10 essential steps to take BEFORE you’re laid off
In October of this year the unemployment rate grew 0.4% to 6.5%, its highest rate in 14 years. Ten million Americans are now unemployed: 240,000 people lost their jobs in October, and 284,000 lost their jobs in September. That represents the biggest two-month loss of American jobs since 2001. Economists are predicting the unemployment rate will rise to 8.5% by the end of 2009, which means as many as three million more workers will be laid off in the U.S.
Because I’m a CEO who hires employees regularly, a few friends of mine who have recently been laid off have asked me for job-hunting advice. Some have asked me to review their resumes and offer suggestions. Unfortunately these folks are now in job recovery mode and aren’t able to optimally position themselves for landing on their feet.
Personally I prefer actionable advice. As such, I’m instead going to suggest ten things you can do now to be prepared for a layoff a year from now.
1. Update your skills
It’s easy to become distracted by everything that’s going on today at home and at work. We neglect investing in ourselves. We can get away with that during boom times, but during tough times we need up to date, relevant skills. Start immediately. If you need training, get it — but don’t mistake training for application. Make sure you are practicing your skills professionally on a day-to-day basis.
2. Reduce your household burn rate
Many people earn more than the market will bear for their services. Stock prices have fallen 50%. Home prices are falling. Salaries adjust due to market conditions, too. When finding a job is tough, don’t restrict the size of the relevant job pool because you can’t afford to work for less than you’re currently earning. We live in different times than our parents did. I personally think everyone should prepare financially for being unemployed once every five years for a period of 3 to 6 months.
3. Start a blog that contains at least 50% professional material
If you don’t already have a blog, stop reading this one and go start one right this minute. It’s essential. Your blog is your living resume.
It shows how you think. It shows how you write. It shows what’s important to you. While it is fine to blog about personal topics, devote half of your posts to professional content. What is that you do by trade? Mentor us through your blog. We employers love hiring mentors — they raise everybody’s performance.
4. Expand your physical network
Depending on how you’re wired, networking is either a lot of fun or a lot of work. If it’s work for you, have the discipline to start now. Building a network takes time, effort and sincerity. Start attending breakfast and/or cocktail networking events. Set goals for yourself. For example: “I want to have a good conversation and exchange business cards with at least 3 people during this breakfast.”
5. Update your LinkedIn profile
You are on LinkedIn, right? If not, do that right now. Your LinkedIn profile is a marketing tool. Be honest, genuine and show some humility, but also make yourself stand out in a crowd. Optimize your profile for the five-line preview that comes up when someone conducts a search.
6. Expand your virtual network via LinkedIn
Future employers aren’t dumb. They’ll detect that you only decided to invest in updating your profile and expanding your network and references after you lost your job. Do it now. Like physical networking, developing your virtual network takes time too. Set goals. For example: “I want to have 100 contacts by the end of the year and 250 contacts by this time next year.”
7. Start exercising
We all know that discrimination is illegal for most reasons and unethical for other reasons. But if you’ve watched 60 Minutes, you know that’s not how humans behave. With comparably qualified candidates, the attractive, fit people are usually offered the job. What are employers looking for in prospective employees? Someone who will get the job done. If you look like you are full of energy, the perception is that you will get the job done.
8. Learn to use social media effectively
Learn to use Twitter and Facebook. In addition to starting your own blog, participate in some discussions online by commenting on blogs in your industry. Always link your comments back to your blog. Potential employers will Google you. Show them that you’re thoughtful and have something to say. Conversely, be careful about thinking “it’s just Twitter” before tweeting something that could embarrass you later.
9. Do extracurricular work that showcases your abilities
What’s better than telling a prospective employer how good you are? Show them! If you’re a software engineer, contribute on an open source project, develop an iPhone application or develop a robust website. If you’re an online marketer, prove your good by showing me that you have a site that gets a lot of traffic. I met a man earlier this year who’s a program manager at Microsoft. He wanted to move into a new role as a marketer, but didn’t have any day-to-day responsibilities at Microsoft that showed he could do the job. So he bought a domain and set up a website dedicated to Caribbean travel. Soon it was attracting lots of traffic and ranked high in organic search. It was a great way to show doubters that he was qualified.
10. Avoid being laid off in the first place
Last but not least, don’t relinquish the pole position. An incumbent has an edge. It’s easier to keep a job than find one. We’re hearing about companies cutting 25% or 33% of their headcount. That means you need to be in the top 67% or 75% to avoid a pink slip. Other than an entire plant, division or office closure, the decisions about whom to keep and whom to let go are based on performance, salary and redundancy of position. Boost your performance by getting meaningful things done. Come in earlier. Stay later. Be more visible. Start sending your boss weekly status reports showing your accomplishments. Exhibit leadership.
My wife participates in a group for moms of preschoolers, and she shared a story with me earlier this week. Each table has four young moms and one “mentor” mom whose kids are now adults. One of the young moms was concerned that her sole-provider husband might lose his job and asked the mentor what she would suggest they do. Her matter-of-fact answer was, “Well, for starters, you can stop complaining when he can’t drop the kids off at school before work and be home by 6:00 for dinner.”
Nobody knows how long the current economic crisis will last or how bad it will get. But it’s already proving to be a much tougher job climate than the past few years, and the next year looks bleaker still. Start preparing today for the possibility of being laid off sometime next year. The earlier you start, the better off you’ll be.
Unfortunately layoffs are sometimes unavoidable. If you’ve been laid off, we at blist hope we can help. We’ve created a website called Land on My Feet. It’s a simple, free, one-page, opt-in site for anyone who has been laid off to enter their name and a link to their Linkedin profile.
Despite economy-wide layoffs, some companies are still hiring, and we’re promoting this site to hiring managers as a free resource to find qualified candidates. Hopefully blist can help you land on your feet.
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There are 93 comments to "10 essential steps to take BEFORE you’re laid off".
This is an interesting piece and has given me a lot to think about, particularly since I really don’t have an online presence.
There is one statement that I take issue with: “I personally think everyone should prepare financially for being unemployed… for a period of 3 to 6 months”. I wouldn’t limit the scope to six months. I know quite a few good people (who are good at their jobs) who were unemployed for longer than that during the 2001-2004 receission.
jb makes a very good point. Over the last 2 years, I’ve seen friends go for much longer than 6 months without a job. 3 to 6 months may be the “common wisdom,” but it’s not enough any more. It’s hard to get there, but important to be prepared for long term unemployment. This can, of course, take several forms, including creating a job or business to make up for some or all of what was lost.
Well done, Kevin. I particularly like the anecdote about the preschool mothers, as it highlights one of the most important aspects of the changing job market: we have to change not just the way we do our jobs, but the way we LIVE our jobs.
As a behavioral psychologist in the working world, it is amazing to me the degree to which people seem unaware of the things their actions signal. It is not uncommon, for example, to hear people complain about their workload or other employees while in the workplace (not at Thrive, of course, but elsewhere). If it isn’t obvious, doing so very clearly signals to your employers that you are the weakest link: rather than reflecting negatively on work distribution or slacking coworkers, it just signals that you don’t want to be there.
Employers want employees that want to work. The best steps that Kevin points out are the ones in which you demonstrate your fitness as an employee. A blog that involves work, for example, shows that you think about the issues and trends in your work outside of the workplace. That’s a committed employee and it is one I want to hire.
