by Jed Estrada

We have all heard the advice at some point that if you want to be successful, get a good education, and find a good job with good benefits. Assuming that you are a good worker and you don’t make bad financial decisions, you should be set to make a career, build a retirement, and at best stay economically secure for your life. Unfortunately, our economic world is a much more harrowing place these days where survival is the key: survival for companies as they seek to stay out of the red, and survival for employees as they try and hold onto their source of income.

Since the economic downturn has hit the roots of the financial industry, nearly every sector is experiencing unemployment. According to data from the US Department of Labor, the highest rate of unemployment is in the service sector, which affects nearly every service the average citizen use on a daily basis, but manufacturing is also experiencing a financial hit.

Job security isn’t the legendary shelter that many people once believed it to be. In these hard economic times where not even banks are secure, companies often need to cut back to survive. In the changing economy, even some of the strongest companies are no longer as secure as they once were believed to be. Joe Dabroski, a resident of Sayre Pennsylvania, lost his job this past January after 25 years with IBM, a company which has held to the strongest standards of employee retention, even through the Great Depression.

Joe Dabroski graduated from Clarkson College (now Clarkson University) with a B.A. in Mechanical Engineering in 1983. There he met his wife Marion, who graduated the following year with a degree in Chemical Engineering. IBM was actively recruiting top college graduates in the early 1980s. Joe interviewed with an IBM recruiter directly from Clarkson’s campus, and was hired as a development engineer at the IBM’s Endicott site. He was quickly promoted over the years, and reached the position of Senior Engineer in about 10 years. In 1992 he moved to the branch of applications engineering. There he worked with outside customers, describing and promoting silicon technology to other businesses and corporations. He worked in the micro-electronics division, which was the primary developer of the high technology silicon chips within the company. In 2002 he moved to a larger division, working on IBM’s core silicon technology. Here he was an operations analysts doing staff work for management, and working from home. This was the position he held until he was laid off in January 2009.

Mr. Dabroski said that by January he knew it was only a matter of time before he would be affected by IBM’s job cuts. “It was the third cycle of immediate layoffs, but I was finally affected. It finally got to the point where they were past cutting down to the bone, and they were cutting some of the bones out”, said Mr. Dabroski. At the time he was working in Sales Operations, and within an 18 month period 70 percent of the fifteen employee department had been laid off.

But even with such a strong background and experience with the company, Mr. and Mrs. Dabroski weren’t taking any chances. “When Joe started at IBM it was part of the company’s policy that he wouldn’t get laid off.” Marion Dabroski said. “The first time there were layoffs, it was an eye-opener for us, so we decided then that we weren’t going to overextend ourselves. You couldn’t be sure to know how long this good thing was going to last. And so we had to prepare ourselves for it not lasting forever.” The Dabroskis paid off their home mortgage, and stayed out of debt. “I can’t tell you what a comfort that was to us when he lost his job that we weren’t worried if we could make our house payment.”

When Joe Dabroski was laid off, he was given 30 days to search for another job within the company. But by the time the month was over, neither he nor anyone he knew had found another position in IBM. But Joe was able to quickly find a new job with the help of IBM’s out placement services that came with their severance package. He now works for Stateline Auto Auction in the accounting office. On the topic of job security, he says “Job security is very much based on what skills you can develop and how you can articulate them and describe what they are, so you that can move within the company from job to job, or to another company.” Accordingly, for a responsible worker, your security will be invested in what you can do, and not a dependency on what a company promises you. By developing your skills, you have something to take with you if you lose your job, and you can bring it to a new job. “In essence” said Mr. Dabroski, “if you’re able to do that, then you are secure in the effect of being able to demonstrate that you can help a new company, or a new position to succeed.”

For the Dabroskis, keeping a secure family is the priority. Joe said he and Marion were able to work together during his period of unemployment. “We were in lock step on how to approach these things, and when we found out that I lost my job we weren’t struggling with each other because we were already prepared.” As Christians, if we place our security first in our Faith and our Family, we’ll find that God is faithful, and will never downsize His kingdom. Or as the Psalmist says, “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” So rest your security first on the Kingdom of God, “and all these things will be added unto you.”