Career Errors

[Breastman]

What are some of the more classic bonehead moves you've seen in your career? There have got to be some classic ones out there.

Example: I worked outside sales a few years ago and loved it. Joined a great company last year but just remained inside. Missed being outside. Got recruited by a guy in April to come and join his company in an outside sales position covering a few states. Seemed like a great guy. Agreed to join, turned in my resignation and had a start date at the new company. The Friday before I started, this guy and his director got canned. So I show up the following Monday and no one has any clue what I've discussed with this guy and all the outside positions are filled. WTF? Stuck doing inside sales and actually making slightly less (not as good of commission). Tremendous bonehead move on my part. Jeesh.

 

[Deepfork]

What are some of the more classic bonehead moves you've seen in your career? There have got to be some classic ones out there.

Example: I worked outside sales a few years ago and loved it. Joined a great company last year but just remained inside. Missed being outside. Got recruited by a guy in April to come and join his company in an outside sales position covering a few states. Seemed like a great guy. Agreed to join, turned in my resignation and had a start date at the new company. The Friday before I started, this guy and his director got canned. So I show up the following Monday and no one has any clue what I've discussed with this guy and all the outside positions are filled. WTF? Stuck doing inside sales and actually making slightly less (not as good of commission). Tremendous bonehead move on my part. Jeesh.

Always get an offer letter!

 

[csh]

I can't really think of much in the way you described, i.e. nothing stupid or malicious, just a mistake. Most of the errors I've seen are from stupidity and/or straight up dishonesty, basic stuff like cheating time reports. We had to can a 35 year old with two kids for blatantly overstating his OT charges... jeez. Sometimes it's depressing what gets through the higher education system. In engineering school, we were pretty cocky about how difficult our classes were. That's so laughable now, many of our more mediocre employees have engineering masters degrees.

 

[Ghost Of Mr. Iba]

What are some of the more classic bonehead moves you've seen in your career? There have got to be some classic ones out there.

Example: I worked outside sales a few years ago and loved it. Joined a great company last year but just remained inside. Missed being outside. Got recruited by a guy in April to come and join his company in an outside sales position covering a few states. Seemed like a great guy. Agreed to join, turned in my resignation and had a start date at the new company. The Friday before I started, this guy and his director got canned. So I show up the following Monday and no one has any clue what I've discussed with this guy and all the outside positions are filled. WTF? Stuck doing inside sales and actually making slightly less (not as good of commission). Tremendous bonehead move on my part. Jeesh.

For me it was job hopping early on as a 23/24 year old dumbass. I took some bad advice from some people I trusted and ended up putting myself in a bad spot (too many jobs in a short amount of time), and it almost cost me. Fortunately, I learned from my mistakes and was able to right the ship. Next week will be my 15 year anniversary with my current employer.

 

[squeak]

I haven't made any bad moves, but then again I have only changed employers once. I followed the following rules:

1) Run TO something, not FROM something. I see people in public accounting do the opposite all the time.

2) Job hopping can hurt your career so take your time making a decision. Seek advice from many people you trust before making a change.

3) I also see this a lot in public accounting. People are scared to make a move (after following rules 1 & 2) because of the perception that people will think the couldn't cut it at the firm or they failed. Believe it or not, there is life outside of your current employer. Once you're out, you really don't care what your former co-workers' perceptions are.

I stayed in public for 6 years after college. I made a move that was a little risky (new organization) because ultimately I wanted a better work-life balance while still working in the same field doing similar things. I made the move after consulting with a lot of people who I trusted and had long successful careers. When I first thought I wanted to make a change to this new organization I took about a year to think about it. I also knew someone at my current employer that I trusted. That helped.

 

[ThorOdinson13]

Since the age of 16 I've had 8 different employers. Since the age of 21 I've had 2.

 

[poke2001]

I'm still working for the same company as I left school (well, been purchased twice), going on 13 years now. I've had a few promotions and got my master's degree in that time.

My only regret is I've stayed in the same location. We have kids in school now so it is going to be harder and harder to move and I've nearly topped out at my location.

 

[MegaPoke]

I should've left jobs I hated sooner and should've started my business earlier. But all the experience from those shitty jobs has actually been a huge help once I decided to quit creating wealth for other guys.

 

[shortbus]

More than I care to recollect.