Lain Kennedy columns Joyce Lain Kennedy is a 28-year veteran career columnist for the Los Angeles Times and author of seven books. Industries being hard-hit include retail and auto parts, while brighter prospects beckon in mortgage banking as interest rates decline, insurance as it takes on broader financial services, education as retiring teachers are replaced, health care as the population ages and, of course, information technology as the world goes on. If you have to go, be cheered that you're heading out now while companies are still hiring with vigor. Should the fledgling recession deepen, your search becomes more difficult. Grabbing the first offer in panic almost never works out.
Stock options are nice, but life options are better.
Beware of severance seduction. Launch a hard-hitting new job search even before you sign a severance agreement. The more time that passes, the harder your search. Revisit your self-esteem. Therapists are quick to say your job is not who you are.