How to Be a Generalist in a Compartmentalized World

While cleaning out papers to streamline my home office, I came across an article written some time ago by a fellow Vassar alumna. Basically the article spoke about how her upbringing formed her into a multi-faceted individual, with skills to enable her to pursue multiple career paths. I kept the article thinking, "Oooh, a generalist, like me!" Upon searching for the writer on LinkedIn, I was disappointed to find her curriculum vitae anything but multi-faceted.

The challenge of a true generalist is maintaining multiple skills and talents on a professional level. This might require her to juggle multiple jobs, have an extremely busy extracurricular schedule, or, like an entrepreneur, build many businesses. Some may see these as limitations, unless one can be accepted as a generalist without relying on a title that fails to encompass exactly what a generalist does.

Limitations notwithstanding, a generalist is most likely a problem-solver. Unlike the part-time artist who dreams of stardom but settles for a mainstream job, the generalist is able to leverage her skills, marketing them through lists of accomplishments and using persuasion to overcome a potential employer's hesitance at her seemingly unfocused résumé. "It might look like it's all over the place," I once explained, "but my goal at each position was to learn something specific, then use each learned skill at the next job." From working a temp job as a receptionist to building pitch books at investment banks, to designing marketing materials at advertising and media firms, I managed to enter the world of publishing having become well-versed in many software programs.

Without problems to solve, a generalist can get bored. If she is highly-intelligent and the same problem re-appears, she desires to educate either by training someone else, or through written word, maybe video, or possibly a live seminar or webinar; and then she moves on to the next real problem to solve.

A generalist is not someone who is unsure of which career to pursue. Rather, she knows she can do many things, is good at all of them, and is disinclined to fit into any one mold except that of a true generalist. She pursues what she desires most but can fall back to any of her other skills that bring joy to her work. She does whatever possible to avoid doing work she dislikes, but will take temporary or contract jobs until the right fit comes along.

Unfortunately, even if the generalist finds a good fit, traditional thinking and organizational inability to allow the generalist to break the rules Human Resources is trained to learn can lead to dissolution. This may happen when she applies knowledge outside the scope of her job description, and the company is not a start-up and is unable to properly acknowledge her contribution. She then moves on.

Unless the generalist has the means to be independent, she goes back to searching for employment that matches her skillset and desire. But the search requires gleaning.

On LinkedIn, I have marketing listed as a skill, vouched for by friends and colleagues (without my permission) because I wrote a book (having nothing to do with any of my skills except writing) and marketed it on my own. Eight years after the book was published, I still get monthly bank deposits from its sales. But this experience doesn't mean I want marketing to be a marketed skill. I keep it listed on my profile anyway, because it's a demonstration of my generalist tendencies. The downside of that is when I search through job listings on the site, the number of marketing jobs outweigh the number of jobs that would be suitable for me. One out of 20 job listings are interesting enough for me to look at. One out of several hundred are interesting enough to apply for. No matter which industries I choose as preferred, marketing jobs still appear. On LinkedIn's Jobs page, I tried clicking the Xs to hide unsuitable jobs hoping LinkedIn has an algorithm in place to teach its system my pattern.

Many jobs out there have "generalist" in their titles, but for the most part, they are sectioned into departments and used as an internal demarcation for why a person is hired. I'm sorry, but "HR Generalist" is a coordinator, not a generalist. (I worked as an HR coordinator once. I should know.) There are also Generalist Developer positions, and one for Generalist, Finance. The last one is a true generalist position. Unfortunately, I'm overqualified for it. It was one out of 50 listings containing "generalist" in the title. In spite of LinkedIn's search function failing me as a generalist, I found two jobs that had me dreaming of the day I leave my taken-for-granted position. Both were in education. (The writer of the previously mentioned article happens to work in education. Perhaps she really is a generalist underneath it all.)

There are job positions out there that an experienced generalist could take, such as management consultant, project manager, or solutions consultant. But to remain a generalist with these types of positions would probably require having projects outside of work. To be professional with these projects, they should generate income.

Like everyone else, a generalist needs an ultimate goal in life. Many people have self-focused goals like, "to be happy," "to live comfortably," and so on. But a true generalist knows too much about too many topics to be concerned with her naval. There is simply too much in the world to learn and experience. My goal is to find solutions to problems in the world and continue sharing them.

Until "Generalist" is accepted as a true title descriptor for one who really can do it all, I maintain my multi-dimensional history and all its seeming haphazardness. I relish the modes of passive income I created years ago and think about growing their sales. I write articles – like this one to market myself and the concept of being a generalist – and share ideas. Until then, I am a writer, a coder, a producer, a musician, a hacker, a creator, a mechanic, a coordinator, a part-time artist, a performer, a developer, a problem-solver, and a compartmental troublemaker.