Seven ways to keep your job

I’m often asked what you can do to keep your job. And with 2.5 million unemployed people in the UK, it’s a topic never from everybody’s thoughts. The current state of the economy doesn’t help – but some people lose their jobs due to factors that are completely within their control. Having worked in industries as varied as manufacturing and banking, and in both the public and private sectors, here are my seven secrets of job security.

 

1.      Keep your skills and knowledge up to date
With change now a global certainty, being up to date in your skills and knowledge is no longer an advantage, it’s a necessity. Outdated skills set you back and we need to reinvent ourselves on a regular basis. Too many probationers are still probationers ten years later.

2.      Get on with your colleagues
If you can’t work with your colleagues you can’t do your job. Poor relationships lead to poor self-awareness, and this leads to poor working relationships. If there’s no mutual trust and confidence, then work fails.

3.      Have integrity
I’ve sadly watched so many promising individuals be dismissed for actions that I simply call foolish. It’s beyond my understanding why so many start evil rumours, tell lies or are just incessantly negative about everything in their workplace.

4.      Use your initiative
Too many employees want to believe that it’s someone else’s job to solve problems, relying on others to deliver solutions. Become one of the people with ideas and you become a valued member of the workforce.

5.      Deliver
I find it amazing how often people fail to deliver their objectives and fail again when asked to explain why. It’s a very simple contract based on each of us “earning our keep”. You can’t hide poor work for long, but most lazy workers actually believe others don’t see their laziness.

6.      Ditch the attitude of entitlement
Decades ago there may have been a belief that adequate work and reasonable attendance guaranteed you a job for life with benefits and a pension, but that time is long gone. Entitlement is now earned, not provided for free.

7.      Don’t be self-centered
The expectations of both today’s employees and employers have changed. Today’s worker wants choice and opportunity, and not a job for life. The employer on the other hand wants workers to demonstrate their value by their attitude, as well as their direct work. It’s about teamwork rather than self-interest, and humility not arrogance.

By Graham White 

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