Things You Must Do While You Are Employed

* Update your resume at least every three to six months. Do this regularly so you don't forget important achievements, results, and roles. People forget too many details after they have already left a job. In fact, keep a list at work of your significant achievements, accomplishments, contributions, and demonstrated results - and update it regularly. You don't want to get laid off and have to spent the first week of employment stressing out over getting your resume put together. Having a resume virtually totally updated takes a huge amount of stress off of you.

* Keep copies of important stuff at home. This means performance reviews, touching emails, and any document specific to your employment (copies of your new hire paperwork, benefits enrollment, etc). If you filed a Workers' Compensation claim, make sure you keep copies of those documents at home, especially if you are in the middle of the case. If you get fired or laid off, you may have zero opportunity to access your "stuff" once you are notified that you are being terminated.

* Sock away Emergency Money! You never know when you will need it. I recommend having enough money stashed away to cover your expenses for at least six months. There is nothing worse than getting laid off or fired and realizing that you desperately have to find a new job ASAP. At the very least, having the extra money will give you some peace of mind.

* Exchange personal contact information with those who you want to stay in contact with after you leave the company. You never know when you or your favorite coworker will be asked to go. You may want to stay in touch with them as friends, or you may want to ask them for a reference later on. Today we assume that we can find everyone on LinkedIn or Facebook. Not true. There are still a lot of people who just "haven't really gotten around to it" or have no interest in getting on these sites. Don't assume others will be easy to find once you leave.

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