Plan for when you will be unemployed

Having the attitude that nothing can go wrong and that you are secure in your job can come back to haunt you. You should plan for unemployment even when your job is really going well. This plan should entail more than saving money, building strong network connections and getting training in other fields.

When you plan for unemployment you should do so while you are still employed. This is not a doom prophecy, it is reality. Today you are the number one salesman in your division, but a slump in your performance may lead to early retirement from the sales profession.

You may be the executive of a company, so who is going to fire you? The board of directors may just decide that their vision and yours are not compatible anymore or your company can go bankrupt. If you plan for unemployment you will not find yourself stranded without income.

You should have a three to five year strategy.

You can call it your contingency plan. Small animals do it all the time. They prepare for the harsh winter months while it is still summer. If you think about it, you are growing older by the day and closer to possible retrenchment or retirement. It is up to you to plan for unemployment before it strikes.

What is the secret?

Make sure you always have more than one income and the potential for another. This means you should not, for instance, rely solely on your writing job for an income. You can lose the contract with the blink of an eye. Write for more than one company and keep another job on the side. The side job may well become your next big income generator.

The most successful people have contingency plans in place. When disaster strikes, they are the ones that can bounce back from bankruptcies or retrenchments easily because they made sure that their income and future are not focused on only one possibility.

When you plan for possible unemployment you should thus do the following:

• Build a strong network of connections in your current field of work, outside your job field, through family and friends as well as any acquaintances you may have made.
• Train in your current field as well as in an unrelated field to make career change possible.
• Do more than one job or project at a time to make a quick transition possible.
• Save money for the rainy days.
• Stay out of debt.
• Build your CV.
• Think long term.