How to Keep Your Job. (Staffing Solutions).

There is a new set of practical strategies for getting ahead in the corporation. Ironically, they're the same strategies used by those executives who are most successful at finding new jobs when the downsizing axe falls. The people who succeed in today's corporate world are constantly renewing their skills, as if they were planning for a new career. People who continually network inside and outside their company, acquire skills that transfer easily between functions, and keep abreast of what they're worth are the ones who succeed. They're more likely to advance at a company because they have the skills to move to another if necessary. No matter how good one is in one's job, a typical individual will experience one major career change and four company changes, two of them involuntary, in the course of his or her working life. To manage a career successfully today, use the following strategies:

* Learn your value in the wider job market. How many jobs are there out there for someone with your job title, education, and experience? Are your current salary and benefits above or below the norm? Without a clear understanding of these issues, your career is in someone else's hands, not your own.

* Examine which of your skills are transferable to other functions and which are applicable only to the single narrow job you do now. Are there other job descriptions which use some of the skills you have? Gain a realistic appreciation of your options.

* Aggressively pursue continuing education, particularly in the skill and knowledge areas you have identified as transferable to other jobs or careers. No single think you do to advance your career is as important as being in the habit of learning new skills.

* Network both inside and outside the company relentlessly. Wide contacts throughout a company are far more likely to pay off than the old strategy of finding a rising star and sticking with him or her. This kind of networking also keeps you aware of what is going on elsewhere in the company and allows you to anticipate and capitalize on coming changes.

* Actively look for other opportunities within the company (or even outside the company) that give you broader understanding of the whole. Lateral moves within a company can actually help your career.

* Manage your boss as assiduously as your subordinates. This means analyzing what the company expects from your boss and doing what- ever is in your power to allow him or her to succeed. It means making sure your boss knows what your priorities and goals are. Knowing how your work fits into the company's hierarchical structure is essential to recognizing opportunities when they come along.

* Do not be afraid of changing jobs. It will happen. If you have followed the previous six steps and have kept your resume updated, you will even welcome it, because it will mean more opportunity. Companies no longer offer people careers, people create their own careers. Those who actively manage their careers are the ones who don't even miss a beat when upheaval hits a company. They're the ones who are prepared for it, the ones who planned for it. They're the ones who can get a job anywhere, and the ones who the company rewards.