How do you prepare in case you’re asked to leave the company? – Insurance Professional
Kudos to this professional for thinking proactively about what they would do with an unexpected job loss. See recent posts on dealing with furlough (say, due to a government shutdown), being replaced by AI (or other emerging technology), or simply finding that your career promotion is blocked. Preemptively playing career defense ensures you’re adequately prepared for a downturn.
That said, for the sake of your mental health, you don’t want to unnecessarily worry. To maintain a supportive professional network, you don’t want to be a complainer. As a show of commitment to your current role, you don’t want to be outwardly negative or pessimistic about your company’s prospects. Keep the doomsday thinking to yourself, but do some career doomsday prepping to enjoying its surprising benefits:
Benefit 1: Confidence When You’ve Prepared For The Worst-Cast Scenario
If you preemptively stay job search ready, even when you don’t need a job, you develop confidence that you will be okay regardless of the conditions around you.
How To Maintain Career Confidence
Keep your resume and online profile optimized so people can find you and know what you’re doing and capable of doing right now, not years ago. Maintain strong professional connections so that when you need to reach out, it doesn’t feel transactional. Be aware of other companies and roles outside your day-to-day, so you can jump on opportunities at short notice. Mind your personal finances so you have reserves to support you as you make your next move.
Why Career Confidence Matters
The confidence you exhibit is a boost to your executive presence – people notice and gravitate to confident people. Confidence gives you leverage to negotiate with your manager on projects you want, resources you need, and/or getting the pay and title you deserve. Confidence is an important factor in getting noticed for leadership opportunities, such as presenting in meetings or taking on a new initiative.
Benefit 2: Creativity Because You’re Forced To Think Of Alternative Options
Doomsday thinking that your role, company or even industry may disappear forces you to think of alternative options to what you are doing now.
How To Think More Creatively About Your Career
If you didn’t have your current career, what else would you be doing? Have you consider living somewhere else? If you have only worked for large companies, what could you do at a startup (or could you from small to big employer)? Block off a few minutes on a quiet weekend or evening, and brainstorm on career ideas based on what you want to do, not on what happened to have done already.
Why Creativity Matters To Career Even If You’re Not In A Creative Profession
In the current era, where computers can solve many problems more quickly and easily than humans, ability to think creatively is your critical advantage. In an economy where there is so much access to information, listening to yourself and finetuning your inner compass is where you’ll find the most relevant insights. In a job market that is changing rapidly, thinking creatively is critical to anticipating where the growth and opportunities are.
Benefit 3: Choices That Might Be Better Than What You Have Now
As you nurture the confidence and creativity courtesy of career doomsday thinking, you see choices that might be better than what you have now.
How To Uncover Choices Without Quitting Your Job
You can be 100% focused on your current job, but still maintain contact with outside colleagues, one of whom shares an interesting role. You don’t have to quit to have an exploratory conversation with a recruiter specializing in your role or industry who updates you on the market. You don’t have to be a manager at your current company to take a leadership role as a board member of a community organization or as a committee member of your trade association, which gives you visibility and a chance to demonstrate your leadership potential – and which may lead to you being tapped for other advancement opportunities.
Why Choices Matter Even If You Never Leave Your Job
Hearing about other opportunities from professional colleagues, recruiters or other acquaintances is real-time feedback that your background is marketable. Digging deeper into job openings, even if ultimately stay where you are, is a great way to check if you’re being compensated and titled fairly. Learning about what other industries and companies are doing gives you ideas you can use to improve your own job.
Career Doomsday Prepping Isn’t Paranoia — It’s Smart Strategy
There are strategic benefits to career doomsday prepping, as long as you move from doomsday thinking (which could get you paranoid) to the actual doing of something proactive. If it sounds overwhelming to you, pick one small step. For example, focus on the confidence boost, and update your most current experience on your resume, or reach out to a long-lost colleague to rekindle the connection. Oftentimes, the positive feeling you get from the first step is enough motivation to take the next step, and the next, and the next.