Recruiters reveal the worst career advice they've received

At some stage in our professional careers, we've all been at the receiving end of some well-intentioned career advice. Some of that advice has no doubt been of significant benefit, but a few pearls of wisdom are anything but helpful! We asked a handful of our recruiters to provide their own experiences with bad career advice. My favourite? Read Stuart Smyth's advice below.

If you don’t like your job, just look for another one.

Brittany Raleigh

I definitely think there is a time and a place for knowing when to move on… however, a lot of people just up and leave instead of actually pushing through a tough time or having an honest conversation with their manager. In addition, this may not be popular advice, but sometimes the problem could be you! You need to work on your own attitude and skillset and then things will improve for you.

Keep my head down.

Amy Curran

You don't need to do an internship; you've studied enough. You shouldn't work for free!

Billie McNeill

I've had a few other pieces of advice that are questionable! For example: "You don't need a LinkedIn account" or "It doesn't matter how long your CV is". One that really resonates is this: "Just take the management role" even though you may not be ready!

You’ll never sell anything if you keep asking questions; TELL DON’T SELL!

Rav Prasad

In another lifetime I used to be a sales consultant at Fitness First. When I would sign people up I would ask them questions about what they wanted to achieve so I could sell based on their needs. My manager at the time made the above comment. She got fired a few weeks later.

It would be a good idea for me to open up a fish and chip shop

Michael Johns

You will always get your worth

Stuart Smyth

Sometimes you won’t and you should always be prepared, very respectfully, to demonstrate what you are worth, what value you are bringing to the company and how you have gone about it.