Advice

Fandom Achievement List

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So you're looking at your fandom experience, at your hobbies, and asking yourself "OK, what did I learn and what can I do?" so you can think about your career or add to your resume.  It's not always easy – you've done a LOT, but you may keep thinking over the same two or three skills.

There's a trick I've found that works well: an Achievements list first.

Sit down and list all the things you've accomplished in fandom: running a convention department (and list every year you did it), creating a website, editing a fanfic series, doing a group cosplay, etc.  Put those down on paper or type them up in a word processor or spreadsheet – I recommend a spreadsheet (more below)

Now that you've done that – and gone as far back as you can – next to every achievement, list all the skills and abilities you used JUST for that achievement.  Don't worry if you repeat yourself, list them for every achievement, even if you put "sewing" next to every single costume you finished.  If you used a spreadsheet, you can create a separate cell for every skill, keeping them all in one big column.

Now sort through the lists of skills and see which stand out – which keep popping up and which stand out (this is why a spreadsheet helps).  You now have a huge list of what you've done, a rough idea of how often you use a skill, and ideas of skills you may never have thought of.

So if 90% of your fan/geek activities involve writing convention program booklets, you may have a sign of your skills and interests there.  When "photography" pops up more than you expect thanks to your cosplay work, you may have a career option – or some skills to try and use on the job.

Of course, this method also works fine on your career too, geeky or not, but I felt introducing it this way had a bit more impact!  Besides, we usually are more aware of our careers than we are of what we do in our fandom, since we're usually busy having fun in the latter.

– Steven Savage

Blogs: In which I rethink a few things

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In the past, I have stated outright that I do NOT agree with the "everyone should have a blog" approach to blogging.  I've stated everyone should have a personal page(s) and be accessible, and that blogging is good for many, but that the important thing is to have something to show off one's skills and talents – blogging is just one way.

After some thought and discussion, I want to revise my opinion as I didn't quite take it far enough.

First, I still don't think a blog is for everyone – if you don't have anything to say or write, it's not for you (a portfolio may be, a video archive, etc.).  However I do think it's important to have some kind of project going in your life to hone and improve your skills, show them off, and help you network and connect.

The thing that I forgot?  That if you have a project that's not a blog . . . you can still blog about that.

It sounds like a small thing, but I actually think that's important.  Having a blog does get your name out there, does let you connect.  If you blog about a given project you have you get all the benefits of the project – and the benefits of a blog.  A blog still may not be right for you, but I have to say I think I overstated my case earlier.

So keep blogging in mind after all even if it's not something you'd do directly.  It does have a lot of advantages.

– Steven Savage

Fandom: The Project Edge

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You're a geek, a fangirl, fanboy, otaku, otariiman, sports nut, etc.  You're in a job search.  You'd like to leverage your fannish interests for your next job, but you're busy trying to get the whole search thing working right.

Good job searches are like projects – organized, measured, evaluated, with goals in mind.  Being a fan, you're probably far better at this than many people – and maybe more than you realize.

If you feel disorganized or aren't sure how to approach your job search, step back for a moment and look at the fannish projects you've done.

  • Did you organize a convention or part of a convention?
  • Do you oversee and run a role-play group?
  • Do you manage a community with events?
  • Do you sit down and reguarly and consistently make AMVs, fanfic, fanart, etc.?

Then guess what – you know how to do a project.  In fact, I'd lay odds that everyone reading this right now is, on average, better at organizing and getting results than they realize.  It's just that this is so often expressed in our hobbies and fannish activities that we never realize, frankly, how good we are at it.

So, if you're trying to organize your job search (and organized job searches are successful job searches), step back for a moment and look at what you organized in your hobbies.  What lessons did you learn?  What skills do you have?  Who can you call on for help?  What resources did you use?

If you want that geeky job, make your job search a project.  To make that project, take a moment and look at your hobbies and the projects you've done there.  You're probably far more organized than you ever realized – leverage that.

– Steven Savage