By ELIZABETH GARONE

In this economy, you need to take advantage of every available resource to propel your career. Finding a mentor—and preferably a network of mentors—is an easy and smart way to get started. And, it won’t set you back financially the way hiring a career coach would. Here’s how.

Develop a circle of mentors. Look more widely than your company-assigned mentor. You’ll benefit from multiple advisers, especially if you don’t click with your official one.

“Unlike a marriage, mentoring relationships do not have to be monogamous,” says Ellen Ensher, the co-author of “Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Proteges Get the Most out of Their Mentoring Relationships” and a management professor at Loyola Marymount University.

And don’t limit yourself to people within your company, suggests Ms. Ensher. Rather than make a cold call to a potential mentor, she recommends getting introduced through a mutual friend or colleague. “Contact more than one mentor and think about what complementary skills you might offer them,” she says. Mentoring is about reciprocity. Be clear about what you hope to learn and what you can offer.

Don’t count out your boss. When searching for a mentor, it’s easy to overlook the person you see on a daily basis and the one who most likely has a position you covet: your boss. If you like your boss, suggest starting a mentoring relationship.

“Make sure that your direct supervisor understands your career aspirations,” says Michael Fenlon, people strategy and U.S. markets human resources leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “There is nothing like having a boss who is your biggest fan and who will advertise your abilities and potential to management and other senior leaders.”

Consider a “step-ahead” mentor. Many people—often mistakenly—set their sights on the company’s top brass as the Holy Grail of mentors. But, more often than not, these relationships aren’t the most helpful, Ms. Ensher says. “High status is not always equivalent to high competency when it comes to mentoring,” she says. “Senior-level mentors may be less accessible or less patient than mentors lower in the hierarchy.”

Ms. Ensher recommends a “step-ahead” mentor, someone in a position one up from your own. This type of person might have “more empathy, more time, and more recent recall and direct knowledge of career paths in the organization,” she says.

Start your own program. If your company doesn’t have a mentoring program, consider approaching management with the idea of starting one.

It shouldn’t have to be a hard sell, especially if you include in your pitch the potential benefits to the company’s bottom line. Mentoring can improve morale, help employees learn, fuel innovation and build better leaders, says William F. Banholzer, chief technology officer for Dow Chemical Co.

Do it now. If you’re unemployed, don’t wait until you land a position to seek out a mentor. “Look around and see who inspires you,” says Ms. Ensher. “Who do you want to be like in style, career trajectory, accomplishment?”

Once you develop descriptions of those people, contact people in your network to see if anyone knows someone that meets those criteria. In addition to tapping formal sources such as career centers, professional organizations and past employers, spread the word to friends and family.

“Tell everyone you know that you are looking to connect with a specific mentor or role model, and be persistent,” says Ms. Ensher.

Write to Elizabeth Garone at cjeditor@dowjones.com

By EILEEN GUNN

Bored with management consulting, Gabriel Turner turned his love for his native Uruguay’s beef into a passionate, more entrepreneurial career.

Mr. Turner, who was born in Uruguay but moved to the U.S. as a toddler, started out at a large consulting firm after college. After a few years, he found he wasn’t getting the breadth of experience he’d expected. “I wasn’t passionate about it, and it wasn’t something I saw myself doing forever,” he says.

By March 2007, he was having serious second thoughts. Around the same time, he also had a steak dinner that would seal his second act. The San Francisco restaurant where he dined had posted a sign saying it served Uruguayan grass-fed beef from a company called Estancia.

Mr. Turner had vacationed on his uncle’s Uruguayan cattle ranch, and held his native country’s beef in high esteem. He’d also taken classes in food science and international food policy as an undergrad at the University of California at Berkeley, sparking his interest in sustainable food. He believed Uruguay’s free-range ranching techniques fit that trend; he’d even brought the idea up to his dad, seeking fatherly advice. But his father said he couldn’t see the concept working. So when Mr. Turner saw the restaurant’s sign, he was intrigued that someone else had found a way to do it.

