Layoff-Proof Your Career: 10 Proven Strategies to Secure Your Job | Layoff Survival Series 2 of 3
By Andrew LaCivita
Key Concepts
- Indispensability at work
- Exceptional results and overachievement
- Transferable skills and versatility
- Relationship building and visibility
- Adaptability to change
- Staying current in your field
- Proactive problem-solving
- Cost consciousness
- Positive attitude
- Preparation and career achievements journal
1. Results
- Exceptional Results: Don't just meet expectations, exceed them. Over-deliver in terms of speed, quantity, and quality.
- Clear Metrics: Understand how your performance will be measured. If the metrics are unclear, seek clarification.
- Overachievement: Consistently strive to surpass targets and goals.
2. Skill Sets
- Transferable Skills: Focus on developing foundational skills (organizational, communication, etc.) applicable across different roles and levels.
- Versatility: Recruiters prioritize versatile employees who can adapt to technological changes and contribute in various ways.
- Cultural Fit: Being likable and a good cultural fit is crucial, even if technical skills aren't the absolute best.
3 & 4. Relationships and Visibility
- Relationship Building: Establish genuine connections with colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. Understand how you can support them and vice versa.
- Communication Plan: Develop a plan for communicating with different stakeholders (boss, staff, peers) to foster strong relationships.
- Visibility: Ensure your work and contributions are known. Share best practices, methodologies, and frameworks with other teams.
- Proforma: Share your team's proforma with other teams to improve efficiency.
5. Adaptability
- Embrace Change: Be open to organizational changes, technological advancements (like AI), and new challenges.
- Positive Mindset: Assume changes are for the better and focus on how to adapt and contribute positively.
- Flexibility: Be flexible in certain aspects while remaining firm in others.
6. Currency
- Stay Updated: Keep abreast of the latest trends, tools, and techniques in your field.
- Proactive Suggestions: Even if your company isn't moving forward, offer suggestions for improvement and innovation.
- Risk of Obsolescence: Companies are more likely to let go of employees who are not keeping up with current trends.
7. Problems
- Future-Oriented Problem Solving: Focus on anticipating and preventing future problems, not just solving existing ones.
- Proactive Measures: Implement checks, balances, and flexible designs to mitigate future challenges.
- Capacity Planning: Anticipate future capacity needs and plan accordingly.
8. Cost Consciousness
- Frugality: Look for ways to save the organization money and be more efficient.
- Economic Solutions: Present cost-effective alternatives, even if they are not the "technically correct" solution.
- Value-Driven Decisions: Prioritize solutions that offer the best value for the organization.
9. Attitude
- Positive Mindset: Maintain a good attitude and avoid entitlement.
- Reciprocity: A positive attitude increases the likelihood of the organization taking care of you.
- Personal Responsibility: Take ownership of your career and don't rely on your employer to do it for you.
10. Preparation
- Continuous Improvement: Continuously update your skills and knowledge to remain competitive in the job market.
- Career Achievements Journal: Use a career achievements journal to document your accomplishments, impact, and learnings.
- Resume Building: The journal helps you create resume-building material while the information is fresh in your mind.
- Succession Planning: Use the data in your journal for succession planning and performance reviews.
- Organizational Benefits: The journal also helps the organization reflect on its impact and identify potential case studies.
Synthesis/Conclusion
To become an indispensable employee and layoff-proof your career, focus on delivering exceptional results, developing transferable skills, building strong relationships, being adaptable, staying current, proactively solving problems, being cost-conscious, maintaining a positive attitude, and being prepared. The career achievements journal is a valuable tool for documenting your accomplishments and demonstrating your value to the organization. By implementing these strategies, you can increase your value to the organization and reduce your risk of being laid off.
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