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You’ve probably heard plenty of career advice in your life so far: work hard; find a mentor; learn new skills to prepare yourself for the next big thing.
But, there are some other pieces of career advice that are a little more obscure. For example, have you ever heard that job hopping can do wonders for your career? Some of the best bits of career advice might seem a little surprising at first, but that doesn’t make them any less valuable.
1. Don’t be the smartest one in the room.
Jacob Hanson, managing partner at PR with Panache, tells Forbes that great leaders surround themselves with smart people who challenge their ideas. They expect that their intelligent and capable team will bring new perspectives to the table. This process, and this belief, drives innovation.
2. Fail often.
Failure is essential for success. It allows us to learn from our mistakes and make better choices going forward. Those who are afraid to fail can be too careful, too tentative. Risk-taking is important in business. So, take risks and don’t be afraid to fail. It’s an important and extremely valuable part of any successful career.
3. Don’t look too busy.
“Ironically the busier you appear, often the less you will move up. I’ve seen smart and dedicated employees fail to get promoted, because they have taken on too much, are working too hard, and appeared too frazzled,” writes Mira Zaslove, of FabExchange. “If you appear stressed, people will think you aren’t prepared to take on more, and you’ll miss opportunities for new and innovative projects.”
4. Embrace humility.
A lot of folks talk about the importance of being confident in order to advance professionally. These days, humility is too often underestimated. Understand that being humble really is a virtue. It demonstrates maturity and authentic confidence. It helps those around you to feel comfortable with you and it encourages them to open up.
Humility will also encourage you to get better and better at what you do, rather than resting on your accomplishments thus far. So, embrace humility if you truly want to demonstrate genuine confidence in your abilities and advance your career.
5. Play harder.
It’s important to work hard if you’d like to have a successful career. And, it might be just as important to play really hard, too. Abby Downing of ZinePak tells Forbes that this is especially true for people who work in creative professions. She feels that breaks are essential in order to keep generating imaginative work.
6. Do the jobs no one else wants to do.
This might not be the career advice that you want to hear. But, there is some sage wisdom in the idea that you’ll make a great impression at work by doing the jobs no one else wants to do. This applies no matter how high up you are in an organization. In fact, those in leadership roles may have the most to gain from this approach. Think about it. How would you feel about a boss who took care of the most undesirable tasks themselves?
7. Job hop.
Job hoppers can sometimes get a bad rap. But, that’s starting to change. Changing jobs every few years could actually help you earn more money over time. You can expect a modest increase year-to-year when you stay at the same job. When you change jobs though, you negotiate a higher salary. For this reason and others job hopping, if done right, could actually do wonders for your career.