How to Keep Your Job 


How to Keep Your Job

Here are 12 steps to develop your career and help you keep your job. For more details look in my book Chapter 5.

Step 1.The first week on the job is crucial to your career so here are six essential things to do:

  • Prepare the day before you start at your new job.
  • Learn about your job and start doing it.
  • Get to know the names of the people in your area.
  • Get your workplace organized.
  • Learn about the administrative procedures such as filling out reports, access to technical support and supplies.
  • Learn about the company organization.

Step 2. Remember you are essentaily alone, especially if things go wrong.

Step 3. Become a highly competent producer.

Step 4. Establish good relations with your supervisor.

Step 5. Keep a journal of your acheivements.

Step 6. Keep looking to the future, develop, and follow your career plan.

Step 7. Volunteer for projects.

Step 8. Practice these dozen on-the-job skills.

  • Handle your emotions.
  • Be positive.
  • Treat others the way you want to be treated.
  • Know the company's goals and your supervisor's goals.
  • Ask for advice from successful people.
  • Avoid negative emotional reactions; these can be like a snake bite.
  • Present solutions not problems.
  • Keep track of your accomplishments and give recognition to others.
  • Do assignments well, on time, always.
  • Keep growing and learning.
  • Keep developing your network within the company.
  • Work on improvement projects. 

Step 9. Let me enlarge on this last point "Work on improvement projects." These could be:

  • Improve your on-going work.
  • Solve problems, especially ones that keep occuring.
  • Develop innovations that apply to your job or even the company.

Step 10. Develop a continous improvement attitude and process. For example, design a project, activate the project and evaluate. Improve it based on your evaluation.

Step 11. Keep growing and learning. Look at your transferable and technical skills and develop ways of impoving them. Be very competent.

Step 12. Develop a personal career control plan and put in a three ring binder. Keep this plan up-to-date. This plan will include:

  • Your transferable skills
  • Your technical skills
  • Job targets
  • Position evaluations
  • Contact lists
  • Development activities
  • Comprehensive career plan (where you have been and where you want to go.)
  • Short-term action plan
  • Career progress including your yearly goals and quarterly goals.
  • Summary of accomplishments

Step 13. This is called a bakers dozen.

Write by hand an action plan to further develop and control your career. 

1. Long term goal.

2. Short term goals

3. Baby steps or immediate actions