DEAR JOYCE: My company has just laid off another 35 people. If the ax falls on me, I may not be able to replicate the quality of job I hold, but instead have to take what I can get. I've always read that it's best to stay on one's career track instead of switching around to new career fields and industries. However, I may not be able to afford that strategy. What's your advice if I have to start job-hunting in this smoking rubble of an economy? -- P.V.

My advice today makes a U-turn from what I recommended several years ago, when job losers in a recession could, figuratively speaking, go across the street and continue on their career track with a more successful competitor. Ah, the good old days!

But as this ever more gloomy parade of industry bloodletting -- banking, retailing, construction, autos, newspapers, you name it -- marches on, we're all realizing this isn't a run-of-the-mill recession. And we need to rethink how we deal with career moves while it continues.

SURVIVING A STORM. Earlier this year, I presented a pro-and-con discussion of whether it's still important for your future to stick with the tried-and-true advice of holding out for the "perfect" job in your career trajectory.

But as the jobless numbers continue to blow through the labor market with hurricane force, I've moved to the position articulated by career management consultant Neil McNulty of Norfolk, Va. His book on the topic will be published later this year; in the meantime, McNulty, a former military officer, is hosting "The Age of the Lifeboat Job" seminars.

THE LIFEBOAT ARGUMENT. In brief, here's McNulty's view:

"Look for and accept any job that keeps you in your home, doesn't require relocation, meets basic necessities, and is OK to ride out this storm.

"The people who fear taking steps back now and then -- worrying that backtracking will haunt them later when the economy turns around -- should stop fretting about that possibility. That's because when they finally are able to look for jobs that get their careers and salary history back on track, interviewers will understand what happened. Continued...