Written by Jenny Blake
Can I start my own company one day? How do I get promoted at work? How do I find a job in this competitive market? Was quitting your job worth it? How can I earn money doing something I love?
As I prepare for my Calgary keynote, I've been mulling over the most common career questions I receive through Life After College, and have been digging deep to determine what ONE piece of advice I would give to today's graduates. Update: here's a fun 6-minute take on these topics from my segment on the CBC Calgary Explorer radio show.
When I really break it down, all the questions above can be answered with the following: you need to have a marketable skill. Ideally several, but do not pass go without at least one.
A marketable skill is not a bachelor's degree or an MBA.
I'm not here to debate the virtues of higher education—but I will say that a degree is not enough, and if you think about it, it never really has been.
A 2010 Intuit study predicts that 40% of the population will be freelancers by 2020. Whether you see your future-self in this contingent or not, it behooves you to have as many career options as possible moving forward. And even if you have a job now, consider what you would do if you were let go: what skills or expertise could you fall back on?
I shudder when people call Generation Y entitled. This happened a number of times during the radio tour I did for the Life After College book release; radio hosts would paint a picture of our generation as whiny or self-righteous, and I politely defended us (with quietly gritted teeth) by saying we are increasingly entrepreneurial, and that many people today—not just Generation Y—are searching for more meaning in their work.
Giant caveat: "entitled" does fit the bill if you are someone who has an unfounded expectation for a high salary, promotion, or dream job without bringing anything of equal value to the table.
You don't get full-time meaning or passion for free.
We've all heard (and tired of) the proclamation to Pursue Your Passion! Sure, but does your passion provide others with value they are willing to pay for? Not necessarily. This is where we need to find the intersection of your passions, interests, innate talents, and marketable skills. The last being arguably most important for actually getting paid.
So what is a marketable skill? A service you provide at the intersection of talent, skill, and education that a customer or company will pay you for.
Even better are two marketable skills that might even seem unrelated, but that compliment each other in a very unique way.
For example, fluency in a foreign language mixed with an accounting background—which actually makes you a prime candidate for the FBI. Today's graduates have the benefit of growing up with computers and digital devices—the social media marketer/brander/coordinator field didn't even exist five years ago! Combine that with a love of numbers and you've got yourself an analyst or PR role. Or maybe your people skills make you a perfect candidate for recruiting at a tech start-up.
Start developing your skills toolbox now . . . even if you don't know where they will lead.
When I started working at Google in 2006, I was delivering AdWords Product training to new hires in our customer service department. I knew that I enjoyed teaching, interacting with people, and being in front of the classroom (surely good practice for my dream to one day be a professional speaker), but I wasn't necessarily passionate about the AdWords product itself.
So I started attending The Coaches Training Institute program on nights and weekends in a move of somewhat blind faith. I didn't know where the training would take me, but I knew that it would bolster my background and expertise whether at a company or on my own.
In a process that took me about two years from start to finish, I developed a marketable skill in coaching. When I wanted a change at work and a position on the Career Development team opened up—a team that didn't exist when I started the CTI program—I was uniquely positioned to interview for and land the job, even though I was younger than they might have expected for that role. When I left the company a year and a half later in 2011, my coaching practice is what carried me forward—it served as (and still does) the bread and butter of my business.
Can I be successful by doing XYZ? That depends . . .
People often ask me if they can make money through blogging, or even getting a book deal. With many-a-caveat for miracles that do happen, the answer is no—not directly.
The blog and book are great marketing, a wonderful platform, and enriching in innumerable ways, but they are not the marketable skill that provides consistent income and brings money in the door. In my experience, and with rare exception, that has to come from my own unique blend of brain power and expertise—coach training, tech savvy, corporate and start-up experience, a training and career development background, speaking experience, etc.
Now—I'm not saying you have to pay thousands of dollars for a specialist program or graduate degree—some of you may have an innate marketable talent, like web design where you are naturally gifted and have been able to teach yourself. If that's you, awesome! It means you are one step ahead and already have a skill you can sell.
How to stand-out and empower yourself for career success
If you are a college graduate and you want to separate yourself from the pack of entry level employees: what are your marketable skills? These typically develop outside of the classroom and require you to be proactive about identifying your strengths and interests, reading books, talking to others in the field, and most importantly—getting hands-on experience.
Whether you want to work for yourself someday, transfer to a new role within a company, or land your dream job, the best way to empower yourself with the luxury of career choice is to continuously set goals and develop your toolbox of skills, talents, interests and experiences.
Even if they seem completely unrelated today, keep going; you will be amazed one day at how the unique intersection of all four put you in the perfect position for a big career move when the timing is right.
Not sure where to start? Additional resources:
- Passions Mind Map: Start with a big brainstorm of everything that interests you, then look for common themes.
- You might also be interested in The Acorn Project, a two-week jumpstart course to help you explore your interests and collect a variety of ideas about how to move forward.
- Get specific about your career with the recently-updated Professional Development Strategy template: this will help you brainstorm across a variety of areas to see what the gaps are between your current skills, interests, and goals.
- The Strengthsfinder 2.0 Book and Assessment: to give you language to talk about your strengths and identify what your natural talents are.
- The free Type Coach assessment (via Melani Ward) that provides a downloadable report on your Myers Briggs type, strengths and best work environment.
- SkillShare: thousands of low-cost online classes on every subject imaginable.
I'd love to hear from you in the comments: Are there any other vital factors that you believe lead to career success? Do you have any other great resources to share for developing your skills on or off the job?