When your brass ring turns green: Part 2 – Denial is not a river…

Rumors of cuts are flying – what should you do?

If conversations at the coffee pot or in the restroom are about rumored head-count reductions, chances are that one is coming - at some point - but that is all you should count on. The office grapevine can be a valuable source of information – if it is used appropriately. Consider rumor of head-counts as an early warning alert but don’t treat it as gospel, and don’t stick your head in the sand because you don’t want to think it could happen to you. Truth is – every single employee is at risk. Think you are safe because you have a folder full of glowing performance evaluations? Displacement is going to hit you harder from an emotional standpoint than the person with a less sparkling performance history. Don’t become a victim of denial.

What you should do is:
1. Follow the advice your mother gave you as a child: keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Listen to the information and try to separate the fact from the fiction.

2. Do some introspective thinking. Now is the time to think about your career. Are you really happy working for this company? It seems like a no-brainer. You work there, ergo, you want to. Not necessarily. You may just be in a rut. Same goes for your job. Is this what you want to be doing?

3. Start a skills inventory. The goal is to understand what you like to do, what you are good at doing, and what you might want to learn how to do. There are books you can borrow from your local library, or purchase at the bookstore, that can help you work through the process. If you can afford it, there are life and career coaches who you can hire to guide you in developing an inventory and administering standardized tests to identify your interests and personality type.

4. Get that professional certification, degree, or continuing education courses that you have been putting off. This is especially true if your employer has an education reimbursement program. You want your skills to be as up to date as possible before the company starts doing its internal skills assessments in anticipation of restructuring or downsizing. Even though you may not be able to finish a degree before the downsizing begins, the fact that you are enrolled may be a mark in your favor or give you a leg up on the competition.

5. Start looking at your family finances. Get a realistic picture of what you have coming in and going out each month. Don’t forget to include things that occur once a year like taxes or membership dues. If you can start eliminating the non-essentials from your budget, setting aside a cushion and/or paying off outstanding debt before you are faced with a loss of income it will minimize the stress of losing your job.

6. Build or strengthen your professional network. If you are not on a networking site like LinkedIn.com, join one and begin to build your network by inviting your co-workers, former classmates, friends, and acquaintances. Join on-line groups for your profession as well as any face-to-face professional associations.

7. Update your resume. If you can afford it, hire a professional to help you re-vamp your resume. If you can’t afford it, talk to people in your network about giving you advice.

8. Check the job boards on-line. While a small percentage of positions are actually found in this manner, it doesn’t hurt to look even though you may be only passively searching for work at this stage. Get a feel for what is out there and who the companies are in your area with openings. This will also help with item 4. By looking at job openings, you will also get a feel for how your qualifications stack up.

9. Define what the perfect job and working environment for you would be. Write down everything no matter how silly or unrealistic. Set it aside for a day or two, or three, then come back and take another look. Refine this list into the “must-have” and “nice to have” criteria. Then start researching companies to find those that match or come close to the criteria and offer the types of work you are interested in.

10. Continue to do your job to the best of your ability.

Stay tuned – next time I’ll talk about what to do when you know you are out of a job.