Marcia Lareau’s career has included five career changes, including college music professor, software QA analyst, project manager, learning technologist, and corporate trainer. Throughout, she studied employee selection, integration, and evaluation. Her research on hiring practices includes up-to-date trends throughout U.S. industries. After three lay-off experiences, Marcia started Forward Motion with a mission to increase job seeker success, reduce time-to-employment, teach principles of career management. Marcia holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, A Master’s degree from Northwestern University, and a Ph.d. from Ohio State University. After graduating in business at university, Neil Patrick initially worked for Wilkinson Sword. He then joined Standard Chartered Bank, where he spent the next ten years. From international corporations, Neil just moved to the world of startups. In 1997, he was head-hunted to be marketing director for a U.S. financial business expanding into the UK, FirstPlus from Dallas Texas. The U.S. parent went into Chapter 11 in 1998 but Neil and his Co-Directors saved the company by selling it to Woolwich Building Society, which, within two years, was itself bought by Barclays Bank. By 2005, the picture had become like Groundhog Day. Neil agreed to leave and become a sleeping partner in the firm. He desired a fresh challenge although he had no idea what this would be. This was the start of the third phase of his career. This coincided with the social media revolution. Neil looked at how businesses were using social media, and thought, more often than not, making a mess of it. One of the first things he did was set up a blog, 40PlusCareerGuru. This blog now has over a half-a-million hits. His online profile brought him into contact with small business owners all over the world. These new relationships formed were the basis of his diverse client base. This is how he and Marcia met and led to joining forces to write the book, Careermageddon: Cracking the 21st Century Career Code. Neil lives in a forest in Wales, which is no sensible place for a marketing consultant to live, but the internet pretty much solves that problem.   Key Takeaways: [:44] Marc welcomes you to the episode and invites you to share this episode with like-minded souls. Please subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast, share it on social media, and tell your neighbors and colleagues. [1:13] Marc gives an overview of the podcast series. The first in the series is an interview with an expert. In this episode, Marc interviews Marcia LaReau and Neil Patrick, co-authors of Careermageddon: Cracking the 21st Century Career Code.[1:31] Next will be a special interview with Kelsey and Matt Moore, owners of Coolworks, the Mecca of seasonal jobs at places like the U.S. National Park Service and other cool places. Marc is working on interviews with travel bloggers and other exciting guests. If you know any who have repurposed their career, please tell Marc. [2:03] March episodes may vary a bit, as Marc and his wife leave for Mexico on March 14, for four weeks as they are exploring the possibilities and working on all of the uncertainties. Marc will record four episodes in Ajijic, Mexico. [2:29] The third in the series is a topic Marc chooses. The last in the series is a Q&A episode. [2:34] Marc reads the bios for Marcia LaReau and Neil Patrick. [5:23] Marc welcomes Neil Patrick and Marcia LaReau. Neil spent 15 years in large corporates, then became director of a financial firm that wants to come into Europe, beginning his involvement with business startups. He finally recognized he wanted to work for himself, which he has done for the last 10 years. [6:30] Marcia is a career bouncer. She started as a professor of music, orchestra conductor and composer. That industry has ‘closed down.” and Marcia had to find a new role. She moved into corporate training, which she calls ‘rehearsal.’ She promoted herself as a project manager based o