10 Career Mistakes You Must Avoid This Year
Well, there is no basic training about mistakes you must avoid if you want to succeed at your job. But there is learning by experience and learning by being an insider. Or not learning until it’s too late! Sometimes the best way to start doing something right is to stop doing something wrong. Have you been passed over for promotion? Even people who are great at what they do can sabotage their careers.
We’ve listed 10 career mistakes you need to stop making.
1. Getting Personal with your boss
It’s not totally wrong to be close and friendly with your boss if you are thinking that maybe it may get you short term benefits, but it’s really not advisable. Your boss may start taking you for granted, or may expect too high from you, etc.; and these situation then can land you in problems. Moreover you cannot really make a good career this way.
2. Staying at the same job too long
Staying in the same position too long (what I call ‘job clinging’) can be just as detrimental – if not worse – to career advancement, salary increases and professional development opportunities than job hopping.
3. Sticking with a bad boss
Is Your Boss Making Your Life Miserable? You know, the supervisor who belittles you in public, micromanages, steals ideas and doesn’t support you in your work? Yes, that bad boss. Sometimes it’s ideal to try and cope with such a boss but if it gets to a point where you dread going to work then it’s time to issue that letter of resignation.
4. Working harder, not smarter
You work really hard. In fact, you might not be able to work any harder. But you can still work smarter. A major problem for most people is having too much work and not enough time to do it. One solution: fine-tuning your time-management skills. By using your working hours more efficiently, you attack stress on several fronts:
5. Not taking initiatives
When you show initiative, you do things without being told. Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?- Tony Robbins
6. Job hopping because of irrelevant reasons
There is nothing wrong in changing jobs with the goal of advancing your career and in some cases the only way you can enhance your career is to switch employers. Changing jobs can be a solid career strategy for the right reasons. However, Job-hopping can have a ring of disloyalty to it, it sounds unsettling as if you are continually looking for a change with a focus more on self than the employer.
7. Becoming overspecialized
One risk of staying in a career field too long is that you’ll gradually “learn a lot about a little” – you might learn more and more about your narrow field of expertise, only to find out that your skills are no longer in demand outside of your company or niche industry sector. This can make it hard to find a new job or qualify for a better-paying job. Instead, keep learning as much as you can, even if it’s not directly related to your daily work.
8. Gossiping too much
Work gossiping can ruin your reputation. Gossip can only hurt your career, so it’s best to take the high road and avoid it altogether. That way, the only thing people can say about you is that you have an impeccable reputation.
9. Isolating yourself
If you want to argue that the point of being at work is to work, you’re right. But if you find yourself rarely participating in conversations, it can have undesired consequences that affect you and those around you.You’re not obligated to like everyone; not everyone has to like you either. However, having good manners and a friendly disposition can go a long way.
10. Applying for any job and every job
Stop applying willy-nilly to every job listing you stumble upon, and start focusing on finding the positions that make you excited and actually love. It is understandable that desperation can lead you to applying for any link your mouse lands on. Focus on the big picture and don’t get tempted.
