I guess I'm lucky - I've been making a living from the audio industry since 1979 (ouch!)… and for the majority of that time in such an obscure area as music and audio equipment rental!
Looking back at the range of positions that I've held - driver, synth programmer, stock controller, booker, hire manager, sales manager, operations director and marketing director - I'd say a key element to being (staying?) employed is flexibility!
In fact when I left school at 16, I embarked on a 4 year car mechanic apprenticeship and I stayed on for a further year after that. God knows how I got from there to audio equipment rental - flexibility or lack of direction, not really sure!
And, for the past 6 years I've been self-employed under the banner of Marketing and Design (initially Graphic) which was vague enough for me to be constantly asked if I design websites - which of course, I now do!
Stay flexible and occasionally re-invent yourself. Very important when working for yourself but just as relevant if you're employed. The person that pays your salary will always expect you to do a good job, so it never harms to learn new skills or show that you're staying on top of current development and 'trends'.
I appreciate that all this is about 'staying' employed rather than 'becoming' employed - but that's another Forum topic!
Over the years, I've been asked a lot for advice on either how to make music a career, or how to write for a living. My first advice to anyone aiming to work in either sector is to set your sights really high in terms of energy, strategy and application. Sadly, jobs are scarce out there, so you need to really get as much training and experience as you can.
Sometimes, that means learning skills that may not seem the most direct route to the career you're hoping for. A location sound recording engineer, who's worked on big feature films, said to me: "Loads of young people write to me saying 'I can make tea'. Everyone can make tea but not many people can fix sound equipment when we're in the middle of a field in a foreign country..."
What I'm trying to say here is that real engineering skills (mechanical, electrical, IT...) will always set you apart from rivals with media skills only.
(For instance, Playmusic readers might assume I'm a guitar repair guy who writes a column for the mag as a sideline. Well, that's some of what I do but I've also worked as a full-time journalist for 25 years and I work all across Europe setting up newsrooms. So I understand how to network computers and a whole bunch of IT stuff that's really dull - but I get hired because of it.)
It's tough out there. Good luck! And please write in if we can help.