Career advice we should ignore ﻿The most common career tips are:﻿
﻿
﻿ • &amp;quot;Just be yourself&amp;quot;﻿
﻿ • &amp;quot;Let your achievements speak for themselves&amp;quot;﻿
﻿ • &amp;quot;Focus on your strengths&amp;quot;﻿
﻿ • &amp;quot;Follow your passion&amp;quot;﻿
﻿ ﻿
﻿Data and research suggest that it is better to ignore this kind of advice as it is often harmful, even if it feels intuitively right.﻿ ﻿

Career advice

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		Summary.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
		Some of the most common career tips don’t pan out in the real world. Here are four you should ignore — and what to do instead.

Don’t: Just be yourself. Do: Be the best version of yourself.
Don’t: Let your achievements speak for themselves. Do: Build a personal...<button dir="ltr">more</button>
	</div><img src="https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2020/10/Ascend_Logo_2020_2x.png" alt="Ascend logo" width="105" height="25">Job and life advice for young professionals. See more from Ascend <a href="https://hbr.org/insight-center/ascend" dir="ltr">here</a>.When you are in the earliest stages of your career, there is no shortage of advice to help you navigate things like how to get hired, make a good impression, and fulfill your wildest job aspirations. But what is talked about less often is the advice that you actually shouldn’t follow, which turns out to be a lot of it.Some of the most common career tips — just be yourself, focus on your strengths, follow your passion — don’t pan out in the real world. Even when the advice feels “intuitively right” much of the actual data and research suggests that we are probably better off doing the exact opposite.Here are a few “gold standard” tips you should probably just ignore, and what you should do instead:<h3>“Just be yourself.”</h3><div dir="ltr"> 
This may be one of the most overused and harmful pieces of career advice ever given. In work settings, especially job interviews, people don’t want to see your unfiltered and uninhibited personality. They are more interested in seeing the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/iops.12001" dir="ltr">best version of you</a> — that is, you on your best behavior, telling them what they want to hear, even if it isn’t exactly what you want to say. Adhering to social etiquette, showing restraint and self-control, and playing the game of self-presentation will maximize your chances of landing a job, whereas “being yourself” may make you look spoiled, entitled, or narcissistic. The table below illustrates this point. 
</div><img src="https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you.png" srcset="https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you.png 1052w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-300x288.png 300w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-768x737.png 768w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-1024x983.png 1024w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-383x368.png 383w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-500x480.png 500w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-700x672.png 700w, https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2021/01/best-version-of-you-850x816.png 850w" alt="" width="508" height="488">What to do instead: In any high-stakes situation, including job interviews, you will be rewarded if you manage and control your public image. Or in the words of the great sociologist <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/149.Erving_Goffman" dir="ltr">Erving Goffman</a>: Act how you want others to see you — even if it is not 100% genuine. The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247780866_Rethinking_Social_Desirability_Scales_From_Impression_Management_to_Interpersonally_Oriented_Self-Control" dir="ltr">science of social impressions</a> says that the best approach is to read the room and work out what others expect of you. Then tweak your behavior to avoid disappointing them. Be sensitive to context. For instance, if you are speaking to a recruiter at a disruptive tech start-up, you should not wear the same outfit you might wear to an interview at a big bank or conservative corporation.This doesn’t mean you need to violate your own principles or be an impostor. It just means you need to be <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-55071-001" dir="ltr">emotionally intelligent</a> enough to respect the social etiquette of the company looking to hire you. Things might be different five years later when you are an established player in the company and have a strong reputation, but you need to play the game before you can break the rules. Your rules may be better, but a job interview is no time to persuade other people of that.<h3>“Let your achievements speak for themselves.”</h3><div dir="ltr"> 
The world would be better off if people succeeded because of their competence rather than confidence. In a perfect world, you would not need to spend time self-promoting, self-branding, politicking, and managing up. But sadly, this is not the reality. All style and no substance will get you farther than no style and all substance. In the workforce, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FQVCX8D/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" dir="ltr">research has</a> shown time and again that connections, impressions, and showmanship tend to trump talent and potential. 
