https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAgFAAAAJDY0Mjk3MDhiLTk5YzMtNGU0MS1hYzI4LTYxZjI0YzU1MDA0YQ.jpg Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (1503–1517) Photo: Wikipedia Commons

A Newbie's View

When I first entered the workforce I had no direction in my life. I was a dreamy kid with big ideas but no understanding of career discipline and how the work world operated. I took jobs that had no real identifiable path merely because they seemed interesting to me at the time. I held jobs as a housekeeper, banquet server, data entry analyst, switchboard operator, seamstress, etc. After several years of this I found myself as a 27 year old single parent of 2 year old twins and I knew I had to improve my career game. I went back to school full time and earned a B.S. in Industrial/Organization Psychology. Once I had my degree I figured I would just get a job in my area of study and then I would be on my way for a career. It didn't happen that way.

Growing up...a Little

The area of study I chose wasn't as cut and dry as some other fields (like nursing or accounting). I didn't realize it at the time but this was an area of study that would supplement my experience and weigh in on my career decisions more than it would define them. I had the idea that I would be a trainer but I didn't consider the fact that I didn't have the luxury to look around for jobs for months on end. I needed to work to support my children as soon as I finished school. So once again, I worked jobs that didn't fit my desired career path even though I had just invested 3 years and a lot of loan money in order to create a focus for myself. During the time I was finishing school and then working at a job which was not in my career focus, I interviewed regularly. A common piece of feedback I received was the "varied" experience on my resume. One person actually did refer to it as an inkblot. It took me quite a few years (more than 10) to come up with a response to this feedback and to develop a way to not only respond when asked about it but to write my resume in a way to provide some continuity. I stumbled upon this little tidbit after spending hundreds of hours mulling it over and trying to come up with a strategy to re-create myself. I realized that the experience wasn't the defining factor for my potential, but I was. I started to examine every position I ever worked and began to see a theme which was my approach to each job. I was a problem solver and also worked really hard to create efficiencies (many times simply by documenting). I have gamified my work since I was a teenager, setting time and quota challenges when the work was repetitive and setting very aggressive goals when solving complex problems. Finally I had an understanding of what set me apart from others in the workplace and I could begin to write my resume and highlight the things I was particularly good at and I could also talk about them with ease during interviews. For each job on my resume, I started writing my accomplishments based on "What problems did I solve?" and "What processes did I improve?" For example, working as a data entry analyst, I initially focused on how "skilled" I was at data entry (my entry rates per minute, processing volumes, etc), but after reflecting upon the real value that I brought, I was able to point out an even better value I provided which was improving the process and in some cases replacing or getting rid of outdated processes merely by asking questions about the work I was doing. At some places I worked, I was the only one who did this.

Finally, I got this!

Since this A-Ha moment, I have been more confident and relaxed about who I am as a contributor. It's much easier for me to pull examples of my work history and explain how they fit into my career path because I have learned how to frame them in regards to my skills and approach. As an aside, the wonderful thing about having a really varied background is the chance to interact with a very broad set of people. There are times when I can still call on my experiences from those old "menial" jobs in order to come up with a strategy that works for a situation that's happening today. For me, part of the lesson of qualifying my skills and approach within the context of those low level jobs was to see the full value of what those jobs offered (both to me as an employee and also the service that was provided to the clients or customers).