Want to Get Ahead at the Office? Avoid These Common Blunders

Who does not want to get ahead in the company? But when, most of your
team members are young,dynamic and ambitious like you, competition
becomes tough!

Here are some tips to become little bit more smarter than your peers and
get ahead in career. I would welcome your comments on this article.

Thanks! 

You go in early, stay late, finish all your assignments on time and come
in below budget, but you still haven’t got the recognition you deserve
at work. What gives?

According to Cynthia Shapiro, author of the book “Corporate
Confidential, ” it doesn’t matter how adept you are at your job because
if you make these five common mistakes, you’ll never be a star:

Following your personal agenda. Many of us assume we know how best to
approach our jobs, but letting your own judgment dictate your actions is
unlikely to get you noticed or rewarded. If you’re not working on what
your company or your boss thinks is important, you are never going to be
seen as a valued asset, warns Shapiro. If your goal is to move up the
ranks, drop your own agenda and do what you can to further theirs, no
matter how misguided you think it is.

Voicing negative thoughts. Are you the office kvetch, always ready to
badmouth your boss or ridicule the company’s latest venture? Watch out:
You may be ruining your career. “When it comes to business, being
positive is more important than being skilled,” says Shapiro. The next
time you notice yourself griping, ask yourself: Is it more important to
say what’s on mind, or to get that next promotion?

Complaining to HR. Companies tend to portray HR as a service for
employees, but that isn’t strictly true. “The HR people are really there
to protect the company from you and they do that by keeping you close,”
says Shapiro. If you bring an issue to HR, they will only work to
address your concerns if it is in the best interest of the company to do
so. If your problem threatens the company or your job performance, the
“help” they offer may, in fact, be an attempt to minimize the company’s
liability or to collect the evidence they need to push you out of your
job, cautions Shapiro.

Being too smart. You may believe that the smarter you are, the more
likely you are to gain recognition, but that’s not always the case.
Showcasing your smarts can make you appear like more of a threat than an
asset if it isn’t done with finesse. “If you want to be promoted then
use your smarts in support of your boss and your peers,” Shapiro
counsels. Word to the wise: Never point out what could be done better
unless your supervisor specifically asks for your opinion, and even then
you should tread carefully.

Not knowing when to jump. There are a number of ways to gauge whether
you’re in danger of being fired: You have a contentious relationship
with your boss; you haven’t gotten a raise in a long time; you’re
consistently given the clients or projects no one else wants. If any of
this sounds familiar, start looking for a job as soon as possible, warns
Shapiro. It always better to jump to a new position than to get
terminated. “You are 10 times more appealing to an employer if you’re
still employed,” Shapiro says, “And if you get a job while you still
have a job, it prevents your new firm from calling your current
employer, and creates a seamless jump on your resume.”

Source: By Marshall Loeb , Careerjournal. com , Email your comments to
mloeb@marketwatch. com.