286: How to Navigate Job Uncertainty in 2025 & Stay in Control of Your Career

Feeling anxious about job security in today’s unpredictable market? You’re not alone. In this episode of The Mid-Career GPS Podcast, host John Neral breaks down the most pressing concerns facing mid-career professionals in 2025. Drawing from a recent webinar, John shares expert insights and actionable strategies to help you take charge of your career, stay resilient, and proactively prepare for industry shifts.

Discover how to confidently navigate uncertainty, build a strong professional network, and develop a personal brand that keeps you relevant in an evolving job market. Whether facing workplace instability or simply looking to future-proof your career, this episode will equip you with the tools you need to thrive.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode: 

✅ Key job market trends and corporate restructuring insights from a recent webinar
✅ How to manage job loss fears and workplace instability without sacrificing well-being
✅ Actionable strategies to adapt to change and maintain work-life balance
✅ The power of personal branding and how to showcase measurable career results
✅ Leveraging emotional intelligence to stay competitive in the job market
✅ The value of mentorship and building a personal board of directors for career support

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Mid
• 16:00 Insights from the Free Webinar on Job Market Trends
• 36:00 Understanding Current Job Market Fears
• 57:00 Strategies for Handling Job Market Changes
• 1:38:00 The Importance of Work
• 2:18:00 Building Your Personal Brand for Career Resilience

Transcript

John Neral: 0:10

Hello, my friends, this is the Mid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm your host, John Neral. I help mid-career professionals like you find a job they love, or love the job they have, using my proven four-step formula. I'm doing something a little different for this episode. Last week, I hosted a free webinar titled Navigating the 2025 Job Market Tips to Stay in Control Amidst the Chaos. I announced this webinar to my email community first, which you can join for free by going to my website, https://johnneral. com, and signing up for my email community newsletter, where, each week, I share information and resources related to leadership and careers to help you build your mid-career GPS to whatever is next. I hosted this free webinar because, over the last few weeks, practically everyone I've spoken to, be it a client, networking connection or potential client, has shared one common theme they are worried about this job market. They are fearful about losing their jobs, and so I'm sharing about 30 minutes from this webinar with you this week, where I talk about the current job market, what trends we're seeing in terms of job growth and job decline, as well as helping you create an action plan to stay in control amidst the chaos, confusion and constantly changing landscape in this job market. We're seeing right now.

John Neral: 1:40

This webinar and episode will end with one statement. You do not have to go through this alone. I'm here to help you figure out whatever is next and I invite you to join my free email community at johnnarrellcom. Remember, you will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time and how you show up matters. I hope you enjoyed this episode. We got this, so here's our objectives. So by the end of our time today, my goal for us is that you will have a clearer picture about the current job market and what it means for you in your career. We're going to talk about how you can potentially handle things like reorganizations, restructuring and layoffs Not fun. If you've been a victim of that or been part of that recently, you and I both know not a fun time and I have been there at different parts in my career as well. I'm also going to help you decide what it means for you to keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening within your job and your industry and explore tips to figure out what might be next. So, as I help my clients build their mid-career GPS, it's all about helping them prepare position and promote who they are and what they do, so they can show up to find a job they love, or love the job they have In this job market.

John Neral: 3:06

You may be currently employed and staying in that job may absolutely be the best move for you, and you may also decide that maybe it's the right time for you to step out and leverage your talents and expertise elsewhere. Or if you have unfortunately been laid off or terminated for whatever reason and you are actively looking for a new job. Are you playing the short game? Are you playing the long game? Do you need to find the bridge job? Whatever that is, I want to offer you that I know you'll make the best decision for you with the circumstances that you have. So part of today, if you can walk away with a plan or some ideas absolutely important.

John Neral: 3:47

So at some point in time in your career, you've probably said to yourself I got the best job ever, I love what I'm doing, I love where I work, I love the people I work alongside and I'm making good money. And so when those things happen, we ride this roller coaster, if you will, in our career, where everything's going great and then usually something happens and, for whatever reason, we kind of put the brakes on things and go all right. I don't like this so much. Maybe you got turned down for an opportunity, or you were laid off from your company, or your industry is pivoting, or your company was acquired by another organization At some point. That euphoria dissipates of having the best job ever, and now you have to realistically take a look at where you are at and what might happen for your job and how that may impact your career. So right now, two months into this job market at 2025, I'm seeing two huge themes. One is all about stopping any kind of chaos or downfall or impact that may be happening within your industry or organization. We're looking for a sense of calm and saying, okay, things seem a little more stable right now. That's great. The other impact is how it's impacting your work-life balance.

