The latest jobs report has a lot of people scared.

Job losses. Rising unemployment. Slower hiring. Higher prices. A shaky economy.

So if you’ve been thinking about making a career change and wondering, is now the worst possible time? this episode is for you.

In this episode of Career Clarity Unlocked, career clarity expert and 5-time certified career coach Theresa White breaks down what the latest jobs report actually means for mid- and senior-level women who want to make a strategic career change without starting over, taking a pay cut, or settling for work that drains them.

If the headlines have you questioning whether you should just stay put and be grateful, this conversation will help you see the market more clearly and make smarter moves.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

1. What the latest jobs report actually means in plain English
2. Why a slower market does not mean you have to give up on a career change
3. Which roles and industries still hold strong opportunity right now
4. How to position yourself as a problem-solver, not just another applicant
5. A practical 30-day plan to start moving toward your next chapter strategically

Book a Free Career Clarity Call

If you know you’re ready for something more but you’re not sure what direction makes the most sense, Theresa offers free 30-minute Career Clarity calls.

You’ll talk through your experience, strengths, and next best move so you can stop guessing and start moving strategically.

Book your free call here: https://www.careerbloomcoaching.com/consultation

Timestamps

00:00 Headlines vs Career Moves

04:21 Decode the Jobs Report

06:47 Sector Winners and Losers

09:53 What It Means for You

11:55 Mindset in a Slow Market

17:13 Where Opportunity Still Exists

21:08 Trends to Ride Now

24:21 Position as Problem Solver

32:27 Stand Out in Hiring Noise

36:19 Emotional Reality of Pivoting

41:28 30 Day Career Clarity Plan

45:46 Wrap Up and Next Steps

Need help finding your next career move? Book a free career clarity call with Theresa → www.careerbloomcoaching.com/consultation.

📲 Connect with Career Coach Theresa White:

1. LinkedIn: @Theresa A. White
2. Facebook: Career Bloom Coaching
3. Instagram: @theresa_careerbloom
4. YouTube: careerbloom
5. TikTok: @career.bloom
6. Website: www.CareerBloomCoaching.com

🎙️ Subscribe to Career Clarity Unlocked for expert career change tips, career path strategies, and motivation to help you land a job you love!

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Ep 85 How to Use a Weak Job Market to Your Advantage (for 40‑Something Women)

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Then this episode is for you.

If we haven't met yet, I am Theresa White. I'm a career clarity expert and five times certified career coach, and I'm the coach behind over 600 women who found careers that feel like pinch me. I am actually getting paid to do this. So if you are ready for work that actually fits you and also pays you what you're worth, you are in the right place.

Go back to entry level or take a pay cut just to escape a job that drains you. You want to make a strategic career change that honors and leverages everything you've already built. I

right now the headlines are loud and scary. The US lost 92,000 jobs in February. Unemployment is sticking up

But at the same time, you might still be feeling that nudge. This can't be it. This can't be what the next 10 to 15 years of my career look like.

Most people are seeing these really scary numbers, but almost no one is explaining what they actually mean For a real person like you, does a weak jobs report mean you'll never change careers? Does it mean that you have to accept less money or could this actually be a moment you can use to your advantage?

And then we are going to flip the script and talk about how you can actually benefit from a slower job market as a mid or senior level female professional.

First, I'll break down what's really happening in the job market without all the jargon and just the parts that actually matter to you and your current situation. Then I'll show you where the opportunities actually are right now for someone at a mid or senior level, because as I just said, there are always winners and losers in every economic cycle.

And finally, I'll walk you through specific ways you can use this environment to your advantage so that you can change careers without starting over or taking a pay cut. And by the end of this episode, my goal is that you will stop feeling scared of the headlines and

Grab your coffee, your notebook, or just take me with you on your walk. I'm going to walk you through the step by step. Let's start with what actually happened in that February jobs report, because once you understand the big picture, you will see why this isn't the end of your career dreams. It might actually be the beginning of your next chapter.

So in February, instead of adding jobs, the US economy lost about 92,000 jobs. Economists were expecting gains, not losses. So this was a surprise to a lot of people. The unemployment rate nudged up to about 4.4%, and less people are even counted as looking for work.

On top of that, when the government went back and revised late 20, 25 data, some months that actually had looked okay at first, also actually turned out to be weaker, fewer jobs than we thought. Even some outright declines. Which is not a surprise because the economy and the labor market and the job market has been a disaster in 25, 20 26 under Trump.

But we are definitely in a stall. There isn't a lot of forward motion, there isn't a lot of growth. And when we see things stall, that's when employers get more cautious about adding new headcount, especially in non-essential or experimental roles.

Now if you're sitting there thinking about a career change or you are currently going through a job search, you are probably feeling some of this feeling slower response rate, more ghosting, more competition per role and all that.

