The most marketable employees are those who can clearly demonstrate a track record in making tangible contributions. In an economic downturn, substance is valued as much as style. Sometimes the most adaptive thing a job-seeker can do is to focus on the statistics that are motivating rather than discouraging. In the Internet sector, for example, pessimistic job-seekers could dwell on the numbers of people who have been laid off, the startups that are expected to fail, and the shrinking pool of venture capital to fund new opportunities. Loving what they do, and loving something the marketplace loves, too.
Passion is undeniably helpful for attaining both career success and quality of life.
The most successful people, however, are those who find work that thrills them but that also satisfies the needs of either employers or consumers. Willingness to accept that credentials often matter. In the heyday of the dot com bubble, college degrees and professional certifications seemed like old-fashioned and irrelevant requirements. Today, employers are increasingly returning to these screening tools as evidence of a job candidate's mastery of a body of knowledge and willingness to complete something in which someone else made the rules. Savvy job-seekers know that sometimes it is easier to acquire a credential than to face chronic rejection from lacking it.