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Outside Activities That Work
By Sarah Schafer "Just about anything can be used to enhance your career," said Gary Will, a marketing consultant and former career counselor who still runs a career Web site. Even having an esoteric interest can work, said Will. He should know. Will's primary non-work interest is professional wrestling. What started as curiosity – chatting with other fans on the Web, posting to news groups, etc. – turned into a mild obsession. Will wrote a book on the topic and now fields calls from publications such as the New York Times seeking insight on the subject. "You're not going to find an interest that's less work-related than that," said Will, who lists the book project on his resume along with his more traditional work experience. Another way to rationalize your extracurricular activities is to participate in those things that add to your skills. Acting classes can help you tackle stage fright, for example. Or, a creative writing class could help you write killer proposals. Below, we asked some active people to tell us how they complement work with play.
Acting "People are now starting to understand that acting training can do more than produce actors," said Deb Gottesman of the Theatre Lab Inc. in Washington. So much so, in fact, that Gottesman and her Theatre Lab co-founder Buzz Mauro spun off a company in Takoma Park called Center Stage Inc. that uses acting techniques to teach people how to better present themselves in a job interview. Here's one of the techniques they use on their job-seeking students, said Mauro. "We ask them to remember a fantastic conversation they've had and to think about what made it fantastic," said Mauro. For example, were they sitting on the edge of their seat? Were they paying a lot of extra attention to what the other person was saying? And so on. The idea, said Mauro, is not to teach them to sit on the edge of their seat during an interview. Rather, it's about calling up those feelings of enthusiasm as they sweat it out in front of a tough interviewer. Chances are, the recalled emotions will be reflected in the applicant's demeanor, hopefully causing the interviewer to mistake "petrified" for "attentive." Do you tend to babble your way through important meetings? You could learn a lot from this next exercise, said John Daley, an instructor at the STAR Actors Repertoire, an improvisation course. Daley often asks his students to act out scenes, giving them only the following rule: They must perform an action (such as sitting, standing or lying down) before speaking a line. "This removes a lot of unnecessary dialogue and gets people to focus and be more to the point," said Daley. Deborah Wolf, a 38-year-old lawyer for the Food and Drug Administration, said acting class also can tap into negotiating abilities you never knew you had. Wolf took a course at the Theatre Lab to build on the skills she developed at an Acting for Lawyers course last year. In one class, said Wolf, each person was responsible for eliciting some type of statement from another student. "My [task] was to get someone to apologize to me and someone else had to get somebody to tell them how much money they made – things that normally wouldn't come up with strangers," said Wolf. "Acting is in large part getting what you want." How about a raise?
Bonding Experiences There's a reason employers get a warm and fuzzy feeling when they send their people off to Outward Bound-type programs. It makes them feel the employees will come back refreshed, task-oriented and ready to be part of the ever-important team. Therefore, outdoorsy clubs are usually a plus with employers. But telling an employer you like to hike won't be enough. You must demonstrate that you've taken your interest to a higher level. For example, maybe you've organized hiking trail cleanups, or led a group of inner-city children on a 15-mile hike. This kind of leadership and organizational skill can help make you an attractive job candidate, or if you're already in a job, promotion material. "There are lots of things we do that are service-related," said Wilson Riley of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club in Vienna. "We maintain trails, go out on work trips, build and maintain cabins and shelters, so people can develop a lot of skills." And, whether you're trying to meet people in your own field or explore new ones, outdoors clubs are ideal for forging connections. Unlike many schmoozing opportunities such as parties or even professional organizations, groups such as the Trail Club often create stronger ties because of the strenuous and continuous work involved. Clearing a trail could take a couple of years of meeting every other weekend for six to eight hours of hard labor, Riley said. Rarely does a professional organization offer such a bonding experience. Feeling entrepreneurial? Outdoor activity clubs are ideal testing grounds for business ideas. "As activities like these grow, we're seeing an increase in the number of people who are trying to make a living doing these activities," said Jeffrey Yeager, executive director of the American Canoe Association. Belonging to a club or association could mean having all the right contacts and a ready-made focus group should you, say, start your own canoe company.
Commuter Biking Listing sports-related activities on your resume, or bringing them up in an interview, can prove tricky. "Sports is always an interesting one," said Will. Some people see sports on a resume and think great, this person is competitive and aggressive, said Will, "and other people are turned off by the same thing." Activities such as canoeing and hiking are probably safe. A different sporty endeavor that's more sure to impress, without offending the athletically challenged, is commuter biking. Biking to work shows an employer you are an efficient time manager, an independent sort who is not afraid to put in a little quality thinking time while others are cursing their fellow drivers (and the occasional rogue bicyclist) or frantically finishing a presentation on the train. University of Michigan law student Eric Ciccoretti included his preferred method of commuting under "interests" on his resume when he interviewed at Washington law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. "The firm was interviewing all the same kind of candidates," said Ciccoretti. He figured cycling would set him apart. It worked, said Nick Christakos, a member of the hiring committee at Sutherland and the one who interviewed Ciccoretti. "What initially came to my mind was most Washington lawyers feel the need to take advantage of every possible waking moment to get work done," said Christakos (take a look at the lawyers on the Metro, he noted). Christakos thought it was "neat" that someone who wanted a high-powered Washington law career would use the morning commute for something other than reading legal briefs. Bicycling to work also makes a great conversation starter. Mention you're a two-wheeled commuter "and it leads to questions," said Ellen Jones, executive director of the Washington Area Bicycle Association. How do you get your good clothes in to work? What do you do if it rains? Do you shower at the office? Because, said Jones, it's something a fair number of people have thought about doing themselves.
Questions about getting ahead? E-mail Sarah Schafer at schafers@washpost.com.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company |
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