Kathy
in Memos & Musings · 10 min read
In school we are required to take exams, do homework, participate in co-curricular activities and volunteer. The more activities you take on and the better your exam results are, the more you are rewarded through awards, grants and bursaries. We were conditioned to think that being a well-rounded student is what makes us more impressive than our peers.
But, we never fully understand why we do the things we were tasked to do. As students, we weren’t taught the significance of the countless homework, exams and CCA activities we were dumped with. To the majority of us, it was simply things we had to do.
When I was a student, I was considered a model student with excellent time management skills. I wore these achievements like a badge of honour until I stepped foot into the working world where I realized that my merits were simply average compared to other candidates. As I read through my resume, I did not understand where I lacked. I was able to list my experiences and the skills I have gained from various activities in school. I had the right qualifications as well.
What many don’t know is that job seekers can be divided into 2 categories: doers or achievers. School has taught us that hard work is what helps us achieve our dreams and what makes us employable. Naturally, we think that the more clubs we join or the more certificates we obtain, the closer we will be to our dream jobs when we graduate. This results in the majority of us being doers when we graduate. But what does being a doer actually mean?
According to Dictionary.com, a doer means “someone who gets things done with efficiency and vigor.” Although being a doer is not necessarily a bad thing, anyone can get tasks done efficiently through hard work and effort.
While it shows experience, simply stating all the activities and projects you have participated in does not make you stand out from the many candidates who have also done the same projects as you. For example, you are a social media marketing manager and your job description entails forming a marketing strategy through Instagram. Merely stating the projects (of different fields) you have participated in does not show anything unique to your abilities. Doers often only exhibit what they have done but not what value they have contributed to the project. Doers are also those who dabble in all types of activities without a clear direction or meaning. To put it simply, those who do things for the sake of doing it. However, employers can see right through this and simply “doing” and “trying” is not enough if you want to succeed.
With thousands of hardworking candidates in the talent pool, how do we stand out from the masses?
In contrast with the doers, achievers are results-focused. They know what exactly they want to accomplish and how to get there. Unnecessary tasks that are not associated with their goals are bumped down from their priority list or are efficiently delegated to others who have more expertise on the matter. This gives them time to polish their skills and create a competitive advantage against their peers.
Let me give you an example. Using the previous example, you are currently hiring a social media manager for your company. You have two fresh graduates as options: One of them has high grades and a multitude of club memberships as well as internships unrelated to the job under their belt while the other has average grades but has a clear target in mind so he focuses on building up experiences in social media marketing through the club he was in and his previous internships.
Which one would you pick?
Personally, I never saw myself as a doer until I sat back and reflected on the significance of the activities I participated in towards my goals. I realized that I never had a specific ambition and my attempts to expand my skills only showed that I had no exact direction on what I wanted to be or specialise in. Therefore, I knew I had to make changes in both my mindset and resume to find the direction I wanted to go and become the achiever many employers sought for. Here are some tips that helped me become the achiever I am today.
As you have read previously, an achiever is results-oriented while a doer is more fixated on the task at hand. To doers, it’s ‘task now, think later’. While it is easy to mix up ‘doing’ with ‘achieving’ in the workplace, it is important to know that the real world actually values the results you have produced rather than the list of actions you have done. Therefore a self-reflection has to be done in order to fully know what ambitions you have. Knowing the end goal will help you carve the pathway to get there instead of trying to hit random targets, hoping one of them would hit.
One of a doer’s attributes would be unreasonably piling activities and tasks to their schedules. This results in them barely having time to build a skill they can specialise in. Although being a jack of all trades has its perks, employers require specialised and distinct skills as this can assure them that you can get the job done in that specific area. This would be a rather difficult habit to build, however it will enable you to prioritize your time and effort properly. This can also prevent you from spending too much time on tasks that will not help to develop skills for the specific field you are intending to specialise on.
Focus on one distinct skill you know you are good at and hone it well. This can be your advantage over others as it shows you are more knowledgeable about a project matter in comparison to others, increasing credibility in your abilities. Nevertheless, it is not a change that happens overnight. Conscious effort must be exerted such as actively volunteering on projects that are related to your chosen skill and finding courses that can help you understand what it is about. It will be difficult at first and you might be tempted to quit but persevering through this stage will help you in the long-term. This is what will give you solid results as evidence of your abilities.
More often than not, we are taught to be humble and to downplay our abilities when asked. However, this should not be the case when seeking a coveted job position. It is crucial to stand out from the sea of candidates who are likely to have the same qualifications as you.
Do not restrict yourself by merely listing the job scope of your previous employment or projects in your resume. List out all your achievements, be it small or big. Show how your achievements can bring value to the job you are applying for. Always remember that employers are looking for people who can deliver value, not people who can only deliver tasks.
At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with still being a doer now. In order to become an achiever, one must be a doer first. What’s important is whether you are actively progressing from being a doer to an achiever. So which one are you currently: A doer or an achiever?
About Kathy
Co-Founder of The Joyful Investors and Manager of The Moneyball Portfolio. I graduated with a degree in Economics in National University of Singapore (NUS). My previous experience with traders at the Merrill Lynch enable me to realize many counter-intuitive truths about how the financial markets work and to uncover the challenges faced by many new investors. We believe that investing can be astoundingly simple and want to make financial education understandable for everyone.
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