How To Stay Off The Unemployment List – Part 1

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Tell-Tale Signs That Your Company is Scaling Back
I’ve worked at a lot of companies, and I’ve been lucky to have only been laid off at one of them. I was let go on very short notice, with no plans set in motion to prepare for what lay ahead. Looking back, I wish I had paid attention to some glaring red flags that things weren’t going very smoothly in management and funding land.

When a company is going down, or scaling back, you’ll notice. And the more aware you become of your company’s financial situation, the more you’ll be able to prepare for the worst.

In this segment, you’ll learn about a few red flags to look out for at your company, to help you determine what you should do to maintain your financial security. And next time, you’ll get a few action steps to take to make sure you have a safety net in case you are ever called into the office one sunny, unassuming morning.

RED ZONE INDICATORS

Interns Abound
At my former place of work, the company hired a lot of interns, and I loved them! They had great ideas, a wonderful sense of enthusiasm and commitment – and hanging out with them on my lunch break was always a blast. But, I couldn’t help but notice that the number of interns practically out-numbered the number of full-time employees.

Sure, back in the day when start-ups were cool, having a bunch of interns sweat it out at their desks with huge projects in their inbox was clever and resourceful. But, if a company is mostly interested in hiring minimum wage, barely legal workers to get some of their projects off the ground, I’d say it’s a sign of low or shrinking funds. A bunch of interns might not be anything major, unless new interns are being hired to do some meaty jobs. If the other red flags below are also popping up, then you might want to worry. But still, be nice to the interns.

Evasive Money Talk
If you’re trying to manage a project or hire an employee and your boss is very evasive about the budget for such initiatives, it could mean they are hiding something. Not because they are evil or anything, but maybe they don’t have all the information they need at the moment and can’t give you a solid number. Whatever the reason, it’s a little inexcusable.

A fiscally responsible organization should have a solid idea of what their numbers are – even in dire straights. Either you can hire someone at x amount, or you just don’t have it in the budget. If the heads of your organization are unclear about the money issue, who the heck else is going to figure it out?

Poor Management, Period
In addition to financial evasiveness, you might also see managerial neglect come out in other forms. Are employees happy at the company, or do they feel underutilized or misdirected?

Sometimes, a company gets up and running and loses sight of it’s primary purpose. The founders react to new trends, changing their business model to adapt to a new landscape. That’s fine and dandy if you’re a master at such evolution, like the people at Google or Apple. But, those guys got one thing down right, and grew from there. For a company that hasn’t managed to master one thing yet, it could be a potential red zone.

Of course, just because a company is poorly managed, it doesn’t mean it’s destined to fail. But, if investor dollars are being used to fund a confused business, it’s very likely that they’ll put less money into it in the next investment round – especially in a time of recession, like the one we’re in now.

If you’re pretty sure you’re company is in trouble, stay calm and prepare for what’s next. We’ll show you how to cover your bases in the next segment of Stay Off The Unemployment List.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow..