Today’s New York Times features a piece called “Staying Healthy in a Sick Economy”. It caught my attention. This particular article talked about staying fit, a particular obsession of mine, but it got me thinking about other wellness issues that can crop up during times of stress.

I received a comment on my last entry–about my friend who recently went back to work — which I believe deserves its own topic. Here is the question as posed: “It’s just intimidating that she was getting all these calls about jobs – didn’t she have to do SOMETHING to make that happen? Otherwise I am lost – my phone never rings with job offers!”

I am consulting with an organization called Nexxt Phase, for women in career transition. We are in the process of redefining the vision of the group and determining ways we can help women achieve their career goals. We put together a list of tips for job-seekers, with special focus on women returning the workforce. I thought I’d share them here.

As a consultant, I find it tough to get organized. I am not shy about mentioning this, since I talk to other consultants all the time, and they usually have the same problem. Not that being super organized about my work has ever been a great strength! My tendency is to work in a more stream of consciousness way, which means that I stay open to opportunities that present themselves, which can be good except…when the day ends and I scratch my head and think “What did I do today?” This is not a great feeling.

Today I was interviewing a search consultant for a project I’m doing: a series of interviews about the current hiring climate in various sectors, for the career management website BlueSteps.com. We were talking about a common acquaintance who recently took a very senior job. It turns out that this particular search consultant had been considering this candidate for another very senior job, and at the very last minute the company withdrew their offer. Why? Because in conducting their due diligence, the search firm found that the candidate had inflated his graduate degree. He said he had an MBA, but it turns out he had something different.

Lately I’ve been attending plenty of conferences, but not blogging as I should. Since I last wrote there was the IACPR conference where one of the panel discussions included a VP of HR for a major investment bank claiming that they couldn’t find enough women interested in their re-entry program. Turns out the program welcomes women of all financial services stripes — not only alumnae of that particular firm. Well, this is interesting. Name brand banks and consulting firms, among others, are welcoming back women to work on a project basis or on flexible schedules. The reason? We’re in a Talent Shortage.