#we need people with basic problem solving who take a modicum of pride in their work

[pocket-size-cthulhu]

This also goes for things like... Basic problem solving; curiosity and being interested in how things work; being able to help people calm down; being able to explain stuff that's complex; actually wanting to help people; being the kind of person who solves little problems without being told to; doing good sleuthing or research; googling things you don't understand and picking out reputable sources to give you a good 5-minute education; asking good questions; taking feedback without taking it personally; keeping your tasks organized, and more.

These are not actually things that everyone can or wants to do. ESPECIALLY if you can find ways to quantify these things and/or turn them into a compelling story, that will be a huge help looking for a job.

Example: I am the type of person who fixes stuff that bothers me without being asked. I first noticed this when I was working at a popular chain pizza place in my teens. We were supposed to mark pizza boxes with a sharpie, which was kept on a wire shelf where the gaps were big enough for the sharpie to fall through, for some reason. During our busy hours, people tossed the sharpie up there and it would fall down, obviously.

So one day when it was a little slow, I grabbed a piece of parchment paper and ripped and folded it until it fit on the shelf. Problem solved! No more falling sharpie. (Honestly I probably wouldn't remember this story if that was the end of it; when I came in for my next shift, the paper was gone. It bugged me for the rest of my time there.)

That type of thing is what you can tell people about in an interview to show them the type of person and employee you are. I used that story many years ago. Now I'm telling a similar story about how I built a chrome extension for my coworkers to solve some of our common problems. It's the same thing.

Don't devalue your own skills. You gotta brag about them with all the confidence of someone who knows that not every person on this planet can calm people down or know not to ask chatgpt their questions. Good luck out there

I just want to say, if you've ever worked a low-level office job and thought 'wow this is piss-easy', that's not a sign that the work you were doing is objectively easier than other types of work, it's a sign that you were good at it.

by which I don't mean 'stop de-valuing office work' bcos that's not a real problem, no-one is doing that, I just feel like a lot of young people aren't aware that e.g. being able to type fast and accurately, open up a computer program you've never used before and figure it out unaided, are marketable skills, not things that 'everyone' knows how to do.

I've worked in 'easy' office jobs for 6 years now and believe me, some people are bad at them & do not find them easy.