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« 'Mr. Nice Guy' Isn’t Part of Belichick’s Job Description | Main | New Season, New Job? »

September 19, 2007

Don’t Commit These 5 Career Killers

We all want to succeed at work. But we’ve all done things in the workplace that really damage the image and reputation. If it’s once in awhile, fine. It’s when they become habits that you need to watch out.


How do you keep your career on solid ground? Here are five career killers to avoid:

  • Lying: Whether you’re fudging the facts on your resume or to a coworker or boss, getting a rep as someone who can’t be trusted is hazardous to your career. We all tell white lies, of course, but when it comes to the big stuff, tell the truth.

  • Backstabbing and Gossip: Someone who’ll talk to you about others will invariably talk to others about you. Watch your allegiances. As George Michael says, there are boys (and girls) you can trust and girls (and boys) that you don’t.

  • Unreliability: I once worked with a guy who vanished right before the next issue of his magazine was supposed to go to production. Guess who got his work dumped on her? You guessed it. Not only does such flakiness tick off your boss, it aggravates your coworkers -- the people you need to have your back.

  • Erratic Behavior: I also worked with a woman who took absolutely everything the wrong way. I swear, she could fabricate a plot against her out of “good morning.” It got to the point where no one would talk to her at all. And if no one’s talking to you, it gets hard to get your work done.

  • Laziness: You’re being paid to do a job, not listen to music, surf the Internet or make personal calls. It’s OK to do those things in moderation, but if someone needs your help, drop the nonwork activity without complaint and pitch in.

Got any more career killers? Post them below in the comments. And here’s some more advice to keep you happily employed:

For more on this subject, check out our Business Etiquette section.

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Posted by Christine on September 19, 2007 at 11:04 AM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (67) | TrackBack (0)

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WHINING....There is nothing worse than working with someone who whines all day about every little thing. I can handle anything in the work place. But a coworker who complains all day ruins the entire work environment. I actually left a job that i trully loved to get away from a whiner.

Posted by: Linda | Sep 22, 2007 7:36:06 PM

Apart from the above points the "Sincerity" is one point which is very important in the jobs. Also there are other points such as
1). Hatred
2). Unpolite Behaviour
3). Anger
which can ruin your day on the job.

Thanks,
Tushar
http://itjobsdelhi.blogspot.com

Posted by: Tushar | Sep 24, 2007 5:39:16 AM

Search for "45 Things" on Amazon.com. The full title is "45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy--And How to Avoid Them" and it's a great read - especially for less than $13. It doesn't just have the things, but it has solutions.

Posted by: Jason Alba | Sep 25, 2007 10:30:13 AM

Funny. A bunch of whiners whining about whiners, liars lying about lying, and, probably, non-producers producing valueless produce in order to manifest a physical representation of their unjustified egos. You folk must be christian to so willfully espouse such pretentious fingerpointing rhetoric. Everyone knows that, in order to survive and prosper, the devil needs to call the devil evil.

Posted by: Juan DeSantos | Oct 1, 2007 2:35:25 PM

Well, to Juan DeSantos: The name of this topic is" Don’t Commit These 5 Career Killers" and that is what people are discussing. Your comment however is the Top Career Killer- - there are laws against religious discrimination-in the U.S. anyway!!

Posted by: Bonita | Oct 2, 2007 8:41:12 PM

How about creating the same not to do list for company owners and managers that have absolutely no idea what they are doing. When you enjoy coming to work it is dificult to complain, whine, lie, be lazy or any of the other things you have listed. But when you feel like strangling your supervisors every time you see them and when you hate the fact that it is time to go home and you are already thinking that you still have another day tomorrow it is very hard to care about your job. Yes, some of you might think why don't you just quit or find another job but when you have bills to pay and are searching for another job you can't just quit.

So here are some things that supervisors should try to avoid.

1. Pretending that they know it all
2. When you come in in the morning it won't kill you to smile
3. No one cares that you had a fight with your spouse so don't give everyone else an attitude all day long
4. Don't wait until the last half hour before the end of day to say that a project is due in the morning
5. If there is no need to keep everyone overtime, then don't do it just to make yourself feel superior
6. Don't play favoritism
7. Don't lie to your employees
8. Don't give false hope of a promotion just to keep someone from quitting
9. Don't embarrass or critisize your employee in front of a client

I'm sure there are others.

Posted by: Angela | Oct 2, 2007 8:55:20 PM

Right now I work with someone who is a "tattletale". She literally keeps a list of mistakes other people have made and runs to the unit manager every chance she gets.

Posted by: ellie | Oct 2, 2007 9:47:39 PM

Don't believe it. At every job I have ever worked, it is the backstabbing, lying, lazy, unreliable people who get ahead. The real key is just to make sure you're likeable. Sounds like it shouldn't be possible given the characteristics given above - but people seem to gravitate towards those people anyway. Thanks psycho-babyl for failing to do the scientific research and taking the easy way out - logic does not work on humans.

Posted by: James | Oct 2, 2007 10:08:03 PM

Thanks Juan, that was just as bad as the rest of us. What smells like roses in here?

Posted by: chris | Oct 2, 2007 10:25:46 PM

Whoa...wait a second. Back up.