John Neral: 5:21

Now there are people out there who say that they don't believe in work-life balance and other people who strongly advocate for it. You are the one who owns what your work-life balance is, but it is understandable that in a volatile job market where people are worried or fearful they may lose their job. They may do a little extra. They may let go of some boundaries that they previously had, such as I'm not going to work late more than one night a week, or I'm not going to work on the weekends. And, as I've reflected on my own career path and the different organizations where I've worked, and also in talking with my clients and following the news and things like that, when your work-life balance gets upset, when it's disjointed in some way and let me offer that if you've been laid off from your position, your work-life balance is already offset that we may start to operate or show up from a place of fear and while it's understandable, it probably is not the best move for you.

John Neral: 6:41

So I was recently on a podcast called Smashing the Plateau. Wonderful networking connection of mine, david Schreiner Kahn, and he brought me on to talk about the power of storytelling in our careers and I coach my clients on helping them tell a story from a place of value and service that gets hiring managers and recruiters interested in who they are and what they do, as opposed to finding them interesting. We're all interesting people, right, but in a job interview or in a networking conversation, if I can keep them interested and engaged, it's a much level, much different level of interaction. Well, on this podcast, david asked me. He said what are the things, john, that you're seeing, that job seekers and employees right now in 2025, want, and I shared two things stability and consistency.

John Neral: 7:34

When mid-career professionals and professionals in general know that they're secure in their job and industry and they have consistency in what they're doing, every day, other things fall into place, and right now, what we're seeing is a lot of anything but right, and so we have to acknowledge sometimes that when we see what other corporations are doing and organizations, that it can trickle down and impact and the thing here and why I put this slide together for us today over the last three weeks, whether it be clients I've spoken to people who've reached out to me on LinkedIn potential clients I've spoken with have all said the same thing to me I don't want to lose my job. And if they did lose their job, what they're saying is how quickly will it take me to find a new one? So if that's you, you're not alone. They see you. We're all here for this similar reason, and so being worried or scared is absolutely understandable reason, and so being worried or scared is absolutely understandable, and I've been the person who's had to walk out of an office with box in hand because I got let go from a job, and if you're following social media, if you're reading the news or following things, you might be seeing a lot more of this and, in part, that is some of what's going on right now.

John Neral: 9:08

Okay, so let's talk about what's causing layoffs or job cuts. First thing is budget. When the head of an organization is talking about cutting costs and budget, we should all be paying attention to that, because if they're talking about cutting costs, they have to look at the operational side and they have to look at the staffing side. Additionally, if there's a shift in leadership when new leaders come into an organization, they have an agenda and in that agenda there are things that are important to them that they want to execute on. When we look at organizations that have boards, let's say, oftentimes a shift in leadership is because that new leader is aligning more closely with what the board wants or needs to happen within that organization. If you're seeing impact on certain programs or a change in direction with how a company is moving, you should be paying attention to that, and let's acknowledge that larger organizations can set the tone for how other businesses and organizations follow. That's why it's important to stay informed and connected.

John Neral: 10:27

If we think back to the middle of 2024, amazon released a statement saying that they were going to require all of their office employees back to the work site five days a week, and that sent shockwaves and ripples through social media and conversations being like well, I like working from home, I don't want to have to do that commute anymore. And Amazon was very simply saying look, this is what it's going to be. If you don't like it, go find a job elsewhere. No-transcript. And in some cases I've had conversations with people where they say I'm really productive working remotely, I don't want to be back in the office, but my company is forcing me to go back into the office. You then have to decide if that's the right fit for you.