</div>What to do instead: Your brand is a bigger driver of your career success than your actual work. This means that even the most talented people benefit a lot from “managing up” — cultivating strong relationships with their bosses, and making sure powerful people see their value. For you, my advice is to learn how to (humbly) be your loudest cheerleader. The ideal scenario is for your boss to think that you are just as modest as you are talented. Being too explicit or assertive can backfire.Observe people in positions of power and make an effort to understand what problems they’re trying to solve. Then show and tell them how you can help. This is a better formula for success than ignoring others and focusing only on your own work. Even the greatest artists in the world, such as Van Gogh and Mozart, died poor because they were and not focused enough on playing the game of “business politics.”<h3 dir="ltr">“Focus on your strengths.”&nbsp;</h3><div dir="ltr"> 
People generally love this piece of career advice, because it’s much easier to follow than the alternative: “Recognize and mitigate your weakness.” The problem is that strengths are born out of tendencies that come naturally to us — spontaneous parts of ourselves that elevate our status and reputation with others. And while everyone has them, it is virtually impossible to succeed in any area of life unless you learn to keep your weaknesses in check, too. 
</div>For example, you can be the smartest person in the world, but if you lack empathy and humility, your intelligence will make you seem arrogant and cold. You could be the most talented writer, but if you have no self-control, you will never produce much work or deliver it on time. Moreover, if overused, your strengths will eventually turn into weaknesses: Too much confidence turns into delusion, a surplus of kindness into conflict avoidance, and extreme ambition into greed.What to do instead: &nbsp;Aristotle noted that every virtue is a mean between two extremes. It is better to be somewhat emotional than cold or explosive; it is better to be somewhat curious than closed-minded or a reckless; and it is better to be a little bit creative than unimaginative or eccentric. If your goal is to adapt to the real world and make a strong impression on others — which comes in handy at the start of your career — take this advice instead: Celebrate your strengths, but also do the work of identifying your weaknesses.All extraordinary achievers are rather self-critical. To a large degree, their very ambition is the result of constantly attempting to overcome their limitations, and their inability to be satisfied just with their achievements. Similarly, when you know what your weaknesses are, you will experience a healthy degree of discomfort. That discomfort may drive you to get better — to close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. You’ll get farther, faster.<div>
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 </div><h3>“Follow your passion.”</h3><div dir="ltr"> 
While it helps to have a clear idea of what you want to do in life, following your passion is often only a winning formula if your passion aligns with job market demand and your actual talent. It is also true that passions are more ephemeral than we tend to think: This year you may be passionate about photography, but next year you might be passionate about science, writing, or animation. In most cases, if you only look for opportunities in industries that you love, instead of broadening your perspective and considering those that will make you grow, you end up sacrificing jobs that could advance your career down the line. 
</div>You also give up an important chance at self-discovery — that is, a chance to learn more about what you want and don’t want and to stumble upon new things you may be good at or enjoy. Remember that following your passion can be a protective strategy, one that allows you to stay within your comfort zone, play to your strengths, and hampers your development.What to do instead: &nbsp;Usually, the younger you are, the more trade-offs you have to make. In your 20s, you should think hard about matching your interests and potential to available opportunities, and seize the ones that will help you learn and grow. In your 30s, you might want to shift your focus from earning short-term rewards to making a longer-term impact. At both stages, it is wise to be flexible. Treat your strong interests as “nice-to-haves,” but put them on standby until the chance arrives to unleash them in a productive way. In the end, it is less useful to follow your passion, than it is to find people who are passionately devoted to helping you grow.The good news is that the trade-offs decrease with age.In short, the best thing you can do right now is make the best possible choices. This means being open, and trying to carefully assess the pros and cons each path that opens to you might present. What you value is key, and you should never violate your own moral compass. After that, your success chances will probably increase if you maximize fit between your potential, interests, and opportunities.<UL><LI><div dir="ltr">
					