He spent the next several weeks trying to track down Estancia’s owner, Bill Reed, leaving numerous voice mails in the hopes of landing a meeting. Finally, Mr. Reed agreed to meet for coffee in early April. Amid a conversation touching on everything from Mr. Reed’s expansion plans, to their mutual interest in eco-food writer Michael Pollan, to sustainable food, Mr. Turner became convinced that he wanted to work with Mr. Reed. “He told me he didn’t have a job [open], but I walked away thinking if I pushed, maybe there could be one,” Mr. Turner recalls.

The two kept in touch. And a month later in one of their chats, Mr. Reed mentioned that he wanted to persuade customers that beef from free-range cows in South America had a smaller environmental impact as beef from industrial U.S. farms — despite the greater shipping distances. Mr. Turner offered to crunch the numbers for him free.

Mr. Reed was impressed. “I finally realized that his understanding of the industry and our product would help him sell our program to often skeptical butchers and chefs,” Mr. Reed says. In July 2007, Mr. Reed offered him a job in Los Angeles. Saying yes meant major changes for Mr. Turner — including a 60% pay cut and leaving behind his life in San Francisco.

He set to work peddling beef to restaurants and gourmet grocery stores, while also staging cooking demonstrations, talking with the local food press, and helping to organize educational trips to Uruguay for chefs. In consulting, “I didn’t get to know the big picture of what a department or company was doing,” he says. “Here, I have my hands in everything.”

He visited butchers to learn from them so he would be able to speak more knowledgeably about different cuts of meat. He read up on sustainable agriculture. And he had to learn how to crack a new market. That wasn’t always easy; after a particularly bad day chasing fruitless leads, he recalls thinking, “I’m not a good salesperson.”

Today, 30 Los Angeles restaurants and specialty markets carry Estancia beef, says Mr. Turner. Meanwhile, Mr. Turner has enrolled at Harvard Business School to hone the skills he needs to continue on his career path and to learn about sustainable business more formally.

He is keeping in close touch with Mr. Reed while he is at school. For starters, he is expanding on the first project he did for Mr. Reed, developing a detailed carbon-footprint report for Estancia. And when Mr. Reed brings his product to the East Coast, something he hopes to do in 2009, Mr. Turner plans to help with the marketing and business development.

Mr. Turner, now 25, says he might stay with Estancia, but “could see starting my own company,” after graduation. “The more I think about it, the more I’d like it to be in the sustainable foods industry and working with Uruguay if possible.”

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D5

By ALEXANDRA LEVIT

Employment is declining in nearly all major industries, but some professions have been harder hit than others. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, so far in 2009, the most layoffs have occurred in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and financial activities.

Realtor Ilona Becker in the Chicago area experienced downsizing first hand during the housing crisis. “I was taking buyers to see properties day after day, for four to five months, and deals were falling apart at the closing table,” she says. She had been a successful agent for more than 14 years, but last fall, realized she had to “think about finding a way to stay afloat and use my skills to transition to a brand-new area,” Ms. Becker recalls.

Early-Warning Signs

Many employees don’t realize that industry downsizing will affect their jobs until it’s too late. In this economy, you should be on the lookout for telltale signs. “Ask yourself if there have been layoffs, mergers or acquisitions in companies similar to yours,” says Lynne Waymon, co-author of “FireProof Your Career Toolkit.”

If your profession is in trouble you likely won’t be able to rely on cushy severance packages or the ability to quickly land a job with a competitor. Before you become a layoff victim, reorganize your finances so that your liabilities are as low as possible and set up an emergency fund. Update your résumé and line up your references so they’re ready to go when you need them.

Also, consider that this may be the time to switch to an industry in which jobs are more plentiful. Health care and private education continue to see employment gains, and if you can use your current skills in an area that will receive funding from the new economic-stimulus plan, all the better.

Opportunities at Smaller Firms

Many professionals are daunted by the prospect of a mid-career industry switch, but as long as you have the core skills and enough basic knowledge to hold your own in an interview, you can feel confident.

