Corporate Workers, Listen Up — This HR Rep Shared 7 Mistakes You'd Never Catch Her Making, And Y'all Should Hear Them

If you've ever worked in a corporate environment, then you know that a lot of office politics are complicated. You have to act a certain way and sometimes have to know the right people to get ahead, and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can land you in a heap of trouble.

To help us navigate through the semantics, BuzzFeed reached out to Valerie Rodriguez, a director of people experience who has "managed everything at one point or another, from hiring and onboarding employees to running and processing payroll, to working with managers to coach employees and create development plans for those who struggled with their roles," Valerie told BuzzFeed. "I'd like to say I've done it all in HR and have always enjoyed every part I've touched."

Recently, Valerie drew in an audience of over 6.6 million viewers on TikTok when she shared a three-part series explaining why, as someone who has worked in HR for over 10 years, she'd never do seven specific things in a corporate office.

Here are parts 1, 2, and 3 of Valerie's series.

In the videos, Valerie explains why she'd recommend that you never...

1.Share your age:

"You will not catch me doing this, for the life of me. I have had people beg me. I have had people swear they're never going to share it with anybody else. No. I clearly look young, so that's already somewhat of a disadvantage in a corporate environment because people do tend to judge and think, Oh, you have your whole life ahead of you.

"No. You're not passing me up because of my age. If I'm qualified for the job, that's all that should matter," Valerie said.

2.Harp on your mistakes:

"You will not catch me harping on a mistake I made. I will acknowledge it and I will provide you with a solution, but I am not going to harp on it.

"I learned that the hard way. I used to think like, Oh, I need to own my mistakes so people know I can take accountability. No. Because then they will harp on it too and hold it against you.

"Nope. Let's focus on solutions and move the fuck on," she said.

3.Be too personal:

"Do not be too personal," Valerie warned. "Sharing too much does not do you any good at any point in your career. Especially when you know that you're trying to move up [or] you're trying to establish yourself as a reputable person within a company. Do not overshare. It will only come back to haunt you."

4.Be humble:

"You will never catch me being humble ever again. I used to think being humble was going to get me far — people would appreciate me and say, 'Oh, she's nice,' but no. So many successful women I work with are far from humble and will literally make sure that when they enter a room, their presence is felt."

5.Stick around too long at company events:

"You will never catch me at company functions like happy hour or holiday parties for longer than an hour and a half.

"The truth is, people start drinking, stuff starts happening, and I do not want to be associated."