Job Titles are Fleeting but Skills Endure

Career development is best served by focusing on learning skills, not collecting job titles.

Remember first learning to ride a bike, swim in a pool or late, or knit a scarf? They’re all skills that, once acquired, remain with us for a lifetime. Even if we haven’t practiced for years, the muscle memory kicks in, and we find ourselves easily navigating through the park, gliding through the water, or creating intricate patterns with yarn. This phenomenon is not just nostalgic; it’s a testament to the enduring nature of learning skills.

I met with a seasoned executive recently, and we discussed the variety of ways that people are upskilling today. She recounted a job where she gained what felt like decades of experience in just a few years. We realized that no matter the job titles she had, the only way to capture what she’d learned was by tracking and mapping all the skills she’d gained. These are skills that she’s carried with her throughout her career into a wide range of new jobs.

Titles are often fleeting, changing with the winds of corporate restructuring, industry trends, and time.

The job titles we accumulate are a different story than the skills we learn during our careers. Titles are often fleeting, changing with the winds of corporate restructuring, industry trends, and the changing…