Have you ever developed a hidden professional talent, but you didn’t know what to call it until someone else pointed out what you were actually doing?
As I have moved from one job to another to better my career, I always felt responsible for leaving behind helpful instructions for the employee who took my place. First, let me remind us all that none of us are irreplaceable at work, and the freedom to admit that helped me move from job to job. I knew that plenty of competent people could do the same duties, and I wanted them to succeed so I hoped to leave the best possible chance for them to do so with clear instructions.
Did you know that the process of writing instructions is actually a form of technical writing? I have a family member who does technical writing for a living, and he told me at one point that I was essentially doing the same thing when I wrote pages of instructions to leave for the next person. (Indeed has a good article entitled “What Does a Technical Writer Do?” that explains it if you are interested.) Until he made the observation, I had no idea that it was even related to technical writing. I just saw it as the helpful thing to do.
As I progressed through my library career, I always tried to leave behind instructions for specific duties to assist the staff in training a new hire. I noticed that I became better at refining my instructions to simplified statements each time I wrote a set of instructions. That has helped when I write fiction or blog posts because I can now edit a piece of writing and whittle out repetitive or unnecessary words. (Although, you might not believe that with my stream of consciousness writing sometimes.) Who would have thought that resigning from a job would provide me with a new skill for the job market?
Just because a job is ending, doesn’t mean we can’t glean valuable skills and insight from it as we go. It was in a random conversation with my family member that I even realized I had developed a marketable skill. When you’re discouraged that you don’t have any transferable skills, reconsider talents that people have appreciated and complimented. If it matters to a previous employer, it may matter to a new employer or in a new small business you start. Keep looking for those skills that seemed small in one career field, but they may yield big dividends with a new employer or in a new small business.
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Inspirational Verse for the Day:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV)
All Things Subject to Change 