5 strategies to survive in a world of permanent temps
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When I look around the cubicle world, few people believe their job is secure. Sure, it may be secure for now, but not forever. This is a good thing. Too few people have employment security, but that is a different story.
Of course, Fortune 500 companies make the daily news with their layoffs. But small businesses are just as susceptible to downturns—instead of laying employees off, they go out of business.
Yes, we’re all temps now but aren’t ready for the role. Because we’re not always ready to be temp, the pain of the job loss—including our expectations—takes an even bigger hit.
This year, resolve to ready yourself the Cubicle Warrior way — be ready for the permanent, temporary workforce where you offer your job skills in return for pay. For a while. Then, find another position where you offer your job skills in return for pay. For another while. Rinse. Repeat.
This will also help when the inevitable layoffs come.
This newsletter focuses on helping knowledge workers navigate corporate America. From searching for jobs, working in the role, having employment security, and helping you become a Cubicle Warrior.
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Here are five strategies to get you moving in the right direction:
1. Live well within your means
Mountains of debt and a big house mortgage are not the places to be to handle not having a job between assignments in the temporary world of work. Living well within your means allows you to cut back on expenses if a layoff comes compared to living paycheck to paycheck.
Americans realize that mountains of debt don’t cut it anymore; savings do. But getting tough on your finances is necessary to survive in a world of a permanent, temporary workforce.
2. Have a year’s take-home pay in the bank
Without savings to cover emergencies - and layoffs - desperation starts to set in. The problem with desperation and getting a position is that employers can smell desperation a mile away during an interview. I could. I don’t know how I could, but it is real.
Nothing beats back desperation like having a year’s worth of take-home pay in the bank. While the linked article suggests six months is the minimum amount of savings, with the average layoff time currently at 5.5 months, six months is still cutting it close. Better, yes, harder, to get to a year’s take-home pay in the bank. It’s not easy to get to this level of savings — but necessary in today’s work environment.
3. Exercise and stay healthy
When everything in the work world is temporary, stress follows. One better way to handle stress is to exercise regularly—and it also helps your overall health.
(I don’t do this enough.)
Staying healthy through correct eating and exercise sounds like it wouldn’t impact your work world, but doing well on the job is often driven by low stress, good energy, and the awareness of your surroundings that exercise and good health bring.
This is why prevention, through health and wellness, is important.
4. Know your job skills and the type of environment you like to work in for success
While most Americans are currently satisfied with their jobs, not liking your job has serious side effects. Stress levels increase, you have the Sunday night dreads, your productivity drops, and your overall performance declines.
That’s what happens in jobs you don’t like — you stop working and start playing career defense. Hiring managers like to hire people who produce results, but stopping work means you don’t produce results.
It’s a vicious cycle — go to a job in an environment you don’t like and don’t produce results. That means you are at a larger risk of performance issues or layoffs and not building the results needed in a resume to attract other hiring managers.
Now, jobs change over time. The job you started with and loved may turn into the job you hate. But the first step in finding jobs you like — and knowing when the one you are in no longer works for what you like — is understanding the work you like and the environment you like doing the work in.
5. Know how long a position will last
In a world of permanent temps, every gig has an end. Every. Single. One. You may be overjoyed at getting a new job that fits in with what you love, but before the bloom is off the rose, it is time to look hard at how long you think the job will last.
Is it one year? Two years? Use your skills to predict how long a job will last and review it monthly. How long you think a job will last changes over time, but the key is that when you think the job will end and hit the timeline for finding a new job, you must start looking for a new one. Waiting until the (bitter) end and hoping for severance isn’t much of an option anymore. It takes too long to find another job, and your work isn’t much fun, especially if the situation is so bad that you essentially stop working.
Your choice: proactive or reactive
There are many feel-good career sites out there, but feeling good only happens when you are prepared for the world as it is. Navigating Corporate is about the nuts and bolts of finding a job, being successful, and doing right for your career. Most of my writing here requires you to be proactive about your work and career and not sit back playing defense.
This is hard because it takes effort and discipline. That’s why I call the people who proactively work their jobs Cubicle Warriors—because it really is a warrior-type effort to stay on top of the career game.
The payoff is this: when everyone else around you is losing their head over work, you can stay relaxed and in the moment, looking for the right work to do next. You will do better than your competition because you did the proactive work necessary to live in a world where the only permanent work is temporary.
We’re all temps now. But we can also be Cubicle Warriors—your choice.
Be a Cubicle Warrior,
Scot