Resume 101: Skills

On Wednesday I was translating bank records into electronic documents. One of the Foundation's banks have not entered the new millennium and continue to send only paper statements instead of electronic statements of account. I can not do much with hard documents, and furthermore, I find them very cumbersome. So I go green and do everything electronic. Anyway, I thought it was a task that I could get one of the staff here to help me with so I got my partner Victorino to assign it to the administrator.

Today, two days later, after several requests I finally received the bank records translated into electronic documents. The point of this blog is not to criticize. Rather, I have come to the stark realization that there are skills that I have that I - and many of you reading - take for granted. Concepts which are so ingrained in Canadian society that they are not considered skills, rather ideologies or expectations if you will.

For example, I don't think it occurs to many here that time is a valuable asset. Time is not infinite and should not be wasted. At work in Toronto, we always define "deliverables" and plan their deadlines. It is a part of everyday life. Keeping a close track of time lends itself to monitoring productivity. Another concept which seems to elude so many. Now maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but the point should be clear. Being punctual and time conscious is a skill.

Another skill which Generation Y possess is computer savviness. For those born in the 90s it probably isn't considered a skill, rather a prerequisite to daily life as necessary as knowing how to eat. However, this is a learned skill for much of the world.

After I pointed out the fact that the bank records were not translated accurately after 2 days, my coworker remarked that the skills of the administrator were not very developed. It hadn't even occurred to me that not everyone knows how to traverse the complicated Microsoft Office Excel, or even a computer at that.

Moral of the story: Acknowledge all those skills you have acquired over your entire life that allow you to do everything it is that you do. Now share those skills and change other peoples' lives.