Your skills need a plus one

Brewing multiple skillsets

“Jack of all trades, but master of none” is not the whole saying, but many often stop there. The full version is: “Jack of all trades, but master of none, is often better than master of one.”
The key word here is often, because it doesn’t dismiss the value of specializing. Having a niche or a superpower skill is great and will help you stand out. However, having a wide skill set within your chosen path can open far more doors and diversify your opportunities. For example, I write a lot about fashion, but I also make fashion by spending time sewing with my sister in her atelier.

Here’s a step by step guide on how to introduce complementary skills.

But do I have to?

No, you don’t have to. You are completely entitled to a life far from all the opportunities waiting for you if you just tried this out. You can decided that you’re going to stay with your one thing and wait for that one moment. Or, you can open yourself up to the possibility of more, of more opportunities and a more fulfilled career. There are many benefits I can think of for diversifying your skills, but I’ll share the main two.

First, you can apply for WAY more roles. I have met with many recruiters in creative industries and something they have all said is that you don’t need to be an expert in everything listed in the job description to apply. As long as you have a basic understanding and are willing to learn, a lot of the time, that is enough. But too often we eliminate ourselves from the competition if we aren’t masters of particular skills. Especially women, a Harvard study showed that we won’t apply unless we meet 100% of the requirements while men go ahead with 60%. However, having a basic awareness across multiple aspects of your industry, makes you more desirable to employers. As a result, you can also expect a higher pay as you can do the job of two more efficiently. Imagine working for a magazine and you can produce written and photographic content - it’s a win win.

Secondly, this helps secure your creative career in the longterm. One great thing about creativity is that it evolves. One tricky thing about it can be the speed at which it evolves. It was once a goal to be a traditional fashion writer and that was enough. But the age of social media is requiring content creation skills from journalists who are more comfortable with their pens or behind a screen. News flash, creativity will continue to change and it is your job to stay up with it. For example, learning about AI and how it can help you in your chosen industry is way more beneficial than blocking it out in fear that it will steal your job. The age of AI seems ever present, the skills that served you in 2010 won’t have the same power in 2025.

5 Steps to get practical with related skills:

The definition of a skill is “the ability to do something well” and that comes from practice. It’s not always something you were born with, it can be something you developed. You may have been born with some skills, but to maximise them, you really have to practice. For example, for as long as I can remember, I have loved reading, writing and fashion - but I had to intentionally practice them before they became skills I could use to pursue journalism. These 5 steps are a great way to start:

STEP 1: Take a moment and consider what we’re going to call your primary skill, or your root skill. The one you love most and are really good at - the one you keep coming back to. This is the hardest part so don’t worry if you need some time. Got it? Let’s move to step two.

STEP 2: Grab a piece of paper or your notes app and write that skill in the centre/top of your page. You are going to list every single possible skill that is related to that skill within your chosen industry. (I’ll give an example later on of what mine looks like)

STEP 3: Research what each of those skills you listed actually mean and what it does. This is useful because lets say you are in a job interview and you are 95% guaranteed to getting the role. But suddenly, they mention something related to your role that you have no clue about! It would set you up for success if you know what they are talking about at least, even if you don’t know how to do it yet. You can respond with something like this “My experience with X task is limited however I understand that it involves X,Y,Z and given my knowledge in this industry, I am sure I will be able to learn it quickly”. Sounds better right!

STEP 4: Choose three skills that you are going to invest time to actually learn. You can come back to the others after, but oftentimes if you overwhelm yourself with 10 skills you need to develop at the same time, you will probably not start at all. Choose your main three and highlight them.

STEP 5: Get practical and start ASAP. You don’t need to have a degree for every related skill. You just need some knowledge and some experience. This can be done by reading about it, learning through social media or podcasts and attending events/webinars around that specific skill. The most important thing to do after ingesting all this information is to put it into practice - that is how the information is going to really stick. Try it out, even if it is informally to test your knowledge on your new skill.

How I did and continue to do this:

In 2020 I realised I was good at writing and loved fashion. So I went into uni thinking that I will be a fashion writer. As I opened myself up to all the skills I was learning on my course, I developed a love for broadcast journalism and content creation. I realised that I could do way more than writing with my journalism degree so slowly began building my skillset across not just journalism, but fashion media as a whole.

I guess my root skill was writing and all the extra branches I explored for a career in journalism are: broadcasting, social media, interviewing, public speaking, photography etc. The first year of uni, I focused on writing and social media. My second year developed those and added on broadcasting and interviewing. Now that I am in my final year, the next one I find myself working on is photography.

I didn’t just learn about those skills, I put them into practice. For writing, I started this blog page alongside my studies. For content creation, I started posting my own videos on social media, but also joined the Newsroom team at my uni and have been producing a lot of social content for them. For broadcasting and interviewing, I started my own YouTube channel where I post vlogs and in-depth interviews with other fashion students. Finally in my final year, I have been making use of the free equipment in uni and borrowed different types of cameras to test out my photography skills as well as joined the media team in my church.

I didn’t just stop there. I also worked on some secondary skills that are indirectly linked to my industry. I started public speaking while at uni for different occasions, and have recently decided to do it more intentionally by learning and practicing how to improve this skill. Similarly, I interned at a luxury fashion consulting agency to learn about the world of PR and marketing and those skills were practiced immediately during my internship. Finally as someone who observes fashion as a journalist, every once in a while, I also participate in making fashion with my sister who is a designer - this gives me a greater understanding and appreciation for what I write about.

Going forward, I am open to styling as an avenue I haven’t yet fully explored. It’s new and can be scary - it’s not fun to do stuff you’re not good at, but how else will you get good at it? Try something new this week and make sure to subscribe for more content and tips just like this!