Biggest Career Mistakes

Biggest Career Mistakes

Biggest Career Mistakes. Do you ever wonder why some people are on a perpetual growth path in their career? Everything just seems to go their way. They’re given the best assignments, get regular promotions and rise through the ranks – seemingly without effort.

Well, effort is the key: Regular, steady, focused effort. These people understand that career development is a mindset.

Sounds simple, right? Well, that “perpetual development” mindset is rare, and it conflicts with the way most professionals manage their career. The standard approach is binary – turning development on or off, instead of engaging in career development consistently and steadily – and that’s a major mistake.

When you first start down your career path, you need to be smart about how you act and think. You don’t have the benefit of experience, so avoiding negative actions is imperative. Career advice can often be contradictory, and sometimes you have to make a judgement call. We’ve combed through the best career advice from the top experts to come up with our list. By avoiding these mistakes, you can get a leg up on the competition.

Biggest Career Mistakes

Ask what Millennials are doing wrong at work and a host of older people will instantly offer endless, crotchety, “get off my lawn”-style complaints. Most of these are nonsense, according to a host of reputable studies. Young people aren’t distractible job hoppers whose every career setback can be pinned on entitlement and lack of work ethic.

But while most critiques of Millennials are sensationalist silliness, that doesn’t mean that today’s young people, like every generation before them, aren’t making some serious, career-limiting mistakes. What are these real but more rarely discussed missteps?

The question-and-answer site Quora recently elicited a thread full of thoughtful, clear-eyed, and actionable answers to the question What are Millennials doing wrong when it comes to their careers?” This feedback stands in stark contrast to the usual insulting, war-of-the-generations clickbait.

Here are some of the most useful cautions and advice that employers, fellow Millennials, and professional career advisors offered young people to help them tune up their careers. Avoid these mistakes if you can.

Here are the list of the Biggest Career Mistakes

1. Assuming that you know everything

2. Forgetting to network

3. Not being prepared for meetings

4. Ignoring the value of business cards

5. Engaging in office drama

6. Arriving to meetings late or reporting late at workplace.

7. Not asking for more work when you’re bored

8. Being satisfied doing the minimum amount of work necessary

9. Not sharing your career goals with your leader

10. Not reading up on your industry

11. Forgetting to make a LinkedIn page

12. Over-sharing personal stories at work

13. Burning bridges when leaving a job

14. Dressing unprofessionally

15. Not proof-reading your e-mails

16. Believing that you’re going to be a VP right out of college

17. Not seeing the value in entry-level positions

18. Not learning from your mistakes and failures

19. Failing to seek out a mentor

20. Thinking that once you choose a job field, you’re stuck with it forever

21. Not having an updated resume available at all times

22. Failing to join associations and groups pertaining to your industry

23. Being a negative person

24. Not taking initiative and turning down all new projects

25. Forgetting to thank people who help you

Career Mistakes

26. Not asking for help when you need it

27. Failing to admit that you’re overwhelmed with your workload

28. Trying to convince yourself that you love your job when you don’t

29. Overestimating your abilities and not being honest about them

30. Turning down training courses

31. Not keeping track of all your accomplishments

32. Making career decisions for anyone other than yourself

33. Not actively looking for a job when you’re not happy with the one you have

34. Thinking that it’s too late in life to change careers

35. Making premature judgements of others

36. Over-promising results, and then failing to deliver

37. Not having a system for managing e-mails

38. Failing to understand when and how you’re most productive

39. Assuming that everyone around you thinks the same way you do

40. Failing to accept diversity as an asset to your team

41. Not caring how your actions affect other people

42. Having an emotional IQ of zero

43. Being scared to ask questions

44. Making decisions that impact others without consulting with them first

45. Believing that you need to be an a-hole to be taken seriously

46. Taking jobs just for the money

47. Not sharing your knowledge with others

48. Letting your ego guide your decisions

49. Not thinking big-picture

50. Complaining about problems instead of offering solutions