And that doesn’t have to be limited to “knowledge” jobs. Imagine you’re hiring a gas station attendant (for those states that even have them). All else being equal, wouldn’t you hire the gas station attendant with a blog about the gas station industry. They could put up ten quick posts that summarize current news in gas (there are many easy stories out there about oil prices, etc.) and talk about the problems of good customer service, and get hired in a heartbeat.
So my 11th tip is this: be aware of what you’re signaling. Actions speak louder than words and employers know it. Don’t come into an interview and tell me that you want to be a gas station attendant so you can finance your dream of becoming a rock star. Show me that you care about your job, and I’ll show you that I care to hire you.
Excellent post.
As a self-employed photographer, I won’t get laid off per se, but all points apply to my situation. Photo budgets for advertising, editorial, weddings, family portraits – you name it – have been reduced or eliminated making the market much tougher than even a year ago.
And like jb, my online presence is on simmer. Time to crank it up! Thanks for the kick start.
This is obviously much easier advice to follow if you are in a career you love and don’t care too much about work/life balance (possibly because you’ve got somebody you can delegate running the home front to, so you’ll still *have* a home life even if you’re not that actively involved with it).
I like the idea of expanding your skills. I work full time online and am always trying to expand my skills so I can make as much money as possible.
Thanks for the tips, bummer hundreds of thousands of people are going to lose their jobs
We’re on “layoff watch” at our house again — 20% or so layoff announced in the new year, with our manager tell us things look bad for our group/location.
We have most of the personal and homefront stuff nailed. I think the op is too optimistic — I remember the 70’s, and 3-6 months is pretty short if you’re looking for a high-paying professional job or starting a job/business during a serious recession. We’re set to weather a few years, with schooling, if necessary.
As a former stay at home mom, and a wage-slave with a current SAH-dad, I’m not sure about what sounded like “don’t ask dad to step up” advice. Priorities are still important.
I guess I need to work on my professional online presence and local networking most, according to this post. I’m still trying to decide if I want to stay in my current field, so there are a few directions I could go with that.
Interesting times!
This is some great information. Reading through the list I realize I’m doing many of the things suggested, though I was motivated to do so for different reasons. Of course my objective is to align myself with the ideas in item number ten.
The “mom advice” rubbed me the wrong way too. As a woman who has been on both sides of the “stay at home” fence I know that both partners helping out is what keeps a family together. Sure there are times that the job comes first but if that is always then something is out of whack. Conversely in my job I know that while you want to be seen as a hard worker, the person who is constantly working more hours is more likely to be seen as inefficient rather than industrious.
One interesting aside to step # 10….My employer has done 3 rounds off 5% layoffs in the last couple of years, the last one being in November.
Incidentally the folks who were let go in the first two rounds found new jobs relatively easily, but the folks from the last round have been getting no leads at all.
In other words it worked out better for the folks in the bottom 10% than the folks in the next 5%, because of the timing.
I would add ..
11. Get Your Own Customers
Start a small business and get the foundation of your business setup with a few customers. That way you have a backup plan already in place.
This is an excellent post with lots of practical advice. I think the following points are especially important:
1. Everyone should prepare for being laid off in their career – in today’s “maximize shareholder value” operating mode, companies look to employee overhead to reduce costs and earn more, so no organization can afford to keep employees who are productive (unless the US moves away from the Anglo-Saxon economic model).
2. Reducing household burn rate is so important and this is tied into living below your means. If you live below your means and can afford to live without working for a few years it opens up so many more possibilities and eases your outlook (and actions)
3. Exercise and look good. It’s not only the Marketing folks who need to have nice hair and shiny white teeth – indeed, it is human nature to hire people that make you feel good via physical appearance.
Great, great content!
Great call on the blog writing. Today there is so much more that you can do besides just a resume. A blog is a great thing because it reveals much more about the person than a resume and cover letter and shows what you care about and are passionate about. That is very important to a potential employer.
This is a great list. If you focus on these things you will probably get promoted before anything else.
What great advice. As always, even if I’ve implemented most of those things already, there was something more that I could do.
re: the stay at home mom advice. I think it’s dead on. Seriously. I’m the sole breadwinner in our house right now (not for lack of trying on my husband’s part) and it’s completely frustrating for me to know he’s been at home all day taking care of stuff there and to receive the call to pick up the kids (which means I have to rush out of the office a la Fred Flintstone) or to get the dry cleaning or whatever. It doesn’t matter the genetalia of the person at home, if you’ve got a partner who is bringing in all the income, you need to figure out a way to make sure the home stuff is taken care of.
This might be a great set of tips for the white collar workers, but usually the hardest cuts are done for blue collar workers who don’t have the ability to network via online sites or blog for that better.
Now, if you are a blue collar worker who feels that job cuts might be on the way as your company reorganizes:
-start reducing your expenses immediately, cut down your cellphone plans and extra cable, netflix, etc as a temp way to lower DTD costs.
-if you have the finances, enroll in a community college night class or two. The things you can do to update your skills are priceless. I know my mom was in this position when she was laid off from her factory after working the same line for 25years. She did a few data entry and computing courses and was able to re-tool and move into a office job.
I wonder if this post isn’t advice for those in large cities, but not necessarily for the rest of us. In my small city, there aren’t a lot of networking breakfasts and cocktail parties… and this post seems addressed to those in middle management or above, but layoffs are just as (more?) likely among those whose jobs don’t require a “card” — how many secretaries, administrative assistants, retail clerks, manufacturing line workers, etc have cards to exchange?.
Similarly, I wonder who is going to actually be reading all those new blogs. It’s not easy to produce a good blog (JD knows how much time it takes!) and it seems to me that a so-so blog isn’t going to attract a lot of positive attention from an employer.
On the parenting front, it seems to me there’s a difference between asking for help with chores and asking the working parent to be involved in the children’s daily lives. Although when the children are so little they require constant supervision to keep them from killing themselves, help with the chores isn’t unreasonable either. My father always ate breakfast and dinner with us, and when we were little he often put us to bed. Between dinner and bedtime, he’d be up in his study working, but he knew what was going on in our lives. You can’t just put that off for a few years and make it up later.
This guy has software development tint. In many profession blogging would not make any sense. Could even be harmful as personality in certain corporate entities can and will be used against you. Plus who wants to read about proper A/R management?
-ThatGuy
There are challenges to both blue collar and white collar jobs. Blue collar people might not network the same, but white collar probably need a larger emergency cushion because the jobs are more specific. I can’t do just any job in my field. I have to find a job within my specialty within my field or I’m just not qualified. When DH was job hunting (in the same field) he found about one job per month to apply to in our area, and took him about a year to get a job. If he had been out of work he would have gotten more creative and lowered his standards, but if the jobs aren’t there they aren’t there.
And regarding the “support of stay at home spouse” comment. I don’t think he meant that the working spouse should have no responsibilities, but you’re a team and you must be supportive. Megan Basham’s new book (haven’t read it, just heard about it) is about what a non-working spouse can do to boost the working spouse at work. I know plenty of women who harp and nag and bring their husbands down with unreasonable expectations and pure negativity. This results not just in time lost but worse attitudes. While in school I knew a guy whose wife was sick of him going to school (though not as sick as he was!) so she was always nagging him to pick up their son, do more at home, etc. Seeing the work load we had for school (especially toward the end) I just wanted to smack her, and I only saw her when we studied at his house. We had to prop him up in a couple classes and tutor him through finals because he couldn’t devote enough time to school, partially due to the demands of his wife.
