6 career killers to avoid at all costs

like — and see yourself staying at it for more than a year — is hard to come by. However, once you’ve secured the job, it’s important not to get too comfortable. If you’re not careful, you could sabotage your career with an employer. Here are six blunders that could cause your career to go up in flames.
1. Lying Lying can kill your career at a company before it even starts.
Resist the urge to lie on your résumé or during the interview. It may take some time, but eventually you will be caught. So don’t add degrees you didn’t earn or jobs that you never had. Know that your work history is included in your employment credit report, so information about past jobs can be easily researched. And once an employer discovers your dishonesty, you will be seen as someone who can’t be trusted. Just don’t do it.
2. Sleep deprivation Working while chronically sleep deprived can cause you to make signifi cant errors. And the stress of not getting enough sleep can make you irritable and just plain unpleasant to be around. Who wants to work with a cranky person who constantly makes mistakes?
Get some sleep and spare your co-workers from having to deal with you and the black cloud that follows you all day.
3. Laziness If you refuse to do more than what it says in your job description, good luck moving up the ladder. If you don’t pull it together and fi nd some initiative, your rung just might get cut off . You should always be looking for opportunities to go above and beyond your required responsibilities. During the process, you may even uncover a talent you didn’t realize you had.
4. Being a lone ranger It’s important to be a team player. Let go of the attitude that this is your world and others are merely living in it. This is not your world, and you have to work with other people in order to get things done. If you don’t feel like being a team player, at least pretend that you actually like working with people.
5. Stealing This one is pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many employees steal from their employers and even their co-workers. No matter how much you need a few pencils for your child’s homework assignment, or a pack of paper for your printer at home, don’t take it from your offi ce.
If you get caught, and you probably will, most employers will show you the door, no questions asked. So spare yourself the embarrassment and just head on over to your nearest offi ce supply store.
Furthermore, a recent study has shown that taking small things, such as a pen or a pack of Post-it Notes, could possibly lead to bigger crimes in the future. If you go to jail for a bigger crime it will be really hard to fi nd a job later on, so try to control the urge.
6. Not keeping your skills current No matter how good you are at your job, your skills will need a tune-up from time to time.
The availability of free and low-cost online courses and certifi cate programs leaves you with no excuse. You can even find helpful courses at your local library. Take the time to develop yourself. Letting your skills get stale sends the message that you don’t take your career, or the company you work for, seriously. www.cheatsheet.com

Things you should never leave off your resume
As you prepare for yet another round of job hunting, you may wonder why no one is calling you in for an interview. The problem could be staring you right in the face — it could be your resume. One of the keys that can open the door to your next job is your resume.
That’s why it’s important to make sure it’s in the best shape possible. While there are some things you should never include in your work history, there are also some elements that should never be left off. Even if your resume is perfect in every way, forgetting to include one or two of these elements could hurt you. It could mean the diff erence between a job off er and spending endless nights on career websites searching for new job postings.
Here are five things you should never leave off your resume.
1. Key words Yes, this will require you to actually read the entire job description. It might be tempting, but don’t just fire off a resume based on the job title. You can get yourself into a lot of trouble this way.
2. If you want to increase your chances of snagging a job, make sure to include key words from the job posting. This will benefi t you in the event your resume is being read by a resume-scanning program. These programs will only pick out the resumes that most closely match key words from a job description.
Major work accomplishments Sometimes it’s OK — and benefi cial — to brag a little. Did you help your department save a signifi cant amount of money? Highlight that fact in your career resume. You could mention your accomplishment verbally during the interview, but there is more of an impact when the interviewer can see your big win in writing. Also, remember that resumes get passed around to several people.
There’s no guarantee you or the interviewer will remember to mention your accomplishment. If it is included in your resume, other members of the hiring team will be able to easily see what a great job you did at your last place of employment.
3. White space The recruiter shouldn’t have a headache after reading your resume. You may have a ton of experience, but that doesn’t mean you should pack all of it on one page using a 10-point font size. Use the white space. Let your resume breathe.
4. Certifi cations You didn’t spend all that time studying and sweating over exams to keep your certifications to yourself, now did you? Don’t forget to include relevant awards and certifications. This shows the interviewer that you are invested in your career and motivated enough to take on additional training. Certifi cations can help you stand out from other applicants.
5. Contact information Let’s face it: People are lazy. If it’s not clear how to get in touch with you, a busy hiring manager is most likely not going to take five minutes to search through your social media profi les. Make sure to always put your phone number and email address clearly at the top of your resume.
You don’t want to miss out on a job opportunity because you failed to list complete contact information. 6. Relevant social media links The key word here is relevant. If you have a blog or LinkedIn articles that relate directly to the job you’re interviewing for, include the links. Just make sure all of the links work. www.cheatsheet.com

 

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