Skills are tactics. Dealing with a recession is about strategy.<p>Most importantly: this is a time to focus on reducing risks, rather than maximizing profit.<p>This is a crappy time to start a startup or being a freelancer. Keep your job, build your skills, save money, and start in a few years.<p>Think about your job's security: Pay attention to your employers annual/quarterly reports. Which industries does your employer sell to? Travel, restaurants, hotel, retail, small businesses will be the worst hit, with little money to spend.<p>This is also a bad time to change jobs - depending on your local laws, it probably is much, much easier to lay off someone who just started.<p>Maybe broaden your skillls. In good times, it is more profitable to be a specialist - e.g. much better to be THE leading expert on scaling wordpress, rather than an all-purpose linux admin. In bad times, when jobs are scarce, being less of a specialist increaes the number of jobs you are suitable for.<p>Save money, lower your burn-rate, extend your runway - usually meant for start-ups, but this goes for your personal finances just as well<p>Become familiar with laws and benefits from the government for unemployment, lay-offs etc - if you should happen to find yourself unemployed, know what you have to do, how much assistance you can expect.<p>That being said: If you have a high risk-tolerance, and can afford to, now is also a great time to start a business or to invest, simply because nobody else is, so there is much less competition for everything.