Let’s face it: sometimes work can be downright boring, especially if you just take whatever comes your way and never actively go after projects/ideas you find interesting and helpful to your company. That’s why Google’s 20% rule kicks ass.
For me, avoiding boredom means doing a little bit of everything. At every job I’ve had, I’ve gotten to do lots of different things, which keeps me interested, engaged, and less bored.
Which is all good: I’m a swiss-army knife, not a hammer. A swiss-army knife can do lots of smaller tasks rather well, while a hammer does just one thing, but does it really well.
A swiss-army knife, last time I checked, sucks at hammering.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because of the debate that came out of the hammer vs. swiss-army knife post I wrote for WiseBread. Both sides had valid points, especially since it’s also a matter of taste: some people like specializing while others like to diversify and spread themselves out over a larger surface.
Well, the other day I read this article, and it makes the whole argument a moot point, especially if you’re after a little job security.
Turns out employers are being more and more picky about who they hire. What’s interesting is that during this period of high unemployment, companies have managed to do more with less. That is, they have cut their workforce and are still able to do all the things they did before.
In the world of cutthroat capitalism, they call this “being efficient.”
In the real world, it’s called working overtime.
But employees aren’t just being asked to work longer, they’re also making them work broader, which means they’re asking all those hammers to grow a set of corkscrews and tweezers to make up for the layoffs.
If you can’t contribute to the efficiency machine, you’re gone. If you can, you get to stay.
So if a graphic-design company laid off some of their marketing people, they might ask some of the designers to step up and do write some marketing copy for the site. Stuff like that.
For those of you looking for a job (or a new one), it means you need to be able to do more things to contribute and make yourself stand out over other candidates. As the article says, employers are being hyper-picky to the point that they’ll not even filling a position unless the’re blown away. Unless they find a purple squirrel, which is the lame corporate/HR lingo they’ve settled on to indicate a candidate that’s so perfect for a position they absolutely have to have him/her.
All you hammers out there, you feeling OK? What can you do if you don’t think you have any other skills than the one thing you do (and do very well)?
I’d start by looking at your hobbies. It might be a dead end, but starting with what you like to do outside of work is always good because it means you’re genuinely interested in it and would probably do it even if you weren’t getting paid to (if you’re already getting paid for it, congrats—ell played!).
Enthusiasm can go a long way when you’re taking on additional responsibilities and working longer hours.
You’ll have to be creative, but you can do it. Say you’re an accountant and you love riding your daughter’s Rip Stick. Kind of weird, right? But after she tried it, tossed it, and forgot about it, you picked it up and got hooked. Who wouldn’t want to skateboard/surf on pavement?
You’ve gotten so hooked on this thing that you start to research all the extra parts you can buy to pimp out your Rip Stick. Things you can add to do crazier tricks and go faster. You’re part of an online community that trades tips on the best ways to mod your RS.
How does this help your job as an accountant? It might not. But it could. Maybe one of your clients is a business that makes blue jeans. And you notice that the people running the joint have no idea what social networking is or what a forum is.
So you put together a presentation showing how obsessive some people are with things like…Rip Sticks. How customizing them is such a big deal and how kids as well as grown ups totally dig it.
You have some insight into an area that others don’t: so use it in a smart way. You don’t just say “This works with Rip Sticks so you should do it too with jeans.” That would be the lazy way to go. You need to be smart, do your research, and really find a way that what you know can help this client.
If it does, now you’ve just sprouted a huge saw knife and scissors to go with your hammer. You’re turning into a very unique (and hence valuable) pocket knife.
I know a guy who works in the financial world, pretty high up too. And his “thing” is social networking. He’s obsessed with it and knows the space inside and out. A few projects in his company ran into this space and he was called in to speak on all matters related to social media.
He was “the social media guy.”
Where else were you going to find a person who can demystify a balance sheet and tweet about what he’s found?
It’s rare—and that’s valuable.
Anyway, this is one of those rare cases where I’m telling you what I think is better and I actually have some data to back it up. Read the article, it’s pretty interesting because it basically says that you need to:
- have multiple skills
- be interesting
- kick ass
- stand out
A really, really good accountant can probably do three of those four things, but only an accountant with a Rip Stick in his car can do all four.
Imagine people start getting fired…who would pick up those people’s responsibilities? Which person’s responsibilities could you pick up? What interests you?
Maybe you’re a creative writer that loves programming applications in your spare time. A creative writer that knows how to code? Purple squirrel!
I know a guy at work that’s a developer and a published writer. Not sure if it’s helped him in his career, but I remember how incredible I thought it was that this guy wrote code all day and then went home and wrote literature: these are two very different skill sets this guy has.
Again, that’s rare and can be valuable.
I’m convinced that everyone can incorporate this into their careers for the better, and I’m also curious to hear how they would do it. So send along your thoughts/comments/questions on what you could do to turn yourself into a purple squirrel.
And if you have no idea, then ask away. Someone might be able to help you in the comments.
Maybe I can help too.
This post was included in the Wealth Builder Carnival.
Image by Dawn Huczek
