5 Tips On How to Recession Proof Your Job According to Training Management and Soft Skills Training Consultants Michelle T. Sterling and LeeAundra Temescu

With economic uncertainly at levels not seen since the Great Depression, many employees are seeking ways to recession proof their careers. Many professionals and executives have found the professional development and soft skills training route to be their answer.

The numbers are staggering. Citibank planned 50,000 in layoffs, Ford Motor Company – 20,000, Sun Microsystems – 5,000. Some of the layoffs are department based or program based but many are discretionary and entirely based upon your soft skills and your abilities to project professional presence. Managers decide who stays and who goes. In general, those who are viewed as underperforming will be cut and those who have unique and valuable skills will stay.

Here Are 5 Tips On How To Recession Proof Your Job:

Project Professional Presence. It’s all about the subtle, unspoken details of how you present yourself, how you enter a room, the tone of your voice and the confidence in your persona. It’s as simple as sitting up straight at your desk to how you command the boardroom. Projecting and maintaining the professional image you want to present speaks volumes about your credibility.
Develop Your Soft Skills. Being able to assess your audience, knowing what to say, when to say it and how to say it are all vital in your ability to hone your soft skills. People like working with others who seem approachable, trustworthy and personable especially in cut throat environments. It makes working with you so much more enjoyable.
Behave Like a Leader. Take ownership for your work and the projects delegated to you. Take initiative and offer to take on more responsibility if you have the bandwidth. Leaders are often self-motivated to execute and make things happen.
Cultivate Your Professional Relationships. This doesn’t mean you should sleep with your boss! Often times breaking the ice is hard. If you start the day by saying hello to your colleagues and fostering polite conversations in the elevator or in the restroom, you’re on your way to developing good relationships with your co-workers. Creating win-win situations and being able to manage your relationships with your colleagues above and below you projects executive presence.
Hone Your Communication Skills. Developing a clear, focused, and compelling core message, understanding your audience and getting the information you need to organize and write a speech that compels your audience to act are all important aspects in developing your communication skills.

Executive Impact, a program designed to address the professional image and soft skills training management concerns of professionals worldwide, has been a unique asset to many of our clients in enhancing their value and marketability within the firm. According to Image Consultant Michelle T. Sterling, Founder of Global Image Group, “The truth is many people have good technical skills and can do the job. What sets a person apart and puts them ahead of the pack are the so-called ‘soft skills’ – image, behavior, communication. Employees who have executive presence are the ones that companies want to retain and nurture.”

Executive presence isn’t something that comes naturally to most people but it can be learned. Sterling, in conjunction with noted communications coach, LeeAundra Temescu, have been training individuals on these critical skills through a series of seminars offered around the world for several years.

Temescu says, “The most gratifying result of these seminars has been the fact that many of our clients have gotten promotions or better jobs simply because they learned the skills that enabled them to, for the first times in their careers, convey their expertise with professionalism and poise.”

The seminar offers participants a unique approach that focuses not just on dress or communication but presents both in an integrated manner that highlights all aspects of executive presence.

The Executive Impact Seminar is being offered in San Francisco and New York while the Worldwide Executive Impact Seminar is being offered in London, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2009.

Join the many and recession proof your career today.