Even Rockstars Get the Ax

Your performance review overflows with praise from management.

You’ve become so indispensable to the company that nothing could make them let you go, right?

Wrong.

You’ve dedicated nights, weekends and even skipped family or personal events to not miss a deadline.

When economic headwinds blow, even superstars get sidelined.

A company’s primary purpose is to grow financially with as little overhead and cost as possible.

Costs include salaries and ‘human’ capital. 

A few quarters of declining revenue or projected downturn is all it takes for ‘right sizing’ or ‘cost optimization.” Code words for layoffs aimed at protecting the company’s bottom line.

 I know. I’ve had to create the ‘short list.’

 The ‘short list’ is the list of employees ranked from first to go to last to go when it’s time for layoffs.

Executive leadership looks at line items, not people. 

No matter how brilliant or loyal an employee you’ve been, you’re still a line item.

An expendable one if need be.

Harsh but true.

Blind trust is for romance novels.

So why do individuals still subconsciously believe that outstanding performance or hitting last month’s targets means job security?

Hopefully, with current trends, more individuals wake up.

Job security is an illusion.

It has been. Current market conditions are putting an explanation mark at the end of the ‘job security’ sentence.

Have you ever thought about this? An employee is commonly expected to give ‘two-weeks notice.’

But I know of companies who have text an employee on a Friday afternoon telling them not to come in Monday. Their time was up.

We’ve been spoon-fed the false narrative since childhood: “Work hard → Get noticed → Receive rewards”.

As an employee the implied reward is ‘job security’ or immunity from layoffs.

Betting on anything but yourself is a mistake.

Once you wake up and accept the truth, you realize outstanding performance doesn’t guarantee job security.

What’s the solution? Backup Plans

Depending on your current career satisfaction level, your backup plan may become your career transition plan.

What should your backup plan entail?

The details:

💰 Ideally, have backup funds to float you for 3-6 months post-job loss or transition – or whatever you can save cutting extraneous expenses where you can.

If you’ve already been given notice and don’t have backup funds saved, you may benefit from some of my other content here.

 📝 Regularly update your resume highlighting in-demand skills (if you want to stay the ‘employee’ route)

 📈 Constantly build your external personal and professional brand and network

 ⏰ Dedicate time each week to explore alternate career interests and options 

 🧠 Pursue training in new or transferrable skills

The best job security is to invest in yourself and take the initiative to create a Plan B.

For thousands of individuals, their Plan B has become Plan A – but they hadn’t taken steps to even have a Plan B.

In uncertain times, the best job security lies not in employer reassurances but in arming yourself with a plan that you create for yourself. 

One that gives you the confidence to walk away from any role without leaving you financially or emotionally vulnerable.

I can talk about this at length - because I’ve done it, experienced it, and walked through it to come out happier on the other side.

I walked away from the golden handcuffs in 2015.

Title, power, money - and I’d never been more miserable.

I knew the work I was doing in the environments I was doing it was not for me any longer.

I took steps to pursue other interests and skills - and I made an exit plan.

You can do the same. Once you get out of your ‘comfort zone’ aka “what’s familiar” - you’ll realize how uncomfortable it truly is.

I’ve mapped my steps and I am helping others learn what to do to create your own path, working on what you want to work on, with people you choose to work with - making at least as much if not significantly more than you are currently being paid.

I say ‘hope’ is not a strategy:

- I ‘hope’ they don’t lay me off

- I ‘hope’ I get a promotion

- I ‘hope’ I get a salary increase

You deserve SO much more.

Get the FREE ‘Transition to Work You Love’ guide now. Start the process - every day you wait is a day lost.

You don’t want to look up one day and wonder what happened with your life, wonder why you missed so many significant family events or sacrificed only to be either let go - or worse yet - you don’t even make it to retirement.

When you like what you do, you don’t dwell on when you can get vacation time to get away from it.

 Set yourself free. You Can Be Free Now.