Show Your Desire & Shine

 

Today’s mentoring centred around what’s important, and what to look for, when choosing who to do business with. Although qualifications are important in some industries, there are others that put far too much emphasis on them. In my boss’s line of work, he’s completely uninterested by qualifications.  

 

Although some of this is down to him not being academically smart (his words, not mine!), what’s really important to him is spotting whether someone has passion for what they’re doing, the drive to get themselves out there to seek opportunities and someone who has clear goals and a plan as to how to achieve them – put quite simply, someone with ‘a bit of spark’. 

 

This whole conversation came up in response to me asking my boss why he’d never asked to see my CV. He very kindly told me that he appreciated the fact that I was prepared to turn up at his shop in person, explain clearly what I was doing and how we could help each other. Although he wasn’t interested in the CV I had brought along with me, he simply appreciated the fact that I had gone to the effort of preparing myself. He told me he saw that ‘spark’ in me and was prepared to give me a chance. 

 

4 weeks into this internship and I’m working really hard to repay the trust my boss has put in me and the opportunity he has given me. Today’s lesson was a very poignant one in so much as qualifications are all well and good, but you are not doing business with a piece of paper, you are dealing with a person who has an unfinished story to their life – if you like that story, you can be part of creating some great new chapters to it.