It sounds like a platitude but it is essential to remain physically fit. Healthy body, healthy mind really is true and you need your mind to be healthy to stay on top of things. Gym membership may no longer be affordable, or perhaps you were never really a gym person, but there are plenty of free ways of exercising. Create a regime for yourself so that you feel fit and positive about yourself.

Make sure that you are not carrying the job search burden alone, or sharing it only with your partner or those who are emotionally too close to you. Job Clubs are an excellent, inexpensive way of getting peer support, provided the group is well facilitated and does not just provide an opportunity for whingeing. Ideally seek out the support of a career professional who can mentor and coach you through the job search process.

Remember that looking for a job is a full time job, and treat it as such. I have met people who dress in their working clothes every day, leave the house at the same time that they did when they were working, who spend the day at the local library researching vacancies and writing their job applications from there. They feel that they are engaged in a full time activity, and that they are continuing to work, even if they are not earning.

Finally, remember that periods of high unemployment do come to an end and that there is every possibility that you will get back into work, often sooner than you think. The very fact that you are reading this blog shows that you are still engaged in, and exploring the job market. It is simply a matter of attitude, focus, energy and time.

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The trouble is that whoever wins the election will make spending cuts in order to reduce the country’s borrowing deficit. And it is no secret that the public sector will bear the brunt of those cuts. Which will put thousands of jobs at risk. Quite rightly, those working in the public sector want to know whether their jobs will be amongst liable to be cut.

But the chancellor cannot announce in this week’s budget where the axe will fall. He can neither tell us which government departments will have their funding reduced, nor can he tell us which public services will be reined back. And he certainly can’t give us cant figures. Any more than the other parties can tell us where they would make cuts if they win the election. To do so would be political suicide; it would hand an electioneering advantage to their opponents. Neil Kinnock made that mistake in 1992 when he announced a shadow budget, and threw away an election he was on the verge of winning.

Which is why it is a shame there is a general election due. For without one it is likely that many more of us would be more certain about the future of our jobs. Mind you, no news is good news.

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Of the leading economic indicators, although unemployment is still rising it is doing so at a much slower rate, suggesting that it will soon level off and ultimately increase. The housing market seems to be improving which is always a good sign.

But there is still plenty of bad news out there. Significantly, it looks as if shops will have a bad Christmas season. This is important because, although the cause of the recession lies in the financial sector it was the downturn in consumer spending that changed things from a credit crunch to a recession. The idea was that by lowering mortgage and interest rates, so that we all had more disposable income, consumer spending would increase and the economy would be saved. Instead we all chose to save and repay debt. Consumer confidence remains low and is still decreasing.

The end of a recession is the time when many small companies fail, usually more than during the depths of the downturn itself. So even if we are coming out of recession the picture is not rosy.  

All in all, the prospects for the labour market in the first part of 2010 remain shaky. So it is important to persevere with a defensive career management strategy. Set realistic career goals and a strategy for achieving them. Keep your CV up to date, Make sure your networks are active and if you are job hunting, make as much use of your contacts as you can. If you feel that you have got as much from your network as you can hope to, then you need to expand it. It is not easy but it is the best you can do.

Things will get better. But perhaps not as quickly as we expected.

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The Winter of Discontent was caused by James Callaghan’s Labour government trying to enforce pay freezes in order to stem inflation. A different economic pressure from today, but nevertheless, is there a danger that 2009 could herald a similar Winter of Discontent? Mail workers have voted to strike, rail unions are in dispute and British Airways staff  are considering industrial action. Are there others in the pipeline.

There was a time when industrial disputes were driven by profound ideological differences. Class battles, workers against the bosses, socialism against capitalism. Now they are much more likely to be the product of poor communication and second rate leadership, on both sides. Every dispute that is reported today seems to be resolvable. If only each side would focus on common interests instead of points of difference.

I heard a postman complain that his round had been increased, he is no longer able to complete it in the allotted time, his bossed will not pay overtime and therefore he would have to cut his round short, people at the end would not get their post. Is this a cause for a strike? How many solutions can you think of this to this minor problem? Pay him per round perhaps instead of per hour, giving him the flexibility to work in his own time? Increase his basic pay in return for some flexibility in his hours? Set up collection points for those who do not receive their mail? If this is a justification for a strike it can only be down to poor leadership by management and unions.

The recession started in an outstanding spirit of co-operation. Companies actively sought alternatives to redundancy. Sabbaticals, part time working, job shares were all implemented as a way of avoiding lay offs. As the recession has prolonged our ability to find creative solutions seems to be waning. Industrial relations are returning to the bad old days. Let’s hope they don’t get any worse.

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Over the years he developed a wide range of interests. He was good with people, a raconteur and a born leader. He studied part time, and got himself a degree in Engineering and later a PhD in Politics. He did this as a hobby, he was too busy supporting his family both here and at home to think about making a new career for himself.

Three weeks ago he lost his job. He came to see me saying that he had worked hard all his life doing a job that he cared little about. Now that he had to find a new job at the age of 57 he wanted to find something that allowed him to feel he was meeting his potential, and that raised his self esteem. He did not know what the job was and he did not know how he could get  a new job at his age, but he was determined to try.

He knows it will be difficult for him to get a job in a new field during a recession. But what I find so inspiring is that this does not discourage him. He has so much to offer, and so many interests that it will be straightforward for him to identify the sort of work he should be doing. And his age will not be an impediment. It will be an asset. Because his life experience is part of what makes him the person he is.

And that is the remarkable thing about people who get a passion for self fulfilment, at any age. Once it happens we are driven to fulfil it. I hope I come across many other stories like this one.

