How to Build A Rare Combination of Skills that Increases Your Value and Career Growth

Let’s assume you’re a tech founder hiring for the role of a product marketer and you have two candidates who captured your attention the most.

Candidate 1 — Harvey

• Studied Psychology
• 5+ years experience
• Worked as a copywriter and product marketer in tech industries all his life
• Skills include demand generation, social media, digital marketing, storytelling, influencer marketing, presentation, writing

Candidate 2 — Jessica

• Studied History
• 3+ years experience
• Has a newsletter where she shares lessons from her journey
• Worked as a copywriter, content strategist, digital marketer, and product marketer in the legal, health, B2B, and tech industries
• Skills include UX design, basic coding, data analytics, project management, design thinking, understanding of engineering, marketing (has several projects and certificates to prove these skills)

Which of these candidates will you prefer to interview and eventually bring on board?

All else being equal, you might be tempted to select Harvey over Jessica due to the former’s years of experience.

But while Jessica doesn’t have as much experience as Harvey does, she has a more versatile skill set and experience. This makes her a more attractive and seemingly interesting candidate. You might have a lot more to discuss with Jessica than you would with Harvey. Also, when Jessica resumes work, she will find it easy to cross-collaborate due to her understanding of what other departments (ex. designers and developers) do. These factors would most likely make Jessica your eventual pick.

Jessica is an example of a T-shaped professional — a generalizing specialist. Her core specialty is marketing, but she has a broad repertoire of supporting skills (ex. UX design, coding, data analytics). It is this rare combination of skills that makes her stand out.

Similarly, if you want to increase your professional value, you have to move beyond gaining expertise in only your field. Now is the time to become a jack of all trades and master of one.

Here is how becoming a T-shaped professional can skyrocket your value and amplify your career success:

1. You become more attractive. As seen from the example in the intro, you attract employers when you possess a skill set and experience that’s rare in your industry. This puts you in a better position to command a higher paycheck and faster promotion.
2. You build immunity to the paradox of expertise. The more advanced you get in a field, the harder it is to see new patterns and possibilities. This is the paradox of expertise. Building a base of knowledge and skills in other areas, however, protects you from that paradox as it gives you a beginner’s mind.
3. It is harder to get bored with work. It is easy to get bored when you specialize in a single field all your life; this isn’t always the case, but it’s a risk. When you, however, become a T-shaped person, prepare to kiss boredom goodbye. Developing a rare combination of skills and experience entails deep-diving into areas outside your niche. By doing this, you’re able to take a break from your specialty when work becomes monotonous.
4. Life gets more interesting. When learning new skills and garnering experiences outside your normal, you gain unexpected insights and meet new individuals who will make your life more exciting. You also become lively to other people (ex. employers, colleagues, friends, and industry peers) because you have a broader perspective on different subject matters.
5. You are harder to replace. Many professionals are I-shaped. So when you take the U-turn by building a base of uncommon skills and experiences, you become indispensable. Your employer and clients will find it harder to replace you because they know how hard it is to find someone with your protean skill set.
6. Collaboration gets much easier. Having a deep range of knowledge and skills makes cross-functional collaboration effortless. Say you’re a product manager with a basic understanding of software development. You’ll work much more effectively with engineers to deliver a product.

How Do You Build A Rare Combination of Skills?

The journey to building a rare combination of skills is in three phases:

1. Pre-acquisition: steps you need to take before acquiring the skills.
2. Acquisition: what you do when learning the skills.
3. Post-acquisition: moves you need to make after mastering the skills.

Pre-acquisition

Before you get started with your adventure to becoming a T-shaped person, you need to do the following:

1- Identify your current career need. Before you highlight the rare skills you want to master, identify what you need: Is it a new job? Is it a promotion? Are you hoping for a career change? The answer to any of these questions will direct the compass of your skill acquisition.

For example, if you are seeking a new job, you’ll need to build skills that your fellow job seekers don’t possess. If you’re a tech person, an example of such skills can be writing or creative problem solving.

On the other hand, if you’re seeking promotion, check out the recurring skills possessed by those previously promoted in your department; then think of something different that you can bring to the table. What’s the one skill that no one possesses and will most contribute to your company’s bottom line?

If you’re hoping to pivot into a new career, study the job description of your dream role and note the required skills. Your transferable skills, in addition to the new skills required for your dream role, will make your skillset stand out.

2- Study your industry landscape. Research the internet and conduct surveys to know the highest-paying skills in your industry. Also, review the LinkedIn profiles and resumes of people working in your dream roles and earning your coveted pay. Look up the skills that accelerated their careers and record the ones you’d love to acquire.

Further, have coffee chats with CEOs and VPs in your sector to know the skills they desire in employees. Read industry reports (both of your industry and that of other sectors) and news to know where your industry is headed and what skills you need to future-proof yourself.

