You Only Need to Fulfill 2 Requirements to Stay Employed

I was interviewed recently by Dr. John Beckem, a SUNY professor, for his new Self-Management and Self-Marketing course. We talked about what someone needs to do to stay employed after they got the job they wanted. Here are some of the highlights:

To stay employed, your boss must believe that you:

1.  Help them stay employed, and
2.  Make their job easier and less stressful.
   1. These are the two most important influences based on WIIFT (What’s In It For Them), those who will make the retain/fire decision.
   2. While sometimes “easier” is as simple as it’s a pain to get approval to fire someone, go through the process, work short staffed, recruit your replacement, and train them… this litany protects your job only for a short time.

To get your boss to believe that you are making their job easier and helping them stay employed, it’s likely that you:

1.  Are doing your job well and accomplishing something that’s important to your department and boss;
2.  Like doing your job (or at least are perceived as having a positive attitude);
3.  Work in a way that people like working with you; and
4.  Make them money.
   • Making them money can be increasing sales, reducing costs, or even eliminating the need to hire another employee, contractor, or service.

Understand that you boss’s conclusion about you  and you goal of staying employed will be influenced by his or her peers, direct reports, and superiors including from other functions.

Finally, ask yourself:

1.  Does your boss really know how useful you are?
2.  What’s your plan to keep your boss (and boss’s boss) informed without overtly self-promoting?

Richard is Chairman Emeritus of the Marketing Executives Networking Group, founder of Demand Marketing consulting firm, and former Sr. VP of Marketing for three multi-billion dollar companies: CEC, WLP, and Service Merchandise. His early career was at GE, P&G, Playtex, and Marketing Corporation of America. He’s also a volunteer counselor for SCORE assisting small businesses in upstate New York. You can follow his communications about marketing, job search and careers here and at mengonline, ENTREPRENEURS QUESTIONS, and on Twitter at @Sellers_Richard.