Okay, okay… There is no such thing or someone that is indispensable in our current economy but what you can make yourself be is if the company loses you, it can hurt the business really bad. This is one flaw that many companies tend to overlook – retraining and knowledge sharing. With this flaw, you can actually abuse to your advantage.

Update Your Skills
One killer is to make sure you are always up to date on your skill sets and besides that, you should be constantly updated on your industry upcoming and ongoing developments. If the last time you have been upgrading yourself is eons ago, it is pretty easy to replace you with someone younger, cheaper with the latest skills and talent. Don’t underestimate the power of global hiring and online freelancers, they can and will accept your workload by double and salary by halves.

Sonia, 27, Technical Advisor
“My company decided to hire a bunch of people from China that took away half of the department’s jobs within the span of 3 months. That is like 50 folks! I was lucky to escape the axe as my uncle is the boss, if not I’m pretty sure I’ll be searching in the job ads by now.”

Extend Your Network
Your extensive and valuable network might be your saving grace. After all, this is something that takes time and EQ skills to acquire and you might have someone in your contact list that your company feels important enough to keep you to have that connection.

Gideon, 31, Senior Corporate Sales Manager
“My team has a huge nuisance that we can’t get rid of. She doesn’t bring in many sales and has an attitude that irritates almost everyone in the office. We all put up with her because she has really great connections with our top Arabian clients that help us to work efficiently with them in our UAE branch. We are keeping her as a troubleshooter.”

Understand The Dynamics
Knowing how your company works and understanding in depth on the end to end processes can make a difference in your portfolio. Not only you’ll work smarter, you probably are more efficient and productive than your peers. This might even mean that you are likely to be earmarked to move laterally if there is a need to. And every boss loves the flexibility in their employees.

Randy, 25, Sales and Customer Service Manager
“My company was cutting costs and one of the firsts to go is manpower. They outsource most of the frontline staff and only kept a few of the operational staff around. We went from 190 staff to 20 staff within 3 months. They not only kept me, they promote me as well but I had to manage two roles but it is a good exposure for me. All this because I had experience in both roles.”

Know Your Boss
Understanding how your boss work can mean a lot. Does he like figures more than facts? What are his work values? Does he value employee engagement more than customer engagement? What makes him tick? Does he like to challenge or pick one’s mind? Everyone likes to work with someone who is compatible with his or her working style so if you are compatible, he probably will fight for you to stay.

Sarah, 46, Commercial Forecast Analyst
“When my company was acquired by another major competitor, they cut away my department. My boss was already offered another position in other department and she insisted her acceptance on the condition that I need to be on board with her as well.”

Highly Sought After
If you knew to be highly sought after by your industry competitors, don’t be surprised that your company will make extra effort to keep you. Especially if you are privy to many best practices or confidential policies.

Do you agree with the above observations? Do you think it is easy to make yourself indispensable? Come and share with us in your comments below.

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