The recent credit crunch saw many companies fold and as a result, hundreds of people lost their jobs. It was not just the smaller companies who felt the brunt of the crumbling economy but larger well-known organisations and banks went bust overnight. This left scores of unemployed wondering how they would meet their mortgage payments and stay afloat.

This article will show you how to become one of the fortunate few who have held onto their role in the face of adversity. The economy has not yet fully recovered and jobs are hard to find so it is important to buckle up and make yourself recession proof to rise above this current situation. Read on to discover ways that you can remain in employment during these hard times. Just to let you know, we regularly run management courses in London!

Make yourself indispensable
Many people are under the illusion that a company could not run without them, but when redundancies come up, they find it hard to accept that they are also in the firing line. The best way to make yourself indispensable is to do everything that you said you were capable of doing in your interview. This means picking up extra tasks, taking training courses, attending workshops…anything which will allow you to be able to turn your hand to other duties as they arise. Invent more work tasks and show your employers that you are able to handle them and are a great multi-tasker.

By showing that you can wear many different hats, a company that is experiencing difficulties is more likely to hold onto a staff member who is equally as functional in the graphics and IT department rather than one who just troubleshoots in graphics. This way the company get more bang for their buck and you remain an employee who is too valuable to let go.

Let bygones be bygones…
Keep your head down during this unpredictable time and distance yourself from all forms of office politics. If you have some enemies within the workplace, try to build bridges and heal the rift subtly without drawing attention to yourself. Show your nice side and how well you work with your colleagues. Make it hard for people to find something bad to say about you and make yourself likeable but don’t go over the top. No-one likes the over-friendly approach. At the end of the day, you want a good character reference. When everyone is fighting to save their job, the claws will come out. Don’t make yourself a target for character assassination, because when heads are on the chopping block, your colleagues will not hesitate to betray you for the sake of their own positions.

Keep your ear to the ground…
Losing your job does not have to be a bolt from the blue. By keeping yourself tuned into vibes which are buzzing around the office, you can ascertain what the future will hold.

Any hints of forthcoming job cuts are an indicator that the company is hitting hard times. Turn to the media for further clues. If similar companies are making staff cutbacks, it would hardly take a clairvoyant to work out that there may be trouble looming. Scour newspapers for articles and announcements about your company’s competitors or the company that you work for. Browse through stocks and share figures to get a feel for where the market is heading. Learn to trust your hunches and remember… instinct is the nose of the mind so keep sniffing out those subtle hints and clues to what is going on within your company. This way, if you smell a rat, you can take action and stay one step ahead of the game.

Time for a change…
If all else fails and talk is rippling throughout the company that job cuts could be on the horizon, it makes logical sense to start looking for a new job before these ripples turn into waves and you are swept into unemployment. Large scale companies often have to lose a lot of staff, so strike while the iron is hot and secure some interviews with other companies before you are competing with the rest of your unemployed colleagues for the same position.

If you are lucky enough to be invited to an interview, ask a lot of questions about the position. For example, was your predecessor made redundant? If so, tread lightly as the company may be hiring you as a way of cutting wage costs. However, if this is a new role or the previous employee left of his own accord, the company could be sailing through the recession and expanding successfully. This is something you will definitely want to take advantage of.