Drafting the Incomplete Resume
There’s nothing more dangerous to a career than to admit you are still growing
As with many in my age and economic group, the past years — or any since graduating college — have been tense in respect to work (job), work (passion), and work (vocation). For one reason or another, we've come into this age of man where its not just “get a job” but its also “get a career.” Its not just “pay the bills” but also “serve your community.” And as such, you learn pretty quickly that either you become adept at balancing all of these expectations, or you focus in on just one of them and you go hard.
I've wondered at times, I'm pretty much driven a path towards professional, social, and vocational pursuits that don't look like anything that was taught from my parents, community, or even the career services office at college. I've bent a disappointment from drawing and design into a strength of writing (a lot). I took an injury (to leg and pride) and turned that into a social state of being. I've torn at my own belief system so much that at times that its amazing that I've not become agnostic, or something much worse (fanatical?).
As such, my resume (CV, for my European friends) has the look of someone who is scattered. Who is looking for something that’s not found. During interviews and such, I enjoy that line of questioning: “I see here that you've done a lot in your career — but why is it so varied and why do you do so many things?” My answer is usually pretty simple, “I enjoy learning. I go to where I know I will learn something new about myself.”
I was told often when I was a teen that the process of learning was something that would happen for the rest of my life. Life, they said, would be a continual classroom, if you let it be. And the proof that you've learned it will be when someone comes alongside you and asks you to show them what you have gained. It took a number of years into real adulthood to see that learning (and wisdom) really looked like that. But, it was also by that point that I realized that if you had such a posture in many organizations, you were seen as a threat, entrepreneurial (to a fault), or someone in need of being managed.
Learning is a good thing. Learning is deadly. When you are in the position of working for others, the direction that learning takes has to look like something that feeds into their goals or bottom line. It can't always be self-directed, unless that direction can be quantified for the benefit of not tripping up the person(s) above you. And if it cannot, you become what some HR departments would call “not a good culture-fit.” Its not that you can't blend into the culture as is, but a learning posture that’s not managed by others breaks the stream of culture that needs/wants to be maintained. In terms of those who are career-focused, learning like that is a suicide waiting to happen.
Some weeks ago, I asked a few guys I know who do a pretty decent podcast if there should be some expectation that people who follow niche technology should evolve into other positions within the same field — positions that might be totally different, but ultimately enhanced from where they come from? Their answer was expected, and surprising. It was something like: one should expect to evolve within their field, even becoming so skilled about it that they become a subject matter expert. But to that it the growth pattern is pretty much set. To see them shift to another branch or role within that subject is not normal. And to expect that is asking too much of a niche industry (even one as large as mobile journalism). I was disappointed, but ignited to reflect upon the kind of professional/social/vocational path that I’ve undertaken. And as such ended up with a statement that was at the same time sad and empowering:
There’s nothing more dangerous than to admit that you are still growing
I can remember saying something like that at a panel interview and only one person (maybe two) smiled. There is a confidence that you have to have in yourself to admit that you don't have a preset destination in hand and you are scripting aspects of life as it happens. Yes, there is a plan, and you are more than happy to detail the threads, but its not something found in the Business and Careers section of your local bookstore. Its something more likely to be found in the Fiction section. If you're lucky, it’s going to be found in the Best Sellers section (mine was).
If you look at the history of “the career,” “the workweek,” and other sociological subjects, you'll realize that much of what’s been written applies to a specific set of circumstances that might not be as applicable to you. There might be some threads which make sense from time to time as you move through life, but the script is really all your own. You shouldn’t be afraid to admit that you are still growing. You don't even have to lay all of your cards on the table when being interviewed (usually, the interviewer does not). But, you do want to be ready for that moment when you confidently state that growth doesn’t require you to color within preset lines. It only requires that for that specific characteristic, you either go hard, or you go home.
Update: Learning continually makes time move slower (NY Times). Can’t say that I want to disagree with that one.
