The days of "last hired, first fired" seem long gone. Today's downsizings seem to take a disproportionate chunk of middle aged employees out, leaving behind only the young and inexpensive.

If you're worried about those closed-door meetings your boss is having with HR, financial blog Wise Bread will increase your stress level with "You're Fired! 20 Signs a Pink Slip is Coming." »more»

"Midlife crisis" may be many things -- depression, a reassessment, dissatisfaction, or unease -- but a key contributor can be career issues.

But like so much about midlife, there is little hard data on what happens to midcareer adults. »more»

Founding your own company is the American Dream. But being an entrepreneur requires skills and capital. For skills you take time working in a field, learning everything you can about a particular area so that you'll have a unique, sustainable and defensible competitive advantage. Only after toiling away for years developing a deep knowledge about a specific market and then refining a winning concept can you then approach the capital markets about funding your brilliant idea. For new markets, "capital markets" means venture capital. The only problem is that if you are over 40 (and possibly over 30), you're almost certain to be rejected before you can say "full-ratchet anti-dilution".

You are guilty of being too old and all of the tweaking of the business plan and/or your pro forma models won't change the fact that you are no longer in your twenties. Yes, Silicon Valley is as ageist as Hollywood movie studios or New York modeling agencies. »more»

Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist, offers up "Five Situations When You Shouldn't Change Careers." See if you can match up the situation with an excerpt of her advice, then visit her site to see if you're right »more»

During the past four weeks I have taken a look at career change through the filter of history and through the filter of disintermediation, one of the most powerful forces affecting the marketplace today. In future columns I will suggest the other dominant forces or flows that are reshaping the world, what the work landscape might look like in the next ten years, and the changes that are already underway. This week, though, I thought it might be a nice break to go personal, and share my path of career change. While I have been given credibility as a future thinker, I want you, the reader, to know that I have gone down the path of career change. »more»

Last week we discussed one of the most transformative forces in business today. Disintermediation is a force of change that every few centuries blows through society and the workplace with such impact that in a very short time, several decades, the world gets substantially reorganized. Some historical perspective will highlight this very clearly. »more»

Somewhere along the way, we got the idea that to do meaningful work - work that makes a difference means we have to sacrifice personal wealth, profit and success. We associate work that makes a difference with the terms "non-profit", volunteerism and personal sacrifice. It creates a kind of starving artist mentality. I want to challenge that ‘either/or’” notion. »more»

Disintermediation is one of the most powerful forces affecting the world today. In this column I will explain and explore this force that is reshaping the workplace. To think about making a career change without a full understanding of this force would be folly. »more»

"Mid-career employees and managers, who should be at their peak of productivity, are the most disaffected segment of the workforce," according to an article in the Harvard Business Review. »more»

A look back in history is always the first step to bringing perspective on the present and a valuable tool in seeking clarity about the future. So, before looking ahead to the dynamics rearranging the present and the near future of the next two decades let’s take a look at the history of humanity. »more»