10 TIPS

HELPING YOU MAINTAIN YOUR JOB IN THE MIDST OF LAYOFFS

1)  Pull your own weight, and then some.  Generate more than enough sales, income, savings, and business for the organization to justify your salary and benefits, and then some.  Don’t be a drain on company resources.

2)  Add new skills. Stay on top of the knowledge needs for your current job, and keep on learning to prepare for future assignments, thus increasing your value to the company.

3)  Establish a strong working relationship with your coworkers.  Develop the reputation of being the “go-to” person in your area. Keep promises. Meet deadlines.  Help your coworkers.

4)  Build and maintain an excellent reputation.  Be honest, trustworthy, hardworking and tactful with your boss, your peers, your coworkers, your customers, your competitors.

5)  Be positive.  When changes are in the wind, look at and promote the benefits that will come from the change.  Offer suggestions to help the change be even better. Be a cheerleader instead of a naysayer.

6)  Dress for success.  Dress for the position you want, not the position you have.  Professional attire, immaculate grooming, and “company manners” reflect well on you and your organization in dealings with internal and external customers.

7)  Be reliable.  Say what you will do, and do what you will say when you say you will do it or sooner.  Be on time to work, to meetings, to appointments. Get your assignments done and turned in on time.

8)  Acquire positive recommendations.  Get in the habit of saving those “kudos” letters and memos.  Build relationships with those who have benefited from your work and can attest to your value as an employee.

9)  Network and add valuable contacts within your organization, within your field of work, within your community, and among your customers and competitors.

10) Be responsible for your own career.  Watch for opportunities to improve the fit between your skills and your company’s present and future needs.  Rise to the occasion.