T-Shaped Professional: What it is and how to become one

Professional training and the skills expected and required for each position are constantly changing in the job market and today's ideal employee is no longer yesterday's ideal employee. Now, with the increasing value placed on specialization and further training, the t-shaped professional is the profile most sought after by organizations. 

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Gone are the days when your position required specific knowledge in a particular area and that was enough. Today, we understand that knowledge in different spheres complements each other and helps the organization as a whole to achieve its goals. The t-shaped profile is exactly that: multidisciplinary.

What is a t-shaped professional?

A t-shaped professional is nothing more than an employee who has in-depth knowledge of a particular area of activity that is essential for them to be able to carry out their work, but who also has general knowledge of other related areas of activity. 

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In other words, a specialist who is also a generalist. Because today, just being a specialist is no longer enough to deal with all the challenges faced by an organization. You need to have something more, and it is precisely this something more that is being so highly valued.

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‍How do youbecome one of these professionals?

The first step to becoming one of these professionals is to remember that you are both a specialist and a generalist. Therefore, you should naturally start by understanding where your specialty lies and immerse yourself in that universe. The specialist professional has solid knowledge in one area, but often falls short in others, especially in soft skills. 

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It is common for specialist professionals to be very technical and therefore have difficulties dealing with people. 

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The second step for those who want to become a t-shaped professional is to understand where their skills can be expanded. Generalist-type profiles have diverse knowledge in many areas, which are not always related, but do not know any of them in depth (i.e. they are not specialists). 

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Therefore, you need to be mature and aware to understand which generalist skills you can develop that in some way complement your specialist technical knowledge. 

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Focusing on soft skills, some ideas are:

• leadership skills;
• emotional intelligence;
• the ability to move between different profiles of people;
• empathy;
• active listening;
• problem-solving skills;
• interpersonal relationships. 

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At the end of the day, the best t-shaped professional is the one who has the perfect mix of soft and hard skills. Training, courses, mentoring, lectures and reading books can help you achieve the level of development you want. 

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On Alymente's blog you'll find much more content like this for professional development! Go there and find out more.

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