Whether you like your present employer or are looking to change jobs, the lessons you learn from your career mistakes can influence your present and future decisions.
No doubt, making a mistake at work or accepting a job only to turn around months later and leave is a career lesson that is probably etched in your mind. The pain of making a decision too quickly and regretting it later is a powerful lesson.
Making mistakes is a part of life and can serve as a great teacher if you pay attention to what you learned from the experience. A business professional once described a painful lesson in making a decision to accept an offer based on wishful thinking versus the gut feelings he experienced when talking with his future boss. He had heard so many good things about the employer and the leadership that it overshadowed his reactions when the prospective boss was disrespectful to him during the interview.
In spite of the boss’s arrogance, he went right along with the interview process by ignoring the awkward signals, hoping this was not the typical leadership behavior everyone raved about. He was offered the position and accepted it on a hope that things would change. Six weeks later, he left the company when reality set in.
While the misstep didn’t destroy his career, it did create a situation where he had to explain the sudden departure not only to future prospects but also to the colleagues who had cheered him on. He will never forget that lesson and since then has accepted a really good offer based on acknowledging both the intuition and the facts.
The takeaway lesson: never discount your inner voice of caution in exchange for hoping and wishing; what others think is important, but it may not work for you.
Here some common career mistakes:
Accepting a job without conducting due diligence.
Not saving at least 3-6 months of living expenses in case of an unexpected change in employment.
Not asking enough clarifying questions (assuming rather than communicating).
Not investing time in your own career growth, taking care of everything else except your career.
Using the “hoping and wishing” strategy that someone will give you another job.
Not having a clear goal where you can visualize your next career move.
Resting on past successes rather than continuously learning new skills.
Mistakes will inevitably happen at some point in your career, the key is learning from them instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Career mishaps will make you stronger by acknowledging areas of growth and trusting your instincts.
What are the most powerful lessons you learned from your career mistakes?