3- Assess your present skills and knowledge. While trying to build new skills and knowledge, you shouldn’t ignore what you already possess. Write the list of your existing abilities in a spreadsheet and rate them on a scale of 1–10, where:

1. 1–2: You have only an introductory knowledge as you just started learning.
2. 3–4: You are a little past the introductory level. You can perform a few tasks without guidance, but you still require lots of help to function optimally.
3. 5–6: You are pretty skilled and can apply the different learnings with little guidance. You can be considered competent.
4. 7–8: You’re now really good, as you can do what not many people can. You’ve not built a solid groundwork of mastery, as you sometimes don’t know what to do without seeking help, but you’re GOOD.
5. 9–10: You’re an expert — a boss! To outside observers, you are a magician. You know your onions and are constantly thinking of more creative ways to solve problems. You have a proven track record of success too!

It doesn’t matter if this assessment is fully accurate. Your understanding of your skills will evolve and grow alongside your skills themselves

4- Follow your intellectual curiosity. Forget everything you just read. What really interests you? What skills do you want to learn for their own sake? Your answer to these questions should be among the top skills you prioritize when building your rare combination of skills. Don’t fall victim to the shiny object syndrome by pursuing only what is hot at the moment. Instead, satisfy your intellectual curiosity.

5- List and arrange your desired skills in a hierarchy of importance. By now, you already know the skills you want to build in the next few months. Write them down, then list them in a hierarchy — from most important to least important. Categorize the skills urgently needed to accelerate your career as most important. Label useful but not urgently needed skills as ‘least important.’

6- Know thyself. Before moving on to the next steps, you need to figure out how you learn best. Here is where self-awareness and reflection come in. Are you a visual learner? Or are you the reading/writing, auditory, or kinesthetic type? Here is a guide to help you unravel your learning style.

7- Research learning opportunities. Once you discover your learning style, highlight the best learning resources for it. For instance, if you’re a visual learner, scout for video resources, preferably on YouTube, and courses in video format. As an auditory learner, research a list of podcasts teaching your desired skills.

On the other hand, classics expounding on your listed skills are a great place to start if you’re a reading learner.

Amidst all that, you shouldn’t neglect getting certifications. Despite the contrary arguments, certificates still have high perceived value and can give you an edge. Try to get them if you can.

Ex: as a machine learning enthusiast, Udacity’s nanodegree signals more value and authority than simply reading books or listening to podcasts which are mostly not evidential.

8- Craft a SMART plan for your skill acquisition. After enumerating your go-to learning resources for each of your skills, create a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based) acquisition plan. An example of a SMART plan can be “learn UX design in 6 months by taking the Google UX specialization course on Coursera.” This plan is:

1. Specific: states what exactly the goal planner wants to achieve
2. Measurable: you can measure its success by course module completion, certificates, side projects, and skill tests
3. Attainable: It’s possible to complete the Google UX specialization in 6 months, as it comprises only six courses. The goal setter can spread these courses across six months and become a proficient UX designer by the sixth month.
4. Relevant: The goal setter is planning to expand their base of skills and knowledge.
5. Time-based: The goal setter has set a deadline to achieve their objective within six months.

9- Get an accountability partner. Before you begin your skill acquisition journey, try to get at least one person on board who is genuinely interested in your growth. This person can be your friend, colleague, or lover. Here are tips for ensuring this accountability system works:

• Explain your goals to become a T-shaped person and that you need accountability
• Get specific about what you need from them. Do you need them to enforce a consequence? What type of support do you want? How frequently do you want them to check in with you?
• Set reasonable boundaries to prevent friction between you and your accountability partner

Acquisition

At this stage, the journey to becoming T-shaped has fully started. Implement these tips to sail smoothly and have an enjoyable learning experience:

10- Start small. The journey to mastery isn’t a day job, neither is it something you need to rush. So be careful not to sacrifice quality learning for speed. Embrace the basics and really master them before moving to advanced levels.

11- Commit to daily practice. Life and schedule changes can derail your skill acquisition plan. Notwithstanding, commit to learning something related to your desired skill for at least 20 minutes every day. Initially, this might seem challenging, but with consistency, it will eventually become a habit.

12- Reflect along the way. Occasionally pause to appreciate your progress and analyze your journey so far. What are you getting right? What is slowing you down? What can you do to learn better? Document your reflections in a journal and share your progress with your accountability partner or your fellow learning peers.

13- Get a mentor. Since you’re trying to build a rare combination of skills, you might not have someone at your workplace who can guide you. But you can always get a mentor elsewhere. A mentor doesn’t necessarily have to be actively involved with your affairs or even know they are your mentor. Instead of the typical mentor-mentee relationship where the two parties are constantly in touch, follow their work, immerse yourself in their viewpoints, then ask yourself, “what would my mentor do?”

If, however, you are lucky to have someone who can mentor you in real-time, ensure you get constant honest feedback from them. While doing this, be valuable to the mentor too. Don’t just take, take, take; give too.

