You don't know what you don't know.

A grad student I worked with recently brought up, in passing, that she was interviewing for an internship. "Why do you need an internship?" I asked.

"I need HR experience for my SHRM certification." She continued to tell me how she had rearranged her work schedule to fit in a second job where she would work for free.

Personally I believe in paid internships. Energy should always be in balance and learning is never a one way street in my experience. So I asked more...."But haven't you already been a manager for a while now?"

"Yes, six years."

We talked about her role and responsibilities when it was clear to me that she already had enough experience to get the certification she was after. I told her about an experience verification form, which I could do for her, and that would give her all the credit she needed without without having to add 1,000 hours of free labor to her summer agenda

We often don't see in ourselves what might already be there. We see other people with the skills we want when sometimes it just takes someone on the outside to show you just how knowledgeable you already are.