Michael J. Kitson - How to Keep Your Job in a Tough Competitive Market

How to Keep Your Job
in a Tough Competitive Market

101 Strategies You Can Use Today

Michael J. Kitson, MBA and Bob Calandra

Copyright 2009 by F+W Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by Adams Business, and imprint of Adams Media,
a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN-10: 1-60550-651-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-60550-651-7
eISBN: 978-1-44051-995-6

Printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Wed like to thank the many professionals who lent their expertise to this book:

James AllenVice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting and management firm

Jennifer BermanAttorney and practice leader for capitol services, the Human Capitol Advisory Group for CBIZ, Chicago

Philip BerryManaging principal of Berry Block and Bernstein, LLC

Mary CranePresident of Mary Crane & Associates

Joseph FenicoHuman Resource Professional

Joseph GassmanBusiness Project Director

Philip HaynesManaging Director of AllianceQ

Wendy KaufmanTrainer and executive coach for Benchmark Communications, Inc.

Jeff KayePresident and CEO of Kaye/Bassman

Fran LandolfExecutive coach and business consultant

Billy LoweCelebrity hairstylist

Mickey MatthewsNorth America vice president of Stanton Chase

Ross MayfieldCofounder, chairman, and president of Socialtext

Emmy MillerPresident of Liberty Business Strategies, LTD

Jeanine Tanner ODonnellCareer strategist and workplace consultant

William P. Potsic, MD, MMMVice chairman for Clinical Affairs Department of Surgery, The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

Lisa QuastPresident, Career Woman, Inc.

Marlene ProstConsultant

Roy A. RoperPresident, Roper Consulting Group

Rob StewardVice president of sales for LatPro Public Relations, an online employment resource for Hispanic and bilingual professionals

Introduction

B y reading this book, you will have taken the first step to keeping your job. You are aware, unlike many of your peers, that your job, along with your financial security, can disappear overnight. At no time since the Great Depression has the job market been as uncertain or volatile as it is today.

Too many people are still stuck in the romance of a bygone era when employees spent a lifetime faithfully performing their duties for the same company. Back then people arrived at work each morning not troubled about job security. And they left each evening never considering that their job wouldnt be waiting for them when they showed up in the morning. Their reward at retirement for decades of dedication traditionally was a gold watch, the symbol of a businesss thanks for their years of hard work.

Technology has transformed that safe, predictable routine into the rough-and-tumble world of the global economy. Within a few decades, American businesses have progressed from selling their goods locally, regionally, and nationally to competing for markets globally. Businesses have had to react much faster to continuously evolving trends. The marketplace will keep demanding that business be conducted faster, better, cheaper. Staying apace with the global economy will require companies to remain lean while constantly honing their staffs. Anyone who does not measure up to the demands of their job will be let go.

Even in that hectic environment, losing your job rarely happens overnight. Indeed, the signs are almost always present. People sometimes dont recognize the harbingers of pending unemployment. Otherwise savvy, intelligent people simply choose to ignore or react to what they see going on around them. Instead they hope for the best, choosing to believe that everything will be fine in the long run.

That kind of head-in-the-sand approach does not work. You must commit to becoming a smart, proactive employee who quantifies their value to the company in real, hard numbers. How toKeep Your Job in a Tough Competitive Market offers 101 tips for staying employed in a slow economy. This book is based on extensive interviews with employment experts from across the country. Those people keeping their jobs, and whom companies will fight to retain, recognize that being at the top of their game is merely a prerequisite, and certainly not a guarantee, to collecting a paycheck. They understand that they must create, manage, and internally market their brandwho they are and what unique talent they offeras different from everyone else. They realize that a successful career has to be planned, plotted, and adjusted as they head toward their goal. They recognize the benefits of eagerly and graciously helping their colleagues, including finding ways to support their manager. And they willingly pitch in to save a company in trouble by drumming up business and cutting costs and spending.