The head of Women in Technology , a 14 year old D.C. organization, invited me to speak about about Arca Solutions’ product and services.   The thing that really struck me once I got to the event was how hard the economic conditions have hit our area – a city which is usually resilient against tough times.  Many people there had lost their jobs from heavy hitters such as AT&T, Sprint-Nextel and Microsoft.

While the second speaker was in front of the audience, I quickly thought about how to add to my talk how there were 20% more jobs last year than there was in 2007 in the SEO industry.  I decided that the latter half of my talk should focus on having the ability to reinvent yourself  when the job market is weak.

I went in front of the audience and highlighted the fact that there are jobs out there that are recession-proof – specifically Search Engine Optimization.  For those with Web Design experience, learning how to optimize a site can open up their market.  Also, for the people with a Marketing background, they can enter a different field where they work with web developers to create the right content, links and tags in order to foster increased revenue.

I was surprised at how many people wanted to learn more and asked how to get in touch with me after the presentation.  One woman who had been thinking about migrating into the crowded Project Management field mentioned that this may be something else for her to think about.  The bad news is that 2009 is going to be a tough year; the good news could be that you come out on the other end of it with a brand new profession.