Typecast Part 2

Typecasting: Make Lemonade out of those Lemons
daryl m. williams
January 14, 2013

Typecasting happens. Last Friday this is how I started my post titled Typecasting: The Negative. I also provided a definition, which has returned for another week, see below.

Let’s start with what it is, per Google it is defined as:
typecast  past participle, past tense of type•cast (Verb)
Verb
1. Assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous...
2. Represent or regard (a person or their role) as a stereotype: "typecast by their accents".


That is where the similarities end and now I want to talk about being typecast and how you can use that to your benefit. In a 2003 MIT study, MIT Sloan 2003, Professor Ezra Zuckerman looked at how actors are typecast and made comparisons to the work world most of us inhabit. Among his findings were:
• “Typecasting can provide a route into the industry”
• “Individual employer may be more willing to take a chance on a worker who has already proven their ability to do a job well”
So, just a couple of points to consider from Professor Zuckerman but what I’ll add is that whether we are typecast as a call center rep, administrative assistant, recruiter, team leader, etc…our ability to do that particular job well can lead to additional opportunities if we’re prepared. If we also understand that we are typecast, we can work on debunking some of the myths that exist about us, I’ll discuss that more later.


 
Daryl M Williams, MBA, M.S., is an adjunct professor, teaching Career Planning and Management as well as being a Career Coach. He is passionate about providing information to assist friends, family, students, alums, and even frenemies(really) in professional development and uses his management experience in Fortune 500, non-profit and private corporations to inform his decisions. Feel free to connect via LinkedIn.