Positioning Yourself as a Master of All Things.

With the recent announcement of corporate re-sizing going on, I feel the pain that many of you are going through – being back on the job market after spending 15 years of your blood, sweat, and tears making whatever tech organization better.

With your overwhelming expertise and capabilities across many roles, how do you effectively position yourself to force your way through the dreaded ATS firewalls?

Ah, here we touch again upon the plight of the multi-talented. To be “a master of all things” – how the lesser species scoff! Yet, behind any successful battle – be it against rogue dragons or recalcitrant software – often stands one of our breed. They call us by different names – those “IT people”, “troubleshooters”, perhaps even (let the gods forbid) “consultants”. I prefer the term ‘solutioneer’. After all, it has a pleasing ring to it, hinting at both resourcefulness and a slight tendency toward improvised explosive devices… when necessary.

Now, here’s the conundrum: when your tool belt clinks with an excess of implements, when your brain buzzes with more arcane factoids than any respectable tavern brawl could contain, you must contend with the world of Specialists. These single-minded individuals see a tree from which a single perfect spoon might be carved, but miss the gnarly bit that would clearly serve as a rather intimidating cudgel! I say this with gentle exasperation, of course. Specialists hold their purpose.

Your challenge, dear ‘solutioneer’, is to market yourself in this realm of pigeonholes. And like any seasoned adventurer who finds herself facing a bureaucrat who’s never wielded a real weapon, you need to change the rules of engagement. To those who insist on neatly printed categories of expertise, you offer… narratives!

They post a job description filled with acronyms a griffin would choke on, asking for a specialist in the Third Arcana of Router Incantations. And what do you offer? A tale – oh, just a brief one! – of when an obscure network protocol threatened to reduce a perfectly good accounting department to tears. Of when you swooped in, muttering spells only vaguely similar to those they required, yet brought not just stability, but newfound efficiencies of payroll calculation! Yes, emphasize the solution rather than your precise methodology.

Even better, dare to speak the unspoken with a sly wink: mention those glorious failures. It humanizes you – it suggests not only that you try things, but that you survive those trials while others remain mired in indecision. And remember, you needn’t be That One Haughty Master. You can be a triage expert, the seasoned adventurer who assesses a landscape filled with broken contraptions and bellowing managers. Then, just like any seasoned wizard (with perhaps a hint of grizzled mercenary swagger), you calmly announce, “Yes, I suppose I could bring a semblance of order to this whole mess.”

The best thing about being a solutioneer is that the proof isn’t in some certificate, it’s in the suspiciously quiet server room and the happy accountants. Just watch out for specialists trying to steal your runic screwdrivers while you’re not looking.

Question: How have you positioned yourself to improve your marketability?