What’s Your Career Mission?

It was great talking with Chris Lalomia on his Small Business Safari podcast, and we went straight to the heart of what so many mid-career folks are dealing with right now.

The “mid-career crisis” isn’t some personal failing. The job market is broken. Layoffs, volatility, and age bias (which is showing up earlier than most people realize) have turned the old playbook, resume + cover letter + apply, into a demoralizing hamster wheel.

The most useful thread we covered was this: job search success comes through people, not postings. Think of networking as building a community around shared interests, values, and strengths. It’s not collecting contacts or firing off random LinkedIn messages. It’s building real relationships, the kind where conversations lead to referrals and referrals lead to opportunity.

We also talked about why your LinkedIn About section should read more like a mission statement than a dry third-person bio. Share who you are and what you’re really trying to do in the world. Don’t hide behind an old-school notion of what counts as “professional.”

If you’re stuck in application purgatory, this interview will give you practical ways to reset your approach and get traction again. Check out the replay for more actionable tips.