Why Should you Avoid These Career Mistakes [Guest Post] - Career Pivot

Why Should you Avoid These Career Mistakes [Guest Post] - Career Pivot Career Mistakes Copyright: sifotography / 123RF Stock Photo Everyone makes mistakes. We can learn from them a lot and prepare ourselves better for future challenges. Or, some people prefer to stay within the comfort zone and never get out in order to minimize the risk of committing something that’ll hurt their career. When it comes to careers, mistakes can be devastating. Equally harmful is staying within a comfort zone because it means zero progress and professional development. Let’s take a better path and review popular career mistakes to avoid committing them in the future. Mistake #1: Staying on the quest to find a true “passion” Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone was doing something they really like? Of course, it would. However, we don’t live in a perfect world! In our fast-changing and competitive business world, the quest to find one true calling can be crushing. Instead, try to focus on small projects to determine what’s interesting for you. Mistake #2: Prioritizing compensation over learning This mistake is often committed by those on early stages of the professional career. They focus on getting jobs with the highest compensation and forget about education. However, the right thing to do is to enable the job to help with further advancement. Don’t prioritize money over knowledge early in your career. Learn first, earn second! Mistake #3: Thinking you’ve missed your chance Do you know a successful company founded by a 22-year-old? The truth is, it takes time to reach success and build something great. If you think that you’ve missed your chance because you haven’t started your business or earned a million, you’re making a huge mistake! Mistake #4: Not keeping your skills updated Employers want the most skilled employees who know how to reach the goals in modern highly-competitive markets. That’s why learning new skills is a critical requirement now. If you prefer to look for a job with outdated skills, your search will not yield desired results. Keep up with technology to continue your personal development and prevent your career from lagging. Listen to the most recent episode Mistake #5: Not believing in yourself If everyone gives up on you, the only person who is going to keep believing is you. Only you and nobody else. Self-doubt is a dangerous thing because if you don’t believe in yourself, your colleagues and your boss won’t either. Mistake #6: Saying “yes” to everything You may want to impress your boss and handle everything that comes your way. However, this is not a good strategy because you have to know your limits. You can quickly become overwhelmed and stressed out because of overload -because managers could easily use an employee who says “yes” to everything. As the result, you will nee time to rest plus you will be puzzled with what prioritizes to manage. Mistake #7: Burning bridges Networking and word-of-mouth recommendations are powerful in the business world. That’s why you should do your best to avoid having conflicts with colleagues and bosses. You never know who you will run into in your future job. If that’s a person who you had a conflict with in the past, it’s very likely you’ll be ignored. Be gracious regardless of how angry you might feel toward some of your colleagues and bosses. Remember, the reputation may be a key to getting a job in the future. Mistake #8: Rushing into the first job you get This mistake is also done by many young people who are anxious to get their first job. By failing to research the company and the job, they are often heading for a big disappointment. A person will be happy and successful only in the right environment, so finding out if a company has it is critical. If it does not, rushing there is a bad idea. You will be quite unhappy. Mistake #9: Working a job you don’t like Many people think they should stay on the jobs they don’t like because they pay well. Obviously, for them money is more important than being satisfied with a job. What about you? Do you want to spend your life doing something you can’t stand? If you don’t like your job, then quit. You will find another one. Don’t waste your time because your productivity, and therefore, compensation will increase if you will be doing something you really like. Mistake #10: Lying about qualifications If the information about your skills on your resume is incorrect, you are very lucky if you don’t get hired. Why? A misinterpretation of qualifications will translate into significant problem when the company finds out you can’t perform your duties. Moreover, you will spend every day worrying about someone discovering your lie. In order to avoid being let go and experiencing a lot of unnecessary stress, do not misinterpret your qualifications in an interview or on your resume. This post was written by Tom Jager. Tom is professional blogger, works at Proessaywritingand has degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him at G+ or Facebook. Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...