HerMoney Podcast Episode 258: Reinvent Your Career (2026)

Saving money on hermoney podcast episode 258 does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• Many of us have lost our jobs or realized we need new ones in the past year.
• Here’s how to reinvent your career and pivot, pivot, pivot.  It’s been about a year since the HerMoney team last spent a real day worki...
• Like thousands of other companies around the world, when COVID hit, we had to pivot.

Numerous of us have lost our jobs or realized we need new ones in the past year. Here’s how to reinvent your career and pivot, pivot, pivot. 

It’s been about a year since the HerMoney team last spent a real day working together at our HerMoney offices in Times Square. Like thousands of other companies around the world, when COVID hit, we had to pivot. We had to evolve quickly, reinventing what we once knew about our careers, take what we’d been handed and try to make the most of it… And everyday, I think about just how lucky we are, that we were able to make the transition, that we’re all healthy and working together successfully via Zoom, email and Slack, making HerMoney happen from the comfort of our homes. 

There are countless other companies that had to pivot during this strange season, and, perhaps more importantly, millions of individuals who had to not only pivot, but also reinvent their individual careers. Over the last year, so numerous people found themselves in need of a change , perhaps a drastic one , in their own working lives. 

If your industry shut down, or if your company experienced layoffs, you may have been forced into rethinking what you wanted the next 20, 30, even 40 years of your working life to look like… Or perhaps COVID just helped you reprioritize what was most key to you , and you realized that your job was Just. Not. It. 

Of course job transitions are nothing new , 49% of people report that they’ve made a major career change at some point. But COVID has directly impacted how people are entering , or re-entering , the workplace, and has accelerated numerous career and hiring trends that have been building for the last few years. Yes, it’s a strange time to get hired, but companies are hiring… So, what should you do if you’ve recalculated and you’re looking for a new gig? 

Lindsey Pollak, New York Times bestselling author and one of the world’s leading career and workplace experts, has answers for us in this week’s episode of the HerMoney Podcast. Her new book, “Recalculating: Navigate Your Career Through the Changing World of Work” just hit bookstore shelves this month, and offers so numerous key takeaways for career changers and transitioning professionals looking to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving workplace.

Listen in as Jean and Lindsey discuss how job seekers of all generations and skill sets can learn how to adapt to this “new normal,” and all the ones that will (inevitably) come after it. Because in an era when so much seems uncertain, it’s not always simple , or comfortable , to adapt + change + pivot. 

Lindsey reviews some of the biggest changes in workplaces nationwide since COVID. In addition to millions of us working from home, we also have an increased reliance on virtual communication and automation, there’s renewed employer emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion, and there’s been a distinct expansion of the “gig” economy and alternative employment options. In other words, even if you didn’t make a career shift, it’s likely that, in a way, you reinvented your career. 

The pair discuss what the first steps should be for anyone who’s reinventing their career, whether they’re interviewing for a new job, re-entering the workplace, or pivoting in their career. Lindsey also addresses how we can all network effectively while we’re all living in this virtual world, and how networking may change in the years to come. And networking is a big piece of the puzzle for job seekers , an estimated 70% of jobs are found through networking, according to Lindsey’s book. But what does that look like in a world where there are no conferences and happy hours?  

“You’ve really got to take that step , even if you’re networking ,   to put yourself out there and apply. Control what you can. You can’t control the job market. You can’t control whether a company hires you or not. But you can control how numerous people you network with. You can control how numerous applications you submit, how numerous events you attend, so try to focus on the areas where you can actually move the needle. You’ve got to put the applications out there,” she explains. 

Jean and Lindsey finish their conversation with the top tips for success for all career “recalculators” and discuss some dos and don’ts for LinkedIn and social media in general. 

In Mailbag, Jean and Kathryn hear from a listener who is a year away from retirement and has questions about a strategy for drawing down her savings. We also hear from a listener who is curious how she should look at her and her partner’s retirement savings… Is it all “ours”? And in Thrive, how women over 50 can secure their financial future as retirement comes into view. 

• 6 Things You’re Unintentionally Doing (Or Saying) In The Workplace That Could Be Holding You Back In Your Career
• What My Dream Retirement Looks Like: A Career I Love
• Everything You Need To Know To Build A Freelancing Career Now
• How Women Over 50 Can Reclaim Workplace Confidence And Power

Transcript

Lindsey Pollak: (00:01) You’ve really got to take that step even if you’re networking to put yourself out there and apply. Control what you can. You can’t control the job market. You can’t control whether a company hires you or not. But you can control how numerous people you network with. You can control how numerous applications you submit, how numerous events you attend. So try to focus on the areas where you can actually move the needle. You’ve got to put the applications out there.

