5 Of The Worst Career Mistakes You Can Make

No matter how secure you feel in your current
position, you should never become too
comfortable. Things happen: Companies get
bought out, some go bankrupt, ownership
changes, operations are moved to another
country. Or you might simply decide that it's
time to move on to greener pastures.
If you want to have the best career track
possible and be able to find a new job quickly
when or if the time comes, avoid making these
five potentially disastrous career mistakes .

1. Burning bridges

Just one unprofessional, disrespectful moment
could ruin a career opportunity such as a
promotion or new job. A burned bridge is the
loss of a potential opportunity. Always treat
others with respect and be professional — and
stop the gossip chain — whether it is with your
peers, the boss, clients, or customers. This
applies to social media too. Remember that
others will be able to view inappropriate
pictures and language use and hit the button
labeled Share.

2. Not learning and challenging yourself

If you fall behind the times in knowledge and
technology, and stubbornly continue down the
old-trusted-ways road, your skills will
eventually become out of date or completely
obsolete. Instead, continue to learn everything
you can about your field, and challenge yourself
to take on new projects. Keep up with
technology's lightning-fast progress, and keep
up with the latest best practices in your field of
work.

3. Tossing your résumé aside

So often when we land that great job, the
résumé is the first thing to bite the dust in the
back of our desk. When the time comes for a job
change of any kind, it becomes a very difficult
task to polish up the résumé quickly, to
remember all the things you have accomplished
if you haven't kept a good record. Many people
now use LinkedIn or similar sites for keeping an
up-to-date record of their positions, progress,
achievements, education, and awards. These
sites are easy to bring up for your boss to view
when asking for a raise or promotion, and they
are a great place for a company interested in
you to check you out. Keep your résumé current
— in an online site or a PDF — and watch the
typos and grammatical issues — too many can
be a deal killer.

4. Not networking and exploring possibilities

If time and time again you turn down
opportunities to attend industry or company
events, you are isolating yourself. If you aren't
networking and building a base of contacts, how
do you expect anyone to know who you are? Be
sociable, and meet as many people within your
industry and company as possible — there are
many people who receive job offers because
of whom they know and not necessarily because
of what they know. You can also greatly benefit
from exploring the possibilities in the job
market — find out what other people are doing
and how much money they are making in a
position similar to yours. Keeping up on current
trends within your field will give you
bargaining power as well.

5. Not giving it your all

Completing the bare minimum requirement of
work each day, not going above and beyond to
help your company or a customer, or not
playing nicely on a team is sending the message
out to the world — people talk — that you really
don't care or are just plain lazy. Make this
mistake on an ongoing basis and it could ruin
your chance for a stellar career. Here's the
bottom line: Be the best you as often as you can ,
and don't be afraid to take on new challenges or
opportunities.