After you have tackled higher education and successfully landed a job in just a few months out of college, you might now be wondering about career mistakes that you want to avoid to keep your job. For some, it might be too early for that because you are just starting out with our job but it could help you keep that job and even move up in the process.
When you left school, you might be too consumed with things to remember when looking for a job like how your resume should look like and how to properly conduct yourself during a job interview. The next step is to make sure that you are able to enjoy your work by keeping an eye out on possible pitfalls that can lead to a monotonous life or worse, being let go by your employer.
It is similar to being able to drag yourself out of the couch and into a gym to workout. You are already working out and the next thing you need to do is to be on guard for things that you might do wrong and pull you away from your health goals. These mistakes can be wrong lifting form or not realizing how nutrition plays a crucial role in sculpting the body.
BLS.gov shares that the unemployment rate is at 5.5% as of March 2015 and has even decreased from 5.7% at the start of the year. But small as it may be, this still equates to millions of people who are out of luck in getting a job. This makes hanging on and actually excelling with the one you have all too important because getting another job might not be that easy.
Mistakes in your career
One of the things that you can do to help secure your job is to keep your guard up and not commit career mistakes that will be detrimental to your job. Here are some of them and try to assess your current situation if you are already doing some of them.
You cease to increase your network
Investopedia.com explains that networking while employed basically means forging and enriching professional relationships which can play a big part in your future employment prospects or even business opportunities. If you stop networking and start feeling comfortable with your small group of friends or just the people in your department. Knowing people in your industry can also help you understand trends in your field better.
Assuming automatic recognition for good work
This can be interpreted as setting yourself up for disappointment because if management fails or overlooks your contribution, you might then start to harbor ill-feeling about them and the company in general. This might even make you perform below expectations and cost you your job. One of the biggest career mistakes that you can make is to accomplish more than what is expected of you and demand attention. Do your job because you love it and it provides the finances for you and your family. If the company misses out on the opportunity to congratulate you on a job well done, do not take it against them and look for ways to make your contribution count.
Fumbling on your personal worth
This is one of those things that people often overlook and end up staying in the same place from when they started. It is not a crime to know your worth in the company and you can walk in with a case to your superiors and see how compensation can be increased to your favor. But you need to prove that you are really worth the additional investment for the company.
Staying in the shadows
This is the opposite of going out to network and staying invisible at work. If you just time in, do your job and time out and leave the office, there is a big chance that you are making a career mistake. Try to volunteer to some committees in the office and get to know people outside your cubicle. It might open up professional opportunities for you in the future.
Pouring your heart out to management
Getting too close and telling your life story to your managers might work for some people but it should not be something you have to go out and practice. It is better to maintain a certain level of professionalism in the office which can help everyone make business decisions at the end of the day.
Taking in a lot of negativity
Just as bad credit scores negatively impacts your life, so does a lot of negativity in the office. If you are always pessimistic about your job and always seem to focus on what is wrong instead of how to correct them, you will always have problems and not enough solutions for them.
When things are going great
On the other hand, when everything seems to be going great because you are not committing career mistakes, you might overlook some important financial tips to make the most out of the opportunity. Here are some of them and do try to keep them in mind.
Remember to plan for the future
When things are going great, you have the tendency to just live in the moment and there is nothing wrong with that. You actually have to enjoy the fruits of your labor but not to the extent that you leave everything else hanging especially your retirement fund. Statisticbrain.com shared that the average savings of a 50-year-old American consumers are only at about $42,797 and if this is meant for retirement then this will not be enough. Remember to keep adding to your retirement fund to make sure that you are covered in the future.
Be mindful of your reserve funds
One of the many career mistakes that you can make is not adding to your reserve funds especially when you have the capability and the finances to do so. Having a thin emergency or even rainy day fund is one sure sign of financial instability and does not bode well for the future. Always be proactive with future planning and make sure that you are doing what you can today to make tomorrow a little easier.
Do not increase lifestyle with a surge in income
When your finances are doing great and increasing, you might find yourself making lifestyle increases along the way. Try to live within your current budget and use the extra funds coming from your income to max out your 401(k) contributions or even start diversifying your investments for the future.
Do not base your standards on how other people perceive you
When you try to keep up with the Joneses, you start buying stuff that you don’t need and end could end up selling stuff that you actually need in the future just to make ends meet. Know what you need and find yourself so you do not end up trying to please a lot of people.
There are plenty of career mistakes that you might fall into while you are trying to make a name for yourself. It would benefit you to know what the most common signs are so you can correct them instantly.