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The loss of City jobs unsettled us far less than the prospect of Woolworths, MFI and Adams disappearing from the high street. As far as the news goes, we don't do gradual - everything has to be gloom or glory. We love to polarise career choices in a similar way: "Either I have a job I love all the time, or I get a job that pays the bills." The new watertight excuse for career stagnation is blame the economy, added to the repertoire of phrases (better the devil you know, the grass is always greener) which keep us in the velvet rut - you're bored stiff but things are just too comfortable to change.
I judge the market by listening to career conversations in trains and coffee shops. Conversations swing between an "ideal world" projection and a reality check before compromising somewhere closer to economic necessity than job satisfaction. Being realistic sounds objective, but all too often it's a secondhand, diminished, view of what's out there. Most recently overheard: "Unless a job is absolute hell it makes sense to stay put for a year or two." And so, life goals are quietly trashed over a cappuccino, and a new lacklustre career deal is sealed.
I don't for a moment underestimate the impact of joblessness - flattened self-esteem makes recovery a tough climb. As income shrinks, it becomes easier to accept the next job simply because it has come along.
The question is still one of choice and strategy. And, since we spend more hours in work than any previous generation, taking work satisfaction seriously is about taking happiness seriously. For too long we've allowed happiness to be a fluffy concept occupied by therapists and disconnected from the cut and thrust of work.
Richard Layard, in his book Happiness: Lessons From A New Science, writes of the very concrete and highly measurable Big Seven factors that influence happiness worldwide.
A bigger salary makes you no happier. (But low or no pay will drag you down.) However, we become measurably happier from close relationships, health, community involvement, and from fulfilling work where we have a measure of control over what we do.
How have we managed so far? When jobs are plentiful, it's easier to drift passively. External influences (your first boss or a flattering recruiter) will also set the agenda. My belief is that for two decades our dominant but unspoken career plan has been "something interesting will come along".
This career "sampling" has, of course, become the norm for the under-30s, but we have all, to some extent, taken advantage of variety and choice - allowing the market to find us something moderately attractive. This may work when the labour market is a smorgasbord of opportunity, but when it offers the same menu choice as a pre-glasnost Russian restaurant, it seems we're retreating into a comfortably passive 1950s model of work (keep your head down, soldier on ...), secretly believing that someone - HR, a recruiter, your boss - will manage your career. In fact, as the market tightens, we need to learn to think very differently about work, and seek choices less passively.
Knowing what you want and finding it requires movement outside your comfort zone, a savvy mix of "what if?" thinking, relentless enquiry, and the ability to decode the real needs of employers. This approach offers a mix of the right brain and the pragmatic - work that energises you gets you noticed. In contrast, keeping your head down often means giving in to long-term cynicism and the kind of work blindness which means that you're too busy to do the things that matter.
Advice for the rudderless in today's choppy seas requires uncomfortable truths. Some individuals will always be unhappy at work, even when presented with abundant opportunity. Tough as it sounds to those hunting, barring a meltdown, most people looking for work this year will be in work. Some get fascinating roles even in a deep recession; it may look like luck, or chutzpah, but experience argues that the kind of people who describe work like DH Lawrence as "an absorbing game" have done something different. They don't have great career planning genes, but - unconsciously or not - can match their interests and passions with the real needs and aspirations of an organisation, and to negotiate a job-shaped overlap.
There are, perversely, benefits to living through a recession. Apparently we travel less, consume less, smoke less - and, on average, spend more time with our families. Without being glib it's also clear that there are personal benefits, too - for many this is the first time that they have taken the helm. Cold comfort, inevitably, to the New Year job seeker. So here are some tried and tested strategies for finding meaningful work, even in tough times.
Don't play the ideal/real game. You don't need a perfect job, just one you enjoy 3.5 days out of five - hunt for a 70% overlap between your work satisfaction and the true needs of an organisation.
Get help to bounce back. Ignore corporate spin - redundancy is personal. Take rejection seriously - it takes time to rescue self-esteem, and it's easy to allow knock-backs to convince you that you have nothing to offer. Recruit positive-minded friends who'll remind you what you're good at and will keep you making connections.
Time things sensibly. Panic thrusts people into an over-eager and unfocused job search. Use the first month or so to take any bitterness out of your leaving story, learn how to give short, upbeat answers, and stay away from top recruiters or killer contacts until you have a very clear sense of what you want next.
Don't follow the herd. Only applying for advertised positions is a safe way of prolonging the agony, as will chasing jobs in declining industries. Look for organisations that are swimming against the tide, or niche sectors that are doing well.
Don't refresh your CV, rethink it. There are too many undifferentiated CVs out there, so look again at the first 20 words. If you find you're being offered the same tired old jobs you're trying to escape, it's probably your doing. If you want to change career path, your CV needs to be very clear about why you want a change of direction. The opening section should communicate the explanations you would give when handing the document over to someone in person.
Get out there. A job search conducted sitting at a screen in your bedroom will always be low energy. Jobsites will occupy your time, but unless you have a technical specialism, are unlikely to get results more than 5% of the time. Better to boost your confidence by wearing good business clothes and meeting people at least once a week. Success in the hidden job market comes when someone remembers you when you're not in the room so make an impression by meeting people in person.
Finally, think your job search backwards. As recruitment advertising continues to shrink it becomes even more likely that you'll only find interesting roles through connections and chance encounters. Push the law of averages in your direction and you start to create your own luck - make direct approaches to target organisations, and keep talking to people in real jobs rather than conducting your job search on the internet.
• John Lees is author of How To Get A Job You'll Love. For more career tips, visit johnleescareers.com
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