No matter how long you've worked for a company, how loyal and hardworking you've been, no one is immune from receiving a pink slip - especially within the challenging and competitive work environment.

The once-sacred covenant between employee and employer is about as rare today as finding a live person answering a corporate switchboard. The new mantra is: Your job is temporary, your career path is uncharted, and the future of the company for which you work is unclear.

Technology is not always your friend. It can't do your job (in most cases), but technology has caused rapid changes in the way business is conducted today. Indeed, the march of technology means every company and employee must be ready, at a moment's notice, to change product lines and corporate structures. In the blink of an eye, you could be expendable. We all could. We certainly know that radio stations change formats all the time.

So be ready to open your parachute if someone kicks you out the door. Don't expect a golden parachute, however; it hardly ever happens anymore.

We all know people who have been laid off, but, for weeks or months in advance, denied the obvious clues of what was about to happen -- sort of keeping their heads in the sand.

Take one of our callers from Gainesville, Florida, who never thought it would happen to him. Even though he received a series of unfavorable and objectionable job reviews, which in retrospect have should have challenged, getting axed came as a surprise.

That's one of the most blatant ploys that companies in trouble use. The senior managers pick out the sacrificial lambs (from their own ranks on down) and give them poor performance reviews. Then they bring in a new human resources person to wield the ax. Who goes and who stays is based on, you guessed it, performance reviews. When the ax falls, it's too late to challenge your job reviews. Stick up for your rights and fight for fair reviews.

Still, let's be realistic. Odds are you'll be canned at least once in your career and blindsided with an unexpected pink slip. Let's talk about how to do that.

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