Dear Sandra,

This is an all-too-familiar scenario for many workers given our current labor market conditions. Many job seekers have done all the right things from networking to crafting a perfect resume and still come up empty.

Now is the time to reevaluate your approach and expectations, keeping in mind that despite a change in plans, you don’t have to abandon your dreams permanently. On the contrary, chasing a more realistic goal provides an opportunity to secure skills and abilities that you can transfer over to your first-choice profession when the time comes.

In the meantime, try these tactics to broaden your job choices:

- Become a student again. In some professions and industries, attaining a graduate degree may give you a leg up on the competition and help land the job you desire. Before making the expensive and time-consuming leap, thoroughly investigate the positions you want to ensure a graduate degree will provide a good return on investment.

- Train. Consider training opportunities to build additional, and perhaps more marketable, skills. Some training courses are offered for reasonable cost and in a short timeframe.

- Re-evaluate your job search. Use this time to comprehensively identify what it is you love to do. Go back and reconsider your interests, passions, and abilities. Go back to the drawing board and research industries or professions that you may have missed the first time around, but that match your personal and professional goals.

- Follow the jobs. It may be time to consider broadening the geographic scope of your job search. Go online, tap into your network, and research which cities are hiring at a faster pace than the national average or that may be experiencing significant growth.

Just remember, this is a backup plan that will sustain your career growth during this tenuous labor market and certainly doesn’t mean your dreams of building a long and prosperous career in your specialty are over.

Good luck!

Seymour