Great little article by Kelly Eggers here ("Ten Things That Can Get You Fired" from the Wall Street Journal).  She gives some great points to people on how not to get fired. Of course, that’s not to say you won’t be fired anyway, or if you don’t do these things, but odds are, if you’re a major contributor to one or more of these categories, things will begin to stack against you.

We’ve seen it first hand – someone says they graduated from xyz school ten years ago, and come to find out they were three credits shy; or they say they’ve never had a major infraction, and they’ve got a series of them when it comes to running a background check, or when someone says they’re a computer wizard, and can’t seem to figure out how to copy/paste anything. It’s not just in the permanent world, but here in Albany, it happens with our temp and temp-to-hire clients as well.

Lies beget other lies – I’m not sure who the quote originally came from, but it’s stayed top of mind throughout time, “the more you lie, the more you have to remember.” Kelly points out several other factors that can contribute to your vocational demise. While I don’t agree with all of them, we’ve witnessed many of them over the years, as I’m sure most people have.

In some respect, it comes down to integrity and business smarts - “do unto others…” and good things generally will follow sooner or later.  Our best advice is to really trust your instincts.  If there’s something in the back of your brain telling you that it might not be perceived well if you do or say something, hold off and really think about whether that move is worthwhile.  If it’s really important, another 12 hours of thought generally won’t hurt anything.