How not to get retrenched / 3
In bad times, you keep your job only if it is seen as important to your boss and his boss. And it's only important to them if you are seen as being able to help them keep their job.
If your boss is about to lose his job, he may have to sacrifice you first so as to retain his own job.
Make yourself always available to your boss, go out of your way to get things done for him. If he turns out to be impotent and you are retrenched, at least your good work will make him feel bad.
He will then think of some way to make it up to you, like giving you an excellent testimonial, talking to his contacts about an opening for you, or offering you some freelance work with the company. And when the company re-hires, he will probably think of you first.
Hence, it is vital you do not ever badmouth your boss or ex-boss, even when he is retrenching you (think of the re-hiring).
Remember your boss, being your boss, probably has more experience and a larger number of contacts in the job market than you. He may find it difficult to get another senior position for himself but he may not find it difficult to get a lower-paying job for you.
So, make your boss grateful while you still have a job. There's no need to suck up to him -- he won't want that. But if you are friendly, respectful and enthusiastic in his presence, he will feel genuinely flattered and will soon come to regard you as essential to his ego and position in the company.
By the way, what happened to the invisible people whose work keeps the company running smoothly but who don't really care whether they are respectful to their bosses or not? No one cares about them, and in a retrenchment exercise, no one cares if they have to be retrenched or not.
That is the sad part about working life in general. If you create an environment where you seldom interact with others and you don't care two hoots what happened to your colleagues and your superiors, neither would they care much about your welfare, particularly when jobs are being cut across the board.
