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Improving workplace security during tough economic times: Feature Article
Despite the fact that we are dealing with a struggling economy in 2008, 32% of employers actually plan on adding full time permanent employees. But despite these numbers many people are still afraid of losing their jobs during the tough economic times that we are facing. And in fact the people who are worried about losing their jobs due to the fact that we are currently in a recession actually have ever right to feel this way because millions of people usually end up losing their jobs during tough economic times like these. But just because you are afraid of losing your job in these tough economic times that doesn't mean that there isn't something that you can do to help keep your job.
When we are faced with tough economic times the one thing that we can do to help make sure that we keep our current job is improve our job security in our current workplace. The main point in doing this is that when you increase your job security you are actually making yourself more valuable to the company that you are working for and the more valuable that you are to the company the less likely they are going to be to lay you off or even fire you if they are forced to downsize due to the struggling economy. But even though you know that improving your job security is the best thing that you can do to keep your job during these tough economic times that doesn't mean that you know how to go about increasing your value to the company.
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One of the best things that you can do to increase your worth to your company is to work on your attitude. Basically what you want to do is to ensure that you maintain a positive attitude in the workplace. But in addition to the positive attitude you also want to make sure that you have a can do attitude. To help show this positive can do attitude what you are going to need to do is to volunteer to work on projects that nobody else wants to work on and then keep a list of the projects that you are doing. This list needs to include the names of the projects that you are working on in addition to the actions that you are completing so that when the time comes you can review it with your manager, which should be done on a regular basis.
Helpful Resources: 1. How to Improve Job Security This article gives you things that you can to do to help improve your job security so that when the economy is struggling you don't have to worry about not having a job or even losing your job. 2. 5 Ways to Improve Job Security 3. Can't Write? Improve Your Skill Set to Improve Your Job Security 5. Opportunity at Work: Improving Job Quality 6. How to improve job security 8. Take on more work to improve job security 9. Getting Better All the Time: Improving Job Quality in the United States 10. Job security fears affect more than half of IT contractors
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You are also going to need to understand your abilities when it comes to work. You are going to want to know about your various strengths and weaknesses, but you are also going to want to understand the key differentiators. What these are will be the things that allow you to stand out from the other people who work with you. And keep in mind it is these things that make you stand out from the other workers that will help you to increase your value in the workplace.
Another way to make sure that you are valuable to your company is to get training in other areas, which is also called cross training. What you are going to want to do is to ask your manager about what other areas that you can train in so that you can get more experience in the business because you will be able to do various positions. But you can also sign yourself up for internal training opportunities so that you can get even more experience and allow yourself to grow professionally. Basically when you are getting as much training as possible what you are hoping to show your supervisors is the fact that you are eager to learn, basically that you want to be in a constant state of learning so that you don't grow stale. This should include new technology to what is happening in current events. By doing so you will be in a better position to understand the business and market trends in addition to understanding just what it is your competitors might be doing.
When you hear the term build a brand many people tend to think of objects that are for sale and if you take a moment to think about it when it comes to the workforce you are selling your own personal brand. What this is going to do is to sell you to your employer both before and during tough economic times and it will even help you after the tough economic times have passed. But when you are creating your own personal brand you are going to want to think about the things that you have that set you apart from all of the other employees, basically you are going to want to highlight the things that you think make you special. For the most part all of this stuff leads up to your reputation which is what you are going to be selling to your potential and current employers, so this is something that you are going to want to start working on even before you get hired. What you are going to want to do is to create a reputation that anybody would be proud to have and once you have created that great reputation you are going to want to make sure that you maintain that reputation.
You are also going to want to be able to solve problems. The reason for this is that it is well known that the employees who can resolve issues and actually help the organization to function at its peak level is going to be the most valuable employee that the organization has, which means they will always have job security. So you are going to want to make sure that you are a problem solver rather than somebody who is just along for the ride. So what you are going to want to start doing is to try and find better ways to do the same old thing. You want to show what improvements can be made in the various processes, procedures and systems that your company is currently using. But most important of all you want to show that you have a personal interest at stake in the company and your coworkers so you are going to do everything in your power to help solve any problem that comes your way.
There is an old saying that goes "it's not what you know, but who you know". Many people think that this isn't true, when in fact it actually does make a huge difference, so one more thing that you can do to help improve your job security is network with various people both inside and outside of your company. The reason that networking is so important is because it is still one of the most popular ways of finding and even keeping a job during tough economic times. When it comes to networking the main thing that you have to remember is that people are going to be looking at your personality and your reputation. So what you are going to want to do is to make sure that you are a likeable person and are easy to talk to. This is important because it allows you to develop an open rapport with the various people who are in charge, which in some cases can be the difference between being on the short list or still having a job the next morning. The best way to do this is to develop your visibility and creditability through your everyday actions and behavior but it also can be influenced by your involvement in key business projects.
But regardless of what you do to help protect your job in tough economic times the most important thing that you will ever be told is that no matter what you do you want to make sure that you are doing the best or are the best at what you are doing. The reason for this is that basically what job security comes down to is being the shining star and by always giving your work the best that you have your chances of shining are much higher.
Just keep in mind that job security can only get you so far in life. There is going to come a time when things just happen and this doesn't mean that you are a bad employee. In some of these cases the companies had to close their doors due to the tough economic times, but in some cases somebody was just better at the job then you were. But as long as you try everything to improve your job security and you are being the best employee that you know how to be you will at least be able to walk away from your current job with a great letter of reference which will make it a bit easier to help find another job.
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