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Career Tools,

I am a technical employee, specifically a field service engineer of diagnostic imaging medical equipment.

In Short: I am wondering if sending my resume to my current boss would help me avoid a layoff.

-:>Kevin

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Detail:

The boss I work for now isn't the manager who hired me.

It is unlikely that he has seen my resume - most likely he is unaware of my great career history.

In this tight economy, it's possible that my boss will be asked to "rack and stack" his employees.  Practically speaking that process would identify which employees to lay off.

As a hard core techy (and the farthest thing imaginable from a social butterfly) I worry that I could be layed off.

Here is the question: Should I send my resume to my boss ?

Background Info:

- I've worked for the company for 6 years, and for this boss for 3 years.

- My technical performance has been very solid.

- We Field Engineers work from home, with never any time in "the office."

- Contact with the boss might be one phone call per week, and quarterly team meetings.

Should I send him my resume ? Would it help avoid a lay off ?

Thank you,

  -:>Kevin

 

 

jbancroftconnors's picture

I am fairly new to the whole Manager Tools and paying attention to the 'soft' side myself. While a Project Manager, I am a Silicon Valley PM and what Mark would call a "task oriented" manager.

That said, I'll offer my two cents on this. If you have been working for your boss for three years, then giving him your resume isn't going to matter much one way or the other. He has three years of data points to look at, the resume is a piece of paper that just isn't going to stack up.

 

Titan1969's picture

I am currently the Director of Service for a large office equipment company. I tend towards the "analytical" category. If your worried and can do more for the company than you currently do, I would make contact with your boss and ask if their are any additional tasks you could perform. He may or may not take you up on the offer, but he will remember your the type of employee who will go the extra step for the company. This would be worth more than a resume to me, as head of our service department.

 

Its not good enough to do your best. First you must know what to do, then do your best.    Edwards Deming

tlhausmann's picture
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I do not see an upside to sending your resume as a strategy for prempting a layoff. Further, do not "present" an updated resume unless requested by your boss.

If you are concerned about layoffs then I recommend a two-fold plan. (1) Focus on your work and your accomplishments. Keep working. When others begin speculating...avoid the discussion and keep working. (2) Put into action your own contingency plan by listening to MT podcasts such as:

Building a Network

Layoff Immunization Parts 1 and 2

Getting Laid Off - Finances Rule

Contacting Recruiters

...and take action.

 

If you have taken time to update your resume, great! That said, I do not see an upside. Worse, your boss may see it as a sign that you are already looking. In my view, it is just a bad strategy to have your resume "lying around."