How to present yourself so you DON’T get laid off.

In these economical days companies are looking at their employees a bit different than what they used to.  The long term investment based workers have all but disappeared, and the performance based employee is in company favor.  It’s important in all careers to clearly communicate and show your worth to your employer.  After all, it’s all about the dollars and cents.  Here’s a few “do’s and dont’s” that you can implement into your daytime, weekday behavioral patterns that should give your boss a little boost of confidence in your company presence.

1. Let them know you see the small things. Your boss is busy, and probably getting heat for lost profits in certain areas, and very little praise for profit rises in others.  Hone in on the things that seem to be functioning a bit inefficiently and engage your boss in a non-threatening conversation on possible changes.  eg: “Excuse me Mrs. Honcho, I was noticing that the copy machine breaks down every week, and the repair costs are considerably higher than the cost of a new copier at XYZ store, I found this coupon for 10% off, if you’re interested in replacing it.”

Although it seems small, it lets your boss know that you are a forward thinker, and that you are doing your part to improve the bottom line of the business.

2. Listen.  When Dale Carnegie wrote “How to win friends, and influence people” he really knew what he was talking about, or should I say, listening about.  One of the key points in the book conveys the fact that people instinctively want to talk about themselves.  Call this narcissistic or what you will, but we all do it.  Try and exercise your ears a bit more.  Really listen to what people are telling you, and ask a bunch of questions.  Mr. Carnegie recalls a social function where, he was introduced to a female business mogul, and he began this routine of listening, and asking questions.  He said that by the end of the conversation the woman had literally learned nothing about him, but when he spoke with a friend later in the week, the friend said the woman couldn’t stop saying how nice Mr. Carnegie was.

3. Dress the part. So I’m sitting at my desk yesterday, and this young gentleman comes in from Alabama.  He’s down here on an internship to campaign for the upcoming elections.  I say “hello” and he quickly engages me in a conversation about “suits.”  Fully knowing that, as he goes from College Grad, to Young Business Man, he’s going to need to upgrade his wardrobe a bit.  We talk about length, colors, stitching, good tailoring, etc. etc… but the most important part was when he said “In this economy, I’m leaving college, and competing in the workforce with people who have 30 years of experience.”  And I said, “yes, but you have an edge.  You’re fresh.”

*Dress as FRESH as possible.  Do you remember (or remember seeing the clips) of Kennedy vs. Nixon on black and white television, Kennedy looked fresh, Nixon looked tired.  Who won the presidency?

4. Be Honest. Be Realistic. Lead by Example. I bundled these three together for one reason.  They’re the most important, and they don’t really work without each other.  If you’re brutally honest, but don’t do the leg work you probably wont excel.  If you’re too realistic, you wont strive for success.  And if you only lead by example, everyone around you becomes codependent on your work ethic, and you never see all the credit.  So let’s take an opposite example by playing out a conversation with a boss and an employee who, lies. exaggerates,  and doesn’t do anything:

Boss: “Hey Joe, what do you think about this new bicycle designed for squirrels that we’re going to start distributing.”

Joe: “I think it’s awesome, it’s probably going to make the company a ton of money.”

Boss: “Great, since you’re so interested in it, would you be interested in putting together an outbound sales team to pitch it.”

Joe: “Sure” … {and returns to Facebook.}

Here’s the right way:

Boss: “Hey Jude, what do you think about this bicycle for squirrels idea.”

Jude: “Well ma’am, I’m failing to see how someone is going to buy a bike for a squirrel considering squirrels really aren’t domesticated animals.”

Boss: “Any suggestions, because the board of directors loves squirrels.”

Jude: “Well right off the bat, I know that a squirrel on water ski’s got pretty popular on YouTube, maybe we could play off of that success a bit, but I’ll have to take some time to research it.”  … {and puts together a presentation and a package that works.}

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