We Career Coaches often hear the phrase "I wish I had done something sooner" from workers who have:

• noticed that their sense of job security or job satisfaction has begun to turn sour on them
• lost an opportunity for advancement because they could not perform a task requiring cutting-edge knowledge or skills
• found that they possess "perishable" skills; that is, skills that are becoming obsolete or outsourced
• laid off because of a downturn in their company's area of business or experienced that their job was not recession-proof