Jean Chatzky: (00:29) HerMoney is brought to you by Fidelity Investments. Celebrate Women’s History Month with Fidelity. Join us for marquee virtual events and get resources for a healthier financial future. Learn more at Fidelity.com/HerMoney.

Read More...

Jean Chatzky: (00:44) Hey everyone. I’m Jean Chatzky. Thank you so much for joining me today on HerMoney. It has been about a year -a year since my team and I last spent a real day working together at our HerMoney offices in Times Square - which is so hard for me to wrap my brain around. But like thousands of companies around the world, when COVID hit, we just had to pivot. We had to evolve quickly, take what we’d been handed and try to make the most of it. And believe me, every day I think about just how lucky we are that we were able to make that transition, that we’re all healthy, that we’re working together successfully via zoom and email and Slack, and that we’re able to make HerMoney happen from the comfort of our homes. There are so numerous other companies that had to pivot during this strange season, and perhaps, more importantly, millions and millions of individuals. Over the last year, so numerous people found themselves in need of a change, perhaps a drastic one, in their own working lives. If your industry shut down, or if your company experienced layoffs, you may have been forced into rethinking what you wanted the next 10 or 20 or even 30 years of your working life to look like. Or maybe COVID just helped you reprioritize what was key to you and you realized that your job was just not it. Of course, job transitions are nothing new. 49% of people report they have made a major career change at some point. But COVID has directly impacted how people are entering or reentering the workplace, has accelerated numerous career and hiring trends that have been building for the last few years. Yeah, it is a strange time to get hired, but companies are hiring. So what should you do if you’ve been among those who have recalculated, recalibrated, and you’re looking for a new gig? Here to walk us through is Lindsey Pollak. She is a New York Times bestselling author, and one of the world’s leading career workplace experts. Her new book, “Recalculating: Navigate Your Career Through the Changing World of Work,” just hit bookshelves yesterday. We are so glad she’s here with us with some advice for career changers and transitioning professionals. Lindsey, welcome.

Lindsey Pollak: (03:17) Thank you so much for having me.

Jean Chatzky: (03:20) So I have to ask, because this book seems so perfectly timed, when did you decide to write it?

Lindsey Pollak: (03:28) You know, I didn’t mean to. My last book came out just two years ago, and I typically wait a long time. I say it’s like my accidental fourth child. I was sitting in my apartment in New York. It was May, 2020. My speaking business, I’m a professional speaker, had gone from fully booked calendar to exactly zero bookings. And I remember looking out the window thinking, what am I going to do? And I’ve always written books that I wish I had had. My first book was called “Getting From College To Career.” I was like, what am I supposed to do? I’ll write a book about it. And honestly, it was born out of, what am I going to do? And I literally looked out the window and saw cars. And I had this image of when your GPS says recalculating. You can’t keep going the way that you’re going. You have to find another way. And that’s how the book was born.

Jean Chatzky: (04:15) I think that we are all a little sick of hearing the words, the new normal. I am certainly sick of saying them. But in the book you write that job seekers of all generations and skillsets have to learn how to adapt. So what is this new normal exactly?

Lindsey Pollak: (04:34) You know, it’s not a brand new normal. To your point that you said earlier, it’s an acceleration of trends that had already started, that are now happening so much faster than we anticipated. So the very rapid decline of certain industries, increased automation, more people going into the gig economy and not having full time jobs with benefits, people working longer and later into their lives, people being forced to switch careers multiple times, people deciding not to go to college because of the cost. So we saw these trends going up, but they accelerated at light speed when the pandemic started. So none of it is a surprise, but the speed of it is what’s throwing people off.

Jean Chatzky: (05:23) You’ve also mentioned a number of things in the book that have been just changes in workplace in general, across the country, sometimes across the world, since COVID. And not just working from home. But you talk about this increased reliance on virtual communication. We should tell people that before we started taping this podcast, Lindsey and I were just talking about how we do so numerous webinars, like so numerous webinars. But this is part of it. There’s also constant disruption. There is renewed employer emphasis on diversity and inclusion and equity. There are a whole array of employment options that we didn’t have before. Can we just unpack those a little bit and talk about what they’ve meant to how we live our lives today?

Lindsey Pollak: (06:15) You know, it’s an acceleration, but it’s such a personal one. So if you just take remote work. Yeah. I worked from home once in a while before. But now that I’ve been doing it nonstop for a year, I have much stronger feelings about it because, you know, I know what it’s like. And sometimes, in a way, you don’t really know how you feel until you’re absolutely thrust into something. So I think it’s a myth to say everybody now wants to work from home because it works. I know plenty of people who really want to go back to the off

Final Thoughts

Before you check out, double-check hermoney podcast episode 258 against current offers and any coupons you can stack. Small habits like this add up to real savings over a year.

Originally published at savingswitch.com.