By Lady Karen

It's been about four months since I transitioned from freelance work back to a full-time job, and these four months have brought new insights. For a long time, I believed that journalism and media had no future. That is, until I stepped away from that environment, reflected on my physical and mental state, and discovered that after shedding those experiences, journalists possess many irreplaceable "transferable skills." No matter what industry you enter, as long as you thoroughly understand the profession, what remains invaluable and irreplaceable are the "insight, communication ability, and business development capability" cultivated in high-pressure, fast-paced environments.

In the past, I believed that when evaluating a career, you should look at the values behind it and the values it cultivates. In my early years in the workplace, during interviews, I had to interact with all sorts of people—sometimes CEOs and general managers, sometimes aunts and uncles at the market. Facing people of different professions, industries, classes, and identities, I had to switch my tone of voice to gain their trust. As a result, I developed "courage" and "bravery," and even gained a sense of "achievement" from the work.

But what happens after you internalize yourself? While these are things you can sense from external reactions, they don't have much impact on the workplace or others. The only thing that truly helps others and lets people feel your transformation is actually "transferable ability."

One: Insight

As a journalist, I was constantly observing because I had to deliver exclusive stories every week. However, observation alone isn't enough—you need to add your own perspective to reach the level of "insight." As for perspective, you need to absorb large amounts of different knowledge, materials, regulations, books, and so on, so you can string together fragmented information into complete messages.

For example, I once had to submit two exclusive stories but couldn't find much information anywhere. So I scrolled through Facebook, and for an exclusive to have weight, you obviously need sources. If the event involves any illegality, then it definitely has "substance." That's when I came across a post by a celebrity promoting a product—content about their child consuming a certain product and growing XX centimeters taller in half a year, with thousands of comments below from people wanting to group-buy it. That's when I became suspicious.

My thought process was:

  1. According to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, you cannot exaggerate therapeutic effects

  2. This celebrity seems to endorse products frequently—do all of them exaggerate therapeutic effects?

To confirm my hypothesis and deductions, I first verified the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law regulations and found a table listing "Inappropriate Terms in Medicine Advertising." Growing several centimeters in a short period definitely counts as exaggerated therapeutic claims. Next, I wanted to check what other products the celebrity had endorsed to see if any had violated the law or received fines. So I went to the FDA website, searched their violation database for illegal food and medicine advertisements, and filtered by the celebrity's name, endorsed products, year, and month to confirm the violations and penalties. I confirmed they were indeed a repeat offender, and according to regulations, the same product category cannot be continuously fined, so they often change product names to avoid penalties. Of course, they always paid their fines.

This way, I had two genuine exclusive stories.

General people might wonder, "How did you know about the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law? How did you know you can't exaggerate therapeutic effects?" or "How did you know where to find the illegal advertisement data?"

It's all because of "experience," which goes back to what I mentioned earlier: "absorbing large amounts of different knowledge, materials, regulations, books, and so on, so you can string together fragmented information into complete messages." When you input vast amounts of information into your brain—it doesn't have to be crystal clear, just as long as you have keywords—the moment you encounter something familiar, you Google it and can piece together the complete information based on what you already know.

Two: Communication Ability

As a journalist, I communicated with different departments and sources every day, asking questions in ways they could understand to get the answers I needed. When communicating across departments involving graphic design and news expertise, I might need to communicate with the control room about SNG truck signals (uploading, downloading), countdown timing, audio equipment, and so on—these are basic communication matters, all under time pressure.

Therefore, I developed "high-efficiency communication ability" through work. When facing issues, my first instinct isn't to blame others but to find solutions and know how to solve problems immediately, never to assign fault. Problem-solving can't be done through hard communication or commands; instead, I clearly express my difficulties, ensure the other person understands why I need answers, why I must report the news in just an hour, how important their information is to me, and so on. After ensuring the other party understands, even if it's very demanding, because I'm very clear that my goal is to "solve the problem," emotional issues don't come into play at that moment. I only reflect before the next problem arises, thinking about how to handle things better.

Because I'm constantly reflecting and actually communicating, practicing extensively and deliberately adjusting my communication style, over time I can handle all sorts of difficult problems appropriately. If someone thinks something isn't quite complete, sometimes it might actually be intentional—I deliberately communicate that way so the other person understands the inconvenience I'm causing them, rather than having everything go smoothly.

Three: Business Development Ability

Previously, I thought the "business" world was complicated, but at a certain point in life, I suddenly realized that lacking "business mindset" and relying only on brute force and lacking systems is truly regrettable. Professor Sun Zhihua mentioned in a lecture that "the stupidest way to make money in the world is to work hard to make money." Of course, what I want to discuss here isn't about making money, but rather escaping the mindset of "just working hard," which is crucial in one's life.

About a year ago, I wanted to try a business development position and worked hard at adjusting my resume and interview performance, but ultimately returned to media. I couldn't bear to give up on chasing stories and being recognized. But just when I thought I had no chance to develop business development skills, I suddenly realized that chasing exclusive stories doesn't have to be just about gathering rumors and information—you can also "create news." By creating, I absolutely don't mean fabricating fake news. Rather, I mean using your ability to integrate resources, helping potential partners and society together, and simultaneously contributing to society, thereby creating newsworthy topics.

One of my cases was the "alcohol vending machine." Around February, I interviewed a mask vending machine team. I thought their vision was great and they even had identity recognition technology. I always felt that besides masks, they could provide other epidemic prevention supplies. When discussing with peers, many also thought it was worth trying. The first thing we thought of was "alcohol." However, alcohol was also in short supply at the time, and the free hypochlorous acid water available wasn't very convenient—teams had to fill it themselves. So I thought for a long time and suddenly remembered that my former supervisor was working at a chemical company. I explained the possibility of cooperation to him, introduced the vending machine team to him, and both sides reached a consensus. The chemical company agreed to sponsor "isopropyl alcohol," and under these circumstances, the "alcohol vending machine" was born. I also wrote an exclusive story about it that received recognition in the industry.

This was a way of reporting news I had never imagined. I didn't have to passively wait for things to happen—I could actively create topics without violating journalistic ethics and achieve a win-win-win situation. Although I didn't get a business development title, I applied business development skills in media work and could equally prove my abilities.

This gradually helped me understand that there are many ways to do things. The more fields you expose yourself to, the more possibilities emerge, and what we should do is prepare ourselves, constantly reflect on our shortcomings, and keep up with the times. Transferable skills allow you to fully showcase your abilities in any industry. Titles and industries are only temporary—the key is yourself.