When times are exceptionally bad (like potential layoffs) you both have to suck it up. He might have to work late to make points to say in the employed category, but she has to be okay with that and do what she can to clear his schedule. the SAH is still part of the equation and needs to act like it. I think that was the writer’s point.
Lots of great advice here. It’s so important to be adaptable and be proactive in today’s marketplace. Don’t just wait for the axe to fall.
On the ‘mom advice,’ don’t judge her comment by your own situation. Many people with high paid executive jobs and kids at home do have their lives ‘completely out of whack.’My husband is the sole breadwinner and his job requires him to travel extensively. As we have 3 kids, I have to deal with everything at home 24/7.I clean my own home, cook every day and have never had a manicure or a spa in my life. I spend a lot of time wrestling with the household budget, just like everyone else. If my husband came home at 6 every night, life would be easy!
I’ve been a vocal advocate of blue collar folks (my family is entirely blue collar, prior to my brother and I) and I’m surprised to see people saying that you can’t use the internet to get a blue collar job. See my gas station attendant example in the second post – I’ve hired and been hired for blue collar positions, and displaying knowledge, drive, and initiative is just as important (if not more so) than for white collar jobs.
There are lots of ways to blog about your industry. Even if you’re simply adding a few lines of commentary to a round-up of posts from other places about the topic (for those of you that aren’t the world’s best writers), you’re still signaling the right things: that you care, that you’re involved, that you will engage in this job.
White collar or blue collar, that kind of drive and dedication matters.
http://www.justthrive.com
“if you’ve got a partner who is bringing in all the income, you need to figure out a way to make sure the home stuff is taken care of.”
In my opinion, the “home stuff” is everyone’s responsibility, not just the one who spends the most time in it. I don’t think I should feel bad about asking my husband to run errands either after work or during his lunch hour. My job taking care of a baby is just as demanding and perhaps more so than sitting at a desk all day. He actually gets a lunch hour – I don’t (especially with a baby who doesn’t nap well). That is not to say that I don’t value his work and am grateful that we have a steady income, but that’s ridiculous to make anyone at home feel as if they just have to work it out alone and never ask for help. The image of the nagging stay at home spouse (regardless of gender) just irks me. It downplays the work of raising a family or running a household.
This post got me thinking. First of all, I don’t believe everything here is useful for everyone, and I’ve got reservations about some the suggestions.
I find it curious that some are still toting the idea of “living your job” however the millions and millions of millenials coming into the workforce are a direct challenge to this line of thought. While they embrace social networking (btw, in their eyes, blogs are dead and emails are something quaint…like the typewriter), they fiercely believe in having a life completely their own and outside of work.
I can embrace the idea of having a blog about the kind of work you do, but it’s really only worth putting in your personal time into it if you are passionate about how you make money for a living. I believe a personal blog about anything you feel strongly about, with absolutely 0% work-related content can be just as compelling to a perspective employer for the same reasons Kevin pointed out, being able to write and communicate well, share knowledge and/or engage with the community about a given subject. There are a lot of privacy reasons why someone may not want to connect their name and their profession, so in my opinion it’s completely understandable to keep them separate.
I’m an administrative assistant. I don’t get business cards, and they’re aren’t many options that AA’s get to network like Kevin outlines, as that tends to be for salaried/management positions. However one way I got my name out there was by volunteering my AA skills. Granted, I was laid off at the time, but while job hunting, I volunteered at an organization that helps adults get out of homelessness. A couple days a week I would go into their office and do filing, help out with letters, coordinate vendors for mailings, etc. Typical AA stuff. After a while the director of the program wanted to hire me. Another way of networking is building positive relationships with client AAs, also the other AAs you work with so that if they leave the firm or move up and see an opening, they think of you. Also, making sure you have a solid relationship with the people you support, and getting chances to work with people outside of your usual groups so you can get to know more people and work on different projects. No, I won’t be able to participate in networking lunches for AAs, but the idea is still there: meet and connect with other people.
I don’t have much to say about point the “complaining” statement except it’s dated and an unfortunate waste of an opportunity to share something that moves people forward instead stuck in a stale mindset.
Other than that, I found some of the items on the list to be useful and actionable to me.
I think it was a great, helpful article.
I especially appreciated this part: “Well, for starters, you can stop complaining when he can’t drop the kids off at school before work and be home by 6:00 for dinner.”
I stopped practicing law to stay home and raise my kids and feel lucky to be able to do so. Having had the same career as my husband has gives me insight into understanding why he needs to spend so much time away from home. I urge other stay at home parents to try to put themselves in their spouse’s place when it seems that they are “enjoying themselves” and not pitching in. While my husband may enjoy his work at times [sadly not as much as I’d wish] he IS working, just like I am when I sit and read a quiet story with an adorable child. I know he’s been taking all of the above advice to heart and making himself as necessary and effective as he can at work, and I am supporting him by patting his back instead of giving him grief or resenting the time it takes him away from us.
I have a question about #3 “Start a blog that contains at least 50% professional material”
I do have a blog but what I blog/write about has nothing to do with my current day-job occupation, which is a Project Coordinator for an architecture firm (support role). Besides that and my previous positions as an Administrative/Executive Assistant, I don’t really have much to offer.
Having been laid off four (maybe five) times in eleven years, I try to keep my resume sharp and ready to go. The main problem was, it took me over a year to find another job at least two of those times.
Should I start another blog about what I do in general? Does the blog have to be related to my current occupation?
cut down your expenses on food, housing and transportation.
prepare your own meals at home.
take the bus instead of driving and save on gas, insurance & maintenance.
if you are a renter, look for cheaper apartment elsewhere.
if you are a home owner, try to refinace your home now that interest rate has dropped.
With all due respect, the blog writing suggestion is downright silly. Unless your job is writing, it will have no bearing whatsoever on your hiring (although maybe a negative one). I can’t think of a single circumstance where I’ve hired someone where I would have give a darn about what they wrote on a blog other than to see if they were violating confidentiality obligations or were a downright loose cannon. Bottom line: if you are going to use a blog as a job strategy, be darn sure you want your potential employer to judge you based on your blog. 99% of bloggers would not want that.
I’m worried about the layoffs coming at my company. We don’t know when or who but it will be soon. After reading this issue, I’m wondering about using some of my emergency fund to take a 3 month management class. The price will severely reduce my EF but there is a chance that the course will help my CV. It will take some serious thought.
“With all due respect, the blog writing suggestion is downright silly.”
I’m be curious what you hire for, Jack. Both what positions and based on what criteria. Velvet Jones suggested that you only blog if you are passionate about your work, and to the extent that that is a genuine signal, there is a darn good reason I hire someone who blogs about their work: precisely because it shows they are passionate about it.
If you have the choice between an employee that doesn’t care about what they do and one that does, can anyone really say they would hire the employee that doesn’t?
http://www.justhrive.com
Good advice– however I think that you should weigh his social media suggestions carefully, depending on the nature of your occupation.
If you’re in a position where you deal with sensitive information, blogging about work may imply lack of discretion to a future employer. Just be careful.
