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Introduction

In tough economic times, maintaining your job security can be a dicey affair. Employers are constantly looking for ways to save money. Cutting staff is sometimes the first option, but often the last. No matter when it happens, it still hurts.

When employers are faced with reducing their staff, they evaluate each employee. They look at work history, attitude, accomplishments, and other factors to decide who stays and who
goes. Some layoffs are determined by how long a person has been on the job, but there are times when longevity isn’t the deciding factor.

More and more companies are taking quality and attitude into consideration. If they have a choice between an experienced employee with poor communication skills and less-than desirable personal qualities and a less experienced person who is confident, trustworthy, and maintains a professional attitude, who do you think will be kept on the team? The more professional one will stay while the other hits the sidewalk.

This book contains ninety-nine practical things you can do to help build your job security. Some are fairly easy to implement while others will take a lot of soul searching and a commitment to change. Some of the suggestions are steps you can take right now, but there are other tips that will require an investment of time or money or both.

Some factors that affect job security are completely out of your hands, such as when a company goes bankrupt and closes. You can’t do much about that except pray, which is always a good idea because God cares deeply about what happens in your life. But you do have control over how you use the suggestions in this book. If you will put into practice the advice in just one of these chapters, it will affect in a significant way how your superiors value your employment