This week, I asked a simple question:
What's one skill you've developed that wasn't in your job description?
The responses were incredible.
Someone said, "Chaos coordinator."
Another said, "Reading the room."
Someone else shared that they were getting job offers for building systems with AI, even though they weren't writing the code themselves.
Their realization?
"The tool did the coding. I knew what to tell it to build."
Every one of those answers made me think about how we define experience.
Because none of those skills were part of someone's "official title.”
None of them showed up on a performance evaluation.
And yet, they're often the very skills that make someone exceptional at what they do.
That's the problem.
We've been taught to define our careers by our job descriptions instead of by what our work has required us to become.
A case manager doesn't just manage a caseload.
They learn how to make decisions with incomplete information.
How to prioritize competing demands.
How to build trust with people in difficult situations.
How to interpret policy.
How to de-escalate conflict.
How to keep moving forward when the day doesn't go according to plan.
A program coordinator doesn't just coordinate programs.
They build systems.
They solve problems.
They manage stakeholders.
They anticipate what comes next.
The longer I do this work, the more convinced I become that most professionals don't have a qualification problem.
They have a recognition problem.
They've become so good at what they do that they've stopped seeing those abilities as skills.
That's why the first stage of the MISTRANSLATED Framework is Discover.
Not because you need to discover a new career.
Because you need to discover what you've already built.
Before you can translate your experience...
Before you can position yourself for something different...
Before you can leverage your value...
You have to recognize it.
Your next opportunity isn't always waiting for you to gain another certification, earn another degree, or add another credential.
Sometimes it's waiting for you to see your own experience through a different lens.
So I'll leave you with one question this week:
What do you do so naturally that you've stopped recognizing it as a skill?
Your answer might reveal the very thing that's been MISTRANSLATED all along.
You're not underqualified. You're MISTRANSLATED.
To landing what you've earned,
Kourtney Checots
Career Strategist
Founder, MISTRANSLATED
Ready to discover what's been MISTRANSLATED in your career?
If you've been applying for jobs, feeling stuck, or struggling to explain the value of your experience, let's uncover where the translation is breaking down.