						<a href="https://hbr.org/search?term=tomas%20chamorro-premuzic&amp;search_type=search-all" dir="ltr">Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic</a> is the Chief Talent Scientist at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-Many-Incompetent-Become-Leaders/dp/1633696324/" dir="ltr">Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It)</a>, upon which his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeAEFEXvcBg" dir="ltr">TEDx talk</a> was based. Find him&nbsp;on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/drtcp" dir="ltr">@drtcp</a>&nbsp;or at&nbsp;<a href="https://drtomas.com/" dir="ltr">www.drtomas.com</a>.

					
		</div></LI></UL>

These tips may be popular, but they don’t hold up in the real world.

career

Career

Job and life advice for young professionals. See more from Ascend <a dir="ltr" href="https://hbr.org/insight-center/ascend">here </a>.

When you are in the earliest stages of your career, there is no shortage of advice to help you navigate things like how to get hired, make a good impression, and fulfill your wildest job aspirations. But what is talked about less often is the advice that you actually shouldn’t follow, which turns out to be a lot of it.

Some of the most common career tips — just be yourself, focus on your strengths, follow your passion — don’t pan out in the real world. Even when the advice feels “intuitively right” much of the actual data and research suggests that we are probably better off doing the exact opposite.

Here are a few “gold standard” tips you should probably just ignore, and what you should do instead:

This may be one of the most overused and harmful pieces of career advice ever given. In work settings, especially job interviews, people don’t want to see your unfiltered and uninhibited personality. They are more interested in seeing the <a dir="ltr" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/iops.12001">best version of you </a>— that is, you on your best behavior, telling them what they want to hear, even if it isn’t exactly what you want to say. Adhering to social etiquette, showing restraint and self-control, and playing the game of self-presentation will maximize your chances of landing a job, whereas “being yourself” may make you look spoiled, entitled, or narcissistic. The table below illustrates this point.

What to do instead : In any high-stakes situation, including job interviews, you will be rewarded if you manage and control your public image. Or in the words of the great sociologist <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/149.Erving_Goffman">Erving Goffman </a>: Act how you want others to see you — even if it is not 100% genuine. The <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247780866_Rethinking_Social_Desirability_Scales_From_Impression_Management_to_Interpersonally_Oriented_Self-Control">science of social impressions </a>says that the best approach is to read the room and work out what others expect of you. Then tweak your behavior to avoid disappointing them. Be sensitive to context. For instance, if you are speaking to a recruiter at a disruptive tech start-up, you should not wear the same outfit you might wear to an interview at a big bank or conservative corporation.

This doesn’t mean you need to violate your own principles or be an impostor. It just means you need to be <a dir="ltr" href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-55071-001">emotionally intelligent </a>enough to respect the social etiquette of the company looking to hire you. Things might be different five years later when you are an established player in the company and have a strong reputation, but you need to play the game before you can break the rules. Your rules may be better, but a job interview is no time to persuade other people of that.

“Let your achievements speak for themselves.”

The world would be better off if people succeeded because of their competence rather than confidence. In a perfect world, you would not need to spend time self-promoting, self-branding, politicking, and managing up. But sadly, this is not the reality. All style and no substance will get you farther than no style and all substance. In the workforce, <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FQVCX8D/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1">research has </a>shown time and again that connections, impressions, and showmanship tend to trump talent and potential.

What to do instead: Your brand is a bigger driver of your career success than your actual work. This means that even the most talented people benefit a lot from “managing up” — cultivating strong relationships with their bosses, and making sure powerful people see their value. For you, my advice is to learn how to (humbly) be your loudest cheerleader. The ideal scenario is for your boss to think that you are just as modest as you are talented. Being too explicit or assertive can backfire.

