They could help rescue career hit hard by recession essentially (9)
I believe the answer is:
lifebelts
'they could help rescue' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.
'career hit hard by recession essentially' is the wordplay.
'career' becomes 'life' (career can mean someone's life or past).
'hit hard' becomes 'belt' (I've seen this in another clue).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'recession essentially' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'life'+'belt'+'s'='LIFEBELTS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for lifebelts that I've seen is " rings in an emergency?".)