How to protect your job in a recession

According to Forbes.com, September’s layoffs totaled over 12,600 displaced employees:

• Sept. 16: ConAgra lays off 300 at a North Carolina facility where a June explosion cut production capacity.
• Sept. 14: Eli Lilly & Company (LLY) fires 5,500 as it braces against patent expiration on four of its five top-selling drugs.
• Sept. 11: Monsanto ( MON) doubles previous layoff plans from 900 to 1,800 jobs--8% of the company's total workforce.
• Sept. 11: Dell ( DELL) closes customer service call center in Idaho, eliminating 500 jobs.
• Sept. 10: Deere & Company (DE) lays off 367 production workers in Illinois as part the company continues ongoing layoffs.
• Sept. 9: H.J. Heinz's (HNZ) frozen food arm fires 65 workers in Idaho.
• Sept. 8: Valero Energy (VLO) closes a portion of a refinery in Delaware--cuts 150 employees and 100 contractors.
• Sept. 2: Danaher (DHR) acquires two medical companies for $1.1 billion and pink-slips 3,300 workers.
• Sept. 1: American Airlines (AMR) fires 921 flight attendants.

So how do you protect yourself from the dreaded pink-slip? First and foremost, you have to be indispensable and willing not only to go the extra mile, but be genuine in doing it.

Note your worth and be creative:

Keep a weekly status report that summarizes the project or projects you're currently working on, plus, your progress on those projects and key performance indicators. Forward your weekly status reports to your boss and/or present them to in weekly meetings. Weekly status reports aren’t enough to prove your worth, you’ll also need to be an adept a cost cutter and idea generator.

Be positive:

If you’re part of the rumor mill or the boss is an idiot crowd, you’ll be among the first to go. Just because you’re superiors may not be part of either of the two, it doesn’t mean they don’t have ears.

Should you find yourself on the wrong side of this scenario, it’s not enough just to change your attitude, you need not only to be sincere, but take action to confirm the change. You may have to go as far as to hold a team meeting or meet with your boss to right the situation in your department or area.

Be a team player and make sacrifices:

This is where “go the extra mile comes in”. But you should be careful about being to enthusiastic or out-front with your volunteerism, too much will paint your nose brown and make you the target of your co-workers.

There’s nothing wrong with going the extra mile and being flexible, but you’ll have to strike a balance between productivity and self-preservation. That means don’t take on an extra work load to short your co-workers or they quickly come to see you as a threat and not a team player.

Make sacrifices:

Give back bonuses, except less in a commission, forgo overtime, and purchasing supplies out of your own pocket will show dedication. But be careful of offering to take a pay cut or work less hours because you’ll be undercutting worth, both productively and monetarily.

Get to know your company:

Learn more about your company when times get tough, if you have an accurate understanding of the company’s challenges you become more valuable in being not only knowledgeable but able to diversify and adapt. Your value becomes more inherent, so your employer would consider transferring you to another office or department in order to retain you rather than let you go.

To better familiarize yourself with the company use chances to volunteer on committees or for events to meet others in the company you don’t regularly interact with and get information on their roles, departments, as well as their take on the company.

Don't spread rumors but don’t outright dismiss the word around the office:

As state, rumor mongers are among the first to go, but those same rumors could help you. If you’re hearing about cutting here or there, identify where they’re not talking about cutting and get yourself on that track.

Don't be a know-it-all:

If you have a history of telling others how you’d run things if you were in charge, but on the look-out, particularly if you’re in a management position. Know-it-alls and cold-water throwers aren’t likeable under normal circumstances and during a economic downturn they’re about as popular as pet rocks.

Lead and show enthusiasm:

Show that you can handle the pressure that it’s not to hot for you in the kitchen. If you demonstrate leadership and follow it up with teamwork, you’ll be setting an example and proving your worth.

Whatever you may be working on now is more valuable than what you’ve done in the past: the old what have you done for me lately cliché.