In today’s economic climate, companies are increasingly taking the quick route to firing employees, giving them fewer warnings and signals than ever before. When management desires to downsize quickly, you may suddenly and unexpectedly find yourself out of a job.
Although there are employers that will use alternative options to avoid firing a worker, many employers do fire without a second thought.
Some employers are using the slightest reason to fire workers and with high unemployment, it’s not a good time to lose a job without having secured a new one.
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5 Tips to Avoid Getting Fired from a Job
Even if you hate your job and are looking for a new one, you’ll want to consider these five ways not to get fired in the meantime:
Pay Attention to Your Performance
It is absolutely critical that you are at least meeting your goals right now. To avoid getting fired, step it up a notch and exceed your goals. Performance is the ultimate reason for a company to keep an employee. Make your achievements known when possible without obvious self-promotion. Occasionally note what you’ve accomplished in conversations with your boss or in emails. If you can quantify your achievements, that’s considerably more powerful.
Don’t Hide
Make yourself known. Converse with your boss. Know what he or she is looking for in the short-term. Remember, in tough economic times your manager is also concerned about his or her employment status. When you know your boss’s goals you can help to fine-tune your own performance to help them with their performance. Also, the better the boss knows you the harder it is to fire you. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can fly under the radar.
Be Aware How Your Behavior is Perceived
If you’ve had any prior issues related to inappropriate workplace behavior (actual or perceived) be sure to avoid repeating the behavior at all costs. People get fired more often for their social interactions in the workplace than performance-related issues. If you exhibit both issues, a struggling company won’t tolerate you.
For example, today it may be difficult for those in sales jobs to meet their quotas. Which underachiever on the sales team do you think will be fired first? The likeable employee who hasn’t met his goals or the salesperson who hasn’t met goals AND has social problems with coworkers and management? It’s an easy choice, isn’t it?
Put in Your Time
Get to work on time (early is even better) and don’t be the first one out the door. This is one way to display your dedication to your job. No one wants to fire an employee who shows effort and concern over their job. Putting in extra time is a great way to display your desire to keep and excel at your job.
Be Flexible
This is not the time to have the “not my job” attitude. Not your job? Well, how about no job then? Be cooperative and do what the company asks of you. Avoid getting fired now and leave when you do find the job you want. You also have the opportunity to wait until the company is more stable and then state your career desires if you’ve positioned yourself well. You should also understand that sometimes being flexible leads to new opportunities that help you advance in your career.
Avoid the Employment Gap – Take Action!
People get fired for actively breaking one or often all five of these very basic rules. If you can improve in these areas on the job, you should take action now.
Avoid an employment gap on your resume while achieving what you desire in your career.
Lynn Mattoon is a Content Editor & Career Writer for SalesHeads.com, a Beyond.com career community.
You may be interested in reading other Lynn’s articles of this series: