Layoffs and worries about the economy may be eclipsing your enjoyment of the holiday season—and even hopes for next year—but you can stay ahead of the game. One way to do that is by career cushioning—taking a proactive approach to explore the job market and start looking for a new job before it’s absolutely necessary.
It’s crucial to be cautious about career cushioning, though. You don’t want your employer to mistakenly believe you’re not committed to your current role, and you don’t want to get distracted or spend limited time chasing opportunities you’re not necessarily interested in. There are ways to be both cautious and active in a pre-emptive job search.
Job Insecurity and Recession Fears
If you’re feeling a bit unsettled about the future or your career, you’re not alone. In fact, 66% of respondents think a recession could cause layoffs at their organization, according to a study by Clarify Capital. In addition,
81% of people are personally concerned about losing their job.
37% of respondents don’t believe they could handle being laid off either emotionally or financially.
Potential recession is impacting the ways companies manage as well. Fully 70% of people say potential recession has impacted raises at their organization, 65% say it has impacted productivity and 61% report it’s had an effect on hiring. People are most concerned within the business and information industry (66%), the finance and insurance industry (61%) and the education industry (58%).
The threat of recession also has an emotional effect as 45% report feeling stressed, 36% say they’re scared or depressed and 25% report feeling demotivated.
Given this data, it’s exactly the right time to motivate your next steps and start career cushioning.
Getting Empowered
Fortunately, you can take action—and just by doing so, you’ll contribute to your wellbeing. In fact, when you’re stressed about something, you tend to feel happier and healthier when you take proactive steps to respond. The reason: You’re taking control and reminding yourself of the ways you’re capable of creating your own future—and these are very good for you.
When you’re thinking about taking proactive career steps, you’ll want to consider growth and security which comes from both inside and outside the organization. If you get laid off, you’ll want a strong contingency plan outside your current employer, but if your job is in jeopardy, you might also find another role internally which could be a great next step. Don’t assume security will come only from outside the company.
Being proactive about exploring career options can help your wellbeing and confidence.
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#1 – Reflect and Assess
One of the first things you can do to be proactive about your career is to reflect on your desires and assess your situation. Consider what you love to do and what you have to do in your current role. Look for as much alignment as possible. Also assess your organization. Is there strong direction and purpose provided by leaders you want to follow? Do you have an opportunity to influence? Are there clear practices which make it easy to get things done? Can the organization adapt over time? And are there opportunities to grow with colleagues you appreciate? All of these are ways to evaluate whether your job or your company are places you want to stick around.
#2 – Develop Your Network
This tip won’t come as any surprise, but how you develop your network—more than its size—is perhaps the most important consideration. Networks work best when they’re based on reciprocity. People want to help you, but they’re most motivated to do that when you’ve also helped them, or when they can expect you will support them in the future.
As you’re taking action to cushion your career, it’s the perfect time to reach out without asking for anything. You can just check in with people you respect—with no agenda—just letting them know you’re thinking of them. You can share an article or an idea with someone because you think they’d value it. You can have coffee (virtual or otherwise) just to stay in touch. The point is to nurture your network and keep it fresh by adding value for others and staying on people’s minds—and to do this with contacts who are both internal to your company, and external.
As you’re strengthening your network, be sure to cast your net broadly. A study by MIT found most of your opportunities come not from your primary network of your closest connections, but from your secondary or tertiary connections. This is because with more distance from you, people have access to information you likely don’t have—about new opportunities or emerging potential for new roles.
Volunteering and networking can support you if you need it.
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#3 – Volunteer
Volunteering may seem removed from career development, but data demonstrates those who volunteer in their communities have higher salaries and benefit from more job growth over time. In particular, a study published in Social Science Research found volunteering tends to give people a bump in their salaries and a study by the Center for Economics and Policy Research found links between volunteer work, higher wages and improved likelihood of employment.
When you volunteer, you build your skills and develop your capabilities. If you’re doing the books for the nonprofit focused on refurbishing bicycles for the underserved, you’re continuing to develop your financial and analytical skills. Or if you’re swinging a hammer, building homes for people in your community, you’re also developing team and communication skills.
Volunteer work is also great for building relationships with people who can help you along the way. The person weeding the community garden next to you may be the president of a company or the person serving next to you at the soup kitchen may be an influential recruiter.
