Skills

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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.