Updates Just in Case

Layoffs and re-organizing staff happens seemingly all the time. It also is very frequently something that occurs during mergers and acquisitions that companies go through. A company will merge or get bought by another company and then the dust settles on that whole process. At the end of that dust settling process, you will often find that some of the people no longer have jobs and that's difficult to deal with for a lot of people.

This recently happened to people in my company, and it was very difficult to see it happen to people that I've worked with here and there over the years. It did give me some resolve though, to take the crucial preventative measure step and getting my resume updated!

We would all like to think that if layoffs were going to happen, that we would be safe from that type of thing. I know I certainly would like to think that, and it's part of the reason that I get involved with and get into many different groups. I don't stay in my own little bubble and keep quiet, making it so nobody sees me or the things that I can and enjoy doing. I get myself out there! I think this is a good strategy to partake in so that we can get connected to some people, and although layoffs are going to happen, sometimes if it's between somebody who is always helping others out that makes the same money as someone who sticks to themselves, they will keep the one who helps others. That's what I tell myself at least, and what helps me sleep at night :D.

In the same token though, it's always so important not to be caught with your guard down and hopeless. I spent a few hours the other day making sure my resume was up to date with all of the things that have been going on in my realm, as well as creating a cover letter. I think this is such an important step for people to take so that we can take a step in the right direction, if something were to happen, and make it quickly.

I never want to be caught unprepared for things. That is obviously very difficult to have as a goal, but there are a lot of common sense things that we can do such as this activity here. Just making some simple updates to a resume make a world of difference in the speed with which we can apply to jobs. I think next week I am going to just peruse some companies that I work with in my day to day, or know of, and see if they have role openings. By keeping an eye on the market, we are also really well positioned to take advantage of being nimble.

I definitely love the people I work with, and the work that I do, however I am not going to be delusional enough to think that the company I work for is going to be where I spend the next 15-20 years of my working career. It may very well be, at the end of the day, but these days you can never bet on something like that. By keeping yourself nimble and updated with things like this, you can insulate yourself a lot from the fallout of random layoffs occurring!

What about you, have you tried to be prepared if something were to happen to jobs at your company? If not, would you consider working to get prepared now?