21 October 2023 , 16:15
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In the early days of your working life, it's only natural that you'll make a few blunders as you muddle your way through, and all you can really do is pass down your hard-won wisdom to younger colleagues who come afterwards.
According to one knowledgeable HR worker, there are three things, in particular, you should avoid doing at your place of work, as she's discovered "the hard way". Taking to TikTok, Valerie, who regularly shares her wisdom on all things to do with careers and HR, revealed the things she would "never do after being in HR for 10 years", sharing pitfalls that so many workers end up falling into.
1. Oversharing and being too personal
According to Valerie, who goes by the username @lavishvaal, it's not a good idea to be too personal at work, especially if you have ambitious plans to climb the corporate ladder. Valerie advised: "Sharing too much does not do you any good at any point in your career. [...] It will only come back to haunt you".
2. Being too humble
Although nobody likes a show-off, it's possible to be too humble at work - something Valerie doesn't recommend at all. Drawing from her own experience, Valerie explained: "You will never catch me being humble ever again. I used to think being humble was going to get me far, people would appreciate me and say, 'Oh, she's nice', and no.
She added: "So many successful women I work with are far from humble and will literally make sure that they enter a room and their presence is felt. Never catch me being humble again."
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3. Staying too long at work events
For her third tip, Valerie advised resisting the temptation to linger too long at work events, no matter how much you might be enjoying yourself. Valerie cautioned: "You will not catch me at company functions like happy hour, holiday parties for longer than an hour and a half. The truth is, people start drinking, stuff starts happening, and I do not want to be associated."
Valerie's advice has clearly struck a chord with a lot of people navigating the tricky world of office politics, with her video clocking up 4.9 million views and counting at the time of writing. One person commented: "Cannot agree more with you. I recently stepped into corporate and it's toxic. Don't drink and don't share, my two rules." Another agreed: "I mean common sense ain't so common so thank you for sharing."