You don’t need me to tell you that the business climate is very uncertain, to say the least. So many industries are taking a hit, and everyone is asking you: “How’s your business?”

I have a new client who sought me out to help her package her information for a position she’s very excited about. She is a highly accomplished non-profit professional with 25 years of experience, and has an extremely impressive resume. But damn is it long.

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!”

In the past month I’ve spent time planning something I never thought much about: my 30th high school reunion. While I went to a really good small high school where everyone knew each other, I never really felt like my high school years delivered the optimal experience. Call me a late bloomer, but I have always preferred my adult life to the years that came before. So I didn’t really keep in touch with people, even though I had some good friendships lasting throughout.

A friend of mine just went back to work after having spent many years doing lots of other things: raising multiple children, consulting, contributing as a board member to her pet causes. She is a person of great energies and interests and always felt that when the time was right, she’d return to full-time work. Her main concern was that she had so many responsibilities outside of work that ultimately she would be derailed. Or go crazy.

I had lunch with a colleague yesterday, a woman named Suzanne Zemke, whom I met through coaching. Having worked in big corporations for most of her career, Suzanne was given the “gift” of a layoff several months ago. Instead of going back to the same type of job with the requisite steady paycheck, she decided to take a risk.

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.