Career – 8 Things To Think About If You Lose Your Job

Career

8 Things To

Think About If

You Lose Your Job

by Susan Freeman

Single people are usually the hardest hit when the economy changes. When the job is gone, there is often little backup on the home front.  If you don’t bring it in, it doesn’t get there.  And more and more with jobs fading fast in the marketplace, singles need to begin an income-sustaining program that can kick in if needed.  I know because I lost my job after ten years when the business went bankrupt.

Good income today does not necessarily mean a good income tomorrow. In these times, it is highly intelligent to prepare for the worst employment scenario by adhering to the following tips.

1. Hone your skills. Learn how to do more than one thing.  Become multi-faceted as it relates to your usefulness in the workplace.  Become more marketable.
2. Stop living up every dime you make. Put something aside for a rainy day and let it stay there.
3. Never feel secure with the length of time you’ve been on a job. Seniority means nothing if there’s no money to pay you.  Everybody goes when the money stops coming in.
4. Find something that can help you make your money grow and invest in it.
5. Look at the feasibility of entrepreneurship from a hobby, idea, or talent that you have. Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies started with a cookie recipe that she formulated in her kitchen.  The same for Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.  He was 67 years old when he went into business for himself.
6. Right now, while you’re still working, look for other ways to make money and save or invest for future’s sake.
7. Always be on the lookout for a better position. Don’t be stuck in the same position because of the “wonderful benefits.”  Benefits can stop and your company is not the only company in the world with “great benefits.” Look while you can afford to look.  You never know what’s out there.  My friend Bill left his job of sixteen years, four months before they announced a major layoff and his job was one of the first eliminated.  He had sensed the writing on the wall and was lucky enough to land a better position someplace else.
8. This is something you can never do too much of.  It helps to know as many people as you can because you never know when you might need them.  The right face in the right place is a valuable asset.