Over the past few years, screaming headlines have proclaimed major job losses due to downsizing, offshore outsourcing, the dot-com bust, mergers and acquisitions, and various other crises. There is considerable debate about whether this is mere fear-mongering or real cause for concern. People on both sides of the argument quote seemingly authoritative statistics to support their contention. In the end though, to people who lose their jobs or fear that they might do so soon, the debate and the statistics are meaningless. It's the old story: A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose yours.

What can you do to protect the continuity of your paycheck? One answer is to diligently manage your career as if it were a business, a business that focuses on long-term profitability.

What does it mean to manage your career like a business? Think of a few of the functions that a service firm must perform well to stay profitable over the long haul: human resource development, marketing, customer service, and financial management. All of these functions have parallels in effective IT career management.

Human Resource Development

Highly skilled employees who are knowledgeable in relevant technologies are a prized asset for any company. Ensuring that you are and continue to be one of those valuable assets is your responsibility, not your employer's. Hopefully, your employer provides the necessary training and education opportunities, since it will benefit from the application of your new skills. Nonetheless, it is your career. In the long run, you will probably reap as much or more reward than your employer by enhancing your skills. And you have more to lose if you don't.

Bob Langieri, a recruiter at Southern California-based Excel Technical, who specializes in the iSeries market, suggests that people who don't persistently work to build their skills tend to get lost in the shuffle.

"You have to get out there and learn new techniques and be an advocate for them at your company," commented Langieri. "Most programmers aren't like that. They're very methodical. They do what they do best and go away and code. People who are always gung-ho never have a problem getting a job. Others won't take initiative.

"This is the computer field. This is not a truck driver. There are new things all the time. If you don't like new things, you shouldn't be in the field."

The moral is that even though your skills may be sufficient to keep you employed today, they might not be adequate tomorrow. If your skills are limited to a mature technology and an opportunity to become proficient in a promising new one arises, jump at the chance. If an opportunity does not arise, create one.

How do you learn new things? Langieri recommends buying books and reading trade publications, and he is a strong proponent of joining user groups and attending their meetings.

Trade publications offer a very inexpensive way to stay current. Because many publications, such as MC Mag Online, are supported entirely by advertising, they are free to qualified readers. Books, while not free, are also an extremely low-cost learning tool, considering the value of the information that they impart.

Langieri's user group suggestion is also well-founded. User group meetings, which are typically free to members, usually include presentations on new technologies or new concepts and offer opportunities to exchange ideas with peers.

Individual memberships in almost all local user groups cost less than $200 per year and most are under $100, putting them well within the reach of virtually every IT professional should an employer refuse to pick up the cost. Membership may come with privileges such as informative newsletters, low-cost courses, and free or reduced rate membership in an affiliated international user group, such as COMMON.

Of course, just being a member is not enough. Participating in meetings and taking advantage of their educational opportunities are crucial to gaining value from your membership.

Formal education is another way to build your skill set. However, courses can be expensive and consume considerable time. Some employers are reluctant to invest heavily in education because they fear that employees will peddle their new skills to another employer. While this does happen, it is usually short-sighted on the part of the employee. If your new employer would rather hire skills than make an investment in internal training, then you are likely moving to a company that will be happy to let your skills stagnate--just as happened to the company's existing employees when the company hired you rather than developing the skills in-house.

If your employer does not believe in investing in education, you may have to add a sales job to the list of things that you do manage your career. It is in your interest to persuade your employer of the benefit that will accrue to the organization as a result of your new skills. Calculating and promoting the return on an investment in education may not be part of your formal job description, but it is you who will suffer if your career stagnates. In the end, if you cannot convince your employer of the benefits of investing in education and training, you might want to look at funding it yourself and doing it on your own time. Either that or it may be time to start dusting off your resume before your skills become so stale that no employer wants them.

Langieri contends that many of the opportunities mentioned above are not open to strict "nine-to-fivers." For example, some user group meetings occur after normal work hours. And there is a limit to how much reading of books and trade press you can do on the job. Your employer is likely willing to dedicate a certain amount of your time to skills upgrading, but the upper limit will be one that is optimal for your employer but not necessarily optimal for your personal career protection and development.

Marketing

Contrary to popular belief, marketing is not about trying to sell people things that they don't need. Instead, marketing is about learning what people do need, figuring out how to fulfill those needs, and then crafting and delivering relevant messages to make sure that the people who can benefit most from what you have to offer are aware of the value that you can deliver.

Because developing new skills takes time, just learning the skills most in demand today is not enough. You do not want to find yourself in the position of needing to learn a new technology while you're pounding the pavement in search of a new job. And there will likely be nobody but you to fund the necessary education while you are unemployed. What's more, most employers want to see some experience, not just education. Therefore, unless the skill is in especially short supply, your investment in education at that point may bear little fruit.

How can you learn which skills are waxing and which are waning in the job market? Many of the avenues listed above as ways to build your skills also provide insights into industry trends. Attend user group meetings to talk to peers and find out which technologies other companies are beginning to adopt. Read the trade press and the technology sections of newspapers. In short, always keep your antenna up.

Langieri suggests that another good way to keep abreast of trends is to read the job ads in newspapers and online recruiting sites even when you are not actively seeking a new position. "If you see one ad for RPG and 10 for Oracle, that's a pretty good indicator of where the demand is," said Langieri.

One problem is recognizing when a "hot new thing" is a fad that will fade before you can take advantage of it and when it is truly an up-and-coming technology. Unfortunately, there is a no magic formula for differentiating between the two. However, applying good judgment, comparing notes with colleagues, and paying attention to only those unbiased pundits with a good track record will significantly increase your chances of picking the winners.

