Avoid Career Typecasting

You may have heard the term typecasting in relation to actors, who sometimes get pigeon-holed for a certain type of role and find it difficult, if not impossible, to land other types of roles. For example, someone who has always done comedy might face rejection from film companies that are casting for a drama or action-adventure movie.

What does this have to do with careers? It's not uncommon for someone to establish a career in a certain field and then struggle to break out of that space later on. Following are a few examples of the situations job-seekers have encountered, as well as a few ideas about what you can do to avoid typecasting or to break out of it:

• You've spent several years doing excellent work as a contract consultant--performing consulting engagements with a number of different companies. Now you want to provide your expertise in a direct employment situation with one company, but prospective employers are viewing you as a contract person.
• Having burned out on your particular field, you want to take the expertise you've acquired and apply it to a field in which you don't have much, if any, direct experience. Despite the fact that your expertise is transferable, you're having difficulty getting people to offer you positions other than in the field you want to leave.
• You've turned down opportunities in the past that would have broadened your background and helped you make a transition to something else. Now that you're ready to do exactly that, those opportunities seem to have vanished.

A large part of the problem may be that you've focused so strongly on what your goal was at the time that you haven't left any doors open--or taken advantage of those that others wanted to open for you. Now you face an uphill battle to get where you want to go.

How Can You Avoid or Break Out of Career Typecasting?

Depending on where you are in your career, you may have a lot of time or relatively little to prevent yourself from getting typecast in a narrow career mold. Still, there are usually actions you can take that will support your efforts to broaden or transition your career focus over time. I emphasize "over time" because few things offer a truly quick fix. Patience and persistence are usually required.

Points to consider trying:

• Research! Keep up to date on what's happening in your career field, to see if possibilities exist that would allow you to build on the skills and experience you have already developed. Look also at closely related fields or industries to identify and evaluate potential options there. On the other hand, watch out for information that suggests your current or potential fields/industries might be facing problems.
• Create and maintain an action plan that doesn't leave your career progress to chance. Make sure it includes periodic re-checks to see what changes (if any) have occurred in your circumstances, industry, etc., that might make new decisions desirable.
• Establish a viable support network, if you don't already have one, and keep the people in that network up to date on what you're doing or thinking of doing. This not only lets them know you're trying to keep on your toes professionally but also makes them aware of what types of opportunities might interest you, in case they hear of something.
• Look for educational or professional development options that might make good sense for you.