Starting Work
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Recession Proof Your Career
February 01, 2008
A day rarely passes when I don’t hear someone speculating about the possibility that we are entering, or are already in the midst of, an economic recession. That means the workplace is just about to undergo yet another change, especially for its most junior members and new recruits.
One of my law firm contacts recently told me how last year his firm had scrambled—and scrambled hard—to find an adequate number of summer associates. Each and every one of those summer associates received an offer. This year, the firm recruited more summers. Each one of those summers will spend their time with firm knowing darn well that all of them will not receive offers.
Anyone entering the workplace today should be prepared to recession proof his or her career. Here are a couple of strategies to implement now:
- As never before, now is the time to show up for work eager and excited to be there. Show up on time, if not early, and stay late. Work at finishing your projects quickly and superlatively. Then, see if you can be of assistance to anyone else in your department. Make yourself the one person that every manager would hate to lose.
- Start building your professional network. Opportunities have a strange way of popping up in unexpected places. Begin building relationships with people in your department, in other organizational departments, in other companies or firms and even in other industries. Without a network, you can’t possibly know about those opportunities.
- Don’t worry. We’ve been through recessions before, and we’ll venture through them again. Even in recessionary times, consumers require certain products and services. If you are a new service provider, you can now provide those services at a far less expensive rate than more senior providers. Get competent quick.
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