Save Your Job – How To Be Proactive About An Unstable Work Situation
This afternoon, I twittered a link to the blog post about my unemployment and among the responses included was this one:
I would advise to everyone in this unstable economy, the following five essentials:
- NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK Many other people are capable of doing the exact same job you are. If you lose your job, your best leads and opportunities will come from within your professional network. Opportunities are also often very timely. You want to be the first on their mind when a position suitable for you arises. Strive to develop relationships with people who have good reputations both inside and outside of their company.
- LEARN COMPLEMENTARY SKILLS Learn a new programming language, foreign language, project management tool, application, or how to shoot and edit video. Whatever is applicable to your field of work. Possessing a larger toolbox of knowledge makes you more valuable to your current employer as well as potential employers.
- FIND WAYS TO GET MORE EXPERIENCE Whether it’s volunteering for extra projects within your area of work, assisting outside your department or doing contract work in your spare time, you’re building your portfolio of experience. The more experienced, the more equipped you are with first-hand knowledge on how to tackle initiatives. Establish yourself as a resource.
- MASTER YOUR INDUSTRY Who are the notable individuals and companies in your space? What did they do to achieve this? Study their work and determine what qualities of their work made them excel above the rest. Watch how they communicate. Explore what they might have been able to do better. Try applying this knowledge to your own work then measure whether it enhanced your outcome. You will need to adjust per effort. Continue to study successful work in your industry and utilize the knowledge deciphered with your own work. Don’t hesitate to consult with mentors, bosses and coworkers in your studies.
- BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST Have an updated resume on hand in the event you should lose your job. If you are in a field that can translate across multiple verticals, create a resume and cover letter targeted to each of those verticals. Always have a professional conservative outfit on hand for interviews and meetings.
The more you can do to set yourself apart from the rest of population the better. This is a continual process. The exercises I listed above pay off best when practiced regularly and will make you work smarter.
In response to Roger? Starting a blog can offer you a place online to host conversations about your industry, broadcast your personality and show-off your knowledge. As when starting any blog, decide what the purpose(s) of your blog will be before creating it.
Creating your own business is a way to guarantee you will have a job but it doesn’t guarantee you will have work. Make sure you understand everything that is involved in creating a small business before deciding what is the best option for you — financials, time allocation, legal considerations, and so forth.
If you do decide to proceed with starting your business, I favor the Single Person LLC option a good deal and have a cheat-sheet on how to form an LLC in Georgia on this blog for others’ reference.
Print This Post
Email This Post
July 20th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Your advice is very prescient about the thoroughness with which one should approach the hiring process. Been applying the first three steps, but kinda neglected mastering the industry even through it is a natural growth of the previous items. Seems to me mastering the industry is the last step inoculation to job loss, consolidation of one as a resource. Fortunately or unfortunately networking might still hold more sway than any other step. Perhaps that is why starting a blog appeals to me, as you point out it gives me a platform to host conversations and by proxy expand the networking opportunities. Of course the hardest part will indeed be deciding the focus of my blog, and what part of my interests or corporate persona to project. Will definitely keep an eye out for what you and others in similar situations are doing to best realize our dreams. Thanks for the advice and personal response. Wish you the best.
July 20th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Your advice is very prescient about the thoroughness with which one should approach the hiring process. Been applying the first three steps, but kinda neglected mastering the industry even through it is a natural growth of the previous items. Seems to me mastering the industry is the last step inoculation to job loss, consolidation of one as a resource. Fortunately or unfortunately networking might still hold more sway than any other step. Perhaps that is why starting a blog appeals to me, as you point out it gives me a platform to host conversations and by proxy expand the networking opportunities. Of course the hardest part will indeed be deciding the focus of my blog, and what part of my interests or corporate persona to project. Will definitely keep an eye out for what you and others in similar situations are doing to best realize our dreams. Thanks for the advice and personal response. Wish you the best.