Get yourself up to speed by perusing publications related to your new field and learning the target industry’s recent history and developments. You will likely find more opportunities in smaller companies or nonprofits, since roles in these organizations tend to be less specialized.

Networking is key when undertaking the reinvention process. If you can, use your old network to help launch a new career. That’s what Ms. Becker did. “Having lots of single homebuyers through the years, I was able to contact them and build a database for my new business,” says Ms. Becker, who launched a couples’ matchmaking service. Otherwise, reach out to professional associations and people in the kinds of jobs you’d like to do to begin to build a new network.

If total reinvention isn’t your cup of tea, you can also protect yourself by developing an adjacent career or another expertise.

“I know of an IT manager who feared his department would soon be outsourced,” says Ms. Waymon. To make himself more valuable to his employer, he became the in-house expert on emergency planning, she says. He avoided a layoff — and with a little creativity, so can you.

Please send your career questions to reinvent@wsj.com

We have experienced technical difficulties with the new Reinvent mailbox and email address. All emails sent to the address have been lost. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issue. Until then, please write to Alexandra Levit at cjeditor@dowjones.comand use the subject line Reinvent.

By ALEXANDRA LEVIT

Standing out in a crowded marketplace isn’t always easy. And these days, people have seen it all, which means you might only get ahead if you use a compelling and unique approach like Pat Lencioni’s to present your ideas.

Several years ago, Mr. Lencioni, 44 years old, of Lafayette, Calif., was a Bain & Co. consultant who loved writing screenplays and fiction pieces on the side. He didn’t move to Hollywood or New York City to pursue his passion.

Instead, Mr. Lencioni stayed where he was—in the business world—and used his talent to break out of the typical management-consultant mold. He began writing business books that read like novels and featured real characters to which textbook- and theory-fatigued readers could relate. In “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” for example, the fictional DecisionTech’s new CEO, Kathryn, must unite a fractured executive team.

Many say Mr. Lencioni’s parables have sold over 2.5 million copies because they attract people who need to be better managers but don’t want to read a traditional business book to do it. “The plot-driven approach makes people want to read to the end,” says Mr. Lencioni. “Readers are also more comfortable passing the books on to friends because they personally enjoyed them and were able to learn without a lot of effort.”

So, how do you infuse your day with creativity if it’s not your natural strong suit?

First, block out some time on your calendar to think about it. When you set aside time to do something, you elevate its importance in your mind.

Practice clearing your head of all of your everyday concerns, turn on some music, and let your mind wander. If you’re having trouble letting go, ask one of your artistic friends what she does to get in the right frame of mind and try adapting that technique to make it your own.

It also helps to look at your life and business from a different perspective. In providing career advice during this recession, for instance, I often pretended I was the person I needed to reach—a reader who was out of work. I asked myself, “What information do I need right now, and how would I best like to receive it?”

If your daily reading consists of one paper or online publication and Google news, you might try expanding your horizons.

In particular, today’s literary fiction and narrative nonfiction books are often worded so eloquently that they can’t help but inspire you to express yourself in a more creative way.

If you read before going to sleep, be sure to keep a pen and a notebook by your bed to jot down ideas that come to you in the middle of the night.

You might also want to start carrying a pad and pencil with you when you commute or travel. Inevitably you’ll overhear or see something that provokes an interesting train of thought.

Mr. Lencioni suggests forcing yourself into an uncomfortable situation to get your mind going—like doing manual labor if you’re a high-ranking executive, for example.

Sometimes just getting out of your comfort zone can spark creative ideas. “And finally,” he says, “you have to be willing to throw stupid ideas out [there], or ideas that no one believes in but you.”

Recognize that creativity doesn’t understand deadlines. Because you can’t depend on a terrific idea to show up at a certain point, you might try to build in long timelines for projects that require creative zeal and try not to put a lot of pressure on yourself.

“My best insights don’t usually show up when I’m sitting at my computer waiting for them,” says Mr. Lencioni. “I’ll usually be jogging or in the shower, or out in the public where my creative mind is stimulated by watching others.”

