Whether you are unemployed, underemployed, or retired and wanting to work in some capacity, you can create your own job.

For employees who are over 50, this mindset is not typical, as earlier generations oriented their job searching toward contacting employers who had listed jobs, applying and hoping to get hired.

When working with professionals in transition, I encourage them not just to look for job openings, but also to look for unmet business needs.

Take a look at what is happening on the business scene, in your community, or within your network, and anticipate a business need where YOU are the solution, and pursue that route.

I experienced this first hand prior to starting Pathfinders.  I lost my corporate job in Human Resources when our company was bought by an out of state firm. The plan was to eliminate the whole HR department and run its functions remotely from Chicago. And this was before the advent of mainstream Internet and digital communications.

For some HR functions, an outsourced solution might have worked well. What senior management had not considered, however, was the need to retain their top talent in our company whose skills and knowledge would ensure a successful merger and transition.

I knew that I was well regarded by our employee base, and I believed that the continued presence of a trusted colleague in HR could help stabilize the culture, and likely allay rumors, fears, and premature resignations.

So I wrote a proposal creating a job for myself, with appropriate business justifications such as the cost of losing the valuable talent they needed to retain.

The new company owners agreed to my proposal, which led me into a job I loved, with people I cared about.

The beauty in creating your own job is that you can design it to be a win-win for yourself and the company.  And another benefit over traditional job search: no competition from other candidates!