Employees with up-to-date skills ‘will survive crisis’

People who want job security in the current financial crisis should ensure they have up-to-date qualifications, a membership body says.

Employees should also make sure the skills they have are applicable to their position if they want to survive redundancies, according to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Research by Tenon Recovery shows businesses are struggling to cope as today’s executives have little experience of operating in a downturn.

Victor Smart, a spokesperson for CIMA, said one of the key tips for employees to survive the economic crisis is to have the abilities businesses need today.

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"If you’ve got good skills, if they’re up to date and they are relevant you will be in a much better position to survive than if your skills are rusty or irrelevant to the modern economy," he added.

According to recent figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the number of people in employment decreased by 99,000 over the third quarter of 2008.