Euro dotcom execs fear the Order of the Boot

Don't spray and pray

By Linda Harrison • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 5th June 2001 15:12 GMT

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Almost half of Europe's dotcom elite are panicking about losing their jobs.

Forty-seven per cent of the top tech tycoons fear they will soon be laid off due to the current economic slump.

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of those looking for a new job remain pessimistic about their prospects of finding one, according to a survey by headhunter outfit FirstPersonGlobal.

This has made many dotcommers change their behaviour at work - around 40 per cent confessed they felt sensitive to threats and found themselves transforming into office politicians.

Of the 300 execs interviewed for the survey, many said they felt less secure in their jobs now that they did during the last recession in the 1990s.

"Having avoided the job cull a decade ago, these senior executives now feel vulnerable and ill-prepared to deal with the prospects of redundancy," warned FirstPersonGlobal CEO Paul Smith.

FirstPersonGlobal has put together a list of tips for any unlucky dotcom execs:

Get out before you're pushed
Negotiate the redundancy package in the same
meeting where the company boots you out
Get networking
Don't adopt the 'spray and pray' approach to job hunting - i.e. apply for a select few positions and spend time on each application.
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