Once you’ve begun to think more creatively, look for ways to apply this change at work, from suggesting new projects to discussing projects in a new way.

— Alexandra Levit is a business and workplace author and speaker.

Write to Alexandra Levit at reinvent@wsj.com

By ALEXANDRA LEVIT

Q:
I’m an intelligent, talented and creative person, but I’m lacking motivation to perform my job to the best of my abilities, and it is starting to show. I’m planning on leaving my firm for graduate school next year, but in the meantime, do you have any ideas on how I can regain my motivation at work? There are no upcoming projects which even hold the remotest level of interest for me, and based on my recent performance review, I would not likely be assigned them to begin with.

A: The first step in getting your motivation back is admitting that it’s missing in the first place. My next suggestion is to try to focus on the big picture of your career instead of the daily frustrations of your current job. If you’re on your way to getting an advanced degree, then you have already realized a very important goal. Give yourself credit for this! Also, realize that nothing and no one have the power to control your attitude but you. For some help here, I recommend picking up Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living,” and “How to Win Friends & Influence People.” Also, sign up for any personal development or leadership courses your company offers, and stay busy so you don’t have time to sit around and think about how much better your job situation could be.

Q:
A question I haven’t seen addressed in your column is whether or not it makes sense to pursue an M.B.A. at age 54. I am currently working overseas as an expat, so most likely I would have to enroll in a Web-based M.B.A. opportunity. Is that a good value and will it be accepted by prospective employers? If it takes me two to three years to complete, will it have value for me outside of personal satisfaction?

A: Online degree programs are becoming increasingly credible, especially if geography prevents you from attending a particular university in person. At 54, you could be working around 15 more years. This is a good bit of time, so you’re right to think about what’s best for your career in the semi long term. The question you should ask yourself is, what will the M.B.A. buy you in terms of expanded career prospects and income potential? Do you enjoy the field you’re currently in, and will an M.B.A. help you move up there? If you feel that your trajectory will be similar whether you get an advanced degree or not, then you might want to skip it (unless personal satisfaction is enough of a reason for you, which it very well might be).

Q:
Back in the late 90s when tech was hot, I left college after three years to make money at a start-up. Now in my early thirties, I am looking to make the transition from managing a technical team to real management. I am concerned that the lack of a degree may be a roadblock when competing with people who have a bachelor’s degree or M.B.A. My college credits are no longer valid so I would have to start over to get a degree. To date, I have simply listed my time at school without listing a degree on my resume (which hasn’t been an issue since my skills are more important than a degree at my level). Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

A: I think if you want to make the leap into general management, your lack of even a bachelor’s degree is going to hold you back in most organizations. I can see why whether you graduated or not wouldn’t be as relevant to IT departments, but I have a feeling that management is going to be a different story. Have you thought about taking classes part time while you continue to work and enhance your technical skills? The good news is, if you’ve already had three years of college, a lot of the courses should be pretty easy, and perhaps your company provides tuition assistance. An argument can certainly be made that more schooling would increase your value in your current job as a tech team lead.

Write to Alexandra Levit at reinvent@wsj.com

By CLARE ANSBERRY

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Associated Press

Many U.S. executives are optimistic sales will increase next year, but believe that their staffing levels will remain the same. Above, workers at a Caterpillar plant.

Corporate America is emerging from the worst downturn since the Great Depression smaller and thriftier.

To survive, companies have laid off millions of workers, closed hundreds of factories and vacated acres of office space. Like those who grew up in the Depression and still reuse sheets of aluminum foil, the experience has left them financially conservative and wary of risk.

The road to recovery will likely be marked by slow and steady acceleration, rather than speed. Some companies will see opportunities to amass undervalued assets or steal customers. But it is unclear if their efforts will create enough new jobs to spark broader economic growth.

Though appliance sales are expected to rise for the first time in four years, Whirlpool Corp.,

which closed about a tenth of its production capacity in 2009, says it will continue cutting costs and paring capacity this year. It plans to close its Evansville, Ind., plant that made refrigerators and ice makers, shifting some output to Mexico.