John Neral: 11:30

So, according to Business Insider, several prominent companies have announced significant workforce reductions Blue Origin's cutting 10% of their staff. Chevron, in the oil and gas industry, plans to eliminate 15% to 20% of its jobs by 2026. Kohl's, in the retail industry, is reducing 10% of its corporate roles, and other companies like Meta, microsoft and Starbucks have also disclosed plans for layoffs. Early this morning I saw a report on the TV about a half dozen other companies that have already announced, and I did not have time to put that in there. Obviously, you can search for it, but this is the conversation. Conversation is we're cutting costs, we're cutting staff, and so with that, the World Economic Forum has recently released a report saying that AI and robotics will displace 85 million jobs by 2025, but they also projected to create 97 million new roles in areas like AI development, data science and human-AI collaboration.

John Neral: 12:42

Here are the jobs that AI will typically replace by 2030. This comes from Gaperio. Look at the list here. These are jobs or tasks that could potentially be automated, and so that can cause fear in this job market, because if you fear that your job can be eliminated because of technology or a machine, what do you do? How do you pivot? Where do you move to? Right? And so, as we dig in this a little bit further, what we are seeing is the most vulnerable jobs because of AI are those repetitive and rule-based functions Data entry, customer service. How many years have we been dealing with calling up an organization and having to go through an automated menu? Or now we go on websites and we have to navigate through a chat bot before we can actually talk to somebody. As frustrating as it may be at times, it does serve a particular purpose, right, and so the last two bullets here pay attention to Jobs with minimal need for emotional intelligence are most vulnerable.

John Neral: 14:02

So, for people whom I typically help, they're mid-level, mid-career professionals, typically between the ages of 35 and 50, holding titles such as manager to senior director. The other thing that they all have in common they have really big hearts. They care deeply about people, but when we're working together and we start talking about where they're most valuable, I have to get them to shift the conversation toward their results. Where can they measure their effectiveness, and in doing so, that can be a hard conversation. Effectiveness, and in doing so, that can be a hard conversation.

John Neral: 14:44

If you're looking at your resume or your LinkedIn and you don't have enough data metrics to highlight where you've improved, where you've saved, where you've impacted, or your resume or LinkedIn simply reads like a job description, you will be left behind. I hate to say it that way, but right now in this job market, companies want to know what you're going to do for them. They hold more cards than ever in this job market right now, and they want to know what you're going to do for them. Yes, they care about you on some level because they're going to offer you a job at some point. But they need to know why you're effective, why you're impactful, where you're going to change things, what results you're going to do for them and, lastly, why should they care. Why should they care about what it is that you've done?

John Neral: 15:44

And if you're having these conversations, say at a regular check-in meeting or during your performance review, one of the things you want to be paying attention to are some potential warning signs, right? So if your supervisor is talking about, I think we might be going through a restructuring or reorganization, what's the first question you want to know Is this going to impact me? Are there budget cuts? Are you in a hiring freeze? Right now, we know the federal government's in a hiring freeze, and what that means is, if you were looking for a career right now in civil service and you need to find a job, you are not going to find it directly in the federal government because of the hiring freeze. Other companies are going through that as well. But what you also want to be careful of right now, especially if you are currently employed and on a promotion track if you are currently employed and on a promotion track, is there a promotion freeze? If you are positioned to get that promotion within your organization and you are being told.

John Neral: 16:48

Now is, quote, unquote, not the time. The question I'd offer to ask is is there a promotion freeze and you get the information you need and decide what's gonna be next? Is your company losing money? Are they losing clients? Are people leaving, and are you able to find out through them directly? Are they leaving because they got a better opportunity? Are they leaving because something happened, or are they leaving because they were told their job's in jeopardy and they might be riffed reduction in force, so they might think it might be better to go out on my own right and go find that next job. Is there a change in leadership Right? Is that impacting some of those decisions?

John Neral: 17:41

This was another interesting data point I want to share with you, because LinkedIn News shared last week about I think it was last week about this job confidence report, and so the important parts here to pull out is that they rank job confidence on a scale from negative 100 to positive 100. And right now it is at plus 15. It is near the lowest it has been since they started this survey, beginning with the pandemic, so almost five years ago, in April of 2020, confidence among active job seekers was at a low of plus nine. Now, this is not rocket science. We know that job confidence usually spikes at the beginning of the year. People are out of the holidays, where, most of the time, we're at the beginning of a new calendar year, which is also the fiscal year for some companies, and people are optimistic about finding a new job. But look at what this slide says. Okay, last month, the job confidence they determined was at plus 20, already down 11 points from where it was the previous year, and these findings further reinforce that job hunters are taking longer to secure their next role.

