During 15 years in operations and management I have learned many things about career paths and opportunities. One of the most impactful and important lessons has been, “Never judge a job by its title“ (my take on the saying, “Never judge a book by its cover”). The truth is that many job skills are transferable across different roles - if you just take time to consider what they involve. That’s something that I wasn’t taught. I learned it along the way.
My first job was as a merchandiser for a snack company, where I did everything from restocking snack machines to sales, janitorial and management. From there, I took chances on job postings that seemed like they might be out of my experience or league, and was eventually able to grow and evolve in fields I had never thought would be possible. For example, Warehouse Lead. Supervisor. Group Supervisor. And now, Talent Advisor.
When I decided to explore a career pivot to recruitment, my biggest challenge was figuring out how to take what I had learned to market myself for a field where I believed I had zero experience. After sitting down with professionals in the same role, I was able to pinpoint all those things I did as part of my job in operations that would be relevant. Some examples included: reading people; understanding the economic impact of hiring the wrong candidate; hands-on experience with what operational needs vs. wants look like; and how having the right people in the right task can improve morale, efficiency, and productivity.
Of course, I’m not trying to sell you on a job in recruiting! It’s just that on a daily basis I see how people often overlook opportunities for which they are eminently qualified. Take the Maintenance Technician role (which is my purview in recruitment). The resumes of qualified candidates resumes might list every other job title under the sun – for example:
And so on…
My point is twofold: First, never be afraid to apply for that job that you feel you can learn something from, even if you don’t have the skill set or think you don’t. And second, keep in mind that titles for very similar jobs can vary drastically, depending on the size of the company and the industry it’s in.
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