How To Become Indispensable At Your Job

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Excelsior
Senior
 

December 8th, 2012, 3:39 pm

Is it possible to be indispensable? Considering the fact that we are living in an era where all employers sing the same demn song:
PROFITABILITY AT MINIMAL COST!!!
This phrase has a lot of life-touching implications. Employers want to make the most profit fom the least cost. A major cost center employers battle with is staff cost/labour cost. That is just why there are a lot of layoffs recently.

As an employee, you may be living in fear believing theres little you can do to control when its your time to go. But thats not totally true. You can take some practical steps/approaches that will make you very relevant to the continued success of your boss' success and as such he will find it hard to let you go.

Take a look:

Really, you want to make yourself indispensable at your job? You want to duck the tide of lay offs during the time of recession? We are passing through hard times and instead of hiring, firing has become the norm for companies. So it is important to know how to protect your job at this time. To know to make yourself indispensable.
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Try to follow these approaches:

Take Account of Your Strengths and Weaknesses: Making yourself indispensable at job requires you to make some analysis of yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. Taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses will help you narrowing down your area of expertise. And you will know for sure where you can excel and others can notice you too. Devise two plans for yourself, long term and short term.

Look for Broader Picture: If you are working for a company, make some changes in your attitude too. Instead of seeing things from a narrow perspective try to take into account the overall picture of your company. That will help you in taking right decision for the company. It will increase your understating and you can come out with right kind of solutions to your problems.

Update Your Knowledge Base: You are responsible for your career advancement. No one else come to do so during recession time. Develop your knowledge base that might prove beneficial for your company. Take part time courses to update your skills and knowledge base.

Develop Problem Solving Skills: Every company requires this skill. Normally employees fret and fume over problems or suggest ways how this problem can’t be solved. But instead going for this self indulgence, try to gather materials regarding the area you are working in. Read how other companies have faced similar problems and how they solved it. This will enrich your problem solving skills and you might find completely new solutions to the problems your company is facing.

Suggest Ways to Cut Down Expenses: This is an endearing quality of employees. Every company wants to minimize expenses and maximize profits. If you know of some ways to cut down expenses don’t keep it to yourself. Suggest it during meetings and give it in written to the concerned person.

Don’t Encroach on Others Rights: While enriching your knowledge base and self improvement you should not send out signals that you are out to do two peoples job. This will create negative feeling for you among your peers and rumor mongers can unleash their full force against you. Instead of sending feelers that you can do others jobs too, try filling the gaps that nobody is looking at or even aware that these shortcomings. If you deals with data, try to arrange it in such manner that even non-technical person can be able to find out what he is looking for. If you deal with recruitment, find out the efficient pool of candidates in less expensive manner.

Good Salesmanship: This need is required by everyone, be it an artist, self employed entrepreneurs or the president of a country. Don’t expect that you keep on providing excellent services and others will naturally take notice of you. You have to show the results of your hard work to the concerned persons. If your policies resulted in cost savings prepare a balance sheet and show it to the concerned person.

Be Good at What Your Boss is Weak At: :shkd: Think of your boss’s weaknesses. He/she might be good at something but not at other things. Pay attention to his weaknesses and try to do that work yourself. Your boss might not be good at writing proposals but he might be good at pointing what is lacking in a proposal. To speed up the work, you can draw the first copy of the proposal and your boss will finalize it by pointing out what else should be incorporated in the existing copy. That will save time of the both.

Develop a Brand for the Company You Work For: It doesn’t mean that you take over your brand manager. It simply means be your company’s spokesperson whenever the need arises. But your superiors too should know of your efforts.

Making yourself indispensable at the job is not difficult at all. You have to keep your eyes and ears open. You have the knack to sense opportunity and making the most of it.

While this may not guaranty 100 percent of your survival, it sure makes it it less likely to be laid off.
Cheers. :clap:

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eMade
VIP VIP
Location: Abuja
 

December 8th, 2012, 3:46 pm

I enjoy this. This part looks pretty perfect:
Excelsior wrote:Be Good at What Your Boss is Weak At: Think of your boss’s weaknesses. He/she might be good at something but not at other things. Pay attention to his weaknesses and try to do that work yourself. Your boss might not be good at writing proposals but he might be good at pointing what is lacking in a proposal. To speed up the work, you can draw the first copy of the proposal and your boss will finalize it by pointing out what else should be incorporated in the existing copy. That will save time of the both.
Bravo! :clap:
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Shasha
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January 2nd, 2013, 8:24 pm

thanks for this lovely guide. i love best naija :clap:
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Jegz
Senior
Location: Naija
 

November 15th, 2013, 7:46 am

Job security is a serious concern for so many employees in today’s workforce. Knowing that so many positions are being outsourced, cut, or revamped, for instance, makes it especially difficult to believe that anybody’s job is completely safe.

Being indispensable at work means that your supervisors count on you so much that without you, the productivity of your department might suffer, or at least that’s the perception.

Let's discuss more.
"Many of us are not living our dreams simply because we are busy living our fears" - Les Brown
Guest

June 29th, 2014, 6:44 am

Don't get it twisted. NO ONE IS INDISPENSABLE!
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ebong
Senior
Location: africa
 

July 13th, 2014, 4:27 pm

An employer can hire and fire anytime. Its only God's grace remaining
I'm the world's sexiest!
Guest

August 2nd, 2014, 6:29 am

Nobody is unsackable except the owner of the business. Even at that, death can still knock him off.
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ItuGlobal
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Location: ituglobalfx.com.ng
 

February 23rd, 2016, 11:07 am

This is a thread people should read.
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J0E
Site Admin
Location: Texas
 

January 1st, 2017, 6:57 am

ItuGlobal wrote:This is a thread people should read.
I agree. Featured again!
Humility is the first true attribute of a great man...
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Eruku
Junior
 

January 1st, 2017, 8:11 am

Few weeks ago, Heritage Bank laid off many staff. From what I heard from bankers, the branch managers are usually asked by the HR department to submit names of unproductive staff. If that is the case, making yourself indispensable to your boss can help. Don't you think?
Hello my people............
Rey

January 4th, 2017, 9:39 am

No boss wants to lay off his subordinate that makes him look good. True, no one is indispensable. You are more likely to be retained at the expense of your other colleagues who don't pull their weights. Awesome write up
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Key7
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Location: Osogbo
 

January 7th, 2019, 5:23 am

:clap: :clap: :good:
Bestnaija rocks! Seing is believing. See https://bestnaija.ng/61200
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makavelli25
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May 10th, 2020, 6:29 am

:clap:
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