How to Identify a Terrible Career Advice?

Career Advice - Present trend

These days everyone seems to have an advice for others on every possible matter. When it comes to making a career choice, you will often get advice from all quarters, either solicited or unsolicited. People from all walks of life will share their piece of mind with you over which career you should tale and which you should not. Even the web is full of career advice articles, and other resources, some of which is credible and the larger part of which is not. A naïve jobseeker looking for a job for the first time is at the mercy of his own mind’s discretion to accept and reject all this advice. So how do you know which one is right for you and which one is not?

If you are looking for a job or want that promotion at work, or want advice about how to get along with your new boss, chances are that you have already asked someone about it or taken your queries to the web. You must have got a number of answers as well. However, the only problem is that there are too many people out there who pretend to be an expert, and will give all sorts of advice regarding what you should do and what you shouldn’t with your career.

How to separate these ‘so-called-experts’ and their ‘expert-advice’ from the real wisdom?  Ask yourself a few questions and the answers might help you sort through this huge ocean of information and identify the pearls of wisdom.

Tips for evaluation of career advice

The expert is promoting his own interests

Whenever you feel that the person giving you advice has vested interests in your decision there will be very less chance that he or she will give you an impartial, fair opinion.Therefore, before you turn to an expert make sure that if he has any horse in the race, and if yes what that is. If the stakes are too high to ignore, the other person would never be able to provide you with the right counsel. In some visible or invisible way he will be promoting his own interests over yours. In such cases, you should take a second or third or fourth opinion. Take the views of others and then reach a conclusion.

The advice is too generic/clichéd

Every individual who wants his career query to be answered faces a unique set of circumstances. His question might be similar to what others have already asked, but his circumstances, the people involved will certainly be unique. If you get an advice whose main gist is, “Work harder”, “Keep a positive attitude”, “Remain adaptable” and so on, then it is time you change your counsellor. Golden rules of success, clichés and platitudes are good for fuelling the fire of motivation inside an individual, but real world situations demand a real world, practical and hands-on advice that goes well with your unique set of circumstances and people involved. Such generic advice is not likely going to do a lot of good to your career.

The advice is outdated

It’s been some time since the internet came into existence. The information revolution spurred by the advent of internet led to sprouting of thousands of blogs and resources every single day. Over the years the number of career blogs and websites has been growing steadily. While some of these sites are regularly updated, it is not too hard to find online resources with information that is a bit outdated. For instance, a few years ago resume advice was all about how to write the right objective, no matter what the job. In 2016, this advice might not work as the relevance of an objective in a resume has diminished. Today, most experts would tell you to NOT include an objective in the resume.

There are a number of examples where certain career advice has lost its relevance in the current scenario. Following such blogs and resources blindly can lead to a rejection early on when applying to a new job at a new place. You have to be careful while reading such online resources and match the tips offered against the current trends to ensure your job search doesn’t make you look like out of touch with the present.

Source : Saurabh Tyagi, Digital Media Marketer, naukri.com