The economic situation is tough right now; it really hasn’t eased up much recently nor does it show signs of doing so anytime soon. No matter how productive you may be at what you do, you may find yourself out of work if the proverbial “house of cards” at your place of employment comes tumbling down.
If that was to happen, are you prepared? Regardless of how you feel your position stands in terms of security, you just never know – so it’s good to make sure you’re ready should the need arise.
But let’s take it one step further.
If your job was to disappear tomorrow, are you prepared to do something else instead?
What would you do if you were let go? Would you simply move on, or re-create your work like in some form or another? Would you go it alone? Let us know in the comments.
I was laid off back in October. I was halfway prepared since I’d Bern looking fir jobs having the foresight to see the end nearing ever closer. I haven’t found a job yet. Getting better and getting interviews and tests doesn’t mean a job is waiting. Now, on my first tier unemployment, options are low. I have been looking into jobs on the federal level. Trying. Trying. Trying. Six years in a dying industry (newspapers) gone. I know what I did wrong and what now to do right
I would spend my time working on side projects (like finishing my personal site) and trying to spend more time freelancing (I currently still take on one or two freelance projects a month). This would also include calling back some friends and non-profits that have contacted me looking for a real cheap website work. I would try to negotiate something fair, but no matter what I would try to keep some projects in the works. If none of those people were willing to pay me, I might pick a non-profit and donate my time and a custom WP theme (with some personal branding) for the write-off and to get my name out there. I might even work with them to build a WP theme that I would also put on wordpress.org or even ThemeForest if its really awesome.
I like taking on a free project for a friend every now and then too. It gives me the opportunity to experiment with some new methods or new technologies without worrying about a deadline (I also make sure that its clear that if a paying client comes along, my friend is ok with his site getting put on hold).
It definitely helps a lot having skills that work well for freelancing, and it also happens that I have an interview set up next week so I wouldn’t be in that bad of a position if I lost my job tomorrow.
I think for me that I would go freelance. It is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but needing to be able to have a full time job for the purposes of a mortgage have meant that I have had to put it off for a bit longer than I would have liked.
I work as a designer and developer, so freelancing is a good option I think. Besides, I have already been doing some work outside of my full time job, and have had to turn down work due to lack of time, so I hope I would be able to at least be OK in the short term.
In case I lose my job tomorrow. I’ll probably start doing things that I have shelved ever since getting a full-time job. It will be scary but I think it will be a challenging one too.
I’m efficient at doing stuff alone so maybe I’ll start doing it myself. I would initially want to lower down extra overhead expenses.
I’m in the UK and worked for RBS as the financial climate decided to implode on itself. Seeing as RBS was one of the major factors for Britains financial woes I was caught in the crossfire and my entire department ended up being made redundant. I hadn’t been with the company long and so wasn’t entitled to redundancy compensation either. All jobs had completely disappeared and agencies had zip. To keep myself going I did pretty much exactly what Ian has already mentioned. I worked on my portfolio website and took on pro bono design work to boost my portfolio and get my name out there. I did a free site for a snooker club nearby that is known as the centre for the snooker community here in hampshire, and soon enough with a lot of people using the club and seeing my work, as well as seeing me in there personally and playing a few frames, I soon got some small design jobs and a couple of people wanting SEO and ppc work managed for them. Just enough to keep me going until I was approached by an agency looking for someone who could specialise in email design. Because of the bolstering I had done on my personal work they had singled out my CV from the mass of online recruiters, and a month later landed myself a new job.
A lot of the time it’s not necessarily what you know, but who you know and making the correct choices. By saying I would design a high profile site for free, it made it possible for a lot of people to see my work, and make a name.
I actually started by freelancing..and then I quit a job I had got through freelancing to create my own web based business.
I am really happy and grateful that I can work on my own now, that I can work for myself, with no fear of having no job tomorrow.
-Nabeel
Crank up the freelancing to 11 and tell everyone I know that I need a new job ASAP.
I would definitely follow the woman in the pic above!
I would do this!
http://lemonademovie.com/
I’d like to think I’d start freelancing more than the odd job for friends and family I’m currently doing. But having been made redundant in October I know that’s easier said than done
I was made redundant and found a job within a week, paying more and offering more responsibility. I think a large part of it was luck but having a CV ready to send out on the day I was made redundant and a calm attitude when talking about it to my prospective employers helped as well.
If it does happen again hopefully I’ll be able to use the confidence finding a job so quickly last time gave me to actually try freelancing or contracting.
Watch every single World Cup match, backpack a couple of months, then get another job…
Thats what ma plan would be as well.