What You Can Do Before a Layoff Hits

Given the state of the U.S. economy and resulting corporate belt-tightening, it makes sense to be prepared for a possible layoff. And for those employed by a company struggling financially, getting “job search ready” is a wise move.

Here are some steps you can take to soften the blow should a layoff hit.

Get Your Resume Ready: Refresh your resume by bringing it up to date, adding new skills as you master them and including career related milestones and accomplishments. You can always trim irrelevant information from final versions as you customize your resume for specific opportunities.

Keep Your Network Alive and Well: Actively networking while you’re still working is the best way to keep your network thriving; check in with network members with a quick lunch, phone call or email; seek out opportunities to help others - someday you may want to ask them to help you.

Start thinking about a career change now: If you’ve been thinking of making a career change, you’re much better off pursuing it while you’re still employed. A career transition takes more time than a job search. You want to give yourself the time to do it when you’re not under pressure so you can find a new career that’s really right for you.

Copy your official personnel folder: Get a copy of your personnel file from HR - performance reviews, letters of commendation, warnings, etc, and copy it - “just for my own records.” Although you may have many of these documents already (which, of course, you have been keeping over the years), make a copy of everything you can.

Put together a list of potential references: Ask supervisors, managers, colleagues, co-workers, and subordinates, whom you have worked well with for their personal contact information so that you can stay in touch after you, or they, leave your current employer.

Be a reference for others: If you like another’s work, be willing and prepared to be a reference for co-workers, colleagues, supervisors, and subordinates. This is a great way to initiate post-employment networking, and that’s a very good thing for your future job searches.

If you become clear that a lay-off is coming, quietly remove personal items from the workplace: Start taking personal items home, as quietly and as unobtrusively as you can as you may not have time to pack should you get tapped. If you’ve installed your own software on your company’s computer, take home the package, and all related discs and documents. Also, if you’ve done any personal work on your office computer, be sure to take copies home and delete those files from the office computer.

A word of caution: Be careful about removing anything that the company would consider to be owned by the company, including documents and information marked “confidential” or considered proprietary, like customer lists, proposals, patent applications, financial reports, etc. Unless you’ve made advance arrangements, your employer probably “owns” what you have created at work. They also own your office computer and the office supplies you use. You can be sued for violating confidentiality agreements or even accused of theft. Call an attorney outside the company if you are not sure. You don’t want to become a “criminal” in the process of preparing for your next job search.

Educate yourself on company severance policy: Explore the company policy manual to find out what you can expect from the company as standard practice and identify, in advance, what you might be able to negotiate as part of that package. Prepare yourself to negotiate for as much as company policy allows.

Pursue disability coverage before you lose your job: Personal disability coverage is an important thing to have - and it’s also important to secure coverage based on your current level of income. Apply for such coverage while your income is at its highest. This could involve supplementing the group coverage you may have through your job with individual coverage.