Advice

Stereotype-Fu: Find the Positive

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So when confronted with people stereotyping you on the job there are many ways to turn it to your advantage.  This is a necessary strategy to learn as:
A) People will use stereotypes – often with no malice.
B) You're a geek, fanboy, fangirl, otaku, tech-head, game fanatic, etc.  As of this writing people like us do get stereotyped.

One method you may use, when you realize an interviewer, client, or co-worker is accidentally stereotyping you is to dive straight into the stereotype – and find the positive in it.

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“How” is the only sure path to “can’t”

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I talk to a lot of people who are very, very sure of what they can't do in their careers.

They can't be writers.  They can't be artists.  They can't be travel agents.  They have a giant list of can'ts.  It's often larger than their cans.

When I talk to such people, I also learned very quickly that the majority of them really have little or no awareness of the career they've given up on.  They hear something, read something, or make an assumption, and then kill off their career plans right there.

The only way for you to decide you can't do something is to know how it's actually done.

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Stereotype-Fu: A sense of humor

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Continuing my series on Stereotype-fu, let's take a look at another way to deal with stereotypes in the job and career.

I should note that I'm talking about the more innocent (or stupid) ones – not the nasty, negative stereotypes that we all know a bit to well – those that judge people by ethnicity, or gender, region of borth etc.  Those are areas outside the scope of what I'm discussing.

So when you're afraid you're being affected by stereotypes in your workplace, on an interview, etc. another tool is a sense of humor.

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