The Easiest Way to Hurt Your Career

What’s the easiest way to hurt your career?

Ruin the one thing that you own; the one thing that no one can take away from you except yourself: Your reputation
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We forget that we own our reputations; we manage them. A good reputation can open doors; a bad reputation is difficult to repair.

I’m sure there are times when you have want something so badly that you would do almost anything to get it. I know I’ve been in those situations.

What would you do to get what you want?

• Walk over hot coals to get a date with your dream guy or gal? No problem.
• Stay up all night waiting in line to try out for a TV show? Sure! Who needs sleep?
• Lie to the hiring manager by accepting a job knowing that you intend to quit after only a few months in order to start working at your dream company when a position opens? Hmmm.

Let’s see where this career decision might lead, if you acted on it.

You try desperately to rationalize the career decision in your head. “Well, the job pays really well and I need the money since I just quit my other job.” “I will work really hard for the company, making sure to exceed their expectations.” “Just looking out for number one in case something happens with the other job.”

Deep down you know that this is wrong on so many levels. But the job is so good, you accept and hope things will work out.

And it does work out well – for you.

In a couple of months the dream company calls with an offer; you resign from your current position and are excited about the future. The current company is not so thrilled to find out they’ve been played, having invested time and money into training you. They’ve seen this happen before, so they move on, making a note in your file.

Fast-forward a few years.

You have achieved success at the dream company and now it’s time to expand your horizons. Through your network, you learn about an awesome opportunity with a new company and your resume gets passed to the corporate recruiter.

This is where it gets interesting: the corporate recruiter at this new company happens to be the same person who was the corporate recruiter at the company you worked at for only a few months. The one you “played”. Kind of doubt she’s going to ask you to come in for an interview. Why should she trust you? She certainly doesn’t want to get played again.

Yes, it’s a small world when it comes to business. People move around to different companies; you never know when you might run into them again.

With social media it’s super easy to find someone who knows you as well. Recruiters know each other, and even if it wasn’t the same person it wouldn’t take much networking for your name to pop up in the recruiter’s LinkedIn account. Your story would be uncovered and the same results.

Your reputation is worth protecting, especially with situations that are within your control such as lying or other questionable behavior. As I said before, a good reputation can open doors; a bad reputation is difficult to repair.

Ruining your reputation is the easiest way to hurt your career.