The first thing you want to do is protect your job.
As I mentioned earlier, it's going to be the small start-up companies who haven't firmly embedded themselves into society that will feel the ax the fastest when a recession comes around.
When people stop spending money, they're going to be among the first companies to stop receiving it because they simply haven't had time to dig in their roots.
If you work for a company that's going to feel very little effects as a result of a recession you have very little to worry about.
Regardless of what company you work for, however, now is a great time to start making yourself indispensable.
It's simple fact that the employees that are the first to go when a company starts making lay-offs are the ones who aren't deemed to be important enough to stay-sort of like acceptable loss in a war zone.
Those employees have to go in order for the company to thrive.
Making yourself an indispensable part of your company is the first step toward recession proofing your job.
Even companies that are cutting down on their staff are going to hesitate to get rid of individuals who are essential to their company's daily operations.
This would be an excellent time to consider volunteering to take on extra work or become more actively involved in long term projects or contracts.
If you can, involve yourself in several projects your company is working on (obviously without stretching yourself so thin that you can no longer do your job to the best of your ability).
The more pies you have your fingers in, the more hesitant management will be to let you go.
In times of recession companies may be cutting back on their employees, but that doesn't mean that they're going to be able to cut back on the amount of work they have to do.
It just means that that work is going to be re-delegated.
If you're already actively involved in several ongoing projects the company will find it much easier to simply accord you extra responsibilities on these projects than to attempt to bring a new man up to speed.
A heads up-this is NOT the time to attempt to apply for a promotion or a transfer, however promising that transfer may be.
The minute you accept this type of move you become the new man on the block, and immediately become more vulnerable when the time comes to go through and decide who will go and who will stay.
Right before the string of layoffs in 2007 due to the termination of numerous government contracts one well known government agency had just opened a new department and moved a large quantity of their oldest and most experienced employees on over.
Despite the fact that many of these employees had put in more time with the company than the management they were working under, because their department was "new" they were among the first to lose their jobs when the company started laying off.
Attitude counts-a LOT.
A recent article published by Fortune magazine stated that when management is trying to decide who will stay and who will go, often attitude and the employee's ability to boost morale is as strong a determining factor as their ability to do their job.
When the going gets tough, the tough have to get going.
Remember, companies trying to stay on top during a recession are going to have higher expectations of their employees than ever before.
The only way these employees are going to be able to meet those expectations is if they are able to keep their morale high.
An employee who drags that morale down is going to quickly find themselves looking for another job.