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Love it or hate it, work is where you spend one-third of your life.

And, if you're like most people, probably at least one-third of your worries, fears, dreams and desires are intricately linked to your career.

Increasingly, employees are demanding more out of their employers, their line of work, and themselves as they navigate the ever-changing waters of the modern working world.

Add to that the fact that workers are also constantly being bombarded with new trends and buzzwords such as work-life balance and passion, and being pressured by the complications of family and child-care demands on their time-compressed lives, and it's no wonder that many people are confused about what to do next or where to go for career advice.

The Globe and Mail's Judith Timson was on-line earlier today for a live discussion with our readers on career issues.

Ms. Timson wanted to hear from readers on looks career issues and trends and your insights on working life and how we live and work today.

Ms. Timson writes a column in The Globe and Mail's Careers Section called The Way We Are, which examines issues close to the hearts of those in the working world.

Recently, she's written about time management , being at a career crossroads and job satisfaction .

Ms. Timson is a former senior writer for Macleans Magazine and a contributor to various other magazines for the past two decades including Chatelaine, Toronto Life and Saturday Night. She joined The Globe and Mail in 2002 and writes for both the Careers Section (The Way We Are) and the Focus Section.

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Allison Dunfield writes: Hi Judith. Thank you for taking the time to answer our readers' questions. I think one of the major concerns in the workplace today continues to be the struggle for work-life balance. A recent article in our careers section by Wallace Immen noted that it's not just women, anymore, who are struggling for and seeing the benefits of work-life balance.

"Both sexes in all generations now rate balance between work and life among their top priorities. That is a huge shift from just 20 years ago, when "time to pursue personal interests" was not even in the top 15 priorities for men in Canada," Mr. Immen wrote.

Can you discuss the challenges modern workers have in achieving work-life balances and ways that people or companies have successfully achieved (although perhaps it is a constant process as opposed to an achievement) work-life balance?

Judith Timson writes:Work-life balance in an important issue no doubt, and I'm glad to see it's cracked the top priorities of both men and women in the work force. But here's the thing: I haven't talked to very many people, especially young ambitious professionals, who feel they can say no to a heavy work load, even a workload that does cut into their private time, when they are on the way up.

Some professions are better than others. But the reality is that people work very long hours today, and a lot of the talk about balance is wishful thinking.

Career guru and author Barbara Moses has argued persuasively that if you replace the word "balance" with "focus" it becomes a more realistic scenario: at different times in our lives, we focus fiercely on different things. We may drop as much personal responsibility as we can to participate in and finish an exciting work project, and then return to a more even-handed existence. Of course the work-life balance issue came into being because of the increased numbers of working women and their experience in the work force. Show me the woman who hasn't panicked big time when she has a sick kid and a huge presentation to make and I'll show you...a man No, just kidding. Men have changed substantially in that regard too, but it's still the mothers who literally feel shredded in two by the competing demands of work and home.

I'm happy to go on about this (and address more of the changes) but let's stop there for the time being.

David Blaine from Canada writes: What is the best path to take if I have not worked in four years and want to do something different than what I was doing before? I find it hard to write a resume because of the time gap plus if I strip off the technical work I did, I am left with nothing since graduating university.

Judith Timson writes: Hi David. While I can't give individual career advice , I can say that career professionals — counsellors, coaches, etc. — have all indicated they can sometimes help take a "gap" and make it explainable. It depends on what the reasons were for your absence. A good place to start would be asking (for free) your question to an association that represents career professionals.(Google a Canadian site.) Someone there should be able to advise you , even on a limited budget, how to go about creating a resume that speaks to your real strengths and talent. Also, there are many sites on-line that give great tips on how to write a resume, even with those gaps.

Dawn Bazely from Toronto (but Tromsø, Norway) Canada writes: I really enjoy Judith Timson's columns, and I want to ask her how she thinks we ought to be managing the avalanche of global e-mail. Recently Julie Morgernstern (Oprah's organization guru) published a super book Never Check E-mail in the Morning , but her approach does not seem to be so effective in an international work environment. I am away from Toronto at a university in Norway, doing collaborative research. This means that I effectively do three shifts of e-mail a day: first thing I log on to yesterday's Canadian e-mail, then I see the stuff that come in throughout the day from Norway and Sweden, and in the afternoon, I start getting the morning e-mail from North America. My colleagues and I who are here for two months, are exhausted by these multiple e-mail shifts, and it must be the same for many people working in places where there are global offices. Since the Morgenstern approach is not working for me here, and there is just no 'down time' for reflection (I imagine that this is like life with a Blackberry, which I have avoided having) what do you suggest as a more effective time management approach?)

Judith Timson writes:Hello Dawn, I currently have hundreds of e-mails that I may have glanced at once, and then said to myself, I'll get back to them, and there they sit. There was a terrific piece recently on the CBC about a company that decided to ban e-mails between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., the theory being that if you actually stopped the keeners from sitting at their computers until midnight firing off e-mails that made everyone else feel guilty and oppressed, you would create a more manageable workload.

