I often get questions such as:

“What are the employment prospects these days?”

“What are the hot industries?”

“Who is hiring?”

Employment (or unemployment) statistics are just good conversational topics but they are not worth following for your career planning.

The only employment statistic you should care about is either 0% or 100% – that is, are you employed or not.

The next question to ask is, “Are you in the job you want or not?”

So regarding market prospects for 2010, the answer is, “Why should you care?”

What you should be focusing on is your individual career.  Yes, all things being equal, I would go after growing industries instead of shrinking ones.

But all things are not equal.

It is more important to know your values, skills and interests and match them with the right industry, job function and company instead of picking employers from a hat and force-fitting yourself into them.

Two tips to think about:

1. Let the market respond to your actions.

The market is invaluable in providing guidance on what your skills and qualifications are worth and how you are perceived by it.

If you are aiming for certain jobs or titles or salary levels and are not getting interviews, you need to find out if you are targeting wrongly or simply not positioning yourself properly for what you want.

Rather than reading market news and trying to incorporate that into your planning, craft your best plans and take action from there.

Then, collect market feedback specific to your actions and adjust accordingly.

Remember, if you continue to do the same thing again and again expecting a different result, you are an idiot. And believe me, a lot of people fall into this category.

2. Go for the ideal, not the available or popular.

The reality is that a career is always made up of what you bring to the table (i.e. value) and what the market will take.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not dismissing the importance of what is available in the market.

But you must always keep in mind that markets change, expand and new markets emerge. So, when you look only at what’s available currently, you are not seeing the complete possibilities.

When you aim instead for what is ideal for you and look for a way to bring that to market, you include market expansion and creation in your potential outcomes.

In other words, going for the ideal gives you more opportunities.

So, if you must know what the market prospect is for 2010, you have the perfect answer – it depends on how far you are willing to go.