5 Tips On How To Bulletproof Your Job
“It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.” Harry S Truman (1884 – 1972), in Observer, April 13, 1958
During these apprehensive financial times, there is one thing that stands clearly as the most important factor in your current economic success: your job. For most of us, this is undoubtedly our main source of income, and our main lifeline to be able to save, invest, pay our mortgage, send our kids to college, etc.
Having a job is obviously an important part of life, but these days it’s absolutely critical. With the falling stock market, and real estate market, those who make a large portion of income from investments may now find that their job is the most important part of their portfolio. That’s why it’s important to make sure our job and position remain firm. Here are some tips I’ve gathered to just that end. Making sure we do everything we can to make our employment as solid as possible.
1. Make yourself part of the moneymaking. This is the first and foremost way of making sure your job is bulletproof. One of the key factors is making sure you are in the middle of how your company makes money. If you’re not sure how your company makes money, find out. Then, put yourself right in the middle of it. Become part of the moneymaking process for them. This could involve sales, it could involve changing positions, it could involve some massive change on your part, but the bottom line is if you make money for your company, you have made yourself indispensible.
2. Be Seen. Even if you’re not in the office full time, or telecommute, you’ll want to do your best to make sure that the boss, and top people see you around as much as possible. Don’t hide in your office, or the kitchen. Make special trips to see others, to ask questions. Even if something could be handled with a phone call or email, make a special trip to see the person and ask face to face. You’ll probably see a couple people as you walk to their office, and see them as well. The point is you want your face to be very visible, and recognizable. “It’s harder for most bosses to lay off people they see every day than those who come in only now and then”, says John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.
3. Make those around you ( and above you ) look good. You’ll really get positive attention when you make those around you look good. Even if it doesn’t seem like you’re getting the attention, it will always eventually come back to you. Try to find out their needs, and foresee what problems they might face. If you can solve these problems before they arrive, or help them over come them, you’ll make yourself very important.
4. Networking. A lot of people have grown to hate this good old fashioned word, and for good reason. It sounds more like an event where you’re pushed into un-genuine relationships and schmoozing, then a pleasant form of friendship building. In his book “Never Eat Alone”, Keith Ferrazzi expels this myth, and denotes the importance of getting to know and enjoy people. The art of knowing people, and enjoying them is invaluable. Not only at the work place, but also in life in general. The more people you know, and have a good relationship with at work, the more solid your position will be. Try and make friends, and get to know people as much as possible. Use every opportunity you have to try and spark simple conversations. Just get to know and enjoy those around you.
5. Be easy. You want to be considered easy to work with. Therefor you want to always have a discussion with people, not an argument. You want to always be thinking of how to make this interaction easy. Most often this involves more actual work, and can take some finesse to get it right. But it will always pay off. If you can be considered one of the easy people to work with, you’ll be priceless.
“You must understand that your job is your most valuable asset — and your primary objective is to protect it.” – Writer Stephen Viscusi
What Is The Definition Of A Recession, And Are We In One?
After reading today that the unemployment rate had grown to a 14 year high of 6.5 percent the words “Recession” and “Depression” came to mind. I had a friend tell me recently that his definition of recession and depression was this:
“If you’re losing money consistently on your investments, we are in a recession. If you lose your job, we are in a depression.”
It seems that with the huge surge of foreclosures and the real estate slump, any job in and around construction and home improvement would be in jeopardy already. Throw in a slumping economy where people just don’t buy as much as they used to, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that many jobs will be lost.
So to read that the unemployment rate is on the rise caught my attention. Are we heading for a depression? And, if so, are we currently in a recession? This caused me to do a little research to find out if we are in fact in a recession. I read on so many articles that say we are “heading for a recession”. But honestly, it feels like we are already in a recession. So, are we in a recession?