Stop Putting People in Boxes
People struggle when you can't give them a simple answer. I was recently at a conference, and because I'm looking for a new role, a lot of my conversations included what I am looking for in a future role. Except people would ask one of two questions:
What do you do?
What role are you looking for?
Now, I get it, those are easy questions that have been the social norm for a long time. They also require very little thought in both the question and the reply. And at a conference, people are peopling for extended periods of time. Easy is a necessity. People are trying to conserve their social batteries.
But by asking those questions, you are placing that person in a pre-defined, stereotypical box before the discussion even starts. You are pigeonholing that person into that role. O hey, it’s Whitney, the project manager. But I’m not just one thing. No one is just one thing. Well maybe that’s not true, I know some scientists that are maybe just one thing… 😊. But I’m not, and nor would I thrive in a position that is too narrowly defined. I need breadth to operate. I don’t fit into a pre-defined box, and will likely have a variety of careers in my life.
And I think this is important. We need to stop leading with those questions. We should instead lead with skills, passions, and interests. I’ve spent the last 6 months defining my strengths and motivations. Here are some of things that I came up with:
I’m good at solving communication problems.
I’m good at solving group and people problems.
I’m good at determining how the goals set by leadership were interpreted at the ground level and create a plan to get everyone aligned.
I’m not afraid to ask tough questions and push people or groups out of their comfort zone.
I love trying new things and am usually an early adopter. A change agent if you will.
I’m great at getting people to think about the micro-steps needed to implement big change.
I’m great at distilling down complex topics into manageable bite-sized pieces of information.
I’m great at creating realistic goals, targets, and timelines, and especially versed in creating a culture of accountability
I have two master’s degrees: one in Animal Science and an MBA.
I love being in roles where the highly technical science collides with the business strategy.
I bring a level of energy to everything I do, and it’s usually contagious.
Now I want to share a little experiment that I had conducted during a recent Ag conference. I decided to answer, “what do you do” and “what role are you looking for” with the above list of strengths and motivations. I wanted to hear from the industry how they perceived that list of strengths and motivations. I wanted to sanity check my list since quite frankly I haven’t gotten much traction in the job market.
Here is a list of job titles that I was told to pursue:
Project manager
Program manager
Product development
Chief of staff
Product marketing manager
Portfolio manager
Sales
Co-founder
Ag startup consultant
Let that list sink in. Incredible, huh?
Now imagine talking to someone looking for a job that listed all those things. What would you think? Would you think to yourself, “wow this person is all over the place, they don’t know what they want to do?” I’ve actually received that feedback. I’ve been told that I need to focus on fewer roles. And the crazy thing is, my list and the jobs I’ve been applying to for the past 6 months have been all those roles.
So here’s the thing. I know EXACTLY what I want to do. I know how I want my day-to-day to be filled. I know the pain points I can alleviate. I don’t care about the title. Will my strengths become an asset to your company? Will they become a liability? Will I be utilized as a guiding beacon or seen as a threat?
At the end of the day, what everyone wants is to work at a place that is a good fit for their skills and personality. I believe that if we continue filling positions based on titles, we will continue to fill jobs with people that either don’t love the subject matter or that the company culture doesn’t fit their personalities. We need to liberate people from their boxes and start hiring for fit. Give people more credit, we are more than capable of learning ‘how your company works’.
Here’s my challenge to you as a hiring manager – stop putting people in boxes. Focus on transferable skills. The new perspectives that will be brought to your team when you hire someone out of the box will be unmeasurably beneficial.
Here’s my challenge to job seekers – stop putting yourself in a box. You are solving a pain point within a company, that is why there is an open role. Sell yourself as a remedy for a problem.
