According to most media hype, we’re in a “new economy” (read: most of us are getting poorer) it’s not surprising to see people take on multiple jobs and careers just to make ends meet. That’s why the following career description shouldn’t surprise anyone:
Photographer, freelance photojournalist, entrepreneur, writer, publisher, web designer, entrepreneur and used car salesman.
Yep, that’s me.
My work experience started somewhere around the age of five, when I first started to help out around the family farm. Since then, I have held nearly twenty jobs in the fields of agriculture, hospitality/foodservice, retail, photography & journalism, and most recently in the infamous “car biz.” True, my resume should probably be distributed in novel format, but there’s a positive benefit to all of this.
From each of these jobs, I have walked away with valuable knowledge. And while much of this knowledge isn’t readily transferrable to other jobs (how often do you ask your staff to check the oil on an airplane?) much of it is.
Take my hospitality experience, for example. As a waiter at TGI Fridays, I was always taught to follow “swan theory”–the idea that when things go wrong, customers shouldn’t see it. If you drop the customer’s food on the floor and they didn’t see you, get the cook to re-make the order, and serve it immediately. Now, as a used car salesman, if a mechanic fails to fix something on a sold vehicle, I know better than to pass it off. I take it back, get it repaired (or repair it myself) and hand the keys over to the customer with a big smile on my face.
In a world where everything changes quickly, having a broad wealth of experience to draw on is a great asset to have. Of course, experience isn’t my only hire-able asset. I’m a hard worker, quick on my feet, and I can be counted on to get the job done. The fact that customers love me doesn’t hurt either.
