Richman: Pay attention! Your job security could depend on it
Richman: Pay attention! Your job security could depend on it
Worrying about how you can keep your job? Ask not what your business can do for you, ask what you can do for your business. And pay attention to what’s going on.
First focus on getting your job done and finding ways that you can help your boss get his done, too. Plan for tomorrow and take action today. If you’re a visionary, partner with people who make ideas happen. If you’re an implementer, partner with people with influence.
If you’re doing all the talking and no one is listening, change your message or change the way you’re delivering it. If you’re leading and no one is following, then they don’t like the direction you’re heading or they think you’re planning to get there without them.
If you insist you’re the smartest one in the room, you’ll end up being the only one in the room. If you spend your days fretting about the future, you’ll spend your future fretting about your days.
It’s OK to be uncertain or to feel unmoored, to vent and complain, shake your fists, stomp your feet and scream aloud. Just don’t do those things at work or you won’t have a workplace to go to anymore. It’s hard to know how things are going to shake out. You can’t predict what’s going to happen to your job, but you can minimize your problems and maximize your opportunities.
So pay attention. If you like being the only one to speak out when you see things you don’t like and you enjoy playing the role of truth-teller when everyone else looks the other way, stop doing it. If your boss wants that from you, he or she will let you know. If the boss doesn’t, he or she won’t have to tell you — your stay in the job will come to an end soon.
Pay attention. If you’re used to being the one to sit back and listen when others lean forward and talk, and you leave the meeting without having left anything of value, you may be in trouble. If you think you’re safe if you stay under the radar, you’re not.
You won’t get a medal if you’re the last one standing. There are no parades for those who defy the odds by insisting that everything is OK when clearly it isn’t. Update your résumé, line up your references and organize your networks.
When you’re at work, really be there. Do what you’re paid to do and do it better, smarter and faster than you have before. And when you leave for the day, make those after-hours count. Go online and connect to professional networks, attend professional meetings and apply online for opportunities that are in your area of interest.
Follow every indicator, cue and clue, however slight, for an introduction to one person that will lead to another, and then another. Take action quickly, without overthinking, and you’ll open doors and windows to positions you didn’t know existed.
It’s all possible, if you just pay attention.
Joyce Richman is a career coach conducting seminars and workshops throughout the United States, and is the author of “Roads, Routes & Ruts: A Guidebook for Career Success.” You can reach her at 288-1799 or JERichman@aol.com. Watch Richman’s latest career advice Wednesdays at 6:35 a.m. during “The Good Morning Show” on WFMY News 2. Read her blog at www.richmanresources.com.