#4 – Stay Informed
When you’re being proactive, it’s also wise to stay informed about trends, dynamics of the labor market and companies which interest you. Stay current on the industries which are growing and thriving so you know where to focus an external search if you need one. Be aware of the kinds of jobs which are in higher demand so you can build skills in those directions. And consider the areas of the country where jobs are most prevalent. All of these will help you be ready if you need to go from proactive exploration to actively looking for your next role.
The most resilient people do three things. First, they stay informed. Next, they make sense of what they’re hearing. And third, they respond, improvise and solve problems based on what’s happening and what it means to them.
If you learn the market is hot for workers within the tech industry in North Carolina, you might expand your network in the industry, sign up for alerts about jobs that become available in the field and learn more about what it’s like to live or work in the area. You might even put your ear to the ground and seek information about a new focus your current company has on digital innovation—so you can position yourself in that direction.
When you’re more knowledgeable, you’ll be more confident and able to respond and take action, but you’ll also be more articulate and impressive in an interview as well.
#5 – Be Present and Engaged
Perhaps the most significant thing you can do to cushion your career is to perform brilliantly in whatever role you have currently. Demonstrate commitment, invest energy and give your best in whatever you’re doing. Colleagues and leaders will value and respect you when they see your contribution and experience your engagement—and these will set them up to support you in getting to the next step whenever the time is right.
The Next Opportunity
Recession, layoff and job changes can be scary. But they’re less frightening when you’re prepared and when you’re making your own decisions—taking action to have not just a soft landing, but a forward bounce which will allow you to grow and develop your career in the midst of challenges.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 250 points in late-morning trading, led by strength in the base metal and technology sectors, while U.S. stock markets also charged higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 254.62 points at 23,847.22.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 432.77 points at 41,935.87. The S&P 500 index was up 96.38 points at 5,714.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 486.12 points at 18,059.42.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.68 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was up 89 cents at US$70.77 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down a penny at US2.27 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$9.40 at US$2,608.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.33 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Supervised injection sites are saving the lives of drug users everyday, but the same support is not being offered to people who inhale illicit drugs, the head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says.
Dr. Julio Montaner said the construction of Vancouver’s first indoor supervised site for people who inhale drugs comes as the percentage of people who die from smoking drugs continues to climb.
The location in the Downtown Eastside at the Hope to Health Research and Innovation Centre was unveiled Wednesday after construction was complete, and Montaner said people could start using the specialized rooms in a matter of weeks after final approvals from the city and federal government.
“If we don’t create mechanisms for these individuals to be able to use safely and engage with the medical system, and generate points of entry into the medical system, we will never be able to solve the problem,” he said.
“Now, I’m not here to tell you that we will fix it tomorrow, but denying it or ignoring it, or throw it under the bus, or under the carpet is no way to fix it, so we need to take proactive action.”
Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in British Columbia in 2023 came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place to smoke, often outdoors, in a tent.
The centre has been running a supervised injection site for years which sees more than a thousand people monthly and last month resuscitated five people who were overdosing.
The new facilities offer indoor, individual, negative-pressure rooms that allow fresh air to circulate and can clear out smoke in 30 to 60 seconds while users are monitored by trained nurses.
Advocates calling for more supervised inhalation sites have previously said the rules for setting up sites are overly complicated at a time when the province is facing an overdose crisis.
More than 15,000 people have died of overdoses since the public health emergency was declared in B.C. in April 2016.
Kate Salters, a senior researcher at the centre, said they worked with mechanical and chemical engineers to make sure the site is up to code and abidies by the highest standard of occupational health and safety.
“This is just another tool in our tool box to make sure that we’re offering life-saving services to those who are using drugs,” she said.
Montaner acknowledged the process to get the site up and running took “an inordinate amount of time,” but said the centre worked hard to follow all regulations.
“We feel that doing this right, with appropriate scientific background, in a medically supervised environment, etc, etc, allows us to derive the data that ultimately will be sufficiently convincing for not just our leaders, but also the leaders across the country and across the world, to embrace the strategies that we are trying to develop.” he said.
Montaner said building the facility was possible thanks to a single $4-million donation from a longtime supporter.
Construction finished with less than a week before the launch of the next provincial election campaign and within a year of the next federal election.
Montaner said he is concerned about “some of the things that have been said publicly by some of the political leaders in the province and in the country.”
“We want to bring awareness to the people that this is a serious undertaking. This is a very massive investment, and we need to protect it for the benefit of people who are unfortunately drug dependent.” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
