There have been quite a few layoffs in 2009, as it’s been quite a tough economic year. Just about everyone is looking over their shoulders now, trying to ensure that they’re not next in line to go up on the chopping block. So how do you avoid getting laid off in this down market? The economy is tough, and whether you’re a large corporation like GM, or a small company like a start-up, you have to abide by the first and most important rule of capitalism: making a profit.

What this means to you is that - whether you’re the employee, manager, or somewhere in the middle of the corporate ladder - you have to make absolutely sure that you’re pulling your own weight at the company. Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, etc. have all proven that there were employees out there with bloated, ridiculous incomes, but those employees were laid off for good reason. So where do you fall in that spectrum? Are you overpaid, or are you working your butt off to earn every penny of your salary?

One way to keep your money safe

A good way to find the answer to that question is to take a close look at other salaries in your profession. Take a look at your company’s competitors and what kind of salaries the people there are making. Take a look at the responsibilities of comparable job positions. Are you making a competitive salary - and I don’t mean in terms of if you’re making more, but - are your responsibilities equal to your “salary cost” to the company as an employee?

One reason that the economy is tanking right now is because there were employees out there who took liberties with what “wealth creation” actually meant and were rewarded for it. But capitalism shouldn’t - and thankfully doesn’t - work like that on a long term basis. In a truly competitive market, we eventually have to produce something worthwhile for a company and be paid fairly for that work. If you think your salary is competitive, both in terms of compensation for yourself and for your company, then you have to keep it up, stay positive and keep showing your worth as an employee that can’t be cut. If not, you might want to think about taking on new responsibilities to ensure that you remain a competitive employee that is earning a competitive salary, to ensure that you don’t get laid off.

Boeing recently announced that it will be cutting about 6% of its job force, and more than half of the layoffs will be happening in Washington state.

4,500 of the jobs being cut will come out of the Commercial Airlines unit, which was already announced by Boeing earlier in July. The other 5,500 of the jobs that were announced to be cut last week will be made in the defense and corporate support services unit, most of these jobs located across the US.

Estimates for the number of Boeing jobs lost in Washington are adding up to be more than 5,000 jobs cut in the state. This comes out of a total of 13,000 employees that Boeing employs in Washington.

However, Boeing does see a return to profitability within 2009 as it expects to continue current production levels and deliver between 480 to 485 planes through the remainder of this year.

Working for free? Unheard of you say?

Not when you’d like to keep your job skills sharp and the economy is down, making jobs scarce.

I first heard about Jobnob and the idea of working for free from a quirky little networking session that aimed to unite recently unemployed professionals with startups looking for people to help them get started… up. With the economic crash that happened late last year, startups have been in dire straights for most of this year: everyone has been spending less, investing less, and because of that startups based on great ideas have been floundering around trying to get their businesses up and running.

Enter the quirky little networking session: the Jobnob Happy Hour.

Although not ideal if you have a mortgage to pay and kids to feed, the premise of the Jobnob Happy Hour is that you volunteer your time for a startup while you’re looking for a job. It’s win-win for both parties because you help them stretch out every dollar they have, while you show them what you’ve got and why you should be the first employee they hire when the money starts rolling in.

On top of that, you can feel the impact of everything you do. Your opinion on everything actually matters. You have a new idea that you’re excited about? Run with it, give it a try! Definitely not something you would expect if you have a corporate background like me, and it is immensely satisfying when something you did catches on and you know that you had a hand in it.

Volunteering my time has also helped me broaden my horizons. Coming from a background in Public Relations, there have been many marketing terms I’ve heard being bandied around quite a bit recently: search engine optimization, organic searches, paid searches, Google Analytics, social media, etc. But to actually sit down and learn what these things are, how to utilize these things, and why you even need them at all has been incredibly enlightening. It’s been useful in understanding how I can be better at my own field and I definitely know it’ll make me better at my own job, when I do get back on my feet.

And the kicker is that I know these aren’t things I would’ve learned at a normal job.

Keiretsu is putting on their 4th annual “Summer Solstice” this Tuesday, June 30th.  The event will focus on how women investors and entrepreneurs will revive the California economy, and will feature a panel of business women who will discuss a myriad of issues confronting the entrepreneurial community today. This seems like a great event and will feature keynotes from Rashmi Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO of SlideShare, and Amanda Wallis, Managing Director for the California and Nevada regsions of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.  There will also be a panel discussion with several prominent women in the investment area and entrepreneurs from the Keiretsu Forum and Women’s Initiative.

More details can be found at http://summersolstice.eventbrite.com/

More information about Keiretsu: Keiretsu is the world’s largest angel investor network with over 750 accredited investor members throughout its 18 chapters on three continents. Since Keiretsu Forum’s founding in 2000, its members have invested over $180 million in 200 companies in technology, consumer products, healthcare/life sciences, real estate and other segments with high growth potential. Forum members collaborate in the due diligence, but make individual investment decisions, with rounds in the range of $250K-$2 million.

The good news for those of you in search of a job is that the educational and health care industries in California are doing relatively well. The EDD (Employment Development Department) is reporting that 2,100 new jobs are popping up in healthcare and education across the state. If you’re into working with the needy, the sick, or those still schooling, or if your typical haunts on other job boards seem rather empty, this might be a good time to think about a career change.

In less encouraging news, the EDD did point out that May figures for the Californian Unemployment Rate are showing a troubling increase to 11.5%. Unfortunately, it’s looking like California is one of the harder hit states in the country as the average unemployment rate for the US is currently hovering around a somewhat healthier 9.4%.

That’s not to say that no companies in California are hiring though. Google, Sprint, Yahoo and a few other companies all have jobs listed on the Jobnob job boards. So be sure to check out what typical starting salaries for your profession are and see what jobs we have listed for software engineers, marketing professionals, graphic artists or even winemakers. Don’t let the Unemployment Blues get to you. There are still a lot of cool jobs out there, so aim high!