August 2007

Alfred Mariani

           Perhaps the biggest mistake made today by employees, is allowing their employers to put them into a specialized role.  It is always advantageous to build and retain universal skills, which are easily transferable from one industry to another.  For example, if you are a Human Resources professional or a Network Engineer, your skills are highly transferable.  However, if you are a Quality Assurance Inspector for spare parts for the helicopter industry, you can experience great difficulty transferring your skills.  This is because you are in a specialized industry with a specialized role.  Employees have allowed companies to place them in specialized roles because they firmly believe that they will have a job for life.  Since this is no longer the case, a professional must always assume that they can be let go at anytime.  Therefore, their skills should be universal and easily marketable.

            Working professionals must also maintain current skills (i.e. new computer software) and be open to learning and enhancing their skills in order to maintain their marketability and market value.  Job specialization is acceptable in a growth industry.  For example, if you are in the pharmaceutical industry as a Sales Representative for cardiovascular products your are in a good position.  This is because the pharmaceutical industry is a growth industry.  Therefore, your specialized skills are affiliated with growth opportunities.