Rosemary Haefner with CareerBuilder.com hopes to help alleviate some fears.
Tips to Recession-Proof Your Job:
1) Toot your own horn. Provide regular updates of accomplishments you've made to the organization, quantifying results whenever possible. In particular, it's important to highlight contributions to sales or cost-cutting or ideas for new revenue streams. And it's important to make sure that your boss's boss knows about it as well.
2) Schoomze with the powers that be. Building strong relationships with the decision-makers in the organization is important. Volunteer for projects that prvoide you with visibility with key players, ask them for advice or insights into market trends, inform them of things you've accomplished and challenges you'd love to take on.
3) Start networking now. Don't wait until the layoffs have started. While networking events can be intimidating, they can be great career catalysts. And the Internet is offering a convenient and less stressful way to network through sites like Linked In and Facebook.
4) Prepare for the worst. Have an updated resume and cover letter ready to go at any time in case layoffs do occur. Also, try to set aside 3-6 months living expenses in a savings or money market account, so you can avoid tapping into your 401K or running up credit cards.
5) Look to recession-proof professions. There are certain professions that tend to weather a recession better than others because they offer services that are "must-haves." Healthcare, for instance, is recession-proof. Healthcare continues to add over 300,000 jobs annually and is experiencing a shortage of skilled workers. Utilities - electric, oil and gas are things people won't live without. Necessities like good and grocery/stores is another example.
