10 Career Myths I Hate to Hear

Behold, ten bits of career advice I have problems with. I hold my hand up and admit that some of these bad bits of advice have been given by me in the past, but as Maya Angelou says, "do the best you can until you know better; then when you know better, do better"

For context I have run seminars, provided executive coaching and consulting on career coaching and strategy over the last fifteen years. My most popular keynote is called Success on Your Terms (used to be called Mind the Gap) and I also run public seminars on this. It focuses on how professionals at every step of their career should build and deliver on work strategies that are a best fit.

Anyway, enough of the social proofing. This piece is aimed at people who are looking for career progression and want to build a fulfilling career journey beyond having a job that pays the bills.
It's a a few points but stick with me to the end on this one.

Let's go.

1. Follow your passion
There is nothing wrong with actually being passionate about the work you do, but follow your passion is scary advice, especially without context. What does it mean when you are told to follow your passion? Many things we may have a passion for serve us best as hobbies. They are things we engage in when we are not working or it is not linked to monetary gain.

It sounds daring and bold but what if you don't know what your passion is? What if the majority of your passions have nothing to do with work. Of course, let me be clear, you can have work that is your passion but I strongly advise linking something that you just really love doing as the first point for choosing your career.

My advice: Be open in your career journey to being passionate about the job or career(s) you choose. To constantly explore and evaluate those things that make you enjoy the work you do. Being passionate about something is not neccessarily your passion.

2. You need a degree to be successful
My parents came to the UK from the Caribbean. Like many expats from the commonwealth they instilled in us children the need to get degrees. To give us an economic advantage and knowledge for the new world. I see this pattern is often repeated when I speak to students of migrants from high school to undergraduates. Linking your success to a degree can often be harmful.

The reality is not every job requires a degree. Of course some industries require for their undergraduate programmes, and the same can be said for some professions. It can be advantageous if you are looking to work abroad as some countries rank degrees as a quicker route into certain jobs. It is not, however, a necessity for career success.

My advice: Explore the different paths you can take in certain industries. School leaver programmes, apprenticeship schemes or past experience on the job, for career changers, can be just as vital. Often you can save yourself a lot of debt and hassle by truly exploring the options that exist outside of a degree course.

3. Always follow your Dreams
If I had a penny for the amount of times I have heard people, who are at the top of their game, who tell others to follow their dream and they will be successful. Yuk! This really irks me.

Let me explain.

The thing is outliers are exceptions to the rule for a reason. Oprah, Ellon Musk, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams. These guys have been able to realise their dreams because of a number of reasons including talent, opportunity, support systems and a healthy dose of luck, i.e. being in the right place at the right time. Just because they say they followed their dreams doesn't mean its a formula for success for everyone.

This is not to say dreams are invalid, of course it is important to dream of what can happen, but there are way too many people out there disappointed because they tried to follow dreams without context. And for me that's what is important. Context. Regardless of the memes about practising and failure, yaddi yar, genetically speaking, there will probably only ever be, one Michael Jordan.

My advice: Don't get hung up on one dream of what you can do. Have a few but most importantly have an action plan in place as to how you will achieve a dream job or career. Context is king.

4. Work hard and success will come
One of the roles I relish as an executive coach is busting this myth. Working with individuals who have busted a gut and worked all of the hours that they can muster and still don't get promoted or recognised for their contribution. There is nothing wrong with working hard but you must also work smart. Have a strategy other than lots of hours.

There are lots of people working one or more jobs and working hard and still struggle. There are many people who push out that they are successful entrepreneurs and still struggle to make payroll. Don't get drawn in by the memes, books and quotes of those who say they "working while everyone is sleeping" and "all my success came down to hard work". It is often more complex than that.

My advice: Work hard but also work smart. If success looks like a promotion, more money, a bigger business, etc. think about who in your network can help you to achieve this. Get a mentor or a sponsor who can open doors, share knowledge and experience of how they were able to achieve what you want to.

5. Do what you love and the money will follow
I really hate this one. Even more so because it is one I used to say as well.
I think the root of this probably came from the often used Confuscian quote "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." OK sounds great but what does that mean?

