Author: upcycledself

Have you seen the reality shows about public storage unit content sales? USA and Canadian production versions have professional buyers bidding on the contents of unclaimed, or payment defaulted, storage units after a very brief chance to see what is inside. The dramatic focus of the programs is when the winning bidder gets to see fully what was in the storage unit and then convert it into cash. Sometimes a unit contains items they think have value but do not. Other times there is a hidden item of great value or there are items that are of value for their potential to be repurposed. Outside experts are consulted on some items to set value. All value, good or bad, was locked away and forgotten by the original owner.

What value have you forgotten? Like me you may have worked a number of years and have stored experience you forgot, do not know how to define, need to upcycle or fool yourself about having value today. The key to “opening up” our stored expertise is listing, defining in current market terms and creating an inventory of marketable experience and skills.

I can hear your cry now “not another resume skills list-I have at least 10 already”. No the idea is to take a cold, hard and realistic look at what you have to offer against what the market wants today and what it may need 5 years down the line. What will you be doing in 2020, how will you be doing it? Are you properly equipped or do you need to retrain or redefine? It is always great to say I have 20 years of experience at something but what if it was in an employer specific function or worse, 1 years’ experience 19 times over? Work has changed significantly this decade; is the assessment of your skills value current?

There is a wealth of resources to complete your assessment/inventory available through career and job hunting guide books, public and private job assessment programs or online. I always look to a simple solution, start with a browser search for “personal skills inventory”, GOOGLE came back to me with about 6,250,000 results in 0.36 seconds. I would then narrow down to your local area and look for a no cost starting point. I currently live in the City of Toronto which has an amazing and wonderful Public Library system with great career resources http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca . Career research and job hunting are one of today’s libraries main focus points with specific group programs and online resources, I am sure there are similar resources where you are located. Down load a skills defining form and do the work yourself or sign up for a free skills definition seminar, included in many programs like the upcoming one in Toronto, October 9th, shown below. Always remember we are trying to stay in the here and now of skills utility not a historical self-congratulatory view of our past. What do we have that is useful, adaptable and wanted in the market place today? Have you reviewed current relevant job descriptions? Like an entrepreneurial, storage unit content buyer, you will want to consult with an expert about the true value of some of your stored experience, but that is for another day’s blog.

In my case my skills list includes years of client relationship experience, today that may include community blogging to engage a client base, so I have to upcycle that skill for my own use or to manage others. I am using WordPress, on a very steep learning curve you may notice, for this blog. My ongoing review of skills showed that WordPress is a standard skill required to upcycle, and take out of storage, my full client relationship skills.

I have always liked the idea of recycling or, even better now “upcycling”, useful objects. The desk chair I am currently sitting on came out of the trash about 45 years ago. A classic Wooden Windsor Side Chair (wood pegged, no nails or screws) from the 1930’s, or earlier, it had suffered through the indignity of a 1960’s era psychedelic yellow paint job only to be tossed out in a more restrained time. I retrieved it, stripped the paint, re-glued the pegs, oiled the wood and moved it through numerous residences in two countries, multiple States and Provinces, adapting the use between desk, side and dining chair as space and reality dictated. Similarly my wide screen monitor presently resides in a 25 year old “hacked” IKEA bookcase…you get the idea.

 In much the same way; over 35 years I have adapted skills and expertise in banking, equipment finance, client servicing and research to roles in Corporate Finance, Aerospace Manufacturing, International Pipeline Development Consumer Finance and Conference Producing. The saying goes “I cannot change the wind but I can trim the sails” today for me, and many like me, it has become “or I can buy a motor!” That motor is upcycling/repurposing my skills by augmenting existing expertise with new skills and then finding a new application. Much like repurposing an object I am taking a new perspective on accomplishments, combining them with new and emerging skills to find renewed purpose. This is out of necessity for a large group like me due to significant life changes that have left us with few options but to continue working. We must develop the hard and soft skills to fit into the 2016 workplace while preparing for the realities of 2020 and beyond. This blog will focus on training, skill adaption and employment opportunities for those over, or approaching, 50 who have not grown up in a Digital Media World. The best part of writing this blog is the anticipation of communicating, sharing, interacting and learning with others who are enjoying a similar path of change and adaption.