Supplementing Your Skills Without Killing Your Darlings

graphic by Eva Farrar

“Kill your darlings” | the idea that any useless character, pointless piece of dialogue, or otherwise lacklustre plot element must be removed from whatever you’re writing, even if it is most cherished and beloved.

I’m a writer, I’ve heard this term but really never bothered to heed its advice--even if there are some cases when I should have. I never imagined I would be thinking of this phrase when it came to applying for jobs and entering the “real world” (whatever that means), but here we are.

Starting a career has been the toughest and most exhausting thing as of late. I upload ten different copies of a cover letter that probably go unread. I apply for several jobs on Indeed, and a couple more on LinkedIn. My email gets flooded with useless promotions from scam accounts. Then the burnout hits and turns into procrastination.

I’ve had offers from retail outlets and clothing stores to be employed, but that was never my passion. I worked those types of jobs in high school to get some money, but now I want something more fulfilling and overflowing with my vision of purpose. Like everyone at this juncture of their lives, I desire to put something into the world that is greater than myself, and it is frustrating when there is no response to the call I’ve put into the universe. 

People never tell me I’ve chosen the wrong path as an English major, marketing minor… but in a way, the lack of job security I have in comparison to some of my friends in other fields plants a seed of doubt that makes it feel like they’re going tsk tsk. People will tell me that they’re glad they haven't had to deal with the excruciating search that I have had. I know they’re not trying to make me feel insecure, but their confidence is something I’ve coveted for so long when it came to career opportunities.

At times, I wish I took the dagger to my love for writing and literature earlier because then I could have actually gone into STEM or something more lucrative--after all, the stability could have allowed me to pursue writing in my free time without the pressure of making it a career. Sure, I would be scraping by barely in a STEM or non-humanities program, but it would be worth it, right?

When I go down this wretched rabbit hole, I remind myself that I’m entering probably one of the most competitive industries out there, and COVID has only made the job hunt for all industries more intense and nail-biting. Remote options mean that we’re now competing with more people. Hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of applicants are in this large ocean, and the likelihood of someone treading water better than you is high. 

Rejection after rejection, I’ve been deterred, but I still argue that while some may be more qualified than me, it doesn’t mean they’re better than me. Sometimes it’s as simple as they speak an extra language I do not, or had one more job than I had-- they just brought something that I haven’t been able to bring to the table… yet. 

Being a great writer, editor, or creative just isn’t cutting it anymore. It hasn’t for a while. I hate admitting it, but I’m calling a spade, a spade.  The world is saturated with creatives and free-thinkers, and the demand for writers becomes much more specified by the day. Becoming Excel-certified, being an Adobe whiz, having years of experience in a specialized industry, and knowing business analytics is the make-or break-point now. 

This realization has been intimidating, to say the least. Learning new things and not being perfect at it immediately, therefore thinking I am incapable? I want to say “no, thank you!” The idea of having to add extra skills and becoming certified in other things that weren’t writing, editing, or social media management felt like I was compromising who I was. Not to mention the fact that spending several months getting the basics down on things like Photoshop scares the crap out of me.

However, the reality remains: If I want my dream job, I have to sacrifice the fear of making mistakes and learn some extra stuff. I have to start learning how to use Adobe InDesign and Illustrator, and the certification for Google Analytics couldn’t hurt. I’m still avoiding the extra credit for creating an HTML page in one of my classes, even though I know doing it will be great practice (so, ok I’ll do it after I finish writing this).

A great starting point has been using my LinkedIn Learning subscription that I had to get for one of my classes-- I’m actually watching the videos on skills that I can get a badge for, and I’m encouraged to learn more information about the things I’m watching (pro tip: get it free through your local library, if they offer it). Also, just pulling the trigger and accepting the fact that learning new tools, programs, and whatnot is an investment with a  return I will see when I’ve landed a job. Yes, my unemployed self with her empty wallet winces, but that just comes with the territory. 

After all, maybe I do find something other than writing in my leather journal or adding suggestions to someone else’s poem that is fun and exhilarating. Not everything I learn or encounter has to be some foreign entity that I scowl at, and treating these sometimes dull tasks with a more optimistic perspective has made things tolerable. It’ll look good on the resume, if not anything else. In fact, I’ve loved making wireframes for web design, and am lucky that I have InDesign, in case I want to make my own zine.

In short, these new programs and certifications are not here to kill your dreams--they’ll only do that if you treat them that way. View learning CSS, a foreign language, or anything that is slightly different from your interest as the scaffolding to the skyscraper of your passion, and the journey becomes a lot easier to adjust to.

Gaining an extra edge is not something that all of us have prepared for extensively, but it’s never too late or too early to find new avenues of expanding your portfolio or resume. I’m probably never going to be good at graphic design, but I’m still excited to at least explore a bit. If anything, supplementing your skills gives the beautiful reward of perseverance, grace, and eventually a well-earned, character-building position.