Observe people in positions of power and make an effort to understand what problems they’re trying to solve. Then show and tell them how you can help. This is a better formula for success than ignoring others and focusing only on your own work. Even the greatest artists in the world, such as Van Gogh and Mozart, died poor because they were and not focused enough on playing the game of “business politics.”

People generally love this piece of career advice, because it’s much easier to follow than the alternative: “Recognize and mitigate your weakness.” The problem is that strengths are born out of tendencies that come naturally to us — spontaneous parts of ourselves that elevate our status and reputation with others. And while everyone has them, it is virtually impossible to succeed in any area of life unless you learn to keep your weaknesses in check, too.

For example, you can be the smartest person in the world, but if you lack empathy and humility, your intelligence will make you seem arrogant and cold. You could be the most talented writer, but if you have no self-control, you will never produce much work or deliver it on time. Moreover, if overused, your strengths will eventually turn into weaknesses: Too much confidence turns into delusion, a surplus of kindness into conflict avoidance, and extreme ambition into greed.

What to do instead:  Aristotle noted that every virtue is a mean between two extremes. It is better to be somewhat emotional than cold or explosive; it is better to be somewhat curious than closed-minded or a reckless; and it is better to be a little bit creative than unimaginative or eccentric. If your goal is to adapt to the real world and make a strong impression on others — which comes in handy at the start of your career — take this advice instead: Celebrate your strengths, but also do the work of identifying your weaknesses.

All extraordinary achievers are rather self-critical. To a large degree, their very ambition is the result of constantly attempting to overcome their limitations, and their inability to be satisfied just with their achievements. Similarly, when you know what your weaknesses are, you will experience a healthy degree of discomfort. That discomfort may drive you to get better — to close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. You’ll get farther, faster.

While it helps to have a clear idea of what you want to do in life, following your passion is often only a winning formula if your passion aligns with job market demand and your actual talent. It is also true that passions are more ephemeral than we tend to think: This year you may be passionate about photography, but next year you might be passionate about science, writing, or animation. In most cases, if you only look for opportunities in industries that you love, instead of broadening your perspective and considering those that will make you grow, you end up sacrificing jobs that could advance your career down the line.

You also give up an important chance at self-discovery — that is, a chance to learn more about what you want and don’t want and to stumble upon new things you may be good at or enjoy. Remember that following your passion can be a protective strategy, one that allows you to stay within your comfort zone, play to your strengths, and hampers your development.

What to do instead:  Usually, the younger you are, the more trade-offs you have to make. In your 20s, you should think hard about matching your interests and potential to available opportunities, and seize the ones that will help you learn and grow. In your 30s, you might want to shift your focus from earning short-term rewards to making a longer-term impact. At both stages, it is wise to be flexible. Treat your strong interests as “nice-to-haves,” but put them on standby until the chance arrives to unleash them in a productive way. In the end, it is less useful to follow your passion, than it is to find people who are passionately devoted to helping you grow.

The good news is that the trade-offs decrease with age.

In short, the best thing you can do right now is make the best possible choices. This means being open, and trying to carefully assess the pros and cons each path that opens to you might present. What you value is key, and you should never violate your own moral compass. After that, your success chances will probably increase if you maximize fit between your potential, interests, and opportunities.

<ul><li><div dir="ltr"><a dir="ltr" href="https://hbr.org/search?term=tomas%20chamorro-premuzic&amp;search_type=search-all">Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic </a>is the Chief Talent Scientist at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-Many-Incompetent-Become-Leaders/dp/1633696324/">Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It ) </a>, upon which his <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeAEFEXvcBg">TEDx talk </a>was based. Find him on Twitter: <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/drtcp">@drtcp </a> or at <a dir="ltr" href="https://drtomas.com/">www.drtomas.com </a>. </div> </li> </ul>

4 Pieces of Career Advice It’s Okay to Ignore

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