There was a time when I planned my career but then reality set in and I realised that life was really a series of opportunities and that what I should really focus on was making good decisions to take on jobs that were either a step forward in terms of experience or enjoyment, or that I saw as a stepping stone towards something I wanted to do. But it’s easy to make mistakes. CIO magazine has listed their top 20 “career killers”. What are yours?
CIO says burning bridges, not understanding the business and staying in your comfort zone can be problems. I also think misreading the office politics and not taking the time to understand how the people around you like to work is a big deal. This might be more subtle but if you don’t get how your line manager or peers operate, then you’re likely to piss them off and gain a reputation for being hard to work with.
My biggest challenge was being a fairly extroverted person who worked in a conservative, engineering-led company. While that was a good thing – businesses don’t need a team of people who think about things in the same way – I don’t think I was sensitive enough to the needs of those around me. That created tension and was, ultimately, a key reason I felt the need to move on from that organisation.
At this time of year, many of us are looking for what our next opportunity will be. What career killers have you seen and how can they be avoided?
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