The appliance maker will also hold on to its cash. “Given the amount of uncertainty that remains across the globe, we will carry a high cash balance over the course of the year, and we think that is appropriate,” says Chief Executive Jeff Fettig.

Nearly every American industry ended last year in better shape than it started. Among the 95% of companies in the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index that have reported fourth-quarter results, the majority beat market forecasts. But in many cases their improved performances were driven more by cost cutting than revenue growth. With the economy growing again, many CEOs expect broader revenue gains this year.

AP

Already corporate spending on technology has started to rebound. Computer-chip giant Intel Corp.,

considered a bellwether for the tech industry, had one of its most profitable quarters ever in the fourth quarter as sales rose 28%. The company, which a year ago announced that it would close several older factories as the economy slumped, displacing 5,000 to 6,000 workers, is investing billions of dollars in its U.S. plants as demand for consumer and business computers recovers.

The auto industry, which tanked in 2008, taking a sizable chunk of the economy with it, is starting to see some life, and the pickup is filtering down to its suppliers. Alexander “Sandy” Cutler, CEO of Eaton Corp.,

said the company’s truck and auto-related businesses, typically among the first to respond to an economic recovery, are seeing growth in both volume and profitability, and the company is carrying a hefty backlog. “That gives us a good feeling early in the year,” he says.

Stilll, Mr. Cutler, whose salaried U.S. workers were required to take four weeks of unpaid leave last year, says he doesn’t see broad economic growth until 2011. For now, Eaton can make due with overtime and temporary workers, rather than permanent new hires.

Retailers ended 2009 on a high note, as did delivery companies, as consumers lost some of their skittishness. Industries driven by capital spending, such as data processing, machinery and heavy-equipment manufacturing, are beginning to benefit from looser corporate purse strings as well as public-works spending in China, India and Brazil. Manufacturing output grew at a 20% annualized rate in the fourth quarter and the sector, which has shed 2.2 million jobs since 2007, added jobs in January for the first time in nearly three years.

“Compared to last year, this environment is like day and night,” says Klaus Kleinfeld, president and CEO of Alcoa Inc.,

which bolstered its cash holdings in 2009 in part by pressing customers to pay their outstanding balances. Mr. Kleinfeld is projecting 10% growth in the market for aluminum, half of which is coming from China. “If you ask the doomsayers, they say ‘Yeah, but that growth rate is compared to a very bad 2009.’ It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Some industries, such as aerospace and commercial construction, continue to lag. Hampered by continued instability in the housing market and uncertainty about infrastructure projects, the construction-machinery business was expected to end 2009 with an overall 43% drop in sales, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, a Washington trade group.

“I think there is a lot of lingering gloom,” says Don Washkewicz, chairman and CEO of Parker Hannifin Corp.,

which supplies hydraulic parts to several industries. A case in point: on Jan. 19, when the company reported quarterly earnings that nearly doubled market expectations and raised its forecast of profit from continuing operations by 44%, its stock, after an initial uptick, ended the day lower than it started.

Much of the uncertainty in markets and boardrooms can be traced to jobs, the economy’s big wild card. One out of four of the 8.4 million American jobs lost during the recession isn’t expected to come back, leaving it up to growing industries to fill the void. In January, on the same day United Parcel Service Inc.,

the world’s largest package handler by volume, projected better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, it also said it would eliminate 1,800 management and administrative jobs.

Having cut jobs and capacity, streamlined production, distribution and logistics, many companies like their slimmer look. “We have put the genie back in the bottle, and I’m not ready to let it out,” says Parker Hannifin’s Mr. Washkewicz.

Indeed, while some employers have added modestly to their payrolls, the absence of broader hiring remains a problem for the nation’s economy, which depends on consumer spending.

More than 60% of the 1,000 chief executives surveyed by YPO Global, a network of 17,000 executives, expect their work forces to be the same a year from now. About 30% see an increase and 7% a decrease.

