This article was originally written in 2003 as job erosions started quietly in the private sector. It has been updated for the current environment. Is Your Job On The Line? In 2003, the Bermuda Bakery production facility closed, along with the loss of long-held jobs. Gone forever the heavenly smell of fresh bread wafting over Hamilton all the years we've been in town. It was another kind of loss that of one less group of local products produced locally by local people. As the year progressed other firms were quietly downsizing, leaving Bermudians to find other jobs in the domestic and international sector.Even now, still recovering from a ruinous bear market and tight premium constraints, global companies continue to practise cost efficiencies (polite words for reducing their labour force, or farming it out to a lower cost environment) wherever they can, propping up the bottom line until a better investment environment and productivity picks up.Survival tactics. In times like these, the general public perceives companies to be greedy and heartless. In reality, they are practicing survival triage (from the French verb to sort), which in the original meaning is a process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated to the individuals with the best chance of recovery. Change limited medical resources to limited capital resources, and it is clear why companies downsize. They must preserve and place their capital to the areas that will generate the most profitability. No company in the world can operate altruistically and unprofitably. The final unpleasant alternative is to go out of business.Then no one has a job.Warning Signals. Is your job in jeopardy? Is your internal radar sending intuitive messages? Pay attention to what is going on in your work environment; keep your eyes open and your ears open. One long-ago client told me that he knew his job was going when his manager left him out of crucial meetings, but worse still, could not look him in the eye.What to do if you think your company might be announcing redundancies.Start an emergency plan by reviewing your finances, and start immediately to cut back on all non-essentials purchases. You are in survivor mode until you know for certain that your job is still intact.Figure out how much cash you have right now three months of rent or mortgage payments? Utilities, phone, gas and food?No cash cushion start saving as if your life depended on it. It does. In order to save, you must stop spending on everything that is frivolous and unnecessary, cell phone overage, eating out, snacks, new shoes, leisure clothes and shopping sprees, vacations, little expensive electronic treats. Cut your food budget down to plain practical small portion meals. You'll lose weight in the process.Home Equity line: If you are a two-income earner family and own your home, arrange to have one put in place now. You cannot borrow money if only one of you has a job, and you don't have to use it unless you absolutely have to.Get your CV updated immediately and start quietly networking with friends, business acquaintances, family contacts.Allow for increased personal grooming costs. In your job search, you must look like an absolute confident, poised, polished professional at all times. The first impression is the only impression.Be Proactive:You can't act like a deer frozen in car headlights. If you think you can handle it, and you are sure the company is downsizing, ask your current employer for a separation package. Those who volunteer themselves out the door first, often walk away feeling very financially fit. Warning, do not attempt this move without reviewing your personal finances and the available job market first.Step up your athletic activities. This is not the time to let yourself go work out that anxiety and frustration on the fastest walk or run you can, it costs nothing. Become a mean lean positive message machine.What to do if you do lose your jobDo not bad mouth your prior employer.Get rid of the anger (and the bitterness). Do not show it during the exit interview or afterwards. What goes around comes around; if the business picks up, you could be first hired back. At the very least, you must ask for a really good reference.Negotiate the best termination package you can. If you are allowed to stay for another couple of weeks, do it. Use that time (and their equipment) to network with everyone you know.Get an extension on your health insurance coverage if you can.Try not to cash in your savings, unless you absolutely have to.Update your CV if you have not done so already using their resources.Ask if you can stay on as a temporary worker. The object here is to keep working (and a paycheck) until you can find another position.What to do to protect yourself and your family.l Count your cash, literally.Any extra cash that you have, allocate to buckets, food, rent/mortgage, transportation. Pay your rent / mortgage ahead now, first. You need to assure yourself of a roof over your head without having to think about scrounging for the money,Be realistic, what about that expensive car and large payments. If you don't have the cash to meet the loan payments, your only method of looking for another job will be taken away from you with a foreclosure. See if you can find a second-hand car, sell the superslick model and get out from under that debt.Have a family meeting and lay out the facts. Do not try to hide this from everyone, your children and other relatives will wonder what is wrong and you will be tortured trying to keep such a secret. Present a united front and tell them that you are all in this together, you will survive.Don't have enough cash to put aside? Talk to your family and make arrangements for shared temporary accommodations if necessary,Prepare yourself emotionally and mentally, being made redundant is a terrible blow to your pride and psyche.l If it happens, be proactive, put the rest of your emergency plan into action, get out there, network, interview, educate yourself, do not stay home and sulk. The longer you delay your reaction the harder it is to find another job. No one wants to hire a depressed apathetic defeated individual. You have just been hit hard, now use every single bit of your personality, your faith and your family support to fight back and win, yes, win yourself another job.Now, none of this may come to pass . . . for you personally, but consider what you have done. You are a changed professional. You just may find yourself receiving a promotion and a brand new career, think I am kidding, it happens all the time.l REINVENTION (of yourself),RENEWAL(of your educational aspirations),RESOURCEFULNESS (in the face of adversity)Promotes RESURGENCE of interest in you and what you can contribute to your employer's bottom line.You can do it, you will do it, and you must do it. Good luck.Stay tuned for articles on investments, retirement, real estate, immigration / residency and domicile, crossing borders, taxation, estate planning, foreign currency, insurance, reader stories, and relationship in recession part 2.