Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work [Hardcover]

Stephen Viscusi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2008

There's no doubt about it, today's workplace is an uncertain and treacherous territory. Newspaper headlines are proclaiming near record-high levels of unemployment, and, in these tough times, companies are making swift judgments about human capital.

The bottom line: No job is safe.

But there are tried and true ways to fight off sudden unemployment successfully, and the number one weapon in your arsenal is workplace expert and television and radio personality Stephen Viscusi's career manifesto, Bulletproof Your Job. Based on four simple strategies for dodging the layoff bullet and a long list of ways to implement these strategies, Bulletproof Your Job may save you from your worst enemy at work—which just so happens to be you.

Quite simply, observe these imperative rules:

Be visible. Be easy. Be useful. Be ready.

With plenty of distinct action items, dozens of anecdotal illustrations and examples, and lists and tips for adapting bulletproof strategies to your own situation, Bulletproof Your Job will show you how to leverage the black-and-white stuff—your title, salary, and tenure—with the gray stuff—your relationship with coworkers, visibility in the workplace, and ability to make your boss look good—to ward off the pink stuff—the dreaded layoff notice. While you're at it, you'll be creating a long-term strategy for job security and career advancement that ensures you'll never feel this vulnerable again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For office workers fearful of the next headcount reduction, Viscusi offers a sound strategy for surviving to work another day. A workplace and career specialist and executive headhunter, Viscusi explains with authority how executives facing staff reductions make their decisions. The 50 tactics he offers are intended to bulletproof a job, but they are also the same tactics that make one a valuable employee and enhance one's attractiveness to prospective headhunters and new employers-keeping resumes current, stashing away cash and knowing how to interview well. Viscusi groups his strategies into four categories: being more visible, being easy to work with, being useful and being ready, and his tips stick close to the tried-and-true (dress for success, spell-check emails, keep friends close and enemies closer). While those new to the working world will benefit the most from the advice, office veterans will receive a useful reminder that the little things-like body language and elevator pleasantries-go a long way to generating well-regard from higher ups intent on cutting staff.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

There’s a tendency to scoff at all the work advice being offered, whether to recent college grads or to seasoned executives, including “look the part,” “details are important,” and “don’t make waves.” In this age of economic turbulence, headhunter-author (On the Job: How to Make It in the Real World of Work, 2001) Viscusi puts truth behind those clichés—and turns his four bulletproof strategies into a memorable mantra: be visible, be easy, be useful, be ready. Of course, in back of each of the four are a series of 50 tactics in total, all with proof-positive facts delivered via sidebars, such as “just so you know” and “true story” examples. Eat at your desk? Not a chance—move to the dining area. Unclear about the how-to’s of a new task or position? Pick a mentor. Common sense infuses every chapter, as does the author’s extraordinary attention to readability, including short paragraphs, millennial language, headlines that grab you, bullets, and final summaries. Your job is your most valuable asset, he says. So, too, might be this book. --Barbara Jacobs

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1 edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061713600
• ISBN-13: 978-0061713606
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good primer, September 7, 2008

By 

D. Kanigan (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work (Hardcover)

Viscusi is the CEO of The Viscusi Group, a boutique executive search firm specializing in the interior products industry. He is also called upon as a frequent subject matter expert on national TV, radio and print.

The book is outlined with 4 basic principles supported by 50 tactics:

1) Be visible

2) Be easy

3) Be useful

4) Be ready

My assessment:

1) While it may be a good refresher for a few further up the totem pole, this book is best suited for readers in the early to early-middle stages of their career or for those in the individual contributor / new managers segment.

2) There is a lot of common sense among the 50 tactics (learn new skills; support your boss; have a firm handshake; work hard; leave your problems at home; find a mentor; look good / dress well; take initiative). This will be old news to many yet should be considered base fundamentals for all, and particularly relevant for new/early entrants into the work stream.

3) Author opens with a powerful introduction:

"If you care about your job, you can start protecting it right now. If all you care about is your paycheck, there's almost nothing that will protect you from eventually being deselected in favor of another employee who's truly committed to his job. That's survival of the fittest at work in the workplace.

"You must understand that your job is your most valuable asset, and your primary objective is to protect it."

"Bulletproofing your job requires that you quit crying about merit and fairness and start improving your chemistry with your boss. Work is war, and if someone is going to get fired, let it be the guy your boss doesn't like, not you. If you don't have the stomach for this approach, hand this book off to someone who does and watch him keep his job."

