Recession-Proof Yourself

In the December 2008 issue of CIO magazine, Meridith Levinson gave five suggestions for positioning yourself within an an organization to duck the swipe of layoffs.  These concepts are thrown around often, but it is more crucial than ever to have concrete responses and examples at hand.

1. Know your value and communicate it
   Be able to articulate your abilities and demonstrate how your organization sees a quantitative result from your work. Describe a few concrete examples of what you’ve done recently to reduce costs and increase revenue.  It’s not an easy conversation to have, and it’s even more difficult to develop a concise and eloquent response when cornered.  Start thinking about this question today.
2. Be a team player
   In addition to getting along with your team, you have to be willing to work cooperatively.  If it’s not something you do often now, look for ways to change.  Employees who sit in their cubicles/offices and quietly perform their duties are at risk.
3. Keep your ear to the ground
   If your department is anticipating layoffs, where would you like to move within the organization?
4. Adapt to change quickly
   For employees who keep their jobs (and it’s the majority), changes will be coming, both large and minute. Be willing to adjust on a moment’s notice.
5. Get out and lead
   There may be no better way to demonstrate to senior management that you are a promising employee than by taking the initiative to lead a group.  Look both within and outside your department, perhaps in areas that see highs and lows like business development. 

Leadership, flexibility, communication abilities and cooperation; we understand these skills and vital to succeed in an organization, recession or not.  What’s unfortunate is that there may not be any may to recession-proof yourself, much like how you cannot recession-proof a company or industry.  Being able to describe these abilities will be helpful to defend your position.  However, if your position is eliminated from the org chart, being able to provide examples of these abilities will be helpful in future interviews.