Photo credit: wayhomestudio
Building your career is hard work and it is a long process. It starts from the very first experience you have in a working or learning environment. You accumulate skills like Thanos collecting the Infinity stones and with time, you get better at what you do. Pretty soon, you’ll start making a name for yourself in your field and your career becomes a shining beacon of light for the ones coming after you. I’d like to believe that this is the goal for everyone moving forward in their career.
But here’s the thing, when you’ve worked that hard to build your career, everything can come tumbling down with one swift kick if you don’t watch out. It has happened to many people, regardless of their status in society - be it through leaked emails, an unsavory social media post, or by saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. Dare I say social media has even made it so much easier to ruin your career with the click of a button. Sometimes it can be an honest mistake, while in other situations you can ruin your career subtly, slowly, and unknowingly with small things building up over time. Before you know it, your boss is summoning you into the boardroom and the word is already out after that unfortunate meeting.
So what are some ways you can easily ruin your career? Let’s explore them below:
1. Forgetting everything is connected
When you think about it everyone knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone else that you know - the same applies in every workplace. In fact, the network may be even smaller depending on your particular field of work- and word gets around. Doing something foolish in the name of “It probably won’t go outside these office walls” is not in your best interest. This could include badmouthing colleagues or supervisors, sending nasty emails, quitting without giving notice, or even mistreating clients. There is always the off chance that anything bad you have done in the past or might do in the future could come back to haunt you in your career and stop everything in its tracks. So tread carefully throughout your career, be respectful to everyone you encounter, and maintain professionalism wherever work is involved. You never know who is watching.
2. Not watching how you present yourself
Presentation is everything, whether in person or online, as it can affect your reputation, which let's face it, is all you have. Once you mess up your reputation, your image follows soon after, and this can definitely ruin your career. A good or bad reputation can follow you throughout your life and your career so make sure you present yourself the way you want people to see you.
On that note, let’s talk about your social media presence. Yes, it is a personal space and platform for you to express yourself - but at some point, you have to realize that you’ll be accountable for what you say or post. Brands and companies today usually look through social media when considering whether to hire, promote, or let go of employees. So be careful what you post on your social media.
Your presentation also matters when it comes to your work and how you carry yourself in the workplace. No one likes a disorganized or messy person because eventually, the mess starts to affect your work and the people around you. Someone who is so disorganized that they can’t find important reports before meetings or always comes to work late will end up impacting their colleagues’ work. This is not a good look if everyone always has to cover for you and if it happens for long enough, you’ll build a bad reputation at work, which will influence your career soon enough.
3. Being resistant to change
Are you someone who is always afraid to go against the grain at work or within your career? Then you might be in danger of stagnating, which could ruin your career. The world and the working climate are changing and we must learn to change with them. People who are always living by the mantra, “Things have always been done this way,” tend to stick tightly to the status quo and this can lead them to become complacent in their jobs.
Think about the last time you spruced up your CV, connected with your networking contacts, or even learned something new. If it has been a while since you did any of these things, it might be time to evaluate your stance on things. Complacency kills careers and it can happen when you just let yourself go with the flow career-wise thinking nothing will change. Learning new things and adapting to change is how we grow, so you should always make time to prioritize continuous career growth and development. This will help you handle anything new that crosses your career path and you’ll have more to offer. As they say, it’s always better to stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.
4. Bringing your personal life to the office
I know quite a number of people are already guilty of this. Most people will check their phones or socials during the workday just to make sure they’re all caught up with everything, it’s a given. However, spending too much time at work on social media or taking non-work-related calls is a very easy way to get on your employer’s bad side. Additionally, If your personal life is constantly interfering with your job by reducing your focus, making you miss work, or making you late, you’ll start being considered a liability. Of course, it’s normal to have the occasional emergency at home or with family, but if you rack up too many excuses - genuine or not - you’ll be seen as unreliable. Sooner or later, you’ll start getting fewer assignments or tasks and being kept out of the loop which can’t be good for your job or career.
As much as possible, try to keep your personal and professional life separate. If you’re experiencing serious problems at home, it is advisable to speak to HR or your manager ASAP so they can get an idea of your situation and know how to help. All in all, a couple of bad days might not be as harmful, but several bad weeks or months in a row could ruin your career, so it’s best to get ahead of it while you can.
5. Under-delivery
Once you tell someone you will deliver certain results, in a certain way, by a specific timeline, they will expect nothing less than what you’ve promised. It can be easy to over-promise, especially when you are genuinely hardworking and honestly feel you can do what you said. However, when you fail to deliver what you promised even if you did a good job, you’ll still end up looking bad. Under-delivering constantly won’t be a good look for you because no one will trust you to do the job next time, which could snowball and ruin your reputation and career.
If this is a problem for you, try setting more realistic expectations for yourself and the results you’re able to deliver. This way, you’ll be able to give high-quality results in good time and you won’t create any extra pressure on yourself.
In closing
Most people think that all it takes to destroy one’s career is a huge mistake costing millions and affecting many people (well, that’s one way to do it). But sometimes even the small mistakes can pile up and before you know it, you’re the bad seed at work and within your industry.
Knowing your mistakes is just the first step, the second is taking action to improve and trying not to be a repeat offender so your career remains intact.