Recessions Happen And They Change Everything

They shake careers, strip away certainty, and force us into decisions we never imagined making. But they can also redirect us toward opportunities we never would have seen if everything had gone to plan.

I learned that first-hand in 2008.

The Collapse: Loss, Grief, and Joblessness

When the floor fell away

I was at the start of my career as an Architect. I had a new home, a relationship, and was studying for my RIBA Part III chartered exams. I remember standing in a sandwich shop, reading headlines about the economic crash and layoffs. I genuinely didn’t think it would touch me.

It did.

Loss on loss

While I was preparing for my professional exams, my dad unexpectedly passed away. Days later, while my family and I were still reeling, my home was broken into and ransacked. My laptop, including all of my study notes, was stolen. Despite everything, the exam was still going to take place.

I locked myself in the office ‘exam room’ and kept going. Halfway through the 48-hour written exam, my boss came in. I asked the question I dreaded: “Do I still have a job?” The answer was no.

I was another recession casualty. I cried, I called my mum, I ate comfort food - and then I went back and finished the exam. Weeks later, I got the result: I had passed. But now I was an unemployed, newly qualified Architect.

When One Door Closes, A Completely Different Life Opens

The career I didn’t plan for

I was lucky to pick up a short contract working on listed buildings and got to design an amazing project in Scotland, but when it ended, the job market was brutal. Roles vanished overnight, and no one was building.

With nothing to lose, I updated my portfolio, my LinkedIn page, rebuilt my confidence, and stayed visible online.

Out of nowhere, I got a message from a recruiter about a teaching position in Asia. And literally weeks later, I was on a plane.

They trained me up in Singapore and flew me to India to help build a new design school from the ground up - curriculum, staff, students, campus culture. I spent four years teaching, travelling across India for academic launches, speaking at events, giving lectures, and leading study trips. It was the most unexpected and transformative chapter of my life.

That “failure”, losing my job in a recession, is what built the platform for everything I’ve done since.

Eventually, I was headhunted back to the UK as Head of First Year for Interior Architecture at a leading Arts University, and later travelled on behalf of the British Council promoting further education in India.

That chain of events is what eventually led me to Iceland, to my husband, and to the life and business I run now. None of that would have happened if the recession hadn’t blown my career apart.

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What That Recession Taught Me

1. You cannot control the economy, only how prepared you are

Rainy-day money, transferable skills, and visibility matter more than job titles.

2. Being let go is not the end - it’s sometimes the open door

The thing that feels like destruction may actually be transportation. I know that’s hard.

3. When everyone is freezing, move

Keep building, applying, creating, learning, updating - motion is a buffer against panic.

4. Opportunity often looks inconvenient

The thing that doesn’t fit the plan might become the best thing you've ever done.

5. Recession-proofing is a behaviour, not a moment

Upgrade skills, build assets, diversify income before you feel pressured to.

If you’re facing economic uncertainty now

Don’t panic. Prepare. Improve your systems. Build something that survives outside one employer or one economy. Use the quiet seasons to build the version of you that can weather the next wave, because sadly there will be one.

I came out of the last recession with a new career, international experience, a global network, a lot more confidence, and a life I never would have designed on paper.

Sometimes the collapse is the beginning.

Have you been affected by a recession?

Share your story in the comments

If you’re in a career wobble or facing another economic shift, you don’t have to navigate it alone. I mentor women in design through career transitions and rebuilding phases. Learn about 1:1 Coaching