For professionals, the LinkedIn suggestion is far more valuable than Facebook or Twitter. If you’re in a very social field like event planning, Facebook and Twitter may garner you more exposure.
As a quasi-early FB adopter (when it was college-only!) I feel it’s ballooned out of control with the amount of add-ons. If you join now, don’t clutter up your profile and be careful of what your friends might say on your wall.
Wow, how dare he write what he did about SAHM’s. I did NOT have my children alone and I don’t see why I should raise them alone. I am a young SAHM and I want to tell other women like me to IGNORE that advice. My advice to you is to get YOURSELF in a position where you are financially able to support you and your children if your husband wasn’t in the picture. You do not have to be a martyr and if your husband is ignoring his home responsibilities he has no respect for you or the WORK that you do.
Fantastic guest post!
I do think that it takes a serious commitment to keep a blog going, and may be tough when the work you do is not easy to write about. However, you could join an existing blog that has many contributors, or you could write guest articles on existing blogs. Create a web presence for yourself (web page, account on an existing blogging service, etc). When you comment on blog articles related to your work, link back to that professional profile. However, stay aware that it can then be easy to find your comments on various blogs via Google, etc.
I also like the suggestions about having multiple incomes. A friend of mine got laid off from her main job a couple of months ago, but was able to soften the blow by simply increasing the hours on her other two side jobs.
I’ve made some very small money on the side with some temporary projects, but one of those projects puts me in touch with a LOT of people in my industry. Even though the pay is pretty bad, it’s worth it to make new connections. I’ve also just started my own company to do some work every now and then and hopefully pay for one of my hobbies. If I got laid off, I would really enjoy spending the time to ramp up that work.
Finally, I think cutting expenses and being frugal is key! The less it takes to live month-to-month the longer your emergency fund lasts and opens you up to being able to happily accept lesser paying jobs. Pay off that debt while you still have a paycheck!!
This is incredibly biased towards media/web/software jobs. I would imagine that the vast majority of employers *don’t* actually google their applicants before interviews, even if it’s common in these fields. Should GM go bankrupt, does Mr. Merritt actually think that the laid off assembly-line workers who are able to go find work at Ford or Toyota are going to be the ones with work-related blogs? I have never worked on an automotive assembly line, but I’d imagine the blog post about how you stamped another 700 truck fenders today is not particularly riveting.
That said, it *is* good advice in certain industries, such as software and web design, I just don’t think it’s generally applicable, at least not all of the “online presence” stuff. Networking and distinguishing yourself as one of the company’s most valuable people are useful anywhere.
Great post! I like all the pointers that are not obvious as well. I like the exercise one and the networking ones. This is just a day and age where people have to be pro-active for themselves. Thanks!
I really have to question the advice about the blog. In my profession, it’s quite suspect to have a blog that I can google. I do run a Google search on all prospective hires, and have opted not to hire more than a few who had questionable things posted on their blogs. If you are going to start a blog, never ever complain about your current employer on it. Also, be sure that your understanding of the industry is actually on target. A couple prospective employees had work oriented blogs, but were so off target in their assessments of the industry that we didn’t hire them.
If you’re going to start a blog, be extremely wary of what you post. I’ve seen a blog hurt far more people than help.
great post JD
i never heard of LinkedIn before.. i might have to check that out
i cut off all my networking sites over a year ago (facebook, myspace) for personal reasons.. but i might have to start them up again in 2009.. sometimes it’s know what you know.. but WHO you know
One thing to add to my initial post:
Why is it that during down times, many employees dont prepare for the worst case of being let go?
Its getting harder to bounce back into a well paying job and many are being forced to find positions that pay less.
I have a very good friend that I went to MBA school with and he was making about $300K/yr working downtown Toronto investment bank. As soon as he was let go, he was forced to list his condo for sale and break his lease on this BMW because he did not plan to lose his job (seems to be common belief with many young professionals).
Long story short, he got the same position with a rival firm, but how is pushing out almost 85hrs/week and making only half the income.
Its a hard lesson, but with proper planning this friend could have had a cushion of money to life off while finding a better job IMO rather than taking the first one that came up.
oh and the exercise part.. i would agree 100% with that
i’ve been on a regimen for over 2 months now and it has changed my life.. not just appearance.. but the way i feel
health is your #1 asset
I think the section about spending more time at work and “living your job” goes against what a lot of current research is showing.
Successful companies of all sizes are starting to realize that balanced employees are far more productive than employees who work long hours.
For employees who work long hours I would be asking:
1. Are you working efficiently during normal hours? Or, are you staying late because you are inefficient and must work more hours to complete the same work that an efficient worker can finish without staying late?
2. When are you going to be taking stress leave that the companies benefit package will be paying for?
3. How are your extra hours affecting other employees and their deadlines? If Bill needed it at 3PM, but you stayed late and got it finished at 6PM, you are not a helpful employee.
I also agree with many others: it takes two to make the kids, two should be raising the kids.
In another life, having conducted background checks and pre-employment screening for a variety of employers (including my own) as part of my job, I would suggest that the social networking/blogging debate is not industry-specific, but more age related. Even in software engineering, for example, the 45 year old JavaScript developer may not have a blog, while the 20-something likely does participate in some form of social networking.
Also, I would say that many recent graduates just now entering the workforce have a varied view on blogs, e-mailing, and so on. While LiveJournal-like blogs about your daily life may be antiquated, more focused blogs, such as this one, are relatively commonly read by career-minded teens and 20-somethings today in my experience. Likewise, e-mail is not outdated, but also more specialized. For communication between intimates, text messaging or social networking may do just as well as e-mail. For that same group, e-mail may have largely replace the letter writing functions of previous generations, and primarily utilized for more formal requests or to contact strangers.
I think these are all great ideas! I was wondering though, for those that have started blogs in their professional field, has anyone ever been successful using it on their resume?
First off this article takes on a tone for 2 parent homes what about those of us that are single parents. While many of these tips are very practical some you need to fit to your situation. The comment from the preschoolers mentor table (which is not a bad idea) is obviously from a 2 parent household with one parent being at home. Being laid off and a single parent “being laid off” takes on a whole different challenge not only do you need to bring home the bacon. Once you start working again you also need to be able to make the dinner, pick the kids up for after school care (and daycare isn’t cheap), practice etc. and spend quality time as a family. (I’m tired already)
As for the blogging if that’s your thing great! Be careful remember your next employer can read your blog as well. So if you are creating your online resume remember many employers are looking for blogs and such and are very interested in what you have to say.
It’s sad that we are still getting hired for looks…I guess that makes sense if you were applying for a job being the face of the company but to work behind the scenes please that’s just a terrible sign of where we are today as a society.
I read the part about the young mother differently than it seems a lot of people did. I took it to mean that the advice was more in the case the husband DID get laid off – then he’d be around to drop off the kids, etc. because he wouldn’t be off at a job.
I think #10 is the best tip on the list. I recently wrote a post suggesting that now is the time to bring more value to your employer by becoming an innovator. Maybe your readers would enjoy it:
4 Steps To Make Yourself An Instant Innovator
Hope it helps!
