Remember that old saying, “everything that glitters, ain’t gold“? As cliché as it may sound, this saying is true for most things in life, even your career.

While climbing the career ladder in any field, we’re often eager to hop on any and every opportunity that looks like it will propel us forward toward our goals. In theory, this makes sense. However, in practice, it’s not really the best approach, especially once you have some footing in your career.

Many career experts will tell you to jump instantly when a career opportunity presents itself, but sometimes, certain opportunities just don’t benefit your career or in fact, benefit your career enough to be worth the time and effort.

For instance, we’ve all had those internships where it wasn’t exactly what we wanted to do, your supervisor never gave you assignments and when you asked for projects, everyone looked at you with blank stares. Those 20 hours every week for four to six weeks really add up and often times, end up as wasted time in which you could’ve been doing something way more productive towards your actual career. Sure, you can put it on your resume and finesse it so it seems like you gained valuable experience, but let’s be honest, most recruiters and human resources personnel can see through the fluff. They do this everyday. And again, you could’ve been doing something else that yielded better results.

Time is of the essence and the older we get, the less of it we have to waste on things that don’t push us forward towards the life we want to live. When we’re selective about the opportunities we take on, we ensure that we’re only partaking in the things that are most beneficial to us and not just “schedule fillers.” We also free up time in our lives for other things that don’t necessarily involve our career, like family and friend time, morning meditation or a good workout session.

So the next time a seemingly amazing opportunity comes your way, be sure to take a little more time evaluating if it’s really as good as it looks.

Written By: Chey Parker
Contributing Writer for The Bobby Pen
Editor-in-chief of Everything Girls Love, LLC