John Neral: 19:04

I want to call this out because this is one where this can freak a lot of people out, and I don't want to catastrophize this, but I want to look at this very realistically with you. The survey also found that over half of job searchers have been hunting for six months or more. Hubspot came out with a report a couple years ago that said, on average, it was taking a mid-career professional five months to find a new job. What that report also talked about what I have seen firsthand with my own clients and I talk about this with colleagues of mine as well who are in the same space. The determining factor is how aggressive and proactive you are in terms of finding that new job. That can dramatically shorten the timeframe, given your efforts and the industries and companies you are looking at. So while this might be a little daunting and say six months, that doesn't mean that is your story either. Depending on how well you network, how you are applying, you are handling all the logistics of the job search, a lot can happen and it can change that timeframe.

John Neral: 20:28

So when you're thinking about putting this plan together, it is a shift between are you in a reactive mindset or are you in a proactive mindset? Both can serve you very positively here. Both can help you without question. But then we look at, okay, what might be next. So in terms of mindset, I want to offer you that circumstances are neutral. So what I mean by that is if you've been laid off, let go terminated. That's neutral. So what I mean by that is if you've been laid off, let go terminated. That's neutral. Until it is neutral, until you have a thought about it. Our brains are extremely dynamic tools and it's one of the things I help my clients with when we're in a coaching relationship is that when we look at these circumstances, they're neutral until you have a thought about it.

John Neral: 21:22

Okay, you have a thought about it. That thought creates a feeling. That feeling creates an action. That action creates a result. There's a typo there. I just noticed that. But that's the. I have to call that out because that's. You know, I have an assessment background and you proofread all these kind of things, so I'll make sure I go back and correct that at some point. But anyway, right. The thing here is that Until you have that thought, no action can happen. Until you acknowledge that thought, the feeling that comes with it, you decide what action you want to take and that action produces a result. It's like navigating this labyrinth or maze in this job market right now, trying to figure out where you're going to land. So when you think about this action plan, you may want to take a screenshot here there's a couple more bullets coming up.

John Neral: 22:23

But assess your current career situation. Are you in the right role or were you in the right role? Are you with the right company? Are you in the right industry and are you indispensable? Are there conversations about your value and performance? Where people go? Yeah, I don't want to lose them.

John Neral: 22:47

You think about what's next. You may want to take the screenshot here, right? So what's next? You're going to look at job opportunities. You're going to leverage recruiters, job boards, professional groups, your network. You're going to look at job opportunities. You're going to leverage recruiters, job boards, professional groups, your network. You're going to stay informed okay, track the industry's trends and the company performance, at the same time working on your mindset and confidence, one of the things that can we all do it right? Like we can lie to ourselves first. Okay, like I'd love to think that the bowl of ice cream I had last night didn't have any calories in it, but it did. Okay, we have to take a very realistic look at what's happening right now and what's happening for you specifically, and what's happening for you and your industry. So, as we continue to navigate this uncertainty, I want to offer you this Know the difference between truth with capital letters and truth with lowercase letters. The truth with capital letters are the truth that is evidence-based and is factual. We're not being skeptical. We're not spec factual. We're not being skeptical. We're not speculating. We're not catastrophizing. Okay, we're looking at this job market very objectively and we're making plans to stay focused.

John Neral: 24:10

You may take some time to work on skill development, while continuing to focus on the evidence-based results you continue to drive or have driven in your previous role. A lot of times when people are job-seeking in markets such as this, they'll default to thinking they have to close a particular skill gap. I want to offer you that. That's an opportunity to objectively look at it. But leveraging your strengths and why they are most valuable to an organization is in your wheelhouse. It lets you network and interview very differently because of it, and so focus on your strengths as you continue to play the long game right.

