This Domain For Sale. Contact us for more information.

Layoff Survival Guide - Do You Have The Career Management Horsepower It Will Take To Survive?

In a recent survey of over 662 career seekers, some disturbing trends identified that MOST career seekers don't have a clue what career management skills they have or what those skills are! As a result, it will be difficult for these career seekers to succeed.

In fact, only 71% of the respondents recognized they had any career management skills at all! That's why they are particularly vulnerable to future layoffs

Before skipping to the answers, try your hand at identifying YOUR career management skills.

List your Top 3:

1)______________

2)______________

3)______________

Now, let's compare your answers - and your survivability - to these respondents.

Simply by reading this, you are gaining horsepower versus your competition! You'll begin honing some competitive edges - and hopefully, it may be enough to survive through (and possibly avoid) future layoffs.

What are the real career management skills necessary for success and how does your competition stack up?

Let's check out the facts:

Top 5 Career Management Skills

1) NETWORKING (internal): - Always building contacts and relationships within your chosen profession and in your industry these may turn out to be your very best source for new possibilities especially to stay in the industry where you are. SPOTTING OPPORTUNITIES ahead of your competition through these contacts is a critical career management skill.

Only 10% of respondents had networking as a career management skill. Leaving 90% missing the boat and on the block for future chops.

2) NETWORKING (external): - Always build relationships outside your profession. These may serve as the entree to new possibilities. Just think, these individuals may PROVIDE CLUES to upcoming opportunities.

No one differentiated the distinct differences between internal and external networking?but it is critical in survival strategies.

3) HAVING A CAREER PLAN: How can you arrive at a destination without having the course charted? A careening career is a "career by coincidence". Not the way to survive in the current economic and business realities.

Only 1% of the respondents recognized identified having a roadmap or blueprint for their own career as important. Many thought business planning was a critical skill but not necessarily for charting their career.

4) KNOW THYSELF: If you are to market yourself, then you must be able to objectively view the assets and liabilities you have. It must not be blinded by rosy glasses or dark ones, but you must sustain inspection with a powerful microscope. In fact, because we humans possess so many personal filters, this process is nearly impossible without the aid of some professionals who can view you objectively. These professionals will invariably see things in you that you can't see in yourself - both plusses and warts.

Again, only 1% of the respondents got this one. If you don't know the details of the product you are marketing, how can you effectively market it internally (or externally if you don't follow the steps above)? An objective third party that is trained and sensitized will make sure you don't miss any "key features" in the unique product you are marketing named "YOU".

5) KNOW YOUR COMPETITION: If you are to market yourself - you must realize that you are not competing in a vacuum! Your skills and capabilities will be stacked up against many others in the company and it's not always the most qualified who stays or who gets promoted. It's always the one who markets themselves the best!

No respondents got this one but it is critical to success.

How did you do? Did you get those career management skills correct - or did you struggle? Are you vulnerable or are you on track? Awareness of these skills will help you chart a course through potential layoffs and keep you way ahead of your competition.

The final score:

YOU - WIN!

Everyone else - second place and off the field.

Bruce Benskin is a regioinal manager for R.L. Stevens & Associates Inc. For over 24 years R.L. Stevens & Associates (http://interviewing.com/) has been the Nation's most successful privately-held firm, specializing in executive career searches generating quality interviews through both advertised and unadvertised channels.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Careers & Employment Information:

Whats Stopping You from Getting Your Next, Good Job?
This question comes up often when I'm working with someone to help them move forward in finding their next job.What is it that compels people to stay "stuck"?1.

Bullseye Interviewing
An interview is much like a blind date. You have sweaty palms, heart palpitations, shaky nerves and a preconceived notion of what could happen.

Sweeping Up Worms
With the opening of a new venture and numerous reporters arriving in an hour, it felt like one of those "chickens with heads off" days. We were close, but not ready.

