On Milestones, and Titles Not Mattering
I’m a year plus into writing online, but I suppose I never took the time to mark any true milestones. This is the 57th week I’ve hit publish. Writing consistently for that long is significant, even if 50 weeks doesn’t seem like a big number.
50 has meaning. Just ask Sally O’Malley.
The most helpful thing for me in writing has been finding a way to take notes when an idea came to mind and putting them into a searchable-everywhere-database (I use Evernote). This system allowed me to find thoughts I might want to flesh out later.
Before that, I mostly saved articles that sparked a thought or inspiration. However, once I clicked that save/bookmark icon, they went to a far-off cloud universe, never to be seen or thought about again. My Pocket account probably has more words than the Library of Congress. Like the Library of Congress, none are penned by me.
I also had a tendency to save notes that had no meaning at second glance. The first blog I ever started was called “The Napkin Collection”. Years of bartending led to scribbled ideas and epiphanies on bar napkins. I’d fold them and stuff them in a pocket or a notebook. Deciphering my handwriting on a bar napkin was nearly impossible, so they too didn’t really go anywhere — other than inspiring a creative name for a temporary project.
The 50+ ideas I’ve published since are almost entirely because I found a way to capture and add to it whenever and wherever I was. This method allowed me to look back and see where my mind was this time a year ago.
Here’s a few quotes I wrote down. Some ideas just waiting to be found again.
Coincidence is God’s Way of Staying Anonymous - Albert Einstein
Coincidence is your subconscious desire telling your conscious to move - (not sure who to attribute this one to. Me? a podcast?)
Follow the signs and will them into existence (same on this one. Unknown. Maybe my own genius or unattributed borrowing)
Find your one thing and say no to everything else - Jay Papasan
If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try - Seth Godin
If you cannot be “who” you are “where” you are, change where you are, not who you are. - Caroline A. Wanga
Clearly I was looking to instigate some change in my life at the time. This was when I went from dabbling with the idea of being a full-time career coach to diving head first into it.
Another thing I found this week was a saved job application from 10 years ago at a pretty well established news organization. One I still pay a monthly subscription to. I imagine I got an automated rejection from my application. I certainly did not interview with the company.
I went back to re-read the job description to see how my memory of my then-skills matched with the job description. I’m not overly surprised I didn’t get an interview. I was probably a year or two away from being fully qualified for it*. What struck me most about the posting was the title though.
*EDIT: After publishing this I realized I was wrong about the above sentence and being a year or two from being fully qualified for it. The job where I had the opportunity to flex these skills was one or two years away. The skill and qualifications to do it were there waiting for an opportunity to do them continually.*
It immediately jumped out to me as a Product Manager position, but was listed as Manager, Special Projects — which feels more like a Project Manager role.
I wondered if Chat GPT felt the same way as me and gave it a prompt. “I need to hire someone to fill a role at my company but I’m not sure what title to give the role. If I give you the job description, could you recommend a job title for it?”
Chat GPT came back with Digital Product Manager as the recommended title.
If you haven’t worked in that field or adjacent to it, they probably seem interchangeable. And really they are pretty damn similar.
The reason the title jumped out so much was because I know I’m not the only one who has doubted myself when it comes to making a pivot, no matter how small in my career, because others have placed so much weight on titles and the right progression of them.
I probably wouldn’t have even applied for the job if it did have Product Manager as the title.
When I applied to that position it was fresh off the heels of being told I wasn’t qualified for an internal position solely based on my title. The recruiters had taken some shortcuts and copy-pasted a previous job description to the one I was applying for. The only thing they changed was the position title.
The position they were copying was mine. Like word for word mine all the way down to the department name.
They forgot to change my department and my title in about 3-4 instances. So it was basically identical to the job description I had printed out in my desk drawer from when I first started. I thought this made me a shoe in.
They didn’t. And that was that. Couldn’t even get an interview.
Qualifications on paper don’t always make sense compared to expectations for the role. Job titles can be misleading or lacking when it comes to nuance or overlapping areas of skill set.
They get them wrong sometimes. Probably even many times. Focus on your value and your goals instead.
If something really feels right, don’t leave it to chance that someone else can advocate properly for you. Find the hiring manager yourself and strike up a conversation.
If something feels right in everything except the title, assume the title is a poor fit, not you. Again, find the hiring manager yourself and strike up a conversation. Maybe even ask them about that distinction in title.
If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try - Seth Godin
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Kelly Corrigan - Wonders
I recently finished reading Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan. It was a spur of the moment grab from the public library. I don’t even recall what initially called out to me about the book, but I read it and really appreciated it. It’s a memoir that delves into loss, but within the first couple pages I was a fan of her writing style. There is a wryness and sarcasm that is playful and not overly cynical.
When I newly find and like an author, director, musician, or creator — I tend to go down the rabbit hole for a short period after. I follow and consume like locust.
Moments after following her on social media, I saw she shared the news of her mother’s recent passing.
Reading her memoir you 100% get to know and become fond of her mother, so it was only fitting I listen to her eulogy as well. It’s a touching tribute.
I wholeheartedly recommend the book too.