Making Your Career "Layoff-Proof"

In this day and age, it doesn't matter whether the economy is headed up or headed down, there will always be companies looking to reduce their workforce in order to streamline expenses and maximize profits.  Call it what you will - reduction in force (RIF), layoffs, downsizing, and - more recently - "rightsizing" - it's no fun to be caught up in a situation where you lose your job involuntarily. 

With this in mind, I think it's important to make yourself as "layoff-proof" as possible.  This doesn't mean that you hunker down and cling tenaciously to the job you have - in fact, in the process of making yourself "layoff-proof" you might actually voluntarily look around for a new opportunity elsewhere.  And of course there are some circumstances in which you really have no control over whether you get laid off, for example:

• Your company or division fails and shuts down completely
• Your job is relocated to another part of the country during a restructuring and you don't want to move
• Your company is acquired by another company that already has people who do what you do

So what can you do to make yourself layoff-proof?  In my experience orchestrating layoffs (which is more extensive than I care to admit, unfortunately), when a management team needs to cut headcount, or payroll by a certain number, there are at least three key factors that they rank employees on:

1. Is the position the employee holds "mission critical" to the business?
2. Is the position the employee holds one that is hard to fill (based on the available talent in the workforce)?
3. Is the employee a high performer?

Given these criteria, if you want to "layoff proof" your career, it makes sense to:

• Figure out where your company is headed an how how you can contribute to the achievement of that mission. 
• If you are in a position where you cannot confidently state what you are doing to help your company grow, it's time to get out and about conducting some informational interviews with business leaders in your company to figure out what's going on and how you can become a player.
• Put in the time and energy to obtain the skills/certifications that are needed in your particular field.  For example, HR has historically been seen as a field where people could advance steadily with relatively little specialized training.  Not so any more.  HR has advanced as a profession tremendously just in the last decade. Now to be seen as real talent, PHR or SPHR certification is recommended, and an MBA or MAIR degree is a good idea too.  The average worker is not putting in the the evening and weekend time and energy to obtain these credentials, so you will distinguish yourself if you are.
• Be known as a consistently high performer.  This doesn't necessarily mean you have to work more hours, it just means you need to work higher quality hours.  When at work focus on work, not surfing the Internet.  Volunteer for challenging assignments.  Come to meetings prepared with suggestions vs. waiting to see what others bring forth.

In work as in life, there are no guarantees.  You might do all of the above and more, and still get laid off.  But, if that does happen, you can rest assured that you will be more marketable in the workforce, you will have a network of people who know and can vouch for you, and you will have developed the skills and fortitude necessary to land on your feet again!

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