Fool’s gold: How to avoid following terrible tips from others

For every piece of good advice, there are several similar tips waiting to pounce. How can you avoid bad advice? It’s tough, of course, and bad advice for some may be good advice for others, depending on the circumstances, but still, it’s important to know what you’re getting. Here are some job-search and career tips that at best, may not be too applicable these days, or worse, just plain awful:

‘You gotta get your name out there’

First of all, thanks for humoring your uncle when he practically belched this little nugget of advice into your ear after his sixth spiked lemonade at last weekend’s barbecue. Granted, there is something to being active and visible but you want to put your name in front of the right people. The problem is that too many job candidates take this advice to mean they need to put their name in front of everyone. While it used to be commonplace to mail out a bin of resumes on Monday mornings after job candidates went through the Sunday job sections, consider the dangers of a job search that’s not limited by the cost of postage stamps. Today’s candidates can apply for 100 jobs online without cramping a finger. The problem is that there isn’t much benefit in applying for jobs you’re not qualified for and jobs you don’t really want. You probably won’t even make it through the first phase of application bots to begin with so it’s not worth your time. Plus, it puts you in the wrong mindset. Focus on jobs that are beneficial to you with companies you can help make better. You’re not throwing birdseed, after all. Pick and choose your companies and apply accordingly.

Don’t blow the interview

Wait, that’s bad advice? Of course not. No one is suggesting you tank the interview but the message behind the directive certainly isn’t as relevant as we once thought. The workplaces of America are filled with people who had mediocre interviews at best and disastrous, sitcom-worthy interviews at worst. Most recruiters recognize that today’s job applicants are real people. They get nervous, they forget things, they sometimes interrupt others, they fidget when they speak and they don’t always look people in the eye. That only makes them human. So until AI-fueled cyborgs have completely taken over the workforce, humans will continue to hire other humans, which means that humans with flaws will continue to hire other humans with flaws. Don’t beat yourself up over an interview that didn’t quite go the way you planned. It’s much more important to avoid putting a ridiculous amount of pressure on yourself to have the interview of a lifetime for a job you especially want. Whether or not you get the job relies on a number of factors, not just the interview. Prepare, do your best and if you don’t get the job, move on.

Wait your turn

While there’s something to be said for employees who actively seek information and are willing participants in the group process, biding their time until a new opportunity reveals itself, the days of sitting tight and quietly waiting for your turn are long gone. That’s not to say you need to crawl over the backs of your coworkers to get ahead. Instead, keep your eyes open for new opportunities within and outside of your current employer. New job titles are created all the time based on companies’ changing needs, including market trends, customer retention numbers, economic realities and more. Don’t feel like you have to participate in a traditional hierarchy of power if you have skills that can benefit your employer in different ways. Identify the company’s needs, come up with a solid plan on how your skills can help address those and present it to your manager. If your company decides that it’s not necessarily ready for the role you’ve envisioned, you can keep working and quietly look for a company that recognizes what you can bring to the table.