Chicago is always so full of life. Your options for parties and events are limitless during the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show, but there’s one event that I refuse to miss. Every year, our organization buys tickets to the Champagne & Strawberry Party 2009 hosted by Ideal Media, LLC. And every year, I beg to be one of the lucky ticket holders.

It’s held at the Mid-America Club on the 80th floor of the Aon Building. The view from the window is matched only by the view around the room. Imagine every strawberry dessert you’ve ever had or heard of laid out right in front of you: crepes, mousse, pies, cakes, truffles, chocolate-covered and sauce-smeared. (Mmmmm, delightful.) The presentation was so creative, that it was hard to pass anything up.

The conversation was the same at any networking event. ‘Who do you work for and how long have you been there?’ ‘How’s business?’ But this year, because of the ‘economic crisis’, there were additional conversations being had.

A lot of the discussions I had that evening centered around who was ‘available’ in the labor pool right now. People that I would never have expected to be looking for work are out there networking right now. And a lot of companies are surveying the landscape and looking for an upgrade on their in-house talent. Why keep someone who only has 5 years of experience and refuses to work weekends when you can have someone with 10 years of experience who will be grateful for the hire enough to kiss their personal weekends goodbye? And, because of the jobless scare they’re going through, they’re willing to do it for the same salary.

So, if you’re feeling comfortable about your job position, don’t. There are hundreds of eager candidates out there who want your job and will work nights, weekends, and lunch hours to get it. The days of ‘working to live’ are over. Here are the days of ‘living to work’. For those of us who are blessed to still have our jobs, we need to view it as just that, a blessing. So count it.

Story from Guest Blogger Valeri Lea.