{"id":2033,"date":"2021-04-20T04:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T04:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/followfichte.com\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2021-05-07T19:39:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T19:39:54","slug":"4-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/followfichte.com\/de\/4-things\/","title":{"rendered":"4 things you should always do before you lose your job. In case you lose your job."},"content":{"rendered":"

Losing employment is never a pleasant experience and finding your next can turn out to be a daunting task – especially if you didn’t plan for it. There\u2019s a vast amount of tips out there on ‘how to find your next gig’ or what to do in order to ‘prepare for potential job interviews’ while you\u2019re job hunting – but I\u2019d like to share some essential learnings from recent experience that could massively help you in case you find yourself laid-off unexpectedly: four things you should consider doing while you\u2019re still happily and safely employed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1: Document your work. Always.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When being interviewed for open job positions you will be confronted with questions about your past work, accomplishments, projects, successes, and struggles many times. At some point you will have to present work examples in some form, a portfolio, or share specific stories and situations. And trust me – it can be very challenging to restore these just from memory, especially when you\u2019ve been working at one place for a while and then lose access to all and any of your notes, folders, documents, and files in an instant. Believe it or not, this happens. To avoid being left alone with your memory, create your own record of working history along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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10 years of work metadata summarized and visualized<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

First, start with documenting what I\u2019d call metadata around the work<\/strong> you are and have been doing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • How many and what kind of projects you worked on, what role and responsibilities you had, who you worked with, which methods you used, what types of end-users* you focussed on, how many user* interactions you engaged in, etc. (*substitute ‘user’ with ‘customer’ or ‘client’ or ‘stakeholder’ or ‘participant’ or whatever describes your professional audience best)<\/li>
  • Any formal training you received, what you learned, how this influenced your work.<\/li>
  • The conferences you visited as a participant or speaker, what you learned or talked about.<\/li>
  • Product areas you\u2019ve been responsible for in your role.<\/li>
  • Workshops you conducted, initiatives you started.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The picture above and graphs below are examples of how I cumulated my work metadata over time by just once in a while noting down what I did when and where. It helped me to appreciate my own work, to identify progress, to remember anecdotes and situations, to have performance discussions with leads. And to create a work portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Work metadata in tables and graphs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    When it comes to specific work examples, you always need to make sure that you don\u2019t violate intellectual property regulations. Remember that in most cases, as per contract and IP agreement, all work results you produce belong to your employer, even after employment has been terminated. Don\u2019t just copy your training materials, research reports, project slide decks or any other internal information to your private laptop, since this most likely will be against company policies. Instead, carefully think about how you can legally document your work in a way that won\u2019t conflict with existing agreements but still can benefit your future job search. And even if you\u2019ll never have to search for a job – it\u2019ll also help you reflect on your own work\u2019s impact and will be very useful in feedback and salary discussions with your boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here are some tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n