by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFA
At the bar in my favorite Asian fusion restaurant the other day, waiting for a table, my hubby and I overheard an interesting conversation between two twenty-something women. Apparently, one of them had lost her job earlier that day, and her friend was helping her drown her sorrows in martinis.
“You didn’t see it coming at all?” the friend asked.
“Of course I did,” sobbed the newly unemployed woman. “But what was I supposed to do?”
This conversation actually took me back several years to when a dear friend of mine was laid off. We had this exact same conversation.
Actually, there’s plenty you can do to keep the same think from happening to you. One thing I continuously remind people worried about their jobs to do, is to keep learning new things. The world is constantly changing, and you need to adapt and keep up. Take an evening class or finally master that program your boss wants to implement. Ask if you can take on a new type of project. Offer to cover a colleague when she goes out of town. This does not only show your boss that you care about the company and are interested in your job – you also come across as useful and versatile; the kind of person she would separate out and hang on to in case of a mass-layoff.
Of course, there are no guarantees. But don’t forget that the happier you make your boss, the nicer the letter of recommendation she will write for you if she does have to let you go.
