Three words that'll kill your career "I DON'T KNOW"

An hour ago I had a conversation with my friend, Alex, over the phone. He had got a call from a guy who had an opening in his company for a web designer. Alex graduated last year and has been working as a trainer at a private institute. During that time he trained students in various technologies and programming languages including HTML, JavaScript, Photoshop etc. For those who are unaware, they are used in designing webpages like the one you are viewing right now.

Obviously Alex doesn't have any hands-on "Industry" experience. But when asked whether he can design pages in Photoshop, HTML-JavaScript... should he admit that he's never done it before and therefore imply he hasn't done it. This is a universal dilemma. Does one admit to the truth or tell a lie and say that he has experience working with it before? This is the same problem most freshers (students fresh out of college) and career switchers face.

I would have never known the answer to that till I saw Barack Obama... till I experience Barack Obama. Here is a guy... a young guy with relatively less experience as compared to his opponent's, at the primaries and at the presidential election. The country is in economic turmoil, it is fighting a war with heavy human and economic casualties, jobs are moving away from the country, banks are going bankrupt, car industry is in a slump etc etc. Does Barack has any experience in all this? NO. But he believes he can do it. "Yes we can" he said.

Nobody wants an employee who boasts about his past experience but cannot adapt to the current situation. They want employees who will reply "Yes I can and I will" to any task given to him or her.

Well, Alex didn't tell the guy that. When he was asked if he could design webpages in Photoshop.He said he didn't know. He was honest. Should he have lied? No. It is like saying I know to cut with saw but I've not yet cut in the shape of a square. But by saying "I don't know", he created a perception that he doesn't know anything about photoshop and web designing. All he needed to say was I'm familiar to that, I just need to brush up on this topic OR I didn't feel the need to use that so far but if I do, I shouldn't have any problem learning and using it.

So, the next time someone asks you to do something you may not know, what will you say?

Its all about confidence and expressing, not what you can't do, but what you can do(and do it better than anyone else).