What Common Career Mistakes Are You Making?

In his bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins reminds us of the consequences of letting good get in the way of great. If you're in a good job, what's keeping you from having a great job? Every job counts but starts to lose it's potential for growth when you are making common career mistakes. It also gets in the way of building your Kickass Career.

I've had my share of good jobs that weren't great. Yet these experiences inspired me to develop a better filter to know when it was time to move up, across, or out. Setting boundaries did not come easily but without boundaries it was difficult to recognize when the time had come to take action.

Whether you have a career plan mapped out or not, your career will likely still develop in small steps and, when you're ready, giant leaps. It's up to you. When you allow your career to advance with your full attention and healthy boundaries you will be on the right career path to find the right job at the right time for you.

Most Common Career Mistakes

Each of my jobs, good or great, were simply stops along my career path, not the last stop. Friends would question my choices in jobs that on the surface didn't seem to connect the dots to my passion for corporate training. Yet if you stood at the trailhead of my career path and viewed every detour and rest stop, you would see a thoughtful and sometimes accidental journey that added new skill and knowledge to my career quest. The trick was to avoid the most common and avoidable career mistakes.

Consider these avoidable career mistakes and take a pause on each to be honest with yourself. Over 50% of American workers are dissatisfied with their job. Much of this can be contributed to these avoidable career mistakes.

Discounting any one of these is cheating yourself out of self-awareness and an honest look at what may be keeping you from moving forward. And please give yourself credit for those that you've overcome.

Avoidable Career Mistakes

• Staying in a self-imposed career plan (it's your college major, family business, etc.)
• Lack of self-awareness (you've never completed a self-assessment, Myers Briggs, DISC, Six Types of Working Genius)
• Never setting career boundaries or goals
• Staying too long in your comfort zone
• Stopped learning new skills or knowledge
• Never expanded your social circle (networking)
• Not having a mentor
• Oblivious to your lack of communication skills
• Missing/avoiding opportunities to self-market your talents
• Prioritizing money (miserable in your job but make really good money)
• Failing to negotiate your salary

It's easy to spot someone who makes these career mistakes because they are the one that can't stop talking about how miserable they are, how bad their boss is, and does nothing about it but complain. If you want to stay honest with yourself share this list with your family or trusted friends/co-workers/mentor for their opinion.

Knowing When It's Time

My first 'real' job was receptionist for my finance's father's company. I'd been there six years and loved my job until I didn't. At the four year point I started asking the Sales Manager if I could work in his department. He seemed to like the idea but after two years of asking I'd had enough. I needed to make more money and eventually took a second job as a cocktail waitress working 6pm to midnight. It was brutal.

One night I finally opened up to my fiance and told him about my frustration and how unhappy I was. I felt bad because it was his father's company. He was stunned and said, "Why are you still there?". I said, "It's my job".

He stared at me and almost laughing said, "You know you can leave, right?".

Apparently, I didn't. It never occurred to me I could voluntarily quit. No one in my family had ever quit a job. I guess I thought this job was the beginning and end of my career.

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind" C.S. Lewis

I could have saved a lot of time if I had found my confidence, spoken up earlier, and had some idea of what I really wanted in the world of work. But I didn't have the self-awareness to solve these issues by myself or recognize the career mistakes I was making. It didn't even occur to me. Then a friend referred me to a Mentor who helped me find my voice and recognize I was getting in my own way. A month later I was hired at our largest client's advertising agency as an Account Manager.

Decades later as a Career Coach, I still have a Mentor who helps me be a better Career Coach. Who helps you be better?

What are you waiting for

DM me and schedule a 30 minute complimentary coaching session. An unbiased trained third party can be a valuable voice for you, your team, or your struggling GenZ young adult.

What's next? If you like what you read, please SHARE/REPOST with your followers. Visit my website BarbaraFulmer.com, and SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter so you don't miss an opportunity to build or keep your KickAss Career on track.

#KickassCareer #CareerCoaching #CareerGrowth #JobSeeker #Recruiting #WorkLife #Burnout #CareerDevelopment #Career #GenZ #WorkStress