Diskarte

Diskarte
By the Liberal Arts Dude

Diskarte (dis-KAR-teh) is a Tagalog/Filipino slang term that is hard to define concisely in English. The closest English translations I can come up with are other slang terms: “Mojo,” or “Game.” Diskarte has to do with how one strategically positions oneself in order to accomplish certain goals favorable to yourself. One gets additional points for chutzpah, style, boldness and how big of an accomplishment one is trying to affect. If you accomplish something big and did it in a particularly bold way or did it with a certain flair or style, then your diskarte is strong. In Filipino colloquial terms, “Astig ka pare!” Fall flat on your face and your diskarte can be criticized as weak or “mahina.” Diskarte can also have to do with how you deal with the consequences of your actions, be it negative or positive. Even if you don’t get the outcome you want, if you handle yourself with grace and aplomb you get diskarte points. The worst mistake one can make is not to have any diskarte at all in how one goes about accomplishing one’s goals.

Now why am I talking about this you may ask? It occurred to me that in order to be a successful job-hunter or in your career, particularly if you are a Liberal Arts major, you need a certain amount of diskarte. Job-hunting is not just a process of locating job openings, writing cover letters and resumes, sending them off, and interviewing when you get lucky enough to get noticed. If the process were that easy it won’t be that frustrating.

Let’s take finding out about job openings. Not having diskarte can mean just randomly checking the want ads in the newspaper or browsing the openings in Monster.com or other job websites. Having diskarte means you go beyond the rudimentary and are actually strategic about how you go about finding out about job openings. You target websites of professional associations, for example, which list specialized job listings specific to your field. You try to find out about specialized newsletters and listserves. You do this by meeting and talking to people in the field. It is also accomplished by being savvy in how you search the Internet using search engines like Google. And you do this all religiously, regularly and in a disciplined manner.

You still do the basics of scouring the want ads in newspapers and general sources of information, of course. But having diskarte means you go beyond the basics and use every amount of creativity and resourcefulness you can muster in order to locate the job openings you want where they are most likely to appear—in specialized niche publications and electronic resources that cater to a particular audience. Sure, you may still find out about great job openings through the regular means like newspaper ads and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But having diskarte means you are also able to locate job ads for specific niche audiences and are able to get to those announcements and openings way before the general public has a chance to see it.

Diskarte can also apply to how one goes about writing a cover letter. Using a standard, generic McCover Letter—the same one for every job you apply for—is not having diskarte. Having diskarte is (a) knowing yourself and your skills well enough that you are able to credibly say you can do certain things very well; (b) being able to express it in such a way that does not sound arrogant or boastful that it will turn the reader (the prospective employer) off; and (c) knowing by instinct the right way to appeal to the needs of the employer based on the want ad that they posted. Diskarte in writing cover letters is essential if you want to entice the person reading because chances are they are wading through a pile—even hundreds—of cover letters and resumes in the application process. Having the right diskarte in your cover letters can set you apart from the crowd.

I won’t even get into resumes, being called for an interview, and the proper way to handle interviews, beyond saying you need diskarte in how you approach these things as well! Job-hunting is not just an exercise of an employer seeking to fill a hole in their staff. It is very much a cultural and social ritual where the most savvy—the fact they are qualified for the job is assumed—end up more successful than ones who are not. Job-hunting is an exercise in social and interpersonal skills. The better you are at it, the more successful you will tend to be. You’ve got to have diskarte to accomplish that.

Diskarte can also apply in how you pursue larger goals. Say you want a better job or you want to rise up in the ranks? Then diskarte can mean going to graduate school, taking courses in night school or community colleges for on-the-job skills, and to self-study. Get into a disciplined process of self-improvement. But self-improvement that can be strategically applied on the job and which will increase your visibility and productivity to your boss and your boss’s boss. Fill a niche in your office that no one is doing anything about. You will end up impressing the right people with your attitude, hustle and results and you will become the go-to person for that particular niche. Just doing your job—punching in on time, doing an adequate job at work, and doing the absolute basics is having no diskarte. Go beyond your job description to really make the most of your position in the organization and you will see your stock rise. It takes a bit of effort, strategic thinking, and boldness to do it—in short, it takes diskarte.

Now wait a second, you may say. Having this diskarte thing is all nice and good but there are real and concrete obstacles people face that hinder them from accomplishing their goals. Some people, for example, are hampered by discrimination be it race, gender, age or some other ism. Some people live in small towns and can’t afford to get up and leave for the big city to pursue career goals. Some people simply just don’t have the monetary resources to go back to school or aren’t willing to shoulder the debt of additional student loans. Are you telling me that all these people need is a little bit of diskarte?

That is exactly right. If you are a person who faces a lot of obstacles, the worst thing you can do is to not have any diskarte at all or to give up and accept your lot in life as inevitable. If you are someone who faces obstacles in life and you want something better for yourself, the best thing you can do is to adopt an attitude of having diskarte—be bold and brazen about what you want out of life and what you want to accomplish. But also be strategic and realistic. Diskarte isn’t just living in a dream world chasing pipe dreams. It’s a systematic, realistic way of adopting beliefs and behaviors so you can affect the outcome you want in your life. Discard what doesn’t work. Keep what does. Above all, don’t give up. And you get extra points if you do it all with style. That’s having a strong diskarte. That’s when you become “astig.”

Copyright 2006