Just wanted to add my thoughts about the Stay at Home Mom advice to suck it up and not complain when her husband works long hours and doesn’t help with the home. Okay, maybe in the context of a recession, this is barely tolerable advice. But as a stay at home mom who routinely sucked it up so my husband could work long hours, including most weekends, I really think this advice, frankly, is hideous. I am now facing divorce and life as a single mom in the worst economy after spending several years as a supportive wife taking care of the little ones. My gut feeling is that if you really want to recession proof your family, both partners should help each other keep current in their careers, budget for retraining and career guidance, have a plan B if you get laid off, and make sure the household has at LEAST six months cushion. Also, if your partner continually puts his or her job before you and your family, even if the economy is bad, take that as a sign: there’s something wrong and you need to address it head on.
I think the best tips are to get more involved with social media tools. I have gotten more tips and advice in Twitter in the past month than from reading books over the past years. Networking is key and the tools help out a lot.
“I’m be curious what you hire for, Jack. Both what positions and based on what criteria. Velvet Jones suggested that you only blog if you are passionate about your work, and to the extent that that is a genuine signal, there is a darn good reason I hire someone who blogs about their work: precisely because it shows they are passionate about it.
If you have the choice between an employee that doesn’t care about what they do and one that does, can anyone really say they would hire the employee that doesn’t?”
Matt, I interview and hire lawyers. Trust me, it is the absolute rare blog that would ever persuade me to hire someone. If you present me your blog as part of your sales pitch, I’m likely to ignore it. And if I don’t, I’m going to look at it and see what you said about your former employer, going to see if you have any concept of confidentiality or are loose-lips and think that because you post slightly genericized things that you can talk freely about sensitive information, even if it isn’t confidential. I’m going to look at your grammar and spelling. I’m going to look to see if what you do say about your profession shows any intelligent understanding of the profession and the business.
A blog is a writing sample when used in a job interview. Unless you really think it is up to snuff and all the posts you put on it are, I’d caution against doing it.
Now if you are a web programmer and nobody cares about all that other stuff and they just care about how strong your geek creds are in some programming language, etc., by all means. But for most people, I’m just saying you better be a damn good writer and quite professional on your blog if you really think it will make a difference. Otherwise, it will probably have a neglible impact on the hiring decision or will give people a reason to actually not hire you.
what is twitter?
http://twitter.com/. It’s a micro-blog where you communicate in blog style, but posts can only be max. 140 characters. It’s a great way to network with others in your industry or random people from every walks of life. A lot of link sharing, advice, tips, answers to questions can be answered once you develop a rapport within your network. I have been using it for a month and am slowly trying to build my network and get my name out there. It also can be addicting and fun and a way to procrastinate.
If anyone is using twitter and would like to network, I would enjoy speaking to you online, you can reach me at.
twitter.com/craigkessler
twitter.com/budgetpulse
What about those of us who are graduating college and entering this job market in the next year or so? Would these same tips apply? This is all very nerve-racking!
So, when is all the exercise supposed to happen, given all the extra work hours/training/practice we’re suddenly putting in? When you work 10 hours a day, commute two and need eight hours of sleep at night and do not have a servant to make your meals, iron your clothes, pick up your dry cleaning, clean up your living space it’s rather unlikely one will feel able or be able to start a grand new gym -oh, wait. This advice is aimed at men with stay-at-home slaves, sorry, wives, sorry, nagging-dumb-bitches-who-don’t-appreciate-how-hard-he-works! Right? No? Also, the blog thing … nah. Maybe in GeekWorld, but surprise, 99% of us do not work in Geekworld. Thankfully so, given the sexist snottery and rampant sense of privilege apparent in this article.
Verdict: Crap article. Next!
PS. Treat your wife that way and you’ll be staring down the barrel of a divorce in a year or two, chucklebrother. Blog THAT.
The important thing to keep in mind when working late, and in general, is how visible your accomplishments are. If your department is busy with a big project and you work late to help finish that project, that’s great. If you have a lot of regular routines and regularly work late to finish them, that’s not that great, especially if your boss doesn’t know about how much work you’re doing.
After all, when management makes decisions, those decisions are based off of what they see. No one can make a decision using information they aren’t aware of. A lot of workers miss the step of letting their bosses know what you do. If you go the extra mile when dealing with clients, or always take time to help your coworkers, you’re making a contribution that can very easily go unnoticed.
Record your accomplishments, and keep your managers updated on them as much as possible so that they know how much you’re worth. Keeping your employers in the know is just as important as working extra hours or taking extra projects.
This advice is geared too heavily on people who live on the internet. There are those of us who choose not to put our profiles on public view (esp facebook).
Also, poor advice re: SAHMs. Who’s to say that only stay at home moms nag and complain and that the husband doesn’t? Also, keep in mind that babies and kids aren’t asleep all day long so that Mom can do chores. A lot of the times, the kids are awake and require Mom’s 100% attention. Certain chores can be done with the child awake (cooking with the kid, making the bed), but don’t think that just because a mom is at home, that she can go about doing her chores with little interruption.
I also don’t like advice encouraging people to stay late or come in early. Workers should just be efficient and effective during the time that they ARE at work.
The other pieces of advice seem sound. But considering the amount of bad advice in this article, I’m surprised that it was posted on GRS.
In defense of the post, I think a lot of you are misreading the comment about the SAHM. First, he was reporting a comment another SAHM said to his wife. He didn’t say anything beyond that. The level of reading in the negative into what was unsaid is beyond belief on this post. I realize it is a tremendously emotional issue for many, but much of the commentary has no real root in the main text. Giving the writer the benefit of the doubt about why he included the quote, it may have been simply to suggest that to carry out his point 10 effectively in this time may result in sacrifices (deemed by him necessary) on the homefront. It may not have reflected any commentary whatsoever on SAHM or how he viewed women’s roles.
I personally wouldn’t have included the quote as I think it did nothing to further the post. And I’m not saying that he couldn’t have meant it in a far worse way than I’m suggesting one read it. But I forgot, this is the blogosphere and so we always must assume the worst motives on the part of others and complain about how everyone can’t seem to read and understand the meaning of our own crystal clear writing. 😉
If anything, this makes my point about your blog as a writing sample. How many of you would hire this author based on that comment and is he comfortable now with the level of polish he put into this piece to be judged by it?
“Well, for starters, you can stop complaining when he can’t drop the kids off at school before work and be home by 6:00 for dinner.”
This is how I lost an important job years ago, because my wife saw the kid drop-off thing as a HUGE chore. Ditto for staying home while she (our daughter) was sick or had an unforeseen day off school. I did it all instead (and was willing to). I told my wife that it was impacting my work, but she felt that her job pressures trumped mine, and expressed it so strongly that to keep the family peace I just did all the child care. I lost the job (there was another excuse given, but I know that my frequent unavailability was key). Then for a several years my wife blamed me for that loss and complained when I wasn’t able to get a job as well paying.
Now that I have a better job, I’m still taking our daughter to school, bringing her home, feeding her, packing her lunch, leaving work early if there’s a medical issue and so on. My wife and I don’t even discuss it – she just assumes she can work as many hours as she needs to or visit friends after work or go shopping and I’ll be there to do child care. I’ve learned *never* to push back or discuss lest I increase her “stress” – with predictable complaints – and make it even worse for myself.
Update your skills is the most important thing, employers know they can get their pick of the litter and they are not afraid to wait in most cases.
Tabs
@Luke #55 – sounds like you need a new wife.
