Finding Focus in Your Skill Set
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I wrote on Monday about the difference between being well-rounded and having a broad perspective, and today I am continuing with the same theme. Rachel made an excellent point in the comments section of that article, basically saying I never define a scale of expertise.
This is difficult to do for a broad audience with many different careers, so I’m going to give my initial thoughts and then ask everyone to add their own.
Here are a few ways to tell if your skill set in your current job is too unfocused:
- You could train a recent college graduate to do your job well in a few days or less - This demonstrates you do not need any experience or knowledge learned over time to complete your tasks, which implies busy work or menial duties.
- You have trouble pinpointing the one thing you do very well in your current role - Every employee should have at least one characteristic or trait that makes them the best person for their job. It should be the reason you were hired, and it will be the reason you are retained.
- You are not a go-to guy (or gal) for anything - Becoming the go-to person on a product or service means you are the most knowledgeable and demonstrates quiet leadership. Without this, how do you establish a reputation and earn brownie points with coworkers? The answer is you don’t.
Here are a few ways to tell if your skill set in your current job is too focused:
- You become an expert on one product, system, or process within your company, and the product, system, or process is not used by other companies - Bad news - if you lose your job, all your knowledge is useless in finding a new one. Don’t invest too much into one company.
- You are an expert in a specific technology - People don’t use horses and buggies to travel anymore. No one listens to music on casette tapes, and no one programs in Fortran. Make sure your skill set won’t disappear when technology changes.
Now it’s your turn. What would you add to these lists? When the comments section dies down I will add everyone’s points to this post with links to their blogs or profiles.
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Monica O'Brien is the founder of Twenty Set, a website about personal and professional growth and development for the Millennial generation. She has been a blogger since 1998 when blogging was still in its “Dear Diary” form and in May 2007 began blogging for personal branding and profit.
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Let me try to convey my thoughts, can be challenging sometimes with my English skills:)
Too unfocused:
-your job description is clearly defined in witting. I think that just means that you are easily replaceable since the job doesn’t carry any uncertainty with it that needs to be dealt with by your experience and mental abilities.
-there are 100’s of others in your company and industry that do the same thing that you do
-just imagine if tomorrow you would tell your boss that you are considering leaving to the competition, because of the better pay. Would she or he try to keep you by matching the conditions or will let you go without any remorse
Badly focused:
-nobody wants to pay premium or pay at all for your specialization
These are great points Monica. I would add…
Too Unfocused
You’re never invited to cross-divisional meetings to offer your insight - You want to be that person that holds mystical knowledge about important topics that people feel they need to learn from you. The meeting requests may get annoying, but keep in mind they’re coming to you because you have something they want!
Too Focused
You work in a department that is consistently declining in sales - You’re in an area of the business that is losing traction, and when restructuring time comes, your department will be the one at risk. Make relationships and show interest in learning other areas of the business immediately and become the person at the forefront of execs mind as one who should transition into other roles.
Roman, Matt, these are great responses. I love doing posts like these because everyone has such good insight due to diverse experiences. Thanks for contributing your ideas!
Apr 20th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
[…] on the need to specialize in your career, Monica (of Twenty Set) follows her original post with helpful tips to take inventory of your current job in terms of skill focus. One sign that your current job is […]