Yes. That is our current reality.

Healthcare took a temporary hit in February because of a big strike that shows up as job losses in the data, but it is actually more of a one-time shock than a sign that healthcare is dying. Over the last two years, healthcare has actually been one of the main engines of job growth in the us. So if you're pivoting into anything Health Adjacents, that could be learning and development for hospitals, leadership development and health systems, hr business partner for health tech, all of those are still very powerful lanes.

But on the other hand, sectors like manufacturing, information tech, parts of the federal government and transportation and warehousing are cutting back. So that means fewer net roles in those industries and more competition for the ones that are open.

Or can we redesign the work with technology? That doesn't necessarily mean jobs are disappearing overnight, but it does mean some roles get combined, some get upskilled and some mid-level positions are harder to find, and then you've got all those straight tensions with. I don't even have words for the insanity of Trump and his tariffs.

Um, we have immigration crackdowns, which is another topic in and of itself. Um, I'll spare you my rant on that, but all of that also makes planning hard of a businesses and can slow things down.

So that pretty much means that the economy is sluggish and your money doesn't go as far as it used to. So underneath the headline, you've got a picture of companies feeling cautious, they're worried about costs. Worried about the future and about whether they'll need to cut later.

And when companies feel like that, they tighten up hiring and get much more picky about who they bring in.

So it also really matters which lane your targeting for most roles, especially at that mid and senior level. We do see a lot more applicants per job opening. We also see longer hiring cycles. Companies are cautious. They're looking for more interviews, more steps, more waiting, and then even more. We've put this role on hold for now, and you see job descriptions becoming these unicorn wishlists Employers write them as if they'll only hire if they find the absolute perfect low risk, high impact person.

So in other words. They are still hiring for the kind of work that mid and senior level female professionals are actually so brilliant at if you know how to position yourself. So that is the backdrop of all of this. We are not in a collapse, but we are in a stall, cautious, picky hiring instead of free flowing offers.

Or what if I never find another role that offers me competitive pay? Or even did I miss my window to pivot? Am I too old to change directions now? And all of those fears are 100% valid. Those are all rational questions. When you're responsible for a household, a mortgage, or even just your own future, a lot of women at the mid and senior stage carry this quiet pressure that they cannot make a mistake.

What changes in a market like this is not, is this possible, but it is how you land those roles, and also how long it takes. So instead of telling yourself it's over, I missed my chance. I want you to try on a different story and tell yourself that yes, it is a harder market, so that means it takes more strategy and also a bit more patience.

But it is an invitation to be more intentional, more targeted, and more honest about where you add the most value.

Let's zoom out for a moment and talk about who tends to struggle most in a market like this, and who still has leverage. So in a slower or stalling market, the people who tend to get squeezed the most are younger workers with very little experience, frontline and low wage roles where there are lots of interchangeable candidates.

These are the roles that sit closer to the business problems Executives are losing sleep over. So let's take an example of a woman in her mid forties has about 20 years of experience and is currently making 120 5K. That is a completely different category than a brand new grad or lower wage worker trying to get their first foothold because this ~person is already operating closer to that higher skill, strategic who that person is already operate.~

These are the types of roles like l and d, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, hr, business partner, internal strategy, that stay super relevant even when the market is choppy. So when you hear we are in a weak labor market, I don't want you to automatically translate into no opportunities.

Now the question is, in a weaker job market like this, where are the actual opportunities for someone like you? I said this in the beginning. Every economic cycle has winners and losers in a weaker market. Doesn't erase all opportunity, but it does concentrate it in different places. And right now the winners are roles that reduce risk and increase stability for organizations.

Because in this unstable market, what companies really need is to do more with less. They absolutely need to keep their best people from leaving. They need to help manages lead through uncertainty, and they need to have the ability to implement new tools, especially AI without burning everyone out. So the roles I just named are the ones that sit right at the center of those needs.

If you help managers get better, help teams perform better without adding new headcount. If you design better onboarding or learning, people ramp faster, make fewer mistakes, and stay longer. If you support change and transformation, well projects succeed the first time instead of getting stuck in resistance and rework.

All of those are not nice to have roles in this climate. Those are survival and growth roles. Now let's look at the skills that are needed for those roles on the rise. Some of the most powerful ones at this very moment are one, data literacy. Being able to look at data. For example, turnover, engagement, performance, learning completion, and use that to tell a meaningful story.

And then we have communication and coaching skills, holding hard conversations, giving feedback, facilitating groups and supporting managers.