The LinkedIn suggestion is fine with me since it’s specifically a professional networking site. But my blog and Facebook are for me and my friends only, not for anything remotely professional. It’s my way space to blow off steam and be silly. I don’t want to have to use up more of my time to create and maintain a separate, professional presence online, and I don’t agree that people NEED to do think. Yes it’s important to network and be in the loop in your profession, but you can do this just by knowing people and keeping in touch. I don’t need Twitter to keep in touch (ugh, Twitter…)
On another note, my company has already had layoffs this year so I think my whole office is very aware that more cuts are possible. Because of this I am baffled when people act noticeably annoyed when they have to come in before 9am, or they have a very negative attitude about everything. Do they WANT to have their jobs terminated? If so, they can go and that’s fine with me. I want to keep my job and therefore I act in a way that conveys this to my boss and others around me.
i’ve been telling people for the past several years that 3-6 months e-fund is a guide and not an end all. you have to adjust given your industry, etc. given that we won’t be out of the economic problem for at least another year, that would suggest if you are vulnerable you really need to boost your e-fund target amount.
more than having an e-fund though is to reduce your expenses and debt and start living below your means. we live on around 25% of our income and have no debt. we can easily absorb if one of us loses a job.
don’t wish things away. you have to start actively planning, even if there is a remote chance of job loss. last thing you want to be is unprepared in this job environment. if people who have a remote chance of losing jobs, lose jobs, that is definitely a bad sign. prepare for it. we should all have been preparing, since everyone has been saying for at least a year that we are in a recession. i really want to buy more stock, because i think things are dirt cheap right now; however, i’m keeping more cash on hand, despite my wife’s and my job being very secure, like .00000000000000000000000000001% chance of either of us losing our jobs.
my wife just got her job about 6 months ago, so her professional portfolio is up to date. i’ve been with my job a long time, so that is something i need to do to be prepared. besides, i will transition out in a couple of years, so it is something i have to do anyways.
i agree with exercising. exercising a stress relief, it gives you more energy, it gives you more self-confidence, it keeps you in shape. self-confidence and self-motivation is a big factor not only for your current job, but in your ability to keep things positive if you do get laid off.
i forgot to add, start squirreling away office supplies from work to home. ok, that was a joke, although some companies let you squirrel a certain amount of office supplies for home use.
I thought the claim regarding SAHMs was defensible. While there is no doubt that being a stay-at-home parent are working hard and making sacrifices, the “fun-factor” of actual paid employment seems to be overrated on these comments. As the person who is routinely expected to work late (as a lawyer), this is my usual day:
1) Get up at a time when it is still dark and cold;
2) Have a breakfast of muesli and mil in a hurry while wishing I had the time for a leisurely breakfast with a soft-boiled egg. Eat while my wife is in the shower so we can alternate and leave together.
3) Put on a suit I don’t want to wear and that has to be dry-cleaned. Put on a shirt I have to iron on the weekend.
4) Share a subway with thousands of other commuters dressed in various shades of grey, none of whom are too excited to have to go to work at this hour.
5) Work 10-12 hours, primarily assisting large companies in things that involve moving money to and from other large companies, either voluntarily (transaction) or involuntarily (litigation). When dealing with individuals, most of the time deal with individuals who have between 100 and 10,000 as much money as me.
6) In between eat lunch taken from home. Usually eat the same lunch five days in a row since during the week we are too tired to cook and cook a large batch on Sunday evenings.
7) Come home when it is already dark. Share the subway with approximately half as many commuters, all of whom look somewhat beaten down.
8) Eat supper while thinking about new ways to make myself indispensible so that if layoffs are between another person and me, it won’t hit me. Go to bed to repeat list the following day.
Compare this to actually spending time with your children. All the hard work is there, but you are spending most of the effort on your own offspring. You do not have to wear a suit. You do not have to worry about being fired. You do not have office politics. You do not have to commute. You get to see daylight, and I don’t mean looking at another office tower across the street through your office window.
Everyone acknowledges that raising kids is hard, but for heaven’s sakes, most office work is tedious, repetitive, and not exactly fulfilling. That’s why it pays big bucks. As someone who is the breadwinner and knows he can’t feasibly take more than two weeks of maternity leave, I get a little annoyed by people who have the luxury of staying at home and complain that their spouse does what it takes to make that possible (for the record, my spouse is not someone who does that).
But there are just as many women who bitch and moan and make the man’s life hard because she feels put upon and abused and asks her husband to do things to prove that she’s too busy and important to get everything done in just one day.
Chill. Breathe. Listen. Stop projecting all sorts of sinister misogyny. I read the statement as advice to be taken within the context of a healthy marriage based in partnership. I took it as a statement that a SAHM has more power than she gives herself credit for: in emotional support, in morale, in taking care of daily worries so he can focus. Try chewing him out every day and refuse to take care of his daily needs and see his work productivity go down. You don’t think the opposite is true?
SHOULD he pick up the kids from daycare? Maybe he should. But during this time of worry for the whole family (remember the context of potential layoff we were discussing?) maybe you should take one for the team. TEAM being the operative word. If you aren’t playing on the same team then what are you doing?
Don’t be a doormat. Everything isn’t all about him. But our natural tendency as humans is to make it all about US, and that’s not true either.
It seems to me that his point about not expecting the husband (or other breadwinner)to be home by 6 for dinner is to allow him to demonstrate excellent work in order to be valuable in his job. This way, he is less likely to be laid off.
I’ve read a lof of objections here about the husband not helping at home. That is not the point. The point is he may have to spend more time at work for him to keep his job (which helps the family of one income).
Continuation of the previous comment…
Not that I support overworking. I don’t do that myself as I try to be efficient in my use of time. I was just trying to help explain the author’s comment. I firmly believe in life/work balance.
Anyway, networking in person is the best way to find another job. Not too long ago, there was an opening at my job. I immediately contacted my former boss to see if he was interested. He was happy with his current job but asked if I was interested in another job that his friend was hiring for. That was networking in action.
-Charlotte
Agree with H.: what a load of privileged, sexist guff. You helped make the babies, you help raise them. Your wife may not have to put on a suit or commute, but she’s not getting paid for her work and she sure as hell isn’t getting any respect for it, from what I can see.
Oh, and I love this: “Don’t get laid off in the first place.” Yeah, that’s such excellent advice, when the unemployment rate is as high as it’s been in a quarter-century.
With clueless arrogant morons like the OP at the helm of companies, I can see why the economy is in the toilet.
@Beagle: I think you are lying…I watch Boston Legal religiously, and you lawyers have plenty of time in the day and at the end of the day you can sit on the balcony drinking scotch and smoking a cigar, not to mention flying off to fish in Nimmo Bay.
Most of this advice is definitely geared to a select audience. There are some reasonable suggestions for all though, like staying fit and reducing expenses. However, this post and the media still seem to be promoting fear to me, as in the comment about the wife being more understanding. Living out of fear does not make for good decisions or good outcomes. I really don’t think that working mega hours and sacrificing all for your job (like not being willing to go to an appt or run an errand at lunch time) will ensure you keep your job. Often those employees are seen as not too smart by their employers. Why do you have to work 80 hours when Jim or Susie gets quality work done in 40 hours? You need to work hard, but smart. Definitely leadership is important, but sending accomplishments to your boss can bug them to death. You don’t want to be THAT employee. Use common sense and do your best. Always network (not just when you think something might happen to your job), always keep your resume up to date, always take opportunities to learn new skills (most jobs have excellent training online themselves), etc.