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The report suggests that working mothers have less time and this is why their children have less healthy lifestyles. But it does not imply that this is a necessary consequence of being a working mother. There are many children whose mothers work whose lifestyles are just as, or more healthy than, those whose mothers stay at home.

And even if only one working mother were to demonstrate that her children’s quality of life was every bit as healthy as those of her non-working friend, it would be enough to disprove any suggestion that mothers in employment are putting their children at a disadvantage. For if one mother can do it, all mothers can do it. It is simply a question of managing less time better, of establishing an effective routine.

British society has gone through many radical changes in the last couple of generations. One of the most radical has been the huge growth in the number of mothers who work; over two thirds according to the most recent estimates. It takes time to implement  changes on such a scale, for people to develop the routines and patterns that will in time become established as the most beneficial. We have been learning how to best live in a world in which the majority of mothers work. We may not have it fully right yet. But that just means we have to learn smarter. Not that mothers should be discouraged from working.

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It is of course too soon to know exactly how the new arrangements will work. There will be strong and vociferous views on both sides, some will argue that public sector bodies in general, and schools in particular, are in any event over managed, and that a reduction in top level management will be welcome. Others will contend that a reduction in senior staff will have a negative impact on the quality of services.

But the proposals will have a significant effect on the working lives of those just below the top tiers of management. Organisations are likely to become flatter, with greater responsibility for all, and more decisions being devolved downwards.

Public sector workers can capitalise on this trend. There is likely to be a far greater call for leadership, management, and decision making skills across all organisations, particularly those most affected by spending cuts. The nature of career management in the public sector will change as organisations seek out and encourage workers who have invested in developing these skills.

Public sector cuts are inevitable. There is no doubt that there will be many redundancies. Those who have the skills and commitment to flourish in flatter organisations will survive the cuts better; those who are looking for new jobs are more likely to find them if they can demonstrate that they too have these skills.

It is time now, before it is too late, for everyone who works in the public sector to take a good look at their career plan, review their goals and objectives and seek out the necessary training to help them to achieve these in the new workplace scenario.

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Economic recovery means that companies are seeing business pick up; sales and profits are increasing. Yet this is happening despite the redundancies that they are still making; companies are improving despite a reducing workforce. Which suggests that they were originally overstaffed and that they may never need to build their workforce back up to previous levels.

Of course it is not that simple. Companies will increase their workforce in time, in order to do more business and make bigger profits. This explains why it will take two years longer for the labour market to pick up. But it also suggests that there is a pool of people, those who are currently unemployed, who are not needed for the immediate economic recovery of their companies. (Of course this does  not reflect personally on the many people who have recently experienced redundancy, this pool is simply a statistical phenomenon.)

But if the national economy has a potential overcapacity of two to three million people then this presents a great opportunity. Providing funding is available, we have the available human resources to engage in projects that may just be a pipe dream at the moment. The sort of projects, around infrastructure or social enhancement that politicians promise and generally fail to deliver. We now have the people available to make them work. The unemployment numbers can be rapidly reduced if politicians get us to start work on the projects that they want us to want. All they need to do is find the funding. And have the will to make it happen. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Entrepreneurs know that, however hard recessions are, they are also a time of opportunity. Hopefully politicians know that too.

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This seems a rather confused argument. Of course we should applaud all attempts to increase salaries and standards of living. But isn’t this exactly the same argument as was used to justify the minimum wage? Except that in that case it was employers, rather than government who were to bear the cost. And since, according to the Centre for Social Justice, despite the minimum wage there is still a need to get people off benefits, the argument that higher salaries will drive people back to work is clearly not valid.

Secondly, in a recession, with unemployment continuing to rise, it is not at all clear where the jobs are going to come from to underpin this plan.

But most importantly, the plan is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature. Those people who choose to spend their lives on benefits do not, in the main, do so because they can earn more by not working. They do so because they do not want to go to work. And they do not want to go to work because they do not find work an enjoyable or engaging experience.

The real point here is that, as a society, we fail to understand the importance of integrating our careers into our wider lives. This is something that we feel very strongly about at Career Energy. Unless people can see that they have the opportunity to work at something that is meaningful, that enhances their sense of self worth and personal value, jobs will be no more than they ever were; a means to an end, a way of earning a living. We live in a more demanding world now, one in which we all expect greater satisfaction from our working lives. The incentive to work needs to be more than just money alone. And certainly far greater than the minimal increase in income proposed by the Centre for Social Justice.

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The dangerous scenario is that the economic recovery will falter. Although the signs are that a rebound is taking place, we are by no means out of the woods and the earlier predictions that this will be the worst recession since the 1920s could still ring true. If stock markets fail to continue their rally, if another bank or two goes cap in hand for more state funding, if consumer spending fails to take off in time for Christmas, if Swine Flu hits us hard as the damp, cold weather returns; any or all of these factors could cast us back into a deep recession.

On the other hand, we may well continue to recover from the credit crunch, we may all feel confident enough to start spending more and we may have seen the worst of swine flu. At present this does seem to be the more likely scenario (perhaps with the exception of swine flu).

But what if the worst happens? Just as we were beginning to think that the threat of redundancy is passing, what if you are hit by it, through no fault of your own. Are you prepared?

This is where Plan B comes in (Plan A is to carry on as you are). At very least you should have an up to date CV and to have revived your network of contacts. So that if you have to start looking for a new job you can do so quickly. More than that you would be well advised to revisit, or write, your career plan; is this the time for a career change or career progression, do you need to come and talk to Career Energy so that you can work how to to turn the threat of redundancy into the opportunity of positive transition? How are you going to negotiate your compromise agreement, how can you make sure you are given outplacement? Should you be considering training, or setting up in business on your own? It is always worth having a Plan B. Now more than ever.

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