Avoid Mistakes and Gaffes in Your Job Resume
Having mistakes and gaffes in your job resume spell disaster for your job search. The last thing an employer needs is to look at a poorly written resume.

Have Some PASTA with Your Interview
When cyclists prepare for a big race, they always make sure they load up on the carbs. It is not uncommon to have a pasta feed the night before an important event so that the athletes can store up some of the carbohydrates they will be burning up the next day.

Why You Need To Be An Intrapreneur
When a client asks me if I think he or she is a good candidate for starting a new business, I ask several questions (see our free assessment, "Are You an Entrepreneur?"). But the truth of the matter is that these questions are similar to ones that I'd ask someone who wants to move up in an organization or find a new position elsewhere.

Seven Tips to a Job-Winning Interview
These days, interviews don't come easily. When you get The Call, make the most of your time -- and go for it!1.

10 Ways to Speed-Up Your Job Search Effort
Today everyone knows at least one person who has lost their job to down-sizing, right-sizing, cut-backs, production reduction or a mean, vicious "bogus leader" who could care less about your family, your life or your existence at the company. This may sound a bit overboard, but everyone has probably experienced the manager, supervisor or company leader from hell, and if you haven't just stick around.

7 Deadly Cover Writing Sins
Don't start off your job search with one (or more) strikesagainst you by committing any of these common cover letterblunders. Each is easy to avoid, but they can sink yourchances of an interview if you include them in your letter.

How to Make More Job Contacts Faster, through Viral Marketing
Are you in the job market? Sick of every blog-byte cramming down your throat that you have to get out there and network? Feel like your traditional networking efforts have turned into a self-destructive waste of time? Online Social Networking (OSN), a form of viral marketing, is a better way to hook up to opportunity. Done right, it'll do wonders for your self-esteem and warp-speed your contact development.

Personal Grooming: 8 Top Reasons Why You Can't Take It For Granted In Your Career
Most people when they landed "the dream job" after an interview or even got "the deal" of the lifetime in their businesses, sadly to say tend to slack on their grooming habits and it even goes to the point that they are wearing their pajamas going to the office. It seems that's very extreme but it happens.

The Inevitable Job Interview Question: "Why Did You Leave (Are Planning To Leave) Your Last Position
This is a question that you can almost count on being asked at your next interview What the interviewer wants to know is, "Why are you available?"The answer you give could set the tone for the rest of the interview. For instance, if you were to indicate that you were bored or burned out at your last job, the interviewer would quickly become concerned about your performance at this company.

Moving From A Weekend Hobby To Career In The Arts
Building a career as an artist takes hard work. Because the field attracts so many talented people, jobs in this field remain competitive.

How People Really Explore New Careers: What Does A Real Career Search Look Like?
The traditional model of career choice suggests a linear pattern. Get to know yourself.

Free Resume Template: What Makes a Good One?
You can drown in the "free resume examples," "free resume templates," and "free resume samples" on the web.In my opinion, a single thing makes one free resume template different from another: results.

The Telecommuting Tightrope
For many of us, telecommuting seems like the ideal situation. You wake up, shuffle over to your home office, work at your own pace.

Success at Work: Techniques: Computer Literacy
It's hard to believe that there are people in today's workforce who don't know how to use a computer. In today's society, being computer illiterate is equivalent to being functionally illiterate.

Top 10 Skills for New World of Work
There are many changes coming in the world of work, such as increased competition, the need for more education and certifications, and the trend to change careers 5-7 times in a lifetime. No matter what job or career path you decide to take, there are some basic skills that all employers look for.

Who Should Write Your Resume?
This is a question we get a lot. It seems rather easy to do it yourself if you have access to a word processing program and printer and feel comfortable writing your job history.

The Not-So-Effective Cover Letter
Here's a newsflash: Cover letters work, plain and simple. This is why I'm intrigued by the fact that a) jobseekers rarely submit them and b) hiring managers seldom read them.