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The job market news hasn't been good for a long time.  While other sectors of the economy have started to pick up, job creation continues to lag. If you're looking for a job you're probably frustrated, scared, and under pressure.  And if you're reading the traditional "5 steps to finding a job" kind of articles, you're probably more frustrated than ever because they all start with the same step: "Set a career goal."

I understand the notion that it's logical to set a goal and go for it, but what do you do when you don't have a goal? What do you do when you had a goal but it's unlikely you'll achieve it now? Career changers who don't want to (or can't) keep doing what they've always done often find their goals are moving targets. And college grads whose majors don't relate directly to a job, or who majored in a field that isn't hiring now, get stuck on that word goal.

Here's my advice: WANDER.

What? Wander? That doesn't seem very helpful. Sounds a little aimless or unfocused. And isn't focus the key to success?

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Even though my book is geared to college students making the transitions from college to career,  career changing adults might be interested to know that the Wise Wanderings system works just as well for those who are in mid-career or even close to retirement.   I recently presented my system at a local job club for mid-career individuals who had been laid off, mostly from technology, sales, and related industries.

I started my program by presenting a discussion of chaos theory and the career search—two concepts not ordinarily linked together.  They were interested and polite, and seemed to agree that their lives were somewhat chaotic at the moment. And then I pulled out and passed around my secret weapon: a blank piece of paper.  As they took their papers, I told them to give me 30 minutes and we would make sense of the chaos.

Following the instructions in my book, I had them create a "Wandering Map"—basically a mind map of everything important in their lives.  Some career books have you write essays (too long for me), some have you take tests (too limiting for me)—I like visual mapping.  I like the notion that you can quickly get your life down on a piece of paper and—even better—start to make sense of it all.

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When I first proposed writing my book, the economy was riding high.  At least that's what we were told.  There might have been signs-warnings about bad housing loans and too much consumer debt but generally, in 2007, things looked good.  The only challenge my potential readers faced was connecting their seemingly unrelated major to the workplace.

The storm clouds begin to gather just as I finished my manuscript. And by the time the hardback edition was published, the storm had hit-the recession was here.   So when it came time to print the just-released paperback edition, my editor asked me to add a section on getting a job during a recession.   As I wrote it, though, I found myself thinking, "Just read the book and follow the steps. Nothing has really changed."

Because the Wise Wanderings system explained in the book is a system I've used for years with students moving into their first jobs as well as career changers, and it has worked in both good and bad economic times. 

Good job searching strategies are timeless-- whether the economy is down, up, or in-between.  There are fundamentals to the career search that you should do in all economies: writing a targeted resume, making sure you connect yourself and your background to the position you're seeking, responding intelligently and articulately to job interview questions and so on.  These strategies just become more important than ever when there's more competition for fewer jobs as in a recession.

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Katharine Brooks, Ed.D. is our guest blogger during the week of May 4th. If you have any questions for Katharine Brooks, add a comment to any of her posts.

Here is more information on You Majored in What?:

As revolutionary as What Color Is Your Parachute?, this career guide for a new generation of job-seekers, from one of America's top college career counselors

With the job market in flux, young people face The Question: what are you going to do with that major?

In this indispensable guide, Dr. Katharine Brooks provides a road map for twenty-somethings, replacing obsolete thinking that "major = career," and instead using positive psychology, mapping techniques, and experimental wanderings to help job seekers reframe their skills. Brooks provides effective strategies to help readers mine their academic and life experiences for new insights into landing jobs with the best employers, and finding alternatives when the situation calls for a Plan B.

You Majored in What? offers a practical and proven approach to reframing experiences, discovering overlooked opportunities, and finding a true calling, regardless of your undergraduate major or the state of the job market.

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I suspect you English majors out there have been forced to ponder this question.  I won't even go into the questions asked of philosophy majors.   I call it THE QUESTION and it made me write my book, You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career. 

I was a sociology major.  The study of society.  Hmm...psychology lite?   Majoring in common sense?  Or just plain useless?  Just what does one "do" with that, if you don't want to become a sociology professor or social worker? 

And I struggled for many years to find the answer.  Until I realized there was no answer.  I didn't "do" anything with my sociology major.  I just "did."  I entered a variety of careers from human resources manager to retail merchandiser to school psychologist to social worker to guitar instructor to rehabilitation counselor and on and on, each time carrying my sociology major along for the ride.

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Back when I was conceptualizing my book, You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career,  I struggled to find the best word to describe how my liberal arts students (and I) had found jobs over the years. Job search books seemed to fall into two basic camps: the "business" type books which are all about steps and linear models, and the "creative soul" type books which focus on "finding one's self" through the career process.  No book seemed to bridge the gap sufficiently and no book described how the process really worked.  My students (and I) didn't fit neatly into either of those categories.

Everything started to fall together when I stumbled on an article about the creative process.  The author quoted Nobel Laureate Herb Simon who essentially created the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  When asked how he developed the concept of AI, Dr. Simon described what he called his "network of possible wanderings."  He said that his degrees in computer science, psychology, and economics allowed his mind to "wander" into undiscovered places.  This "network of possible wanderings" becomes the mental space that can be combined in infinite numbers of ways resulting in creative discoveries.

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Katharine Brooks, Ed.D. is our guest blogger during the week of June 15th. If you have any questions for Katharine Brooks, add a comment to any of her posts.

Here is more information on You Majored in What?:

Has it happened yet? Have you been asked The Question? You know the one. It's the question that haunts you from your early undergrad days to months, even years, after you graduate... "What are you going to do with that major?" Inevitably this unleashes waves of anxiety, whether you're a liberal arts student unsure what your degree has prepared you for, someone with a "practical" major whose career field is oversaturated (or just unappealing), or a recent grad still searching for inspiration. But take heart - The Question is fundamentally flawed. Your major does not equal your job!

In You Majored In What?, nationally known career counselor Dr. Katharine Brooks dispels the myths and the old-fashioned thinking that can make your transition to the "real world" so daunting and chaotic. Developed from more than twenty years of teaching and guiding students to successful careers, her Wise Wanderings career coaching system helps you mine your academic and life experiences for career gold through creative yet practical techniques including visual mapping, storytelling, and experimenting. Thanks to the Wise Wanderings system, you can forget what you've been told about the job search. You don't have to know where you'll be in ten years. You don't have to have picked the perfect major. The job-finding process doesn't have to be one more burden on your already overburdened schedule. All you have to do is pay attention. Embrace the chaos. Think. Create maps. Construct small experiments. Celebrate your education. Consider possible lives. Tell stories. And start wandering. Wisely, of course. You'll be amazed at what's waiting out there for you.