Despite your best efforts, you will occasionally hitch your wagon to the wrong technology. The best-managed companies occasionally make bad strategic decisions, but they put enough effort and research into their decision-making processes and take enough risks that their successes far outweigh their failures. Over the course of your career, there will undoubtedly be once or twice when you pick the wrong technology and invest more time and/or money in learning a new skill than you should have. The answer is to expend some effort to monitor trends and then learn as many of what you feel will be the most valuable skills as you can, while still continuing to provide full value to your employer today. That's certainly not an easy job, but your future is at stake.

Once you've learned what your employer and other employers need (and are likely to need in the foreseeable future) and have developed the necessary skills to fulfill those needs, the next marketing task is to promote your skills.

If you have a particular technical expertise and strong writing and/or speaking skills, consider putting those skills to work. Most trade publications accept articles from outside writers. Online publications usually allow you to include a hyperlink to your employer's Web site in a brief biographical paragraph attached to your article. The link will draw more visitors to your employer's Web site. Furthermore, because many search engines use link popularity as one criterion in their page-ranking algorithms, the link will help to improve your employer's position in search engines. User groups are always on the lookout for technical experts who are willing and able to share their expertise with others at meetings and conferences. Doing these sorts of things raises your profile and positions you as an industry expert in the eyes of employers--including your current one.

Raising your profile among your IT colleagues can also make your current position bulletproof if you happen to work for a company that sells IT goods or services. Any company worth its salt constantly seeks to position itself as the expert in its market. Thus, writing in the IT trade press or speaking at industry gatherings will significantly increase your value to your employer. You will become the star that it cannot afford to lose.

There is one caveat. It may be unfortunate and unjust, but true nonetheless, that people often judge writing and speaking on form as much as or more than on substance. If your writing and speaking skills are weak, writing and speaking may lessen your reputation no matter how strong your technical expertise. If this is the case, consider working on your communication skills or convincing your employer to hire a ghost writer before proceeding with this strategy.

Another marketing tool in many company's arsenals is third-party endorsements. The parallel in career management is certification. Certification in a technology or methodology by an unbiased, reputable organization offers proof that you have mastered the necessary skills.

Another important tactic in your career marketing program is to know your worth to your employer. Spend some time evaluating how and how much your accomplishments have increased company revenue or decreased costs. You likely won't be able to come up with a precise figure, but try to get a reasonable estimate. That will be a valuable number to have when your job evaluation comes due. It's also a useful number to have when trying to convince a future employer to hire you and pay your salary.

Customer Service

Technical skills alone will not protect your job through difficult times. Consider two employees with similar technical skills. One is a team player with a positive attitude who, by improving the overall working environment, enhances the productivity of not only herself, but also of her coworkers. The other employee's technical skills are equivalent, but he's an ornery sort. People hate working with him. He never shares information. He is personally very productive, but the company as a whole is much less productive than it should be because he is poisoning the work environment. If the company needs to cut back, who do you think will get the axe?

"But," you say, "my skills are in high demand. I can always get a job with another company that appreciates my talents." Maybe. Maybe not. IT is a surprisingly small world. People talk at user groups. High-tech people often gravitate to other high tech people in social situations. Word gets around. There is a good chance that your reputation will precede you, particularly if it's a bad one. If the word is out that you don't work well with others, then you will likely not snag one of the few remaining jobs in your local labor market when you lose yours because of an economic downturn.

The upshot is that you should work hard at providing good and courteous service to your "customer," who is your employer. That does not mean treating just your boss with respect, but also your coworkers and subordinates. Respect does not mean subservience or total submissiveness. If you disagree with the way things are being done, say so, but say so in a way that is interpreted as constructive criticism, not belligerence. Remember, the person who you irritate at work might be the sibling, parent, child, cousin, neighbor, or some other close acquaintance of the person who you would like to be your next boss.

Financial Management

Well-run companies keep a watchful eye on current and future cash flow requirements. Consider doing the same. Despite your best planning and efforts, things can go wrong for reasons beyond your control. If you unexpectedly find yourself out of a job, it is preferable not to be forced into taking a "stop-gap" menial job while looking for a more appropriate position. The time you put into that "stop-gap" job will reduce the time available for your job search.

Opinions as to the optimal size vary, but financial planners generally recommend that you maintain a cushion large enough for you to carry on without excessive belt-tightening for at least three to six months if your income suddenly stops. What should you count as part of this cushion? Cash in the bank definitely counts. Stocks and bonds are more volatile and less secure. You might not want to include them at their full value for two reasons. First, when you need them, their market value might have dropped significantly. Second, if you rely solely on stocks and bonds, you may find yourself forced to sell them when market conditions would suggest holding on to them, so it is a good idea to have some other, less volatile assets to rely on first.

The next question is whether or not to include the available equity in your home as part of the cushion. The answer is that, if you do, you should again discount the currently available equity somewhat. Some economists think that there is a housing market bubble that will burst soon. (Of course, economists being what they are, there are others who think that there is no bubble and the housing market will continue to improve.) If house prices drop, your home will be worth less than it is now, meaning that there will be less equity for you to borrow against or to take out by selling and then renting until you get back on your feet.

Conclusion

Your career is your business. This is true in two senses. First, it is your business and nobody else's. If you don't make an effort to protect it, nobody else will. Second, it is a business. It is how you earn your income. Just like any business, you have a customer, your employer, and prospects, future employers should your current job not last.

Thinking of and treating your career as a business--undertaking prudent human resource development, marketing, customer service, and financial management activities--will help to ensure that it is a long-lasting and profitable business.

Joel Klebanoff is a consultant, a writer, and president of Klebanoff Associates, Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based marketing communications firm. Joel has 25 years experience working in IT, first as a programmer/analyst and then as a marketer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and an MBA, both from the University of Toronto. Contact Joel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..