Avoiding Job Traps

Offers tips and advice on avoiding the common pitfalls of your first job. Topics include office gossip and political battles.

Avoiding These First-Job Traps
Summary
Your first job will be a lesson in people skills. Avoid office politics. Listen and then contribute ideas when appropriate.
If you recently landed your first "real job" after graduation, you're probably on a high right now. But your challenge is just beginning, because getting that first job is one thing, and thriving at it is quite another.
How can you succeed in your new position? By avoiding first-job traps like these:
Gossip
It's practically impossible to avoid office gossip, but you don't have to take part in it. Indeed, becoming a participant is almost guaranteed to backfire on you.
Listen to the office gossip if you must. Just be sure you don't generate any of it, especially when you're new on the job.
Political Battles
In practically every organization, there are certain people who don't get along with each other. In some cases, these damaged relationships go back for years and have become very bitter.


As a new person on the job, it probably won't take long to figure out who doesn't like whom. And it likely won't be much longer before both sides try to recruit you to their camp. If you sense that a couple of people who hate each other are both trying to turn you against their foe, stay out of the war. Simply tell each person, individually, that while you understand he dislikes the other person, you don't want to be in the middle. In doing so, you'll clearly signal to both parties that you won't be conned into choosing one side over the other.

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