Keeping Quiet at Work

Keeping a job in today’s struggling economy is very tough to do but it can be done if the person holding the job follows the rules and does not make a fuss while in the office. One way to keep a job is to not provide others with career advice, especially during these tough times, because you might be giving advice to someone who could take your job.

The first point one should always remember is not to give out career advice when it is not asked for. Either the person you are giving the advice to will ignore it, resent it, or they will begin to get angry with you. The same can be said for dishing out unsolicited advice about relationships and parenting skills.

Do you really want to be advising someone in your office about how to take the next steps in his or her career when layoffs are still occurring across the country in large numbers? You could be the next person to receive a pink skip without knowing that it is on the horizon. Instead, wait until a coworker asks for advice and then determine whether to give career advice. If someone comes to you for advice, it might be difficult to ignore him or her or not give him or her just a little bit of advice. You still do not want to doll out too much information because they might be gunning for your job. The business world is cutthroat these days, and people will do anything to hold a job or advance up the corporate ladder to a new job, so be careful about what you say in the office.

Not all questions about career advice should be answered at the workplace. You can answer them all you want when they are asked by family members, but do not get into the habit of providing career information to people within your company. When you offer advice to a younger colleague, it might be rewarding to you but it could prevent the person asking from developing necessary skills. Those skills include critical thinking, good judgment, and other business skills that could help that person advance in the future.

Many managers will tend to listen intently to a question posed by a colleague or an employee and then answer the question with a question of their own. The question in response could be something along the lines of: “If you had the chance to speak with the leading expert in our field, what would he or she advise you to do about the problem?” This will force the person asking the question to figure out a solution on their own, which can help their business skills.

Another tip is to keep advice to yourself when a colleague has already made a decision on how to handle a problem. Even though he or she might seem to be asking for advice, they are actually looking for affirmation or validation for what they are about to do. The only reason you should get involved is if the position you hold in the company requires you to do so.