And that is the profile you are building into

now, looking beyond individual roles and skills. There are also bigger trends you can actually write instead of be afraid of. Of course the first thing that comes to mind here is ai, and it's so easy to hear AI and immediately think job loss, but there's another side to this. So many organizations are still totally confused about how to use AI without breaking trust, overloading people, or causing chaos, and the people who can help teams use AI responsibly.

Another trend that we are seeing is with instability sectors, even when the overall market is flat. Some areas keep hiring because the work is essential.

Those include health adjacents roles, essential services, certain B2B services and infrastructure. And you don't have to be a nurse or an engineer to get into one of those sectors because all of those organizations and companies need people in l and d, hr, change management, internal strategy. So one smart move is to aim your skills at more stable industries instead of volatile ones that swing wildly with the economy.

Employers lean so much more on contract roles, project-based roles, and temp to perm agreements. And I know that can sound scary and like less security at first, but it's also a huge opportunity and the best way to break into a new function without starting over. You might step into a six months l and d contract, or an organizational effectiveness project, ~or a transformation in addition.~

So the big picture here is AI is creating new problems that people like you can help solve. Certain sectors are still hiring even when the overall market is flat or stalled. And companies are using more flexible hiring models that can actually speed up a career change if you use it strategically.

The next part I wanna talk about is how do we translate all of this information into concrete actions? You can take. Such as how to position yourself as one of those problem solvers. How to tell your story and how to use the slower market to your advantage instead of letting it paralyze you.

Where did you save time? And where did you save people? And you have most likely already solved some really expensive problems. That could be, for example, retention. Did your teams have lower turnover than others? Did people stay because of your leadership? It could be onboarding. Did you create or improve a process that got people ramped up faster?

The important thing with all of this is it doesn't have to be something in your core job description, maybe. You were never expected or hired to create a onboarding process or to fix a broken process, but you did it anyway. And those are huge. And then you wanna connect those to what companies are really care about right now.

And it's almost like making a business case for yourself. A very easy approach for doing that is the car method. CAR, challenge action result. You start with the challenge. Here was the problem, here was the challenge. Then you move into the action, you explain what you did, and then you end with a result.

Here's what changed, and you ideally wanna back that up as numbers, even rough ones if you don't have specific ones. And that will move you out of the pile of the Please Pick me candidates and into this person clearly solves a real problem pile.

Some examples of pivots that I supported clients through recently is, for example, from operations to learning and development. This is a very realistic transition because you understand how the business actually runs and you can design trainings that match that reality, or from people management to HR business partner because you have already lived the manager experience and you can support other leaders.

Another example is going from project management to organizational effectiveness or to internal strategy because you know how to align projects, people, and timelines when you're thinking about making a career change. Don't ever think that you're starting at zero. You have experience. Very, very valuable experience.

That could, for example, be a leadership development manager role, an organizational effectiveness manager, an internal strategy manager, a transformation lead. These are the kinds of roles where your existing experience plus some targeted upskilling can be a very compelling package.

Also, coaching and facilitation skills. Leading workshops, guiding discussions, asking powerful questions, and holding space for group learning. And unfortunately, it's not enough to list those skills on your LinkedIn profile or on your resume. You actually wanna show them, I mentioned this before, that in a slower, sluggish labor market, people don't want uncertainty.

Is already incredibly impactful. Those could include a workshop outline for a manager training you'd love to run or that you have run in the past. It could be a simple change plan for rolling out new tools or processes, or it could be a basic dashboard, a data summary that tells a story about something like turnover, engagement, or training results.

And you can either create those on real past work or you can create those as hypothetical spec pieces that show how you think.

You definitely don't need a whole new degree. You don't need to go back to school, but you need to be really strategic and effective in your upskilling so that you can add on a handful of sharp, relevant signals that communicate the future potential employers that you speak their language and that you are in motion.

That you speak their language and that you're already in motion.

We all know that the slower hiring trends that we're seeing creates a ton of frustration amongst job seekers. But it also creates space to stand out. Right now we're seeing so many applicants more than ever with all the new AI tools available to applicants that allow them to submit hundreds of applications a day.

Start by getting really clear. What are the industries and companies that you're targeting, which are the ones that fit your values and your pay level, and the type of work you're looking for? Which roles are you targeting? Be super clear on the roles you're targeting and the problems you solve.

Career clarity is a non-negotiable in this labor market. So start with getting super clear about where you're going. If that is a challenge for you, I want you to go right now to the show notes, a book or career clarity call with me so I can help you figure that out. The next thing you wanna do is now that you have a really clear target.

What are the terms they use? What do they care about? What language are they speaking in? And then enter your resume and say, okay, we are on this resume. Can I incorporate this company's language that already makes a huge difference of showing how much of a fit you are for their culture. And then on your cover letter, you need to be super clear in showing that you understand what the problem is, that they are hiring someone to solve, and then you show that you're the solution to that problem.