I think we do have serious times, but still, here’s some interesting food for thought … http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/09/looking-for-a-r.html
Glad to see the sceptical comments about the blogging suggestion. I thought the same. Depending on how you go about blogging about your professional life, you could be:
(a) fired for betraying the loyalty you owe to your current employer as an implied term of your contract.
(b) If employed in the public sector, you could be fired because you violate a statute, such as the Official Secrets Act (which exists in various guises in nearly every country) or a regulation about publishing while in public service. In the UK, an employee of the National Health Service was fired a couple of years ago for their blog. If memory serves correctly, the same happened to a UK professional fire fighter.
(c) You might be off-base about your industry without knowing it.
(d) You might be seen as indiscreet and generally, a loose cannon.
(e) You rule yourself out for being hired by firms you may have been critical about in your blog, even though your criticism may have been misconceived.
Stupid advice, really. I would go as far as saying that in many professions, you should think long and hard before even having a *personal* blog in which you can be identified.
One thing I never see in these articles about saving 3-6 months of pay is that you need to factor in COBRA payments. You need health insurance, even when you’re unemployed. COBRA is usually the cheapest you can get but it can add hundreds of dollars to the amount you’re thinking of saving.
Wow, you completely outlined why I hated my six-figure career in San Francisco and left it to work for a tiny college in a North Country forest at 1/2 the pay…with a better quality of life than I’ve had in my entire life. And saving more money than when I was running 24/7 to service the needs of corporate neurotics who thought that the planet couldn’t continue to spin on its axis without them.
When life becomes a giant exercise in constantly trying not to let someone else turn you into economic cannon fodder, you know what it is to be a wage slave.
Hope you all enjoy your hamster wheels, scurrying yourselves into breakdowns and being pitted against each other in a steel cage match of Corporate Boggle.
Suckers!
What message might it send to your *current* employer if your activity level on LinkedIn increases sharply when the going gets tough at work? Does that project a message of “competent employee” or “flight risk”? Will your loyalty to the company be called into question if your online presence suggests that you’re looking for new opportunities?
@Tim:
Dang it – if that’s the case, why didn’t I think of moving to Boston?
I don’t know how useful facebook and the like are, but I HAVE heard of people NOT getting jobs because of what is listed on their personal sites. This is especially true for recent graduates who have a lot of good time/rock’n’roll stuff on their sites. Another tip I got when I graduated was to make sure my email address was one that potential employers could take seriously.
Ultimately: with this advice YMMV. You need to have an idea of what an employer is looking for in your field. If you’re applying for a job stocking shelves you’re boss probably wants to know that you will show up and on time. If you are applying for an office assistant job they want to know you will present a professional appearance. If you are applying for a call center job your boss wants someone who communicates effectively and sounds friendly. The criteria will be different for lawyers, gas station attendants, engineers, bus drivers, nurses, and so forth.
Just like the 34 ideas for Xmas gifts these lists are pick and choose-food for thought. Ultimately there is no question that it’s a good idea to think about layoffs before they hit you, to keep your skills current, to know the way the wind blows and to be ready for change so you’re not blindsided.
I can’t stress enough how much easier it is to look for a job when you already have one, so I would emphasize the benefits of performing well enough to keep your job, even if you’re searching elsewhere (unlikely in this climate) — when I was in my most recent job search, even though it was taking every last ounce of energy that i pretty much already didn’t have outside of my normal job — It took me over a year to find my new position. I can’t even imagine how much reserves I would have gone through (financially and emotionally) had I not been employed at the time!
Great advice in the post, but I’m going to nitpick one reference that stood out to me. “At the end of 2007 the unemployment rate stood at 4.6%. By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate peaked at 24.9% in 1933”
The Government calculates unemployment differently now than it did years ago. This has the effect of making the employment discrepancy seem larger than it is. The Government no longer counts people who don’t have a job but aren’t actively seeking one as unemployed as it used to. To compare apples to apples we need to use the unemployment measure called U-6 which counts all unemployed. It is currently 12.5%. See http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/12/prepare-for-depression-level.html for more.
@Shirley: what do you mean? quoting my hero (yes I know he’s not real, “he’s a composite like the New York Magazine does”) Gordo: “fear is good, fear is right, fear works; fear clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit; fear in all of its forms — fear for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind. And fear — you mark my words — will not only save the Big 3, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.”
“Well, for starters, you can stop complaining when he can’t drop the kids off at school before work and be home by 6:00 for dinner.”
My problem with this isn’t the “drop the kids off at school part” but the “be home by 6:00 for dinner” part. It’s a hard economy, your husband is working extra hard at work, you can work extra-hard at home. Think of the single moms who have to do both — it can be done. Like one of the commenters said, it’s like the Christmas Gifts post: it’s an idea of how you can help. Your husband doesn’t have to start a blog, either. 😉
What bothers me is the hint in that comment that Dad should work late hours and Mom should shut her mouth about it. I don’t think that’s necessarily what was meant by it, but it could be read that way.
If the job is forcing him to work late hours, I don’t care how the economy is, the healthiest thing for your children is to look for a new job that respects his work/life balance. If he’s working late hours without pressure from the job, that’s something worth “complaining” about (I’d prefer a friendly discussion).
Your children aren’t going to be young forever — you’ll never get that time with them back, and more importantly, they are never going to get back that time with their dad. They’ll remember how much he was there when they’re older.
Laura – work/life balance is a myth propagated by the select few government employees, usually ones with defined benefit pension plans that are the most aggressively managed entited out there. The largest proposed corporate takeover ever in Canada was spearheaded by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, and it is teachers especially that love to lecture me about work-life-balance.
The reality, especially in this economy is that when anybody other than those government workers talks of work/life balance, it invariably means “I leave the office at 6:30 to have dinner with my family and then work from home for a couple of ours after the kids go to bed.” All fine if you can handle the sleep deprivation (some can), but hard if you actually need the sleep.
The reality is that not everybody can work for government, and all private enterprise is aggressive about the amount of time one is expected to put in. I am aware of someone at a private company only making $40,000 CDN a year gross who was bi***ed out in the annual evaluation for only working 8 hours a day, as the company had recently instituted a policy that everybody who was salaried was to put in 45 hours a week (and these are entry-level white-collar positions). The vast majority of jobs out there are like that, and if a young family with one one earner insists on that person being home by 6:00 sharp and thinks it doesn’t jeopardize the person’s job that way, then that family is stuck in cloud-cuckoo-land.
On the bright side, you end up realizing that the frugal life is the way to go and that the person who needs the least money is the most free. If I hadn’t realized after a while that a six-figure career is a Faustian bargain that is simply not sustainable in the long run, I would never have been able to save half my net income on a regular basis.
1. Hire Yourself. Even if you are employed by someone else consider yourself a self-contained business. The employer sees you as replaceable. View them the same way.
2. If you lose your main client, you find others. You don’t beg for their business. Choose to work for them, not the other way around. Build up your client base.
3. Still do all the 1-10 suggested in this blog, but not for fear of being laid off.
# 78 was a good post, and my advice goes along with that and my post # 79.
Being free can be pretty cheap. Choosing to be underemployed, unemployed, or intermittently self-employed can really cut down on expenses and increase quality of life.
