t.

Seem like too much work to contact people, follow up, prepare what to say, think of relevant questions and hold a two-way conversation? If it is too much trouble to get to know and care about other people – not just for what they can do for you but what you can do for them – you will find yourself alone in a world made up of successful people who are talking to each other – and not just when they’re in trouble. And that would be unfortunate.

These next two weeks and the beginning of the year are excellent times to casually connect with people, set up a time to chat or just open the door for future conversation and a new two-way relationship. Now tell me, why would that be such an unfortunate thing to do?

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., #133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@)andreakay.com.

Heriberto Bernabe, left, and Adriana Saldana sit on a cart at the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Saturday in Chicago. Workers laid off from their jobs at the factory have occupied the building since Friday and are demanding assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.

Workers in Chicago who lost jobs after their window and door factory employer gave them three days’ notice are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore.

Staging a sit-in that began on the last day of the plant’s operation, they plopped themselves onto folding chairs and pallets on the factory floor. They say they’re not leaving until they get what’s coming to them – severance and vacation pay.

The 200-plus workers doing eight-hour sit-in shifts cite the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires employers to give 60 days’ notice of a plant closing or mass layoff to employees and their unions. The law does allow some exceptions to this rule, “including one for ‘faltering companies’ that may fear that a layoff notice could affect their chances of getting capital or new business,” USA TODAY reported.

Never mind that a legal technicality might render their plight moot.

In light of corporate bailouts, businesses’ difficulty in getting credit and the overall mood of workers who were already on the rampage before everything began to crumble this fall, these people stand for much more.

They are the culmination of a movement festering for years – one so big, I wrote a book about it that, ironically, came out this month. At its heart, their movement is about fair exchange.

That’s what the work relationship was supposed to be. Workers gave time, talent, skills, knowledge and education and employers provided a decent place to work, salary and bonuses. Trouble erupts when that contract is broken.

Factor in the feeling you’re being lied to and it gets worse. The New York Times reported some workers at the Chicago factory said managers removed heavy equipment in the middle of the night in November and, when asked about it, said all was well.

My 20-year “Lies My Company Told Me” file is overflowing. If you’d like to commiserate, there are samples in my book.

Workers in other companies are angry because they’ve lost trust in their institution due to naughty executives. Others are working harder and getting less for it.

The anger extends to job hunting and complaints of unresponsive hiring managers. One job hunter told me the highlight of his week was getting a “thanks but no thanks letter” – he was overjoyed that someone had taken the time to acknowledge him.

As a worker, you do not control many things that render this relationship unbalanced. But there are things you influence to suffer less and prosper more as we shift deeper into a new economy and the uncertainty that accompanies it.

If it’s important to grow and develop in your career, take total responsibility for your professional development. Don’t wait for your boss to tell you how you’re doing. If you want to be prepared for the unknown, develop and meet regularly with a cadre of supportive people.

If you want to be on top of what could be next, then track this: What knowledge do I lack? How can I excel or gain more expertise? How can I master my trade or become the valuable expert in my field?

You can also take a stance on issues that matter to you. Whether that’s at-will employment, paid family medical leave or workplace bullying, learn about legislation being introduced on these issues and communicate with the people and institutions influencing them.

Yes, the pendulum has swung far to one side, with profit at the expense of people, community and even companies. Yes, companies and other institutions need to do their part to bring this back in balance.

In the meantime, what can you do to not only take care of yourself, but also move that conversation forward?

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., #133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

If I see one more headline on how to “recession proof your career,” I will have to scream – or write a column about why it is time to stop this foolishness.

Believing in silver bullets in the form of industries and jobs immune to cuts and hoping that making nice-nice with the boss will keep you in good graces no matter what is just putting off the inevitable.

I get that you want to protect yourself. That you want to hold on to what you’ve got or leap to what might (if you’re lucky) last forever. When “times are bad, fear and loathing capture our imagination,” said New York Times columnist Joe Nocera in early October. “We take actions to protect ourselves – like banks refusing to lend to other banks – even though these individual actions result in a kind of cumulative madness. That is where we are now.”

And that is where so many workers – perhaps you – are now, crossing your fingers and instinctively ducking for cover from corporate belt-tightening. Or looking to take refuge in an industry that appears to have a few good years left or won’t crash and burn anytime soon. But the answer to your career woes is not a death grip on the past or a life jacket to a job with a possible foreseeable future. It’s time for original thinking.

Hundreds of businesses and industries you would have thought had no chance have thrived by changing their thinking, and there’s plenty to learn from them. Look at bicycle manufacturers, who when faced with a threat of obsolescence, “managed to creatively invent themselves,” says Catherine Rampell in a New York Times article. Take radio, pronounced dead in 1953. Then the industry revitalized itself, tapping into new markets, finding neglected markets and changing the business model.

Some companies “made radical transitions to new products and new industries, and survived through evolution, not preservation.” Others, such as Apple and Microsoft, were created during economic downturns. It all took inventive thinking.

Companies that “have survived technological challenges have in common some combination of perseverance, creativity, versatility and luck,” said the article. And if you are going to survive the challenges of today’s economy, you will need the same.

For the moment, you may need Plan A, which, in the event that your job is cut, focuses on paying the bills. But Plan B is where original thinking comes in to leverage opportunities and create your bigger career picture. Here are some questions to get your started:

• What direction is my industry headed and what should I do to prepare for it?

• If I’m not sure of that direction, what do I need to do to figure it out?

• What social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and technological forces are affecting my field?

• What skills need fine tuning and what knowledge needs to be updated?

