You might be humming along at your work, too busy to even consider looking for a new job, when a competitor calls with a job opportunity. Understandably, you are flattered and you politely agree to meet to discuss the job. You go to lunch, you have a few interviews, and before you know it you have a job offer with a nice title and a few bucks more than you're making. The employer showers you with praise for your expertise, your intelligence, your personality and your potential value to his business.

A month, three months, six months later you realize you took the job not because you wanted it, but because it was offered to you. People accept jobs under such circumstances every day, and soon they're out looking for yet another job. It's certainly much easier to let a job come to you, but there's hell to pay when you practice this kind of "career development".

When your goal is a good career, don't let flattery lead you down the wrong path. Instead, expend the effort to go find the job you really want, because flattery will get you nowhere.