The corporate career track takes a lot of resources.
How about proof read your own article?
Thanks for the great read. I’m definitely going to take away your suggestion about blogging. I currently blog, but it’s not dedicated to my career. I’m considering now starting a new blog or attempting to incorporate my professional work into my blog.
I wrote about this topic on my infopreneur blog a few days ago in a piece called “How The Bush Unemployment Insurance Extension helps Infopreneurs”. In it I discussed how the sad reality is that the workplace has changed and many people who are laid off now or in the near future may not be able to get employed again, or at the same level they were at before. They’ll have to make their own job.
The best thing to do before you are laid off is to start a flexible side business–and to me, the best one is infopreneuring, because you leverage your own, unique knowledge to make money. This way, if you are laid off, you’ll already have one foot in the entrepreneurial door, and perhaps you can even tell your employer goodbye before they tell you.
I owe 75% of my current income to my blog. It’s helped me win contracts over the competition, attract clients who did a search for translation services and brought me very useful contacts via my readers. The key, I think, is to try and offer relevant, quality content that is useful to readers; that way, it reflects your personal expertise and skills and enhances your reputation.
I agree with PP who question the work/life balance aspect of this post. My husband and I both work full-time and have commutes. He works early in the day, leaving at 4:30 to pick up the kids by 6. I work late in the day and normally work until 7 or 8 most nights so I can drop the kids off. If you equate “working late” with commitment to a job, you’re only seeing a small part of the picture. We’re both dedicated to our jobs and work nights and weekends at home as needed. We have long commutes in part because we can’t sell our house and move without taking a loss. And with the economy as it is, we’re both hanging tight, working hard, and trying to be good parents at the same time. After all, our kids are only small for a short time, and we have college savings accounts to fund.
Being a good employee and a good parent aren’t mutually exclusive propositions. Having a life (or wanting one) isn’t a crime. And keeping a job at all costs has a high cost of its own, no matter how crappy the economy.
@Shara #62, You are dead on about the SAHP comment, stated perfectly. I have been a SAHM most of our kids’ lives. It is a hard job and when times were good my husband was wonderful about picking kids up and doing a lot around the house. He never questioned me if I asked him to pick the kids up from school or if I wanted him to take a couple hours off for a school performance in the middle of the day. But his company is currently in trouble and he has the skills to help I WANT him to put in the extra hours and encourage him to leave home early and ask him to just call before leaving the office so I don’t have dinner ready too early. I also went back to work part time to pull some of the financial stress off of him, I chose the part time route so that I could still do most of the “home chores” while he weathers this storm, but have also worked like crazy at my job so that I am noticed and could quickly and easily step into a full time position if he were to lose his job due to the company finally going under. We, like Shara stated, have chosen to work as a team, supporting each other every step of the way. I am proud to be able to shoulder some of his burden since when I was at home and up all night with little ones he never hesitated to get up too or come home early to let me take a hard earned nap. As a family we will accomplish little if we worry about life being 50/50 sometimes in is 80/20 but loving relationships slide both ways. I think that was excellent advice and if we want the opportunity to have one parent be at home with our children we have to work together.
LinkedIn.com is a great tool that recruiters, hiring managers and HR uses. I know – because I am a recruiter, and have used Linkin.com for a few years now.
Also – I suggest making sure people can find your resumes outside of big boards like Monster.com, etc..because there are a lot of companies that cannot afford Monster and other big board fees. Of course – make sure you have your resume on a niche board as well if you have speacilized skills that are hard to find. There are some companies that have such a reduced budget that they will may post jobs to big boards, but cannot afford the expensive resume search fees. However, they will pay to search resumes on niche sites if they are very specific to what they are looking for.
Ie. – electrical and computer engineers may want to make sure they can be found on IEEE.org, etc.
Make sure also that if you are working with a recruiter that the recruiter has a lot of experience in YOUR field. Sure, it helps to work with more than one. However, companies won’t pay recruiter fees in a market like this UNLESS they have really hard positions to fill.
Also, post on Craigslist.com. That is free for companies to search, and make sure you look there. Although it isn’t free in every market any longer for companies to post, the costs range from only $25 to $100 or so (last I checked) so is still cheap for them.
Here are two search engines that search only job postings:
Simplyhired.com and Indeed.com. Make sure you have these in your favorites (neither will pull up Craigslist.com postings though, so you have to go to the site itself).
Just my two cents – I didn’t have time to read all the comments, so I apologize if these things have already been mentioned.
Oh other thing – networking is King – employers love to hire people that someone in their company already knows and trusts. I have gotten a couple of jobs that way myself.
Another place you can add yourself is Layoff Talent. It just launched and is for people who have been laid off in the tech industry.
You add a simple profile then employers looking for “talent” can find you.
http://layofftalent.com/
Was I the only surprised that the mentor didn’t advise the young SAHM to start updating her resume and bolster her skills to make herself more employable, should the need arise?
They’re both parents and they’re both adults. No reason they can’t both raise the children AND seek paid employment.
@#89 Froogirl – For a lot of people, the cost of day care can exceed what is brought home. Childcare inst free.
Hm…. I also am involved with a group of moms of preschoolers — and in fact I am one of them myself. I also am someone with a long career under my belt, and have seen the vagaries of boom times as well as busts. Yet, I cannot agree with the advice to drop the dad from the family picture. Too much of high-tech management relies on that model already, and it puts dual-career families at risk. Instead, there are recession-friendly management models which can help people be home for dinner as well as keep a good job rating. An idea actively pursued by companies like CISCO is job-sharing. Moms (but dads could do this as well) agree to do a project together and share the time they work, as well as the perks. Or someone agrees to reduced hours on site. Or flex time, where the employee is on-site for an established period of time, but may use evenings to tie up the loose ends from home, after bedtime. Those models enable parents to be home for dinner in those formative years of a child which define the “seven years from home”. Yet those employees are also empowered to serve their company without incurring costs for the down time. It’s better to build such models into the system rather than work with haggard, frustrated dads (or moms — I’ve been in that position!) forced to detach themselves from the loved ones in order to keep a job. Yes, we have to power through the recession, but let’s try to do so without damaging a generation. I’m not talking about entitlements, just about managing a workforce that accommodates the reality of family live. Without that, how can one make the case that the brightest kids should join this career path? Nobody wants to be stuck in their career just because they got married and have family responsibilities! Nobody wants to marry an incompatible partner just because someone needs to be home with the kids. Unfortunately, the tech industry has some growing up to do. That mom at the PreK table could have herself been a C.S. PhD who sacrificed her career because the workforce failed to accommodate their dual-careers family. I found the comment a bit insulting.
A sample daycare break-even calculation:
Salary: $100,000
Nanny: $30,000 (for full time at $15/ hour in a large metropolitan tech center)
Taxes: 1/3 of the income (thanks, marriage penalty!).
Result? mom working a 6-figure salary takes home about the same amount as the nanny. Why not do daycare? because then you also factor in drop off/ pick up times, which for a full time tech worker these days becomes prohibitive. As the kids grow into the preK age, the equation starts to change, but this is what working moms are having to figure out when they go back to work. Yes, there are variations, but it’s still a sobering set of numbers to look at. Enhance these numbers and you get a recession-proof family.