Stay away from the vague, pick your brain, but be very specific in the help and the support you're seeking from them. You wanna specifically understand what challenges that department, that team, that company is facing. And one way to stand out, and you can add that to your portfolio as well, is to then follow up as a brief problem solving one pager.

The person who speaks their language, the person who understands their problem, the person who goes the extra length to make connections and talk to people inside, and that's the people that are being hired.

Now we've talked a lot about the strategy and opportunities that exist right now. Before we wrap this up, let's also talk about something else that is really important and that is how this all feels. As you are going through this experience, you are very likely build a successful career. On paper, it maybe looks like you climbed the ladder, you're making good money, you're reliable driven, ambitious.

So the thought about jumping into something else obviously crosses your mind. At the same time, there's also grief in letting go of the identity you've built. Maybe you're the go-to person right now, the one who always delivers. And then bridging that with the itch, that desire that you have that just won't go away, that there has to be more, that you know you're capable of more of delivering something bigger, more creative, more meaningful work.

You might have not even have job hunted in a long time. You don't know what your transferable skills are. And then the fear of what if I make the wrong move and it doesn't work out?

So what I wanted to remind you of is that feeling stuck, deflated, unsure. That really doesn't mean that you're not grateful for the role that you're currently in, but it points towards you having outgrown the chapter you're in.

And the market being unstable and choppy doesn't erase your ambition, and it definitely doesn't erase your potential. It does mean that the path forward needs to be very intentional and strategic, but by no means does it mean it's impossible. You always have to remember that you are not starting from zero.

Your power is in your judgment, your ability to navigate tricky people dynamics, your curiosity, your love of learning in the way you care about doing meaningful people-centered work. And if you're thinking that, oh, I don't know where to go, I have a lot of interest and skills, maybe a confusing career trajectory, none of that is gonna stand in your way.

You are likely chasing that feeling of waking up, energized, working with people who get you doing work that matters. Making, at least what you make right now, ideally more, and not having to brace yourself every Sunday night. And that desire to be well paid and fulfilled to make an impact and have flexibility is not unrealistic, but it does make you ready for you next level.

And in the next segment, we're gonna turn this into a concrete action plan so that you are leading this episode not just dreaming about the future, but its a plan that actually helps you walk towards it.

All right, so I want you to think of this as your 30 day career clarity in a week market challenge. Don't worry about doing it perfectly. The main thing is for you to keep moving. The first step, the basics for any of this to work is to choose what's next for you. So you'll have to define your target roles and companies.

Once you're very clear on the roles and companies you're targeting, you gotta get clear on the problem. You want to be known for solving. You can ask yourself, what do I love? Fixing people problems, process problems, change problems, strategy problems, and then list five relevant business problems that you have already helped solve.

So the second week is all about your personal brand, about how you show up in this world of work. This week, you're gonna update your LinkedIn and your resume, so they're centered on outcomes and not just job duties. So for each role, you list three to five bullet points that all read like the mini case studies we talked about, challenge, action, result.

Now moving on to week three, that's where you have to get out of your head and get into conversations. So this week, your job is to stop trying to figure everything out alone in your head that isn't getting you where you wanna go. You wanna schedule a minimum of five conversations in your target field.

We're not even asking for a job on those conversations. And then based on those conversations and what you're learning, start a mini portfolio project that shows how you can think in your new lane. Maybe you create a leadership workshop, outline a change plan for rolling out a new tool or a simple before and after process improvement that you would recommend.

Now we're moving into week four, moving from clarity to action. Now you've put in the work on career clarity and relationship building. Now it's time to apply, and this is where you wanna apply intentionally to five to eight roles that are a great fit for where you want to go next, that fit with your values, your compensation need, and everything else that is important to you.

If you are realizing that you don't wanna stay where you're at, but you're also not sure exactly where to go next, that is the exact crossroad that I help women navigate every day. If you want clarity on the right direction, the right pivot, and learn how to do it without sacrificing your income, I invite you to book a free career clarity call with me.

The link to that is in the show notes on that call. We'll look at your experience, your strengths, and what actually energizes you and your option in this market at your level and income, and then we'll map out a high level plan for your next chapter so that you don't have to guess your way through hundreds of openings on job boards.

Keep chasing what makes you come alive, and I'll see you back here next week on Career Clarity Unlocked.

And that's a wrap for today's episode of Career Clarity Unlocked, if you feeling stuck in that. What's next? Spiral and are ready to finally break free. Let's chat. You can book your free career clarity call where we'll uncover what's really important to you. Tackle any obstacles holding you back and map out your best next step.

And don't forget to share this episode with a friend or on social media. Your support truly means the world. Thanks for hanging out with me and I'll see you next time.