JOBMUST: 5 Reasons Being a Jack of All Trades is a Good Thing

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

5 Reasons Being a Jack of All Trades is a Good Thing

Are you skilled at other things outside your profession? Good news.

This is a guest post by Melvin Dichoso. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.

“Jack of all trades, master of none”.

If you’re a regular reader of this site, then there’s no doubt that you know what the statement means. And from there, you can easily say that it’s not really a pleasing description to be associated with.

For those who don’t know what the above means, it’s basically just a figure of speech which refers to a person who is capable of doing a lot of things in a lot of areas but is not superbly good at any.

I can easily say no one really wants to be called as such since it’s more of an insult than a compliment.

But being a jack of all trades can be beneficial when it comes to job search and also when you’re already in the job itself. Here are five reasons why.

1) Instant positive impression

During interviews, it’s less likely that you will be asked with questions focusing on just one area.

Oftentimes, you will be asked with questions pertaining to different things that may not necessarily always fall under the job specifications that you are applying. And this is where being a jack of all trades can help you out whereas the typical applicant would likely struggle in keeping up.

This in return will give your potential employers a good initial impression for you and it’s up to you to build it up from there.

2) A good confidence booster

This one is related to the first reason.

Since you know ‘some’ things that are not necessarily related to your job, this will boost your confidence and hopefully, in a good way. We all know how important confidence is not just when applying for jobs but also when you’re already in the job itself. It will only help you grow more as an employee and will allow you to expand on a lot more things outside your area of expertise.

3) Makes you versatile, not one-dimensional

The “jack of all trades, master of none” expression actually has a lot of variations and one of them reads like this:

“Jack of all trades, master of none,

Certainly better than a master of one”

I can’t help but agree with it. Companies these days are very practical. Why pay for someone who can only do a thing or two when there’s another one who’s decent on a lot of things and has good potential in improving on other areas? This is where versatility comes in.

If you can harness the ability to be flexible and be able to work on many other areas, then that’s a big advantage already that you have against the rest.

4) Increased value to the company

Being a jack of all trades also helps with being nearly ‘untouchable’ in your company. I know there’s no such thing as being secure with your job, but it’s certainly beneficial for a company to have someone who is flexible enough to work on different things. And being such a person makes it hard for them to even consider laying you off when the need arises.

Do take note that this is not to say those people have more leeway to be lazy and complacent. That’s NOT the point at all and of course, people who don’t work as they should just deserve to be fired so that’s not what I’m implying above. The point is the company will see you as an important figure since they know they would be losing out a lot if they ever decide to part ways with you.

5) Better chance of being successful

The best example for this is the managerial type of positions; the CEO’s, the project managers, lead roles, etc. These people are certainly not better than any other employee in their respective positions but they certainly have a broad range of skills that allow them to see the interconnections between different domains of expertise.

A CEO is definitely not a better accountant than a CPA, a manager doesn’t write better than a technical writer, and a team lead isn’t necessarily more productive than his staff. However these people see the big picture. And by being a generalist like them grooms you up to be in a better position promotion-wise in the long haul. Use it to your advantage!

Let me end this article by saying that the “jack of all trades, master of none” expression is no longer true these days. If you are one, call yourself “jack of all trades, master of all” instead. Because you certainly are one, maybe not now but that’s the only direction you’re heading to.

About the Author

Melvin is a blogger who blogs at MelvinBlog.com. The blog talks about internet marketing and also serves as his online journal. He also tweets a lot too!

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