14- Teach others. You learn and master a skill best when you teach it to other people. For example, if you’re learning python as a marketer, volunteer to teach one of your colleagues at work, or organize a mini-masterclass teaching your entire department what you’ve learned. This will solidify your knowledge and add experience to your belt. I was able to build my SEO skills this way.

As the SEO Trainer at The Echo Digital, a digital marketing company, I had to teach people SEO. Although I didn’t possess much SEO knowledge when I first started, my expertise grew as I taught more classes. This was because I had to research and also get practical.

15- Join communities. It’s easier to sustain your motivation for learning when surrounded by people with the same aspirations and goals. When building a skill, join organizations and communities filled with people who have learned or are trying to learn that skill. The support you get from these communities will keep you going even on days when you want to give up.

16- Garner experience. Learning a skill can take your proficiency level to 60%, but you need to get practical if you want to accelerate it to a 100%. If you are a job seeker or a career changer, look for internships or volunteering roles relating to your desired skills. Particularly, try to occasionally intern or volunteer outside your target industry. This will give you a more versatile and rich experience, especially since you’re trying to build a rare portfolio. Participate in competitions, boot camps, and organize personal projects too.

On the other hand, if you’re a working professional, volunteering or freelancing are great options.

17- Maintain your mental health. Trying to build a myriad of different skills can drive you insane and stressed if you don’t learn how to manage your energy and time properly. Ergo, eat well, exercise, and sleep regularly. You can’t learn efficiently on a low battery.

Post-acquisition

Now that you’ve learned a skill and passed the competency stage, here are the next steps to solidify your mastery:

18- Show off your skills. Once you’ve mastered a skill, it’s time to go all the way out. This is no time to be humble. If you’re a job seeker, let your resume and cover letter demonstrate how your combination of skills has brought value in the past and how it can contribute to your company of interest. As a working professional, apply your skills to improve your operations and those of your colleagues. For example, if you learned Tableau, you can use it to improve the data analytics operations in your department. When problems occur at your workplace, don’t shy away from also using newly acquired skills to solve them.

19- Mentor others. Don’t keep the goodness of your newly acquired skill to yourself. Extend your expertise by finding ways to mentor others. This could be through volunteering to mentor in boot camps, creating an online course, or sharing tips and advice on social media.

20- Keep learning. There is no end in sight to learning. For every skill you acquire, there is always a new trend changing the status quo. And so, you should constantly stay abreast of those changes by continually reading, taking classes, and watching industry news to remain relevant.

Case Study #1: Learn by trial and error

Faith Obafemi possessed only content writing and research skills when she started her career as a digital content creator. But as she took on more writing jobs, clients began to assign her to tasks requiring SEO, graphic design, content management, and marketing.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she admits, “but I didn’t let that deter me. I accepted the challenging tasks as long as they related to digital content creation” She then learned on the job with the help of Google and YouTube. She didn’t get her supporting skills right the first time as there were mistakes in some of her tasks. Nonetheless, she continued to refine them and used future projects to apply her newly acquired knowledge.

When Faith transited into space law this year, content writing, SEO, and marketing were among strengths that helped her pivot successfully.

Case Study #2: Work from backward

Oyekunle Damola was only a website designer researching how to promote his brand when he came across the word “digital marketing.” That eureka moment marked the beginning of his career transition. Seven years later, Damola has not only become an expert digital marketer but has also added SEO, CRO, Paid Ads, Website Design, Sales Funnel, Email Marketing, Video Editing, and Copywriting to his arsenal of skills. His T-shaped skillset, however, didn’t appear out of the blues.

Just as he stumbled on digital marketing during a marketing-related research session, Damola discovered his supporting skills while learning more about digital marketing. Afterward, he used Google and YouTube to get an overview of the skills and everything he needed to know to master them, including videos, tutorials, courses, and blogs. “Getting an eagle-eye view of the multiple skills I needed to learn helped me deploy efficient strategies to master them,” he says.

After that, Damola broke his desired skills into lists in order of importance, picked them in ascending order, consumed the identified resources, and used personal projects to implement everything he learned.

Damola doesn’t stop learning whenever he acquires a skill. He keeps practicing and updating his knowledge, so he doesn’t get rusty. This is why he has been able to achieve multiple jaw-dropping results with each of his acquired skills.

Getting Started

Becoming a T-shaped professional is one of the greatest things you can do to accelerate your value as a professional and a person. The rewards of intellectual engagement, a fatter paycheck, and improved career prospects are things most people can only imagine. But you can make them your reality if you’re willing to implement the strategies mentioned in this essay. The journey is easier said than done, but you’ll be glad you did it anyway.

Caveat: Not all these tips will work for everyone, so don’t take this as gospel. But if you practice at least 5–8 of these, you’ll give your T-shaped transition a major boost.

I wish you the best in your journey and hope to hear positive news from you soon.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Alex Azoury, Jesse Germinario, Cameron Zargar, Dani Trusca, Chiara Cokieng, and Rika Goldberg for editing drafts of this piece.