I previously wrote an article about how even the greatest job in the world has moments that are mundane that we would rather not do. That bit of admin. Checking regulation, or whatever, is part of what we do. Whoever said that do it and the money will follow, was speaking from a point of privilege and forgot to mention the bits about graft and knowledge

My advice: Create a plan about where you want to take your career. What are the opportunities in your field and what do you need to do take it to the next level. It is in business get a coach or a mentor who can guide you in what needs to happen to increase traction and/or revenue.

6. Always know how to work a room
I love networking, but despise people who tell others that they need to work a room as part of a career strategy. Thankfully making connections online has become an integral part of the life for many professionals, who can think of nothing worse than circulating a room trying to build their network.

If you are outgoing and like to do that thing then good for you but don't enforce it on other people

My advice: If you are invited to an event, ask the host to recommend people to talk to. Focus on one or two people you would like to meet and think about what value you bring as a connection as well as what they can bring to your network.

7. Chose a job based on your skills
The problem with thinking about just choosing a job based on your skills, is that it doesn't leave much room for development. As someone who started of my career as an accountant, I was fortunate enough to work with people whose jobs intrigued me. This exploration and intrigue moved me on to my second career in IT as I found out I really loved systems.

Don't just choose a career/job based on your skills but think a bit longer term. Of course it can be challenging when you need a job to cover current financial needs but look a bit wider.

My advice: By all means look at your current skills as part of your job search strategy, but also look at where you want to be a little further down the line and what skills you need to learn or develop in order to get there.

8. Assessment tests will determine the perfect job for you
Each to their own but I dislike career or personality tests and never use them.
This is not to say that for others it does not hold relevance, but I find it problematic that someone thinks they can find a job based on personality or aptitude or interests, and such a test would help them find the perfect job based on that assessment.

Take MBTI for example. The amount of times that people will based their work experience or career expectations based on an untested four letter mnemonic is kind of scary. Not only is it misleading but ends up pigeon holing people into boxes they have no business being in.

My advice: If you are going to take a career assessment test, use it sparingly as a means to explore what jobs line up with your interests or aptitude. Be honest how you answer and don't just answer based on a preconceived idea about the perfect career fit. I would avoid choosing one based on personality. Rather than hanging your job or career choices on a thirty minute assessment, have a conversation with a colleague, a mentor or a coach to explore options for you. And it might be wise to not get too carried away with the notion of having a perfect job.

9. Quit your job, start a business
As a startup mentor I am forever telling wantrepreneurs to reject this advice.
I will happily shut down entrepreneurs (successful or not) who give this advice to people as well. Firstly, because most entrepreneurs actually ending giving jobs to others who help to grow their business, and secondly, this advice is extremely dangerous if there is no context.

Whilst it is great to be fired up and start a business, the challenges of running a business, both physically and psychologically, are a heck of a lot more challenging than having a job. It is important to note that the whole CEO thing is often overrated, and I wish a lot more emphasis would be placed on co-founders or working for a startup, as opposed to starting one yourself

My advice: If you want to set up your business and you have a job, test the waters while you are still in employment. Have a suitable amount of money saved so that you can cover expenses while exploring a new business. I usually suggest six months. But don't just quit to start a new business. That's folly and usually the worse advice people give.

10. A J.O.B is short for just over broke
This final one is also a favourite of the entrepreneurial set.
People being dissuaded from having a job because they are just machines in a cog supporting another person's dream. Again, this is one of the ones I use to use until a friend slapped sense into me.

For me the issue here is not the job per se, but how you manage your money.  The only time the a job falls under that definition, is if your expenditure exceeds your income. The truth is for some people and professions they don't do it for the pay. I think of public sector workers who keep the cogs turning in health, education, local government, policing, etc who certainly don't get paid anything like what some in the private sector do.

My advice: Think about how you can make your money work for you. Have an honest appraisal of your outgoings in relation to income. Consider what kind of savings or investments you can explore to make the money work for you. Explore other career or job options in your career that can increase income where possible.

So there you have it. My take on busting some of those myths.
Happy to hear your feedback on this.

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David McQueen is an international speaker, facilitator and coach.  David is passionate about helping people to find success on their terms and to communicate effectively in pursuit of that success.

Recent popular posts by David include:
A Room Full of White Men
Why You Should Update Your CV Annually
How to Start a Conversation