5 Tips for Helping Yourself Stay Employed at Your Current Job (5645 hits)

The economy is constantly changing. Anyone, regardless of their skills or the scarcity of their job skills, can lose their job. Instead of just hoping for the best, there are some steps that you can take to help keep yourself employed at your current job.

1. Make Yourself the Indispensable Go-to Person

The last thing you want to do is pretend that potential job threats do not exist. You need to keep your eyes open and be prepared to replace the job you have in the worst-case scenario.
Employees who work and accomplish things increase their value to an organization. Ask yourself, if I started a company like the one I currently work for and I could only hire a handful of people, what qualities would I look for? Cultivate those qualities.
Most companies value employees who have a close link to customers. These are the ones who are generating revenue as opposed to those who are part of the bureaucracy. Education, training, and commitment can help you provide superior value and make yourself indispensable.

2. Make Sure Your Contribution Is Quantifiable and Visible

Your contributions should noticeably add to the bottom line by saving your organization money, improving processes, or increasing skills. If you add new customers to your organization, this is going to help you keep your job.
It is not sufficient to just make the improvement. Get your contributions noticed by those who make employment decisions. You can do this by setting goals with your employers, agreeing on the parameters of those goals, and then getting feedback from them. Document your improvements, and share that progress with your employer.
Now is not the time to exaggerate or embellish. Clear and accurate numbers make the value of your diligent work noticeable.

3. Make It Rain

If you are making your employer money, they are going to hold onto you for as long as possible. Sales executives have some of the most recession-proof jobs.
This does not mean that if you are in sales, your job is automatically safe. You need to familiarize yourself with your company’s overall sales and profits. If the products or services your organization sells are recession-proof and you contribute to improving the sales, you are likely going to hold onto your job.
What if your job is not a revenue generator? Switch to a job that generates revenue. If you are in a job that generates revenue, learn to generate more cash for your employer. If you are an L&I attorney, for example, your firm makes money by you driving clients to the firm. The more clients to attract, the more valuable you are.
This means living and breathing the product or services that you sell. Direct people to your company’s website in your free time. It may seem like a lot of effort, but it can be substantially easier to hold onto a job that you have as opposed to exerting effort to try to find a new one.

4. Accept Challenges

If you are willing to do additional assignments, help coworkers complete their assignments, and volunteer for challenging assignments, your employer will appreciate you. The extra work you do raises your value in the eyes of the company.
The willingness to learn new skills and contribute shows that you are willing to grow as an employee. Employers factor in the potential future growth of an employee when determining who to hold onto and who to let go.
Employees who are not willing to be creative and don’t show growth potential will not have the same value as those who prove themselves worthy of their employer’s time and energy.

5. Low Maintenance People Stick around Longer

If you are low maintenance and are a self-starter, you have added value. There is nothing worse than dealing with a needy employee who is always complaining.
If there are serious concerns, your manager should listen to them. However, if you are overwhelming your employer with complaint messages, you are going to be the employee who your manager wants to get rid of as soon as they have a good excuse.
There are certain things you cannot change, like your company closing its doors. However, if you are a diligent employee, you make money for your employer, you are a hard worker, and you get along with others, you will probably hold onto your job longer.