Let me paint you a little picture. (we are going to go slightly off task here, but stay with me, there is a reason for this) On my first week at university I saw a poster whilst in the estates building that said something along the likes of "are you alone in a crowd" and I thought well yeah but isn't everyone? turns out not really. I find that I'm different to people in a way that I thought was a hindrance but it turns out it might be my salvation.
Talking to various people in the past few months I've been told I have rare people skills. which felt strange to me, I have never considered the way in which I talk to people and the way I am could be considered a skill. I'm glad now that I have stuck to my guns and stayed the way I am. I have been told I have a high EI which means emotional Intelligence. According to people from industry this is rarer than you think. After doing a little research into it I have learnt a great deal about it. It's basically the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. From there it goes into different theories and such but I was interested in how it related to "The Big Five Personality Traits" which is a psychology thing and something that some businesses use for interviewing candidates. They are-
- Openness to experience – Openness reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety a person has. It is also described as the extent to which a person is imaginative or independent, and depicts a personal preference for a variety of activities over a strict routine. Some disagreement remains about how to interpret the openness factor, which is sometimes called "intellect" rather than openness to experience.
- Conscientiousness – . A tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behaviour; organised, and dependable.
- Extraversion – Energy, positive emotions, surgency, assertiveness, sociability and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and talkativeness.
- Agreeableness – A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. It is also a measure of ones' trusting and helpful nature, and whether a person is generally well tempered or not.
- Neuroticism – The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to the degree of emotional stability and impulse control, and is sometimes referred by its low pole – "emotional stability".
Anyway I found that these traits were things I could relate to. Looking back over my decisions that led me to where I am today its was almost as if unconsciously I was preparing myself to fit these things.
Getting back to back to the subject (yayy) I suppose you could call this a "soft skill" its not exactly a specialist skill, it doesn't really make me a pro at anything. I think the most frustrating thing about it is the fact I can't really put it on my C.V either. It only really comes across in person. That's the difference between "hard skills" and "soft skills" on paper hard skills can get you anywhere but in reality (well in my opinion) its the soft skills that make you a somebody. Whats the point having all these fantastic skills if you can't communicate them properly to your team. I think in order to function properly in most work places you will need some soft skills.
I am jealous of these hard skills everyone seems to have a lot of as they are easy to measure. But I wouldn't swap them for what I have. And after meeting Sofia I feel like these skills I have will help me get to where I want to be in the industry.
I really feel suited to management now that I think of it, I have always been able to take the lead and I thinking back I've always done a good job. I am definitely a people person and feel that I mostly come across to people in the right way. I've always felt comfortable in front of both large and small groups of people as well as when I'm on my own. And because of drama I have pretty good presentation and communication skills. I don't mind being the middle man and helping people to communicate with each other (certainly did a lot of that in the group project). I'm also strange in the way that I enjoy meetings and admin work. Correspondence isn't a problem for me either. I find myself most agreeable to the duties of a manager of producer. If i could also have a creative input that would be great, I have heard that the higher up you go the more input you get. I can see where I'd fit in and I'm comfortable with the responsibility I would have there. I'm also pretty good at multi tasking (you have NO IDEA :P), delegating and carrying a lot more weight on my shoulders than the job entails. Everyone says that it was an obvious choice, ahaa I wish they had told me years ago.
I have a slight idea of how I'm going to get there but I've found in life theres hardly ever a straight path to anything. I'm just going to carry on the way I am for now, working hard, networking and taking any opportunity I get to manage and organise anything. I'm going to keep looking into different types of management and management techniques to try and get ahead. But at the moment I see myself suited to community/ social media management, Assistant producer, producer, Production assistant and possibly a Outsourcing artist or outsource manager. All of these were recommended to me; and after looking into them I could see myself enjoying these jobs. After all isn't this why I'm working so hard? So I can get a job I can enjoy? :)
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