Rather than hiring or adding capacity, some companies hope to use their accumulated cash to make bargain-priced acquisitions. Eaton, which has been on the sidelines for the past year, is looking for opportunities, says Mr. Cutler, its CEO.

Other companies are positioning themselves in different ways. Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar

is preparing for the recovery by making sure its supply chain is ready to pick up pace quickly and smoothly. “Our ability to ramp up is really a function of how well we manage the supply chain and suppliers,” CEO Jim Owen told investors recently. “We’re way out in front compared to any previous cycle I know of in getting ready for that eventuality.”

Headwaters

MB, a Denver investment bank, is coming out of the recession with a new gameplan. Dave Maney, chairman and co-founder, says the board met in the fall of 2008 and gave senior management carte blanche to ensure the company’s survival. As a result, Headwaters laid off all but seven key employees, and invited the others to form independent member firms. Using its contacts to drum up business, Headwaters directed transactions to those firms, keeping a cut for itself.

The restructuring drastically reduced fixed costs and also freed management to do more marketing, rather than day-to-day investment-banking transactions. “It was a good strategy for us and positioned us for the future,” Mr. Maney says.

Headwaters expects to add more independent firms by the end of the first quarter and be back up to its pre-recession head count of 42, including its own full-time employees and those working at its new affiliates.

Write to Clare Ansberry at clare.ansberry@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

Some of the former employees at Headwaters MB, a Denver investment bank, left of their own accord. This article incorrectly said Headwaters laid off all but seven key employees.

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

The job: Patent researcher

Nature of the work: These professional investigators work for law firms, research businesses, the federal government and corporations. They scour various sources to make sure an idea or invention is original and they typically specialize in areas such as electronics, computer science, chemistry and mechanical engineering. “Their job is to find what we call ‘prior art,’ ” says John Tsavaris, special counsel at Kenyon & Kenyon LLP, an intellectual-property law firm in New York.

The pay: At law firms, patent researchers with one to four years of experience earn annual salaries of about $65,000, says Gary Buckland, a vice president at Kelly Law Registry, a legal staffing firm in Troy, Mich. Those with 15 to 20 years of experience may earn upward of $85,000, he says. Patent researchers employed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — known as patent examiners — earn starting salaries ranging from $41,350 to $73,736, depending on specialty.

The hours: Patent researchers typically work during normal business hours, though they may occasionally put in overtime to meet deadlines.

The benefits: Traditional health-care packages and retirement-savings programs are common at most firms; standard for government workers.

Other incentives: Researchers get to see products before commercialization. “Sometimes a client will provide us with prototypes of the inventions we’re researching,” says Matt Rodgers, a vice president at Landon IP, in Alexandria, Va.

Best part of the job: Katherine Schultz, a patent engineer at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, an intellectual-property law firm in Milwaukee likes the variety. She does research work in addition to helping attorneys draft and defend patent applications. “When someone walks in with a new invention disclosure, it’s always a surprise,” she says.

Worst part of the job: “It can be repetitive,” says Mr. Rodgers. “You might have several projects in a row that have similar objectives, so they require the same type of research.” The job’s work environment may be a downside. “It’s pretty quiet most of the time,” says Cindy Troutt, a patent researcher at Canon U.S.A. Inc.

Education/Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline such as science or engineering is a common requisite, says Dr. Tsavaris, also an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law. Employers also look for candidates with strong analytical, organizational and time-management skills, he adds. Career changers may be able to gain entry into the field upon completing internships or coursework on patent research.

Hiring: Demand for patent researchers is steady. There’s a backlog of more than 750,000 patent applications with the federal government, says Lynn Feild, a workgroup manager at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Jobs there are listed at usptocareers.gov. Openings at companies and law firms are advertised on job boards, including intelproplaw.com and patentlyo.com.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Patent researchers at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earn starting salaries ranging from $41,350 to $73,736, depending on specialty. A previous version of this column said patent-office researchers earn salaries ranging from $40,184 to $75,537.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D6