Tips that will help you keep your job

By Agency Reporter

If you find yourself cleaning out your desk and starting a new job every nine months to a year, the problem is you — not your boss or colleagues.

It's important to understand your company's corporate culture and to match it in words and actions. For starters, if you work in a prim-and-proper button-down office, don't show up in jeans and a T-shirt boasting about wild times in Tijuana.

"Size up the culture and show a strong work ethic," a professor of management at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, Andrew DuBrin said. "Don't walk around saying, 'It's Wednesday — hump day — and Friday will be here soon."

Here's betting that Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Intel, Exxon Mobil and McClatchy Newspapers have distinct corporate cultures. The smart employee scopes out the territory ahead.

You got hired because the boss thought you could do the job. But competence alone isn't enough to succeed. Be passionate about your work and take pride in it. Tossing things together at the last minute won't cut it.

If you're smart and a little lucky, you'll find your work challenging and your co-workers engaging.

Many young employees talk about having "fun" at work. It's a mistake. There's always an element of levity in a good office — clever quips and groaner puns from the office wag, for example — but remember that you work to make money for the company, not to have fun on the days between weekends.

"When in doubt, behave traditionally," DuBrin says. "Be on time, be a good corporate citizen and go out of your way to help people. Traditional values are still held in high esteem by most employers."

Catch the rhythm of the staff meetings. Are they formal or informal? Is it acceptable to do other work on a laptop and occasionally check your cell phone for text messages, or would that drive the boss nuts? When in doubt, leave the laptop and phone behind.

No one's perfect, and if you make a mistake, immediately take full responsibility for it. Don't blame others, and certainly don't try to slough it off on your immediate boss. Saying, "I'm sorry, my mistake. It won't happen again" will help you put all but hanging offenses behind you.

Much like there's a division between church and state, draw a line between your personal life and work. Don't talk incessantly about your life outside work. If you're having trouble in your personal life, keep it to one or two confidants. No one else at work needs to know — or more to the point, wants to know — about your travails at home. Remember: There is no way that broadcasting your personal difficulties will improve your standing with the boss.

Little things can become a big deal at work. Here's how: Your dentist will love you for flossing, but your co-workers won't if you do it at your desk. Perform personal hygiene duties at home.

Here are ten things you must get right to avoid killing your career. In most cases, no single faux pas is serious enough to get you a pink slip on the spot, but the steady drip-drip-drip of inattention to one or more of these basic points will seriously erode your position, and before you know it, you'll be cleaning out your desk … again.

Know what's expected. No one wants a drone or a yes-man, but if you don't understand the corporate culture and if you don't know what's expected of you, you're gone. It's possible to fit in without squashing your creativity. Remember whom you work for and why.

Money isn't everything. Don't create the impression that you're working just for a paycheck. That's the hallmark of a clock-puncher and will kill all chances for advancement. If you're so unhappy with your job that you live for the 15th and 30th of each month, it's time to start sending out résumés.

Leave the gossip to the supermarket tabloids. Idle chit-chat at the water cooler is a fact of life and acceptable, and is even expected in small doses. But don't chatter endlessly about who's in and who's out. To do so reflects badly on you and takes time away from turning the wheels. Your boss will notice if you spend more time yapping than working.

© 2011 Forbes.com