Here's another issue: why do we feel compelled to answer all these e-mails? I feel rude when I don't, and lately, I've begun thinking this is nonsense. Of course you need to answer the e-mails that directly affect your business but nowadays so many people fire off scattershot e-mails that you are just one of a crowd of recipients.

Global e-mailing is an issue all it own. And in your case I guess it requires a discussion with your colleagues to completely pare down what is important and relevant to the project you are working on.

Here is another interesting point. I'm always fascinated by how easy it is to reach important and busy people by e-mail. I should write a column on the new accessibility (and how it's driving people crazy). Good luck.

Dan Wurster from Abu Dhabi Canada writes: Stress People returning to the UAE from Canada claim there is more stress associated with working in Canada vs other parts of the world. I would like a comment on this.

Judith Timson writes: Hi Dan, I am fascinated by your comment. I would need more specifically to know what kind of Canadian work stress they are talking about. It isn't how we generally see ourselves, although there's no doubt that most North American workers would describe their working life as more stressful — in terms of hours and demands — than European workers.

Chris Boodram from Ottawa Canada writes: Hi Ms. Timson, There's been a lot of discussion in the media recently about the demographics of the workforce, and specifically about the effect of the coming retirement of masses of baby boomers on the job market. As a 29-year-old professional just starting out in the working world, I'm especially interested in what this means. On one hand, I'm told there could be the potential for significant advancement fairly quickly for talented and promising workers my age, and a lot of choice in what we do and how we do it. On the other hand, is there a possibility that we will lose the corporate memory collectively held in the skulls of boomers when they retire? Interested in your thoughts on how much of an issue this really is and what it means. Also, does it vary by sector? I work for the public service.

Judith Timson writes: Hi Chris, You're right. These issues are showing up all the time in the media, from The Economist magazine's cover story on how to deal with an aging work force, to the books coming out around the loss of corporate collective memory. The thinking is that the boomers a)won't retire traditionally when they are supposed to and b)they will be around, clogging up the system, offering themselves up as part time advisers, consultants etc. You can be cynical about this and say the boomer generation just doesn't know when to get off the stage, but you're still going to have to deal with it. I've spoken to experts who are very pessimistic about your prospects for dealing with this, but on the other hand, has there ever not been a generational hand-off? It will come.

Also: we did not lose the corporate collective memory of the previous generation, and in fact, we still refer to their wisdom and insights.

Athar Afzal from Mississauga, Canada writes: Hi Ms. Timson, I have had a successful five-year career in sales, and switched jobs last September. It was a wrong move, as I was an only salesperson hired for a product that was launched in Ontario by the company about 1.5 years ago with only one client. I was unable to produce sales as I had to focus more attention towards marketing (networking, educational seminars, etc.) and learning about the industry. How do I approach my interviews if asked why I left my last company?

Judith Timson writes: I don't give specific career advice, so I've asked Elaine Sigurdson, career coach and president of the Toronto Chapter of the Association of Career Professionals to help me answer your question: She said that first of all you should state that after five very successful years in sales with your previous organization, you left to pursue a new challenge that was appealing because of various reasons, and then be relatively honest about the circumstances of that new post…….Explain that there were issues on both sides - i.e., that the organization was not forthcoming during the hiring process as to the real nature of your mandate, and you bear some responsibility for not doing your due diligence and asking the right questions. This is the learning you have taken away from this situation and this has guided you in your current work search.

Ms. Sigurdson says further that you need to point out how you feel comfortable with what you have learned about the role you are applying (if you indeed are) and end with a reminder and reference back to related successes in the previous role. Hope that helps.(Thank you, Elaine.)

Mike Kelly from Ottawa Canada writes: Hi: Do you think the government will ever change its opinion of entrepreneurs, i.e., I resigned from a good hi-tech job several years ago to start my own non-related business, which still does not pay enough to draw an income. My point being, that after almost 25 years of paying into U.I., etc., there was/is nothing that can be drawn upon when one resigns from a job to start a new business. Thanks for your thoughts.

Judith Timson writes: Hi Mike, Many entrepreneurs tell me that they feel punished for being risk-takers when they try to slip back into the work force. And most are resigned to a life of few guarenteed benefits or government fallbacks. For them, the risk and excitement of starting their own business and the independence it offers, is worth it.

I would check with an expert to make sure just exactly what you are eligible for, and I would also look at what governments offer in the way of start-up funds, especially in the scientific, research and development sector.

There are also associations of entrepreneurs in varying fields who support each other with advice and insights into how to make it work financially.

Judith Timson writes: I've enjoyed this discussion and think there should be opportunities for experts to come on-line and offer more detailed answers to your specific questions. What will I take away from the discussion? More column ideas, I hope, and a sense of how hard it is, no matter your age or profession, to make sense of this complex job market. Thanks so much for participating.

Allison Dunfield writes: And thank you, Judith, for spending way beyond the half-hour you promised to take readers' questions. I, and our readers, thank you for your guidance and thoughts about today's workplace and related issues.

To our readers: That's all the time we have for today but please join us for future career-related discussions.