Mr. DeSantos, your comments I find EXTREMELY offensive and completely uncalled for. There's no reason for such a vicious personal attack--on either the posters here or on the completely-unrelated-to-this-topic Christians as a group, or any other group for that matter. (If the above is truly what you think of Christians, you are tragically mistaken.) It would behoove us all to remember that the Jews were blamed for all the ills in German society prior to the holocaust. It is precisely this sort of irrational, hysterical, scapegoating "rhetoric" that YOU have demonstrated in YOUR post which leads ultimately down that sort of road. No one group in society is ever to blame for all of it's problems and "evils"--it takes an amalgamous group of people and their collective (and diverse) stupidity to do that. Vilifying any one group by attributing to it all the despicable qualities of mankind is not only erroneous, uneducated and dangerous for society as a whole, it is also immoral.

This topic is supposed to be about bad habits in the workplace. Nobody comes here wanting to be insulted for participating in a discussion, or to read hateful, spiteful, "fingerpointing" remarks like the ones you have included in your commentary. People come here for professional tips. Your lack of professionalism is frankly appalling. Your comments here could and should be labeled "abuse" of this board.

I agree wholeheartedly with Tushar. "Hatred, Unpolite behavior and Anger can [most definitely] ruin your day on the job!"

Posted by: JWren | Oct 2, 2007 11:18:00 PM

Whatever else happens on the job, make sure you actually DO what you were hired to do. Take your elbow off the water cooler, and
start moving in the general direction of progress. If you can do
that without alienating the people around you too severely, chances are you'll keep your job. Leave the personal politics
at home, and get busy...that's why you're getting paid.

Posted by: Bert | Oct 2, 2007 11:54:41 PM

Now that's funny Juan, other's listed what they experienced, you pointed at an entire religious group. There are two things you never talk about at work, politics and religion. You broke the rule by bringing up religion when discussing work issues. I've known athiests who would mention what the other posters have commented, so it isn't a religious issue. I have a feeling that someone hurt you so now you want to bully, please take it elsewhere, maybe to work...

Posted by: Michael | Oct 3, 2007 12:41:49 AM

Unprofessional representation of the company is also a sure fire way to black mark your career. Make sure that anything you do whilst wearing the badge of the company is completely upstanding. That includes not drinking too much at company functions, not flirting outrageously with staff or clients and not sending poor taste emails from your work email address. I know one individual who decided a great company function idea might be to take his clients to a strip venue. His moment of poor judgement not only lost him job once word got to senior management, but also ensured many other well known companies in his tight knitted industry didn't want to employ him either. If you do get a black mark on your career, try talking to a good Career Consultant about how to handle the issue appropriately and move forward.

Posted by: Jill Kelly, Certified Advanced Resume Writer | Oct 3, 2007 2:48:30 AM

I totally agree with all the points listed above expect that.work is Work and unless u get paid for your opinion its not needed stick to your job description its what having a job is?

Posted by: imamni | Oct 3, 2007 2:50:08 AM

If these five issues were truly career killers 80% of all businesses would be empty? Besides being apart of this, I witness it everyday at almost every business I go to. I believe the true career killer is if you can't or won't play well with others! This will truly end a career no matter how good you are at your job!

Posted by: Eric Nyysti | Oct 3, 2007 4:39:51 AM

It is often noted that people who want to feel dominating and priviledged will also be the first ones to put another person down. Everyone has an opinion, but why do people in general need to constantly belittle others to make themselves look or feel better about themselves?

Posted by: Lori | Oct 3, 2007 4:54:34 AM

Geez - I have a co-worker who does ALL this and more and just got promoted!

Posted by: Sharon | Oct 3, 2007 6:57:03 AM

Under laziness ought to be those who smoke excessively. How fair is it that they can take a smoke break once a hour for ten minutes at a time. This means a extra hour break a day.

Posted by: James | Oct 3, 2007 8:03:22 AM

Hey Juan, take a pill.

Posted by: suz | Oct 3, 2007 8:05:36 AM

Keep your job, and advance in your career by using the principles of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the Golden Rule, and diligence motivated out of a Love for God, others and your sense of purpose and mission in the workplace. These will keep you in the game and thriving.
Good Success to all.

Posted by: Marc Beacom | Oct 3, 2007 8:35:55 AM

Juan needs to grow up and he also needs therapy along the way...........

Posted by: Sluz | Oct 3, 2007 8:41:17 AM

I agree ten times over. To many FAKE people in this world. This world is such a terrible place to much hate and not enough LOVE for each other. The devil is just have so much fun and loving it.

Posted by: gigi | Oct 3, 2007 8:48:10 AM

Coherent, helpful, and not loony. I like this DeSantos fellow.

Posted by: Justin Dea | Oct 3, 2007 9:24:32 AM

Wren & Suz - Good advice.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People have greatly helped me: in 2 years of my current job I have been promoted 4 times and increased my total salary by over 40%.

To me, one of the most powerful ideas discussed by Stephen Covey is "Respect the Absent",talking about people as if they were there in the room. Not only does it keep you away from the negative, it can also really build friendships when word gets back to the person how you stood up for them in their absence.

Being principle based will always win out over manipulative people who are well liked. You might decieve in the short term, but long term your character will be revealed and you will not reach that lasting success.

Plus, when you work with principle you truly get a feeling of fulfillment from your work.

Posted by: Brian H. | Oct 3, 2007 10:18:55 AM

Justin Dea has a great sense of humor, I can tell. That will help move you forward in your career, no doubt.

Monster should take a positive spin on this issue and come up with the top 5 Career Makers.

Posted by: John | Oct 3, 2007 10:57:59 AM

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