John Neral: 24:55

The long game is what does this job get me and how does it set me up for the next few down the road? But additionally, keep in mind, the focus here needs to be why are you indispensable at work? How are you having those conversations with your management and leadership? Your clients okay, stay ahead of changes. The way you can do that are things like continuing to build your clients okay, stay ahead of changes. The way you can do that are things like continuing to build your network. And if you're saying to yourself I'm too busy to network, do a calendar audit, look and see if there isn't a way for you to build in some time.

John Neral: 25:31

To do that, right now more than ever, developing a career insurance strategy is important, right? If, for any reason, you were to lose your job, how quickly might you be able to pivot into something else? Know what your brand is, maintain a very strong personal and professional brand, and also work on building a personal board of directors. A personal board of directors are those closest connections and colleagues of yours who are there to be the critical friend, the advocate, the cheerleader, the champion, the advisor, to help you navigate toward whatever's going to be next. And that's where support comes in. Right, because, as you're building this action plan, if you're not using Google Alerts right now, give it a try, okay, you can obviously just search for it, but you're going to input certain keywords that will give you a daily update on what's happening. So, if you're looking for things, say, within the tech industry, the finance industry or like I, have one set up just specifically for mid-career and I'll get a notification in my inbox every night here's a couple things that Google has pulled. The reason why you want to do that is it keeps you more informed and may give you things to talk about, especially at your next job interview.

John Neral: 27:03

When you go to build that personal board of directors, ask yourself who needs to be in your circle, why do they belong there, how will they help you and, lastly, how will you help them? Think of your personal board of directors as the most intimate or closest group of professionals that are there for you and you're there for them. And, as you're building your network, go beyond those first level connections. It's fair to say, a lot of people are stressed right now, but when you're networking and you're connecting, always remember that if people can help you, they will. And as you go beyond those first-level connections, it might be something as simple as asking who do you know I should be speaking with. If you need to find a new job right now, create the job search strategy that is best for you, all right, and thinking about who or what do you need.

John Neral: 28:07

So, when it comes to support, you might want a mentor. A mentor is someone who typically is internal to your organization or within your industry and they're there to provide support, guidance and direction. Mentorship is usually free of charge right, the mentor does not charge, but I know some cases where people are like I take my mentor to lunch once a month as a thank you. Okay, you might want to need support or seek support from a recruiter. You might want to need support or seek support from a recruiter. Now, recruiters are typically tasked with finding high-quality talent for an organization or multiple organizations. They are paid by the organization to secure that talent.

John Neral: 28:49

Pay attention to that last bullet point. They are typically overloaded and overworked. So the recruiting industry has dramatically changed over the last 10 years and in doing so, what happens is they're juggling all these positions and it's very easy to think well, I've already talked to them, they'll keep me in mind. I want to offer you that, if you're working with building a relationship with a recruiter, ask them if it would be okay for you to shoot them an email once a month, give them an update on what's going on and check in with them to see if they have any positions you might be a great fit for. If they say, yes, you have the agreement and now you can play without feeling like you got to walk on eggshells or be trepidatious about I don't want to bother them. Make the agreements to build that relationship. Who is typically looking for those executive and senior level positions? And they are compensated by you as the individual. So that is a service you pay for upfront, or you are paying them a fee from your overall compensation package once you are in that job.

John Neral: 30:12

The last option here is a coach. I know this very well. Right Me as a coach. As a career transition coach, I help my clients navigate the job search process. I don't find jobs for my clients, I don't. I mean, I do have people in my network who I sometimes connect them with, but for me as the coach, it's about establishing that ownership or accountability structures to help them with their job search and their leadership development. It's why my process of helping build a mid-career GPS is what I've seen work time and time again, of helping people navigate toward whatever is next. Now in a coaching relationship, there's a fee for that. Typically, clients will do self-pay and in some cases they are sponsored by their organization and their organization pays for their coaching. Sometimes organizations have their own coach, and so you may want to look at them first. It might be a benefit as part of your overall compensation package, but coaching, as I know firsthand, can certainly be very, very helpful in that regard.

John Neral: 31:16

What I want you to know here is that you don't have to navigate your career alone. Thank you for listening to the Mid-Career GPS Podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and, if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple Podcasts. Visit johnnerrellcom for more information about how I can help you build your mid-career GPS or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event. Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at John Nerrell Coaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember how we show up matters. Thank you.