In the office politics game, look out, listen in and join up.

Barbara Adler worked eight internships while she attended college at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. But none prepared her for the office politics she confronted in her first job at a public relations firm.

The 28-year-old Adler, now vice president of a Chicago public relations firm, had no one to turn to for advice on handling politically charged situations. She also often worried she wouldn’t be taken seriously because of her age.

“If you’re fortunate enough, you’ll be given responsibility like managing a $100,000 account where people rely on you,” Adler said. “But the problem is that no one trains you to think of the big picture.”

As most people do, Adler taught herself how to handle office politics and is now seen as an expert of sorts by her friends, who often ask her for advice.

Freshman workers often are unprepared to handle the politics that infest every workplace. Career workshops in college, internships and even employee orientations don’t do much to help newbies beef up their campaign strategies.

Young workers are expected more than ever to take charge of their careers, prompting some career counselors to devote their practices to advising newcomers on dealing with office politics. It doesn’t hurt employers to help them along, either: Surveys show that managers at major corporations believe they spend 20% of their time dealing with company politics.

Career counselors say it’s essential that fledgling employees take the initiative and learn how to play the game. Ignoring office politics can be just as lethal to young careers as being naive about them, experts say.

“There are still a lot of devious people in organizations and people that are operating out of self-interest,” said Andrew J. DuBrin, a professor of management at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and author of “Winning Office Politics” (Prentice-Hall, 1990). “You have to be political to protect yourself.”

New employees can get clues about what behavior is acceptable in the workplace by paying attention to what people do rather than what they say, said Marci Taub, a Short Hills, N.J., career counselor and coauthor with Michelle Tullier of “Work Smart: 250 Smart Moves Your Boss Already Knows” (Princeton Review Publishing, 1998).

For instance, fellow employees’ clothing choices and whether or not they keep plants and personal photos on their desks may speak volumes about what’s expected of new hires.

“If everyone around you says our department works from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but if everyone--especially your boss--gets in an hour earlier in the morning and leaves two hours late at night, it’s politically not in your best interest to stick to the policy manual,” Taub said.

After an initial workplace inspection, new employees should be aware that office politics are all about power and are practiced by everyone who wants to obtain it. Consequently, the No. 1 priority for new workers should be to align themselves with the power brokers in their workplace, experts say.

To discover who controls an office (which often may not be those who carry managerial titles), new workers should attend informal work events and listen in on conversations, said Jerry Jellison, a USC professor of social psychology.

Young workers can also keep track of who gets promoted in their division--a sure sign that that person has learned to play the game. In making alliances, new employees should be careful to link up with workers who are in good graces with upper management.

“You don’t want to associate with people who aren’t productive and aren’t respected by the higher-ups,” Taub said.

New employees should seek out mentors who can advise them about their organization’s goals and can serve as their advocates to senior managers.

After initial alliances are made, experts suggest that neophytes make connections with other departments and professional organizations to keep abreast of politics in different divisions and the industry as a whole.

After these relationships are in place, it’s important to nurture them by communicating with allies in their preferred style, such as e-mailing reports to those who prefer e-mail and meeting face to face with those who like to be filled in on every detail, experts say.

Young employees should also be sure to set boundaries about what they will and won’t discuss with colleagues, Taub said. Setting boundaries is important so workers don’t go overboard and tell colleagues stories about their personal lives that could be used against them later, experts say. In addition, workers may not want to resort to office bashing with a work friend who may later end up as their boss, Taub said.

In addition to working on their one-on-one alliances, neophytes should study the informal groups that exist in every office and the issues that hold them together, Jellison said. It’s important to identify the leaders in these groups and watch who backs them up and who objects to their opinions.

New workers should be aware that there will eventually be pressure on them to join one of these groups. They shouldn’t give into this pressure until they’re sure what group best suits their career goals, he said.

When new workers feel settled, there are a number of things they can do to build their own power base. They can start by perfecting the way they communicate with managers, said Laura Berman Fortgang, a New Jersey-based career coach and author of “Take Yourself to the Top” (Warner Books, 1998).

New workers need to drop the “apology language” some use when approaching senior managers. For instance, don’t say, “When you get a minute, I was thinking that maybe. . . .” Employees should instead put themselves on equal footing with managers and say, “I have something I want to pass by you. When will you have a few minutes?”

They should also choose their battles wisely, putting potential skirmishes to this test: “In the scheme of my career, is this an issue that needs raising, or will I really regret it a day from now?” Taub said.

Another quick method for power grabbing is constructive gossip. Gossip binds co-workers together and can show others that you’re in the loop, DuBrin said.

Employees often show off their power by gossiping with colleagues about goings-on in the office. The trick is to ensure that gossip is productive and doesn’t involve back-stabbing rumors.

“Good gossip would be sharing information that’s a little bit titillating but wouldn’t damage anyone,” DuBrin said. “Something interesting like, ‘I’ve heard that Sheila is in line for a mammoth promotion to another division,’ not, ‘She’s pregnant and she doesn’t know who the father is.’ ”

DuBrin said that after a new hire is settled, he needs to spend only about 10 minutes a month planning his political strategy. This strategy should define the people with whom the worker wants to form alliances that month and how to accomplish this, DuBrin said.

Some experts are optimistic that technical advances will diminish the practice of a common power play--controlling the flow of useful information.

“We can eliminate some of the politics because information is more open and widespread,” said Effy Oz, associate professor of management science and information systems at Penn State University and the author of “The Manager’s Bible: A Practical Guide for the Current and Future Manager” (Ivy League Publishing, 1998).

“More people in the office and organization know more than in the past because we all use information systems.”

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Political Parlance

Young people often learn how to deal with office politics the hard way. Their troubles have caught the attention of career counselors, who today are setting up practices devoted solely to helping new hires cope with office politics. Some counselor suggestions:

* Accept that office politics play a part in every organization and don’t ignore or rebel against them.

* Align yourself with the organization’s power brokers.

* Choose your allies wisely to ensure they’re good for your reputation.

* Find a mentor at each stage in your career.

* Network for connections and job opportunities both inside and outside work.

* Establish clear boundaries in work relationships.

* Communicate with others in their preferred style.

* Choose your battles wisely.

* Eliminate “apology language” from your vocabulary.

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Sources: Andrew DuBrin, Laura Berman Fortgang, Marci Taub

Researched by JENNIFER OLDHAM / Los Angeles Times