This week a worried law graduate asks our careers expert Eoghan McDermott for advice on securing his future.
Dear Eoghan,
I’m a second year graduate in a law firm. My colleagues’ contracts aren’t being renewed. How do I make sure I get kept?
Simon, Dublin
Hi Simon,
If you’re going to be made redundant, your judgement is neither right nor wrong and your performance has nothing to do with what happens to you.
And if you think it’s your performance, then you’re being fired which is a completely different situation altogether.
If you’re being fired there are lots of things that you can do. One of which is going to your boss and asking him in a nice way, “how can I do better?” But, if you’re about to be fired they’ve probably told you already.
If you’re being made redundant there is very little you can do. If you’re fee earning you can make it financially unviable for them to let you go by going out and drumming up business. If you’re in this group, you’re in the minority.
For everyone else, what you want is guilt and support. It’s likely to be a senior manager who will have the conversation with you. And most senior managers are likely to have contacts with other senior managers.
They can do a real kind of outplacement that few actual outplacement companies can do. They can sniff around, ring pals, talk to clients and get you work experience in their companies. They can ring a company, like us, and say, “guys, I have someone here I’d like looked after.”
They will only do this if (a) they like you or (b) they feel guilty.
Therefore, shouting at them and telling them to stick the job where the sun don’t shine is not a good idea.
Best of luck,
Eoghan
If you have a question about your job or career that Eoghan could help you with, why not email JOE at shout@joe.ie?
Eoghan McDermott is Head of The Careers Clinic in The Communications Clinic and is the author of The Career Doctor- How to Get and Keep the Job You Want.
Contact Eoghan at eoghan@communicationsclinic.ie
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