What if you got fired today?
We used to think that 100-year-old firms were somehow safer than the brand new start-up on the corner, but the past few years have given us plenty of examples of how dangerous it can be to be in any industry, at any time: Lehman Brothers, GM, American Airlines, Dewey & LeBeouf, Chrysler, and other famous names have all found themselves in bankruptcy since the crisis broke.
So the worrisome thought for you — with your family to support, mortgage to pay off, and bills always coming in — is…
What would you do if you got fired today?
And the important thing to realize is that the best time to put together a plan for “what if I got fired today” is the time well before you actually need it.
That time is now.
So I’ve put together nine tips for insuring against unemployment by keeping yourself employable:
Be thankful. At the end of each workday, write down one thing you enjoyed or appreciated that day. Just send yourself an email with two sentences: “What I liked about today was how Abby handled the new client call. It makes me proud to be a part of her team.” Small bits of gratitude remind you of why you took the job in the first place, and help reinforce your willpower to handle the rough times. If you do this every day, you’ll find yourself being more appreciative for your work and your colleagues.
Show gratitude. At the start of each workday, email one colleague, vendor, or partner, and thank them specifically for something they’ve done for you. Showing your gratitude to others is just plain nice, but it also lets others know what you enjoy and would like to see from them. It doesn’t have to be long: “Steve — just wanted to say that you did a great job at the planning meeting yesterday and I thought you handled the question about the 2013 budget cycle very professionally — Marc.” The world will become appreciative of you for being so gracious. Over time, you’ll find that makes working together a richer and more enjoyable experience.
Have an opinion. Write one contrarian and one trend blog post on your industry per month. 350 words is all you need. That’s literally two minutes of talking out loud. You can talk for two minutes out loud, can’t you?
Become the #2 person in a local Meetup group in your area of specialty. Meetups are local groups that meet to discuss areas of common interest. There are over 100,000 Meetup topics that cover everything from Marketing to PHP to Business Law and more. Find one you like, start attending and contributing, and see how you can help organize. And if the right Meetup doesn’t exist in your town yet, you could even be the founder!
Keep up with the latest. Read the NY Times Tech reporters Jenna Wortham and Nick Bilton — they write on cutting edge technology. Sign up for one of the services they mention and play with it for 15 minutes. You don’t have to love it — sometimes being able to explain why you don’t like a service or product is more valuable to an employer.
Get 100 followers on Twitter that you don’t know. Interact with people in your industry and your area and build yourself a little safety net. It might take a week or it might take a year, but getting a community outside of your immediate work can actually feel very liberating.
Stay connected. Once a year, reach out to your old bosses and let them know how you’re doing. Anybody who has invested the time, effort, and attention in getting your head screwed on straight will likely enjoy hearing how you’ve turned out (and take credit if the result is positive!)
Stay in touch. Once a month, go to lunch with an old colleague, a former co-worker or a college classmate. Face-to-face, nacho-to-nacho, is the only way to keep true human relationships going. So break bread, grab a drink, or meet before work to share your experiences and trials.
Keep connections warm. Go through all your contacts, e-mails, Rolodex, whatever and find fifty people from your industry that you wouldn’t ‘normally’ speak with in the next year. Assign those fifty people to the next fifty weeks — one person per week.
Each week, e-mail just that one person with a reminder that you exist and that you remember them: “Hey Jerry, I was just thinking about how great it was to meet you at the annual show in Chicago. I wonder if that re-engineering project of yours ever finished! Well, stay in touch, and let me know if you’re ever in my town or want a few tips on the golf course/ Settlers of Catan / sample sales sites I was telling you about….”
With these nine tips, and just 15 minutes a day — between meetings, between flights, in the car — you’ll keep yourself safe by purchasing the best type of unemployment insurance, employability.
Have a great week in the search,
I’ll be rooting for you!
now let me told you every thing why l appy many jobs,when you see in my jobs which l appy is in america, or canada, because l prefer america in my life, and the type of jobs which l appy is local jobs because l dont have any cerfitcat in any couse.now it is you to help me
stop stending me your emails
I got an offer today! Your thoughts on staying employable are great! I plan to practice them! Thanks so much!
Congratulations Eddie!!! So very happy for you!
I’ve been “let go”/”laid off”/”displaced through company restructure” twice. The first time it happened, I was in shock. After the initial shock, and I began the new job hunt, I felt awkward reaching out to former colleagues and contacts, because I had not consistently kept contact with them, if at all. That awkward experience taught me the valuable lesson you emphasize here. In my next job, I put into practice what you preach here. I chimed in on blogs; I re-established contact with former colleagues across different fields; I responded to calls and e-mails from friends, even acquaintances who found themselves between jobs who were asking me for help/job leads. A few years later, when faced on the opposite side of employment again, because I had been actively in contact, chiming in on blogs, tooting my own horn, giving attaboys/kudos to others, going to lunch/dinner/drinks, I was much better prepared for the new hunt. I was even downright fearless, because I had been through and learned from my previous unemployment. In fact, I wasn’t unemployed for very long – 48 hours – thanks to my former colleagues and acquaintances, whom I now call my friends. Happy hunting!
Amen. I am in JK’s same position. Same age. Looks like we worked for the same boss with the same ethics. Agree with you Marc. Most people want to distance themselves from negativity. So most who have tbe ability to help her will be turned off to help her rather than turned on to see what they can do to help.
It really is a great idea to write down all of these negative thoughts. That when you get them out of your head. Just want to be very careful with whom you share. Stay positive JK….. You are your own best resource!
Why not do it right now if you really care. Presidents make choices not individually but with his extended staff and taking the whole economy into account. I’m not an American and so without being biased I can tell you Obama is doing a great job as a humanitarian and American. It may not suit everyone but the majority of people and the future of America is what should count. Again if you think you can make a difference quit and do it instead of criticizing… My 2$c
Thank you, thank you, a thousand times over. Oft overheard from co-workers is that “they” don’t care (the bosses, the corporation). The horror stories abound, the glaring lack of ethics, the sociopaths, meanspiritedness, it’s enough to make you sick. I have remarked to coworkers that the only ones who care are your Mum and Pop, spouse and your kids. Why make your workday miserable by waiting and being continually disappointed because the management doesn’t care? Screw ‘em, do the best you can each day and love your job in spite of them!
good basic points we need to remember for building a friend base.