How Making Toast Could Be Your Work “Superpower”

Hello my lovely Scripps students and happy, happy Life After Scripps Week! For those of you that have no clue what I am talking about, I highly encourage you to check in with CP&R this week because they have put together a wonderful program filled with opportunities every day to help you strengthen your future’s possibilities. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but make sure to check out the Create Your Own Career Adventure this Thursday from 12:00-1:30 in Humanities 204! If you have enjoyed receiving advice from the many Scripps graduates through this blog, this is your chance to get even more advice. Not only that, but a little birdie told me there would be pizza and baked goods

Now, let’s get down to business (to defeat *dun dun* the Huns…). Today, I am going to focus ’74 Scripps alumna Carolyn’s advice. Carolyn, a history major, currently has an amazing legal position at a very well known movie production company. During her time at college, she excelled in history class. This was not something she took for granted; rather she used it to her advantage.

“Everybody is going to be good at one or more things and the things you are naturally accomplished at, you tend to not value as much yourself…People make the mistake of not going with their talents because they assume they’re easy for everyone else, too.”

At first glance, her advice seems simple enough: hone in on what you’re good at and then go with it. Simple, right?

Wrong!

In today’s day and age, it’s very easy to get caught up thinking everyone has the same basic skill set. We assume everyone knows how to use Facebook. We assume everyone knows how to cook pasta. We assume everybody knows 2+2=4 and not 5… (Well, hopefully everybody at our age knows this). But just because we assume these are skills everyone possesses, doesn’t mean that they do.

Self reflect for a minute to the very basic level of all basic levels (think pumpkin spice latte level). What is something that comes naturally to you? I don’t mean advanced algebra or biology (even though those are very important and cool!), I mean something you do all the time without even thinking about it.

For me, I’m really good at constructing emails. However, I never really knew that this was an important skill until I got to my senior year of high school and had to start emailing college professors and representatives. I assumed it was basic nature for everyone in our day and age how to write a good email. Then, when I got to college, my roommate would complain about how hard it was to construct emails or texts. A lot of the time, I found myself instructing her what to say and she would be very grateful. I was so surprised—I thought that it was something everybody knew how to do.

Now, let’s dig further into this skill. What does an email or text entail? I would say it is the concise construction of words and phrases based around your targeted audience, all while keeping in mind what you hope to receive from your outreach. Looking into each part of that, I want to demonstrate how an easily overlooked skill can be crucial to a resume, job interview, etc. My ability to concisely construct words and phrases can help me not only build a resume that fully demonstrates my skills in an orderly structure, but it can also help me in a career. I can put those skills towards presentations for co-workers, using only a brief amount of time to make sure they stay interested. If I go into editing, I will be able to better communicate with my clients so they understand my comments and can increase their book’s potential.

Next, let’s look at targeting your audience. This is a skill that can be put towards anything. When I’m interviewing for jobs, I will have a good understanding of what the company is looking for and how I can best present myself in a way that is attractive to them (while staying true to myself). I will also be able to help with marketing at a book publishing company, knowing what book cover, for example, would be more captivating to the audience.

Finally, I think it is incredibly important to keep in mind your goal. When I make that presentation to my coworkers, I need to have an endpoint in mind. My presentation will have to be geared to convince them of my awesome idea. When I’m interviewing, I will need to remember that I want to be a member of the company in order to get their attention.

I really encourage all of you to take Carolyn’s advice. Take ten minutes and write down everything you are good at, and really try to focus on things that you think may be basic, everyday actions. Next, think about what that skill does for you and how you can put it towards your future goals. Who knows? You’re ability to toast bread to the perfect consistency every single time may be what your dream company is really looking for.

P.S. I would love to know what you guys discover about yourself! Please comment below if you have anything to share J

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