Jack-of-all-Trades or Utility Player is not a job title…
In my business of helping clients with their resumes, the first question I ask is “what kind of work do you do?” I can’t begin to tell you the number of times that the answer is… “Well, I’ve done a lot of things” or “I have lots of transferable skills” or “I’ve had an eclectic career” or “I’m a Jack-of-all-Trades”. I even had one executive tell me that she was a “Utility Player” and that she had read that companies were looking for utility players.
I usually then follow up with, “What kind of job are you looking for?” And the answer that often follows is either “I’m willing to do anything” or a little more proactively “There are lots of things that I could do”.
It is true that companies are looking for people who are flexible and willing to do what the company needs. However, companies hire people to perform certain functions and need to be convinced of a prospective employee’s value added contribution in meeting those specific responsibilities. For a moment, put yourself in the hiring company’s shoes. What would be your response when a candidate says, “I can do lots of things. What job do you have for me?”
More specifically, in the case of “Utility Player”, that is not a job title. It doesn’t appear on anyone’s organization chart – with the possible exception of specially created jobs for existing employees to fill a specific need – and they still don’t call it “Utility Player”. “Utility Player” is a CHARACTERISTIC, not a job!
So, if you have fallen into this trap yourself or because others have extolled the virtues of your diverse skill set, I invite you to reconsider. What is the JOB that you can credibly convince a hiring manager that you can do and bring value to the company? You will then need to frame your personal presentation and resume to prove it.
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