Five Tips to Save Your Job and Advance Your Career During the Lousy Economy

The economy is in the toilet and will likely stay there. That’s not really news. What IS interesting is that you can save your job and enhance your career with these five tips. The tips circle around marketing and communications but the concepts are the same for everyone. So read on and apply them to your own situation.

1. Don’t Identify Problems. That’s right don’t simply identify problems, SOLVE them. It’s great if you point out what’s wrong but figuring out the solution, presenting it to the chief and then implementing it – now, that sets you apart.  Worse, if all you do is identify problems you may be seen as a complainer or someone with a bad attitude. If you were the boss with limited budget you’d probably get rid of the complainer with the bad attitude first. Don’t be that person! If you solve problems you’ll be more valuable now (when others are loosing their jobs) and then you’ll be higher up the food chain when hiring begins again.

2. It’s Not My Job. Yes it is! Everything is your job. With dwindling resources your company and your clients are looking to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of everyone. If you want to succeed and progress you have to do things you’ve never done before. So do stuff that isn’t your job. You can stretch this all the way to picking up that scrap of paper on the office floor everyone else walks by. Why would you pick it up? Because it’s the right thing to do. It shows respect for your work environment and that you care how your office it looks. It helps other people because they see a clean workplace and have a more positive view. At the very least, ad guys need to do some PR work, PR folks need to do some production work, media folks need to help with copy, everyone needs to do some Social Media work. That leads into my next tip.

3. Never Stop Learning. Learn new programs. Experiment with Social Media. Practice your writing. Take a class. Join a networking group. The more you know the more secure you are. The stronger your ties to the industry the better off you are. Now’s the time to be a Jack of All Trades. Don’t put yourself, your knowledge and your career into one small bucket – diversify! The more you know the more valuable you are. “Knowledge is power” is not a phrase to be taken lightly. Now is really a time to be a Jack of All Trades.  These are exponential times. The world is changing faster than many can adapt. Don’t be a dinosaur.

4. Be a Rainmaker. Read the book How to Be a Rainmaker. It’s about being a sales person. We all need to be salespeople right now. We really need to be sales people all the time…. I know, it’s not your job (see tip 3 above). Look for opportunities. They will be hard to find but find some. Work with your boss to contact prospects, develop a mailing, work on business via LinkedIn, help with proposals. If your company isn’t getting new biz then you aren’t going to have a job. Clients eventually move on. It’s a fact of life. You need to help keep the new biz pipeline full so that you’ll have a job in the future. And, as an integral part of the new biz pipeline, you are more secure in your position.

5. Market Yourself! Market yourself in the company, with your clients and to your peers and networks. First, they’ll all see (if you follow these 5 simple tips) that you are a proactive, problem solver, who is eager to learn and has a stong network. There’s job security. And in the unfortunate event that you find yourself unemployed you’ll have a lot of contacts who know you and your strengths and are likely to help you find your next endeavor. Second, your marketing of yourself will help you with Tip #4 above. So, do you have a marketing plan for yourself?

Just like the old marketing advice that says “now (when the economy is at its worst) is the time to advertise” now is the time to pull out your career stops.  The logic there of couse is that in advertising your competitors are pulling back their ad spending making your investment even stronger and more valuable. Likewise, when your collegues and competitors are getting disgruntled and out-dated, you’ll be increasing your knowlege and influence.

So, get out there and work on your career.  Solve problems, accept that everything is your job, learn all the new stuff you can, be a rain maker and market yourself!