A recession may be coming if prognosticators at Fortune, U.S. News, and CNBC are to be believed. To be fair, there are always doomsayers, but there seem to be a few more now than last year.

We may be months or years away from the next recession, but it’s never too early to begin to insulate yourself against the damage it can do to your career, your finances, and your life. Now is the best time to make
yourself recession-proof, and here are some important tips to help you do it, before the pressure eventually hits:

PROFESSIONALLY

1. Shore Up Your Professional Relationships

Network on LinkedIn and join professional associations and LinkedIn groups. Then become engaged in the affairs of the groups. Go to association meetings and collaborate on projects. Your reputation is your professional currency, and its value is measured by how many people know you and value your skills. If you are killing it on the job, but few people are exposed to your work, your currency is weak. That weakness may come to light if you’re looking for work when demand for jobs outstrips supply.

2. Consider an Industry Switch

Oil and gas is cyclical, and we’ve recently seen what a down-cycle looks like as hundreds of thousands of sector employees in the U.S. recently found themselves out of work. Many were forced to leave their industry, and many have been forced to accept lower-paying jobs or are still looking. While the economy is stable, consider a switch to a more recession-proof industry if you are currently in a cyclical industry. If you have portable skills, you may be able to move into a field like healthcare, which projects to be a hot field far into the future and largely resistant to the ups and downs of the global economy. Education, government, nonprofits, and the environmental sciences are also projected to be among the hottest recession-proof industries.

3. Get Educated Online

Many factors influence a decision to pursue a post-graduate degree. Whether it’s worth the investment depends on your long-term interest in a field, the respect of the program in the field, and what it costs, relative to what you can afford and the projected time to break even. If you plan to work for decades to come and you can work while you study online, a post-graduate degree could open up opportunities at the higher levels of an industry. Often, candidates for leadership positions are required or preferred to have Masters degrees.

4. Improve Your “Soft” Skills

Soft skills are highly valued by employers. Communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaborative skills can be further enhanced in a variety of ways. If your public speaking needs work, join Toastmasters. If you need to develop project management skills, become a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or another charitable organization. The approaches you take to soft-skill development will also provide valuable professional networking opportunities.

FINANCIALLY

1. Refinance Your Mortgage

If you have strong credit and a mortgage rate above 4.5 percent, you could save hundreds of dollars per month by refinancing. You could also pay off your mortgage sooner by refinancing to a 15-year instead of a 30-year mortgage. You could also do a cash-out refinance to pay off higher-interest debt or avoid out-of-pocket expenses for home projects and repairs. Today’s historically low-interest environment can be a financial boon if you meet these conditions.

2. Pay Yourself First

Many of the “victims” of a recession are big spenders when times are good. Instead of falling prey to the consumer culture that makes over-spenders of even the most financially savvy, consider a “pay yourself first” approach to saving. Before contributing to IRA’s and education savings accounts, before paying bills, and before putting aside discretionary spending funds, put a certain percentage of each paycheck in a rainy day savings fund. If you make this a lifelong habit, you will have less financial stress than most Americans during the inevitable economic downturns. You will also be able to withstand long periods of unemployment in the worst of circumstances.

3. Pay Down Debts

Many Americans juggle debts with high-interest credit cards, just to keep up with the Joneses—and that’s before a recession hits. That’s when the problem really snowballs. Use positive economic cycles, coupled with low-interest-rate lending, to aggressively pay down debts. When a recession hits and your income temporarily dips (if you or your spouse loses a job or is forced to take a pay cut), it will be assuring to have manageable monthly expenses instead of spiraling debt.

Of course, one way to prepare yourself for the ups and downs of our economy is to establish a relationship with a recruiter who can work on your behalf. Get in touch with Imprimis and talk to one of our agents. We’re here to match talented employees with the best employers in DFW. You can also interact with us and with our community on Facebook.