Typecasting: Take One!

Typecasting: The Negative
daryl m. williams
January 4, 2013

Typecasting happens. Understand, typecasting isn’t merely that Arnold or Bruce or Sly are action stars or that Will Ferrell is a comedian. Typecasting in your career happens and can be ugly and difficult to break out of once applied but can also be a positive but today it is the negative I’m focused on.

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".


Taking it a step further, you’ve been working as an administrative assistant for the last five years but this isn’t where you see your career ending. Unfortunately being an administrative assistant is now synonymous with your name. Why is this negative? It’s negative because A. You already have a name and B. You want to continue to progress or at least laterally move and the word is out, you my friend are an administrative assistant.

How did this happen and most importantly, what to do to correct this problem? Glad you asked and here are a couple of suggestions based on what I’ve done and suggested to others. Find an advocate, preferably in your organization. Someone who you trust and will be honest and wants the best for you. This is not to be confused with your daily lunch pals. Ask a couple of questions such as:
1. How am I viewed in the organization?
2. When you think of me what comes to mind?
3. Where do I fall short, skills wise?
This is just a start but the goal is to begin to understand how you may be viewed. Quick story from my managerial days:
I was informed I was going to have a new team member, we’ll call her Audrey, and I was excited because Audrey had worked for me on an overtime project and she was enthusiastic and helpful and my team needed some experience and help. When I was told, what I thought was good news, the person who told me laughed. I asked why and they replied “you’ll see.” When further pressed they said Audrey was damaged goods. She applied for every single opportunity posted whether she was a fit or not, she was a know-it-all and hard to work with. Long story short, they proved to be correct in their assessment. I still enjoyed a strong working relationship but any advice I offered was ignored and she was an application champion. How was it strong, that’s a blog for another day. Poor Audrey, not her real name, was typecast and it appeared to me she’d earned it.

Returning to the goal of my questions: gaining an understanding of how you’re viewed can allow you the opportunity to properly confront and correct (mis)perceptions. You also have it from a trusted fellow traveler that polishing up your communication or professionalism or dress code or remaining current can assist your career trajectory. Knowledge can be power if you’re properly motivated to use that knowledge. Once you know you’re an administrative assistant and no more as well as what you lack, you can make it your business to get face-time with decision makers, volunteer for additional responsibilities especially in areas no one knows you have an interest or skills. You have the knowledge, now you can take the steps.


 
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.