• What new markets can I tap into with my skills and knowledge?

• What are the neglected markets that need what I have to offer?

• How can I change my own business model to meet the changing needs of my industry or another one?

• What’s a natural evolution for me based on my experience and what the world needs?

Like companies, with original thinking, you can thrive and do great work even in difficult times. As Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s new chief of staff, said recently: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. It’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., #133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

In the fictional office of “30 Rock,” Tracy, Jenna, Kenneth, Frank and Pete run to Liz Lemon with every problem under the sun. This makes for great entertainment when the whiny characters on this NBC comedy program squawk and squeal about, well, you name it and they drop it at Liz’s feet to fix. But to emulate such tactics in your own career would be disastrous.

But, you say, my co-worker is a saboteur! He sets me up to look bad. She steals my ideas. She’s a slacker. He’s the slimiest of slime balls. What can I do but go to the boss? Yes, we all know the species. Still, you well-meaning, hardworking types must be wary of dumping your frustrations on your boss’s lap. He or she has better things to do and will not smile kindly upon you for bringing on more.

So that first means boning up on your office politics skills – a necessary tool for survival and to fight your own battles.

Politics is reality because other “people don’t check their humanity at the door when they punch in on the time clock,” say Michael Dobson and Deborah Dobson, authors of “Enlightened Office Politics.”

They define politics as “the informal and sometimes emotion-driven process of allocating limited resources and working out goals, decisions and actions in an environment of people with different and competing interests and personalities.”

There are only so many people and so much money to go around. Everyone is competing to get the resources to accomplish their goals. And people will go to all kinds of lengths to get what they want.

But that doesn’t mean there’s never a right time and place to knock on your supervisor’s door – or cubicle – and ask, “Do you have a minute?”

R. Dixon Thayer, CEO of ab3 Resources, a strategic consulting and investment firm in Unionville, Pa., explains just when it’s appropriate in a case study of the November Harvard Business Review. Thayer posts his four “rules for boss engagement” on his office door. The basic idea, “is that before you approach me, you should declare your purpose,” he says. So it’s OK to come to him when:

1. Bringing news that does not require action. “Don’t show up with bad news after 4 on a Friday, unless it’s business critical,” he says.

2. You want a decision. But make sure you “bring possible solutions to the problem – and your thoughtful recommendation.”

3. You want personal advice and counsel “not as the boss, and without expecting action on my part – it’s your job to solve the problem.”

4. “You want to complain about someone,” but “bring that person along with you, or we won’t have a happy meeting.”

“I explain that I’m not trying to be arrogant or unresponsive,” he says. “I care immensely about the people who work for me, but I have a company to run. If you want me to also do your job, don’t expect to be too thrilled with the outcome.”

Now there is one more thing to do before you rap on the boss’s door: Figure out why you’re so rattled. Often what makes or breaks a career is “how you react when you are too emotionally embroiled in the situations to think at all,” says Maggie Craddock president of Workplace Relationships in the Harvard Business Review case study.

Talking to your boss may be what you think you need to do when someone has you all worked up. But as Craddock puts it, sometimes “the most important conversations we have in business are those we have with ourselves.”

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Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., #133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

In case you didn’t believe it before last week’s presidential election, now you know you really can do anything you want with your life. It may have just been a hopeful seed someone once planted in your head, but you’ve seen it with your very own eyes and there’s no stopping you now.

Not so fast, you say?

What about the fact that my boss is an inept fool who gets in the way of my gaining the experience I need? What about the fact that no one responds to my resume to even get an interview? What about the fact that I’m over 50?

Well, what about the fact that you’re letting other people decide how your career goes?

I don’t blame you for feeling bitter. Much is broken in the workplace. Bad bosses overpopulate offices. So many leaders have let us down, indulging in fraud, creative accounting and bad management decisions.

And yes, over the years you’ve worked hard, been asked to do more with less and yet received less in return. You may have lost your job. And it’s rare that job hunters even get a thanks-but-no-thanks letter these days.

In the short term, no one can reverse the crumbling of trust in the workplace and job-hunting process. But you can snap out of a self-defeating cycle that purges hope from your future and the great things you thought you could do with your life.

You owe it to yourself. How you feel about your work and career affects everything – not only your future, but children you might have and attitudes they develop as they observe and mimic you; the way you operate in the world and treat everyone who crosses your path; and someday, how you’ll look back at your life.

One way to stop that self-defeating loop: Decide to start where things are, not where you think they should be.

Example: People rarely act the way you want them to act. You may think they should do what they say they’re going to do, respond to e-mails and voicemails and know how to be good bosses. But people have their own good reasons for doing what they do (don’t you?). So are you going to let the fact that they aren’t acting the way you want stop you from doing what you dare with your career?

People ask me a lot: “Why do they get to act the way they do? Why do I have to be the one to change?” Good point, but not really relevant. Other peoples’ behavior may not be “right.”

But you’re the one who’s not getting what you want. So you’re the one who will be doing the changing. That might mean curtailing your daily routine of sending your resume to online ads and instead sitting down to create a real job-hunting strategy that gets you in front of people. It could mean seeking out someone in your company who supports you instead of complaining about your lame boss who couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag.

Plenty of people before you faced enormous roadblocks to get where they wanted – including the man who will be the next president. They could have been angry and deflated in spirit about the odds stacked against them – and perhaps were at times.

But to feel powerful about your career, you have to feel powerful about yourself. That begins with the belief that, well, to adapt a familiar phrase from an unlikely person to hold the most powerful job in the country: “Yes, I can.”

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., #133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.