This article isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve found yourself reading this far, you probably consider yourself a jack-of-all-trades, or someone has said that about you.  It’s a double-edged sword to be known as someone who can do everything.  As the saying goes, “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.”  When you’re good at a lot of things, it’s highly unlikely that you’re an expert at any one of those things.  This makes you difficult to hire in most cases, but don’t fret.  This also makes you one of the most valuable people in any company you find yourself in.

If you’re not already inherently a jack-of-all-trades, it’s probably not something you should aspire to be.  It requires a special kind of personality and a large investment of your time.  Every company needs both jacks-of-all-trades (or Jills), just as much as they need people that are focused completely on mastering specific jobs.  Whatever you naturally aspire to today is what you should continue to focus on.  Don’t try to be something you’re not.  It usually won’t work out in the long run.

Why You’re So Valuable

When you’re already filling a role somewhere, being the jack-of-all-trades makes you one of the best resources or investments in the company.  You’re their Swiss army knife.  As an example, instead of hiring a sales representative, they might have also gotten a data analyst, marketing automation manager, and a sales engineer.  This allows your superiors to leverage you in many more ways than just the job your were hired to do.  This gets you entrenched into the company in ways that you might not have imagined.  You’ll be making a difference by working laterally across departments, ensuring the success of the company.  No matter what your title is, this a great feeling!  (And it also means that the CEO knows your name, for the right reasons.)

Why You’re Such a Risky Hire

When your résumé or profile appears in front of a hiring manager, the prospect of having you join the team is an incredible risk.  Think about it…  Why do they want a Swiss army knife when they’re looking for a screwdriver or a saw?

They have the responsibility of hiring someone to fill a specific role.  It might be a sales account manager.  If you come in saying that you’re great at that and 3 other things, then you put them in a precarious situation.  Their reputation is at stake – maybe even their job.  If they hire wrong, they might not only get reprimanded for it, but they appear that they don’t know how to hire people, and they might even have ended up wasting a great deal of company resources getting you trained – only to let you go. 

When a hiring manager is looking at candidates, they need to first know that the person will be the absolute best hire for the primary position.  This is the equivalent of your daily commute in the morning.  Sure, you have about 100 ways to get to work, but only 1 way is the safest, most consistent route to get you to work on time everyday.  You generally choose the path of least risk. 

How You Make it Work for You

When you’re a jack-of-all-trades, you need to come into hiring situations like an illusionist.  You need to show the hiring manager what they expect to see.  When you get the gig, you then

Thanks for those attending our October meeting, held in the Quigley Center in downtown Chicago last night (October 1). If you missed it (and you know who you are), take a look at this recap.

The one and only DNN Superhero Commander of Technology Joe Brinkman will join us remotely from DotNetNuke Corporate to present the new version 7.0. We're very excited to have Joe "visit" with us. Joe's been there from the start and co-founded the company, and now focuses on Engineering Operations and Support, so if there's somebody you want to explain the new release, it would be him. Join us at 6 for networking and festivities at PackFlash. We'll start our meeting at 6:30 with lots of news and information Joe will talk at 7. RSVP at our MeetUp page.