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Help! Not Wanted

How secure is your job? Before you answer, consider that some big high-tech names are tightening their belts.
Written by Joseph C. Panettieri, Contributor

How secure is your job? Before you answer, consider that some big high-tech names are tightening their belts. Compaq Computer, Ingram Micro, MCI Worldcom, NEC and Netscape—just to name a few—all have disclosed layoff plans over the last 12 months.

So, what's a reseller to do? For starters, make sure you have more than one point of contact at each of your partner companies. If your best channel buddy at Acme Co. gets a pink slip, you'd better be able to speed dial a No. 2 pal—your new best buddy—at Acme.

Update your résumé every three months or so. In today's business environment, your company's health—or perceived health—can change overnight. Few people, for instance, predicted Compaq's recent fall from grace.

Keep an open mind. Sometimes it pays to leave a healthy company for a struggling firm that's seeking to regain lost glory. Sun Microsystems veteran Eric Schmidt made a difference at Novell. Perhaps you, too, can play a leading role in a corporate turnaround.

Never believe that you can't be replaced. America Online enjoys record growth, yet the Internet darling made big staff cuts upon acquiring Netscape earlier this year.

Some AOL and Netscape staffers have since polished their résumés. Have you?

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