Skills Are the Only Security

Skills are so fundamental to finding and holding a job that it seems silly to even write about this. But the reality I find is that, for some people, they don't make the obvious connection.

I will not paint everyone with this broad brush, but I recall an interview I saw a couple of years ago. The young man being interviewed had a very high opinion of himself and what he was worth. But not what the job market thought he was worth. No, this person said flat out and straight-faced that he would not take a job under $85,000 a year and under no circumstances would lower himself to work for minimum wage.

Ok, no problem..except for several problems: by his own admission he had no skills, had not made much progress toward a college degree, and his arrogance would not do well in a job interview.

I almost felt a bit sorry for him. He was so utterly clueless about what "working" means that he did not know he was clueless. His view was not "What do I have to offer." His view was, "This is what I expect."

As I say, I almost felt sorry for him.

But even older people can have startlingly distorted ideas about getting from where they are to where they want to be.

Many years ago I wrote an essay for my professional website about learning new technical skills. The example I used from my own experience was how I wanted and needed to learn a new and popular programming language called C++ (C plus-plus). I wrote that this was so important to me and the future of my family that after working at my day job, I would stay up until midnight or 1 a.m. in the morning learning this language, writing and testing my programs. I ended the article saying that the only criteria for security in today's job market was skills, and I wanted to learn the skills that were critical in programming at that time.

I received an interesting email from a man who read my little story. The comment he made was, "That's great for you but I have a family, I work all day, and I don't have the time to do all that."

How would you reply to someone who said this? Does this sound like someone charging ahead, even 1 small step at a time, to become more valuable on the market?

I took a couple days to reply because I wanted to my response to be measured and unemotional. I sent him a brief email that said, "I understand you feel very constrained but I did not share in my website article that I have two preschool children. I do not start my programming until after they are in bed. I don't watch television at all because that will not give me skills for the future. I spend these hours learning the skills that will open doors that will benefit my family. We all must do what we feel we can do. I wish you well in whatever you choose."

I never heard back from him.

What does this have to do with finding a job? It has everything to do with finding a job, because - and I repeat - the only security in today's job market is the skills you bring to an employer or client, skills that are in demand today, not skills that went out of demand several years ago.

How one identifies skills that she should obtain is not always easy. But in the Internet era no one should say they cannot find some information to make informed decisions. Gaining knowledge at little or no cost is possible through books, the Internet, libraries, even community colleges. Gaining hands-on experience and practice requires a more focused approach. Learning programming knowledge as I discuss above is more an investment of time than money. However, I recently made a decision to learn the practices and techniques of an Emergency Medical Technician. I want to be able to help people in distress from trauma or medical emergencies - certainly my own family. Learning how to put in an airway device or splint a broken leg can really only be learned by doing so I enrolled in a 6-month EMT course at a local technical college.

The four most important words in life: There are always options. Pursuing them may not be easy or comfortable. But little in life that is valuable can be achieved without sacrifice. Don't give up too easily.