This evening I went to a very cool thing: a jazz drop in. This is basically open mic night for jazz musicians.
As an audience member, you have some snacks and watch a revolving group of performers move in and out of songs.
The tenor sax player had just gotten off stage and when we shook his hand, we asked the name of the bass player.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met him.”
How brave is that? To get up on stage and play tunes with people you don’t even know. And what about the trust you have to have? Not just in your own abilities but in those of the other guys who are playing with you.
What about in your work group? Do you know your part well enough to be thrown in with anyone? Can you hold your own with a group of strangers thrown together for a project?
This skill must be worth something to organizations, especially with the huge emphasis on collaboration and flexibility.
This is not lone-wolf singing on street corner behaviour. Nope, this is full blown team player stuff.
Here’s how it might look on a resume:
“Well respected team player comfortable in a lead, player or back up role. Well versed in the language and landscape of the tunes/projects/other challenges that your organization might face.”
I can safely say that that it would definitely get my attention. I would want to know more about someone who had that kind of experience.
And I would stat the conversation with “Hey, can you hum a few bars?”
Recruiter's Couch 