If your job was advertised

I have occasionally heard of situations where companies ask some or all of their staff to apply for their jobs afresh.

People get very scared to apply for their own jobs. Many are not sure whether they can manage to get their own current jobs again. What about you? Would you be confident that you would qualify for and get back your job if it was advertised again?

The problem is that many people are too comfortable and complacent in their jobs with little thought about remaining competitive on the job market. If you do your job to the best of your ability all the time, you should not be worried to compete for your job. You have done it before and you should know your job better than anybody else. Why should those strange to your job beat on you on your own job?

After all, in the interview, you would be telling the panel how you do your job and what you have achieved in the job. You should be at a stage where when they ask you about what you can do better in the job, your answer should be almost “NOTHING”—because you have done it to the best possible levels. There is almost nothing to do better!

Those who want to bid for your job should have a difficult time to promise anything better than what you do. After all, theirs can only be promises. Yours is a list of actual achievements. Any clever ideas they may have should be things you already did or continue to do. They should have no value to add to what you do.

But this can only be possible if you take your job really seriously. Work as if one day you will have to bid again for your job. On a daily basis, prove that you are the best person to do your job. Do not give your employers the thought to wish they had recruited someone else to do your job. Amaze them! Wow them! Dazzle them with your performance, output and delivery.

There is the other side to being able to win back your job. People and relationships. Would the people that you work with be happy to see you back into your current job if it was made vacant? How do you treat other people? Do you have good relationships with your peers? Do you respect those above you? Do you NOT mistreat people below you?

Do you respect all people as human beings or you like to carry around your weight in the corridors and meeting rooms? Do you greet and smile at work colleagues as you bump into them or you are selective on who to talk to and who not to?

The third part of this is continuous professional development. May be the time you got your job, the qualification required was a diploma. Is diploma still the requirement for a job like yours or now a degree would be an appropriate qualification? Then you need to upgrade now so that the day they advertise your job, you have the required qualification.

A good real example is managerial jobs. 20 years ago, a bachelor’s degree was adequate as minimum qualification to be a manager in Malawi – in general. Later, job adverts started to list a master’s degree as an ‘added advantage’.

Today, a master’s degree is typically listed as a minimum requirement. Those who became managers many years ago are having to upgrade or they will be left behind.

You also need to check the minimum requirements for professional skills and certifications. Are you progressing in line with trends? Are you still relevant for your job requirements or not? If not, then you need to immediately draw up a plan to close all the gaps so that you can be able to get back your job should it be opened up for competition.

Good luck as you reflect on your suitability for your current job. This is an important matter to consider at least once every year!