4) Among the 50 tactics, you'll have to pick from the menu as to what works for you and your company's culture and what will not. Some of the tactics are a throwback to the "face-time" work culture of "yesteryear" - for example in the very first tactic the author recommends to "Arrive Early and Stay Late":

"Arriving at work early show your commitment and industriousness. Of course, you need to get there only 5 minutes before your boss or coworkers every day to come off as the world's most committed employee...don't stay late, stay later. Leaving a mere 10 minutes after your boss has gone reinforces the impression that you're the world's most committed employee."

5) The book is easy to read and well organized. It is documented with good examples and summaries hit the key points. It can be finished in one sitting (166 pages).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Viscusi Advocates Manipulation Over Character, April 19, 2009

By 

S. Barron - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work (Hardcover)

Despite his self-proclaimed credential as being, "America's Workplace Guru," Stephen Viscusi's book, Bulletproof Your Job, is a weak diatribe of advice that produces the same type of manipulative, political environments that ruin potentially great organizations. According to this material, to guarantee employment you must follow the following four simple strategies:

1. Be visible: Make your boss think your working long hours and imitate your boss as if you're a "Mini-Me"

2. Be easy: Work the office politics carefully, knowing the gossip but not being part of it

3. Be Useful: Adapt to the changing needs of the organization, taking initiative at opportune times

4. Be Ready: Keep your network fresh so that you can find a new job when necessary

Where this book really misses the mark is in its fundamental presupposition:

"You must understand that your job is your most valuable asset, and your primary objective is to protect it."

Bad advice, Mr. Viscusi! An asset is an item of ownership having exchange value. Only an entrepreneur would own their own job, and any entrepreneur smart enough to do that knows better than to follow this misguided philosophy. For most of us, our job is not an asset--instead it is an opportunity to use and develop one of our greatest assets, ourself. Furthermore, if the job is the most valuable asset, why is the fourth strategy focused on finding a new job?

A few items in this book are worthwhile, but I do not recommend this book as a resource for furthering someone's career.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars aptly titled - how to keep your job, regardless of whether you like your job, February 18, 2009

By 

Carol C. "ccjello" (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work (Hardcover)

This is a straightforward, easy-to-read guide outlining specific steps you can take to keep your name off of the layoff list. In tough economic times, when announcements of significant job eliminations come every day, the book is especially topical. The book is not about enjoying your job or excelling at your job -- it's all about making sure that you don't get fired or laid off, and that is all about creating the perception that you are useful, valuable, and value-adding to your employer.

Although the basic principles are sound, some of the specific suggestions are a little hard to swallow (become a mini-me of your boss) and reek of gamesmanship (get to work just a little bit before your boss and leave after your boss, hire a ghostwriter to author professional articles in your name) and outright sucking up (get more face time with your boss, publicize your accomplishments). There's an underlying assumption that your boss is vulnerable to through obsequious flattery and unable to see through blatant efforts to suck up. What's missing is an emphasis on the need to add real value to the organization. Truly earning your paycheck by adding value to your organization's bottom line, bringing revenue into your organization, though not discussed at any length in this book, is probably a surefire way to keep your job in tough times.

Viscusi offers four basic suggestions for keeping your job:

1. Be visible.

2. Be easy.

3. Be useful.

4. Be ready (just in case).

He then suggests several tangible steps to take under each of these suggestions. Being visible involves getting to work early and staying late, looking good, dressing well, not smoking, having a nice haircut and nice teeth (yes!! he suggests Crest WhiteStrips), speaking up, volunteering, requires making yourself visible, making presentations, talking to your boss, even developing a Viagra handshake. Being easy involves not complaining, not gossiping, leaving personal problems at home. Being useful involves training others, mentoring others, being flexible while also having specialized knowledge, and adding value. Being ready involves having savings, an updated resume, and a strong professional network.

Although I don't disagree with the suggestions generally, I'm not sure that "being easy" is a way to protect your job. Being easy will certainly make you better-liked at work, and most employers prefer "easy", low-maintenance, non-whining employees, but I can assure you that they will think twice before laying off a whiner if they fear that the whiner will run to a lawyer or the EEOC with allegations of wrongful termination. If someone is too easy and creates the impression that they'll never assert their own rights, the company doesn't risk much by adding that person to the layoff list.

This book may be more useful for someone who is just starting out in the workplace and needs a reminder of how his or her conduct may be perceived by others and a reminder of the ultimate importance of one's relationship with his direct supervisor. It's important to acknowledge that in tough economic times, layoffs are sometimes a fact of life and are often based on skills, specific expertise, seniority, market dynamics, geographic drivers, and factors over which employees have little or no control. Sucking up to the boss and trying to look good are helpful, but they can only go so far to protect your job.