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Tag Archives: Employment
Jack of All Trades, Master of None
Justin Hamilton alerted me to this figure of speech over dinner last night. The ordeal with general education, I think. One can learn a little bit of everything or learn one thing really well. Which direction should you choose?
In the business world, niche is king. It is much smoother to specialize, carve your name, and turn a profit. Expert a trade skill and you will never have a problem finding a job in your field again. A specialist is far more straightforward than a generalist – more simple to rationalize and far easier to market.
The risk? You can get boxed in, branded, stuck. Known as a great musician, it will be difficult making your name in other art. Known as a great assistant, you will have trouble being seen as anything but a great assistant. Known as a talented comedy writer, you will never be taken seriously. The list goes on. Think you might want to change gears later in life? Be weary of specializing. Mastering a skill is great for those who prefer simple lives, terrible for others who live to explore.
Being a “jack of all trades” heightens your exposure to a wider variety of crafts, trades, fields and skill-sets. You have more options and therefore a broader opportunity to discover your true passion and talent. You may never be the best at anything specific, but you know a lot about the world and can be a broad resource. You can be the center of it all, a leader. Great leaders can speak the language of their collaborators and must understand the all of the trades involved. I would argue “jack of all trades” status is a prerequisite to leading strong teams.
Master of none? How about mastering the jack of all?
The Curse of a Twenty-Something
You graduated college. Time for the real world. The bills, the loans, the career, and perhaps even children. Life gets difficult, responsibility escalates. You need help now more than ever. But wait – where did all my friends go?
Being twenty-something can be a very lonely experience. Why? All of your peers are preoccupied with the real world, too. They are all busy reconciling jobs, covering the bases, relocating, soul-searching, starting families, and planning for futures yet unseen. You are not alone. But you are alone.
Some adults never recover. They never find a social life again. The burdens of adulthood consume and defeat an otherwise fruitful, interpersonal existence.
That does not have to be your fate. All twenty-somethings suffer relatable woes. Why not help each other? Revisit an old relationship once every day. Rebuild your support group. Make a habit of staying in touch weekly. Get out of the house at least two weeknights every week. Get out of your own head as often as possible. If it is too difficult to meet new friends, re-meeting old friends can be much easier. You do not have to be alone. But only you can take action; do not wait to be called.
Pick up the damn phone.
The Easiest Way to Get a Job
Announce that you will work for free.
Check out Vladimir – this guy is a genius. I was seduced into his offer to web design for free. I clicked his link and read his offer. News aggregators will get a kick out of this and plaster his link around the interwebs today. He will get a job.
Offering your skills for free is not the same as asking for an internship. Internships have you do whatever the company wants you to do, no better than an entry-level job. Donating your skills can place you higher in the company where you can leverage your talent and demonstrate niche value. The more specific your announced skill set, the less room the company has to ask you to do things outside of your interest range.
If you offer to work for free, you have to be willing to work for free. But I bet you will not have to. People will be attracted to your résumé and realize you are a strong candidate for their team. They will pay to buy you away from other companies pouncing on your offer.
Full-time or Freelance?
The gamble of finding day-to-day employment or the gamble of being trapped in the cycle of a 40-hour workweek? Too much free time or no free time at all? Steady paycheck or unsteady paycheck?
What are you now? Freelance or full-time? Which would you prefer?
If you prefer the opposite of what you are doing now, welcome to a very crowded club. The grass is always greener on the other side. Full-timers want more time to do what they want. Freelancers want steady work and more security. Both lifestyles suck and rule for different reasons.
It boils down to personal aptitude. Some lack the agency to survive freelancing on their own. And some cannot sit still in one job to save their lives. You have to try both to appreciate both. Only then can liberate yourself from the cons of both.
Freelance or full-time? It’s a trick question for me. I want to find balance between the two. The grass may be greener on the other side, but I prefer the high ground – atop the hill separating both sides. Better tactical advantage.
Craig Ormiston 