So how are you handling the holiday season? Hopefully, you'll be able to manage a smile, no matter how difficult. A lot of people are scrambling for jobs right now, and realizing that they may have to change their line of work. It's hard to believe that more than 150,000 jobs have been killed since September, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.

Some people are more suited to consuming this sort of humble pie than others. You gotta love Joshua Persky. When he got laid off as a banker at Houlihan Lokey, he didn't sulk. He hit the streets, wearing a sandwich board touting his phone number and the fact that he was an MIT graduate. Six months later, he landed a job as a senior manager at a New York accounting firm.

While not everyone is cut out for such extreme tactics, this is certainly a time to be creative--and thoughtful. You will definitely survive, and most of you will be happier for the crisis.

Some of you might end up in corporate treasury departments, which are happy to look at ex-bankers. You might end up in the nonprofit world; one man found his calling years ago by starting up a charity called Orphans International Worldwide. Some of you are traveling and others are writing books.

My only advice would be to stay open to change. - Jim