While there’s no ironclad guarantee your job will remain untouched by the current iffy economic climate, you can recession proof your value to an employer by following these 5 simple habits.

Show Them the Money

Keep your job recession proof by providing valuable, money making functions for your employer. A good salesperson will stay in a firm long after an automated system replaces a receptionist. If you are already in a sales, marketing or research and development position, learn how to bring in more money for your boss. If you’re in a support job, sharpen your sales or marketing skills or apply for a promotion to a decision-making position. Employees who bring money in during a recession are invaluable to a company long after others are pink-slipped.

Stay Motivated

Keep a good attitude about your job and show initiative in your work by thinking outside the box and finding better ways to do things. Don’t wait for the boss to give you an assignment. Think about how to do your job faster or smarter. Be vocal about it; let your boss know about your idea for a new logo design or a better way to contact prospective clients. An enthusiastic employee outlasts a listless one.

Go Back To School

Learn all you can about your job. If you’re an administrative assistant, learn all the latest word processing and spreadsheet programs or become a Powerpoint whiz, If you work for an international firm and occasionally deal with clients in Paris, learn French, even if that’s not a requirement for your current position.  The more skills you have, the more you can do for your employer. If you have other useful skills that can benefit the company, management may transfer you to a different department if you job is eliminated.

Network Within Your Industry and Elsewhere

Even the loyal and hardest working employee can fall pray to cost-cutting during a recession, so keep networking with others in your field and allied industries. Update your resume, fashion distinctive cover letters and keep business cards handy at all times. By having a back-up plan “just in case”, you’ll feel more at ease at your current job and won’t live in fear of a lay-off.  A realistic, “be prepared” approach frees you up to concentrate on the work at hand.

Count Your Pennies-And Your Time Off

Budget your time and money. Bring lunch to work instead of eating out.
Leave time for social outings, but curtail big trips til the economy improves. Put your family and health first, of course, but par down any tendency to arrive late, leave early, or take unnecessary personal days. Stay close to the water cooler and the daily scuttlebutt to recession proof your job,

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Careers and Salaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.