There was a time that your job was secure if you were a superstar at the office. These days, no matter how stellar your performance, nothing is for certain. It’s not just the numbers that are frightening. (The Labor Department’s unemployment data released March 6 found that the jobless rate has grown to 8.1 percent, and in February alone 651,000 jobs were lost.) It’s that there is very little the government will do to assist those of us who are single if you suddenly become an employment casualty.
As part of the stimulus package for example, $155 million will be pumped into the City of New York to cover food stamps through September 2010. But Michael Bloomberg, the city’s mayor, has yet to sign a waiver to extend those benefits to single adults who are searching for a job.
To help you safeguard your job and your future, SingleEdition.com has reached out to Human Resource and Talent Agents. Here are a few tips to help you stay fireproof in good times and bad:
1. Put on Your Best Face(book): While social media outlets such as Facebook are quickly becoming a hiring agent’s dream, they may be an employee’s worst nightmare. That’s because many corporations are assessing personnel and job applicants based on their personal profile pages. Simple things like “posting your status” midday can send warning signals to your boss, so you better be smart about slacking off.
2. Be Careful What You Tweet, Someone May Be Speaking: On a similar note, those happy little tweets are not so innocent. Millions of people are reading and watching what you write everyday, including your co-workers. Getting busted trashing the company or a fellow employeeis a new norm that might put your job at risk.
3. Do Away with the (Dating) Drama: Whether it’s a break-up or break-down, too much talk about your personal life is destructive. No matter how talented or productive you are, sharing details about your love or family life exposes your vulnerabilities and puts them up for review.
4. Stop the Kvetching: A miserable employee can be cancer to an organization, and there is no company that can afford to tolerate that risk any longer. Companies are all re-assessing personnel needs in this economy, and will not hesitate to pinpoint those who whine the loudest. So save your complaints or, better yet, wake up each day and thank the good lord that you still have a job.
5. Don’t be a Nine to Fiver: Sure productivity matters most, but in this environment every organization needs a little extra push. So don’t skip out as if you were Fred Flinstone, now’s the time to put in those extra hours.
6. Skip the Binges and Excessive Boondogles: Pushing expense account limits for non-business specific outings can put you on the beancounter’s radar. And pole dancing drunk at the office party, even if it is after hours, can do a (corporate) body harm. Need we say more?
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