Safety in hiding
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There's no safety in hiding. (Ted Kennedy)
You can put yourself in danger several ways when companies are talking about layoffs. The same problems happen when a company is reorganizing for new opportunities.
One great way to make sure you get laid off is to try to hide. You figure if you can just blend in with the crowd, you'll be safe. The Japanese have a saying, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."
News Flash: This isn't
Let me give an example. Jim knows he has to fire two people to meet his budget. He certainly is not going to fire himself. Does he fire the person who keeps customers the happiest? How about the person who always fixes problems? No, they are safe. He's going to look at the people who are interchangeable. The most flexible person, the one who can do anyone else's job is probably safe. The two people that are focused on quietly doing one or two tasks that other people can pick up quickly will be fired. Sure, those two are reliable and do a great job, but others can do their job too. So Jim gets rid of the two quiet people who don't stand out in any particular way.
Horror story: Linda is one of those two people. As soon as she is gone, things start falling apart. Jim made a big mistake, but he can't bring her back. He should have kept Linda, but how was he to know?
Don't be Linda. Make sure your boss knows how well you do. I suggest a weekly report to your boss of what you did. Every Friday write down the things you accomplished. Who did you help? How much money did you save? What projects did you work on? What parts of the project got done? What did you fix?
Keep track of all the things you do, and then on Friday send a quick email to your boss. Send a monthly summary too. It will help you stand out in a very good way. Also, when the time comes around for your salary review, your boss will have a list of your accomplishments. He won't have to try to remember what you did 8 months ago, he'll have a list.
I know a few bosses who said, "You don't have to send a report, I know what you did." But when it got to be salary review time, they were very grateful they had a year's worth of reports from their Linda.
Don’t hide to survive, stand out and thrive.
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The Monday morning Q&A call about phone interviews has been posted You can go to www.howtoreallygetagreatjob.com/FAQ/ to listen to it.
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Next Monday's call will include:
1. How long should my resume be?
2. How can I get my resume noticed on Monster and other job boards?
3. How do I find the jobs that are NOT posted online?
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I am looking for a Controller with a CPA who will move to
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My 11 hour series on how to get a job is availble at www.howtoreallygetagreatjob.com . There is an hour just on what your attitude needs to be. Another seminar on accomplishments goes through step by step instructions on how to prove you are someone special.
Every Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern time I host a conference call to discuss questions you want to ask me about your job search. Feel free to email me beforehand, or chime in during the call. I'll put a recording of the call up on my website in case you can't make it.
www.howtoreallygetagreatjob.com/FAQ/
You can call 712-432-3900 Conference Access Code:435372# on Monday morning.
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Bryan Dilts has spent 16 years "Connecting the best people with the best companies." His seminars on job searching have opened a lot of minds, and help people make serious improvements to their careers. www.howtoreallygetagreatjob.com can get you started.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:08 am
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