For nearly two years, I have faced rejection after rejection. Trying to change careers with no official work experience, I have relentlessly applied for jobs and hoped that someone will take a chance on me. I kept being told that I do not have the skills and relevant work experience and it has been implied that my writing talent, Bachelor’s degree, life experience, transferrable skills, hobbies and a proven track record of leadership skills, a great work ethic, and more did not matter.
I have been labelled as one profession and one profession only – a flight attendant – as if I could never do anything else with my life, even though I have an education unrelated to my job or am learning new skills through courses and new experiences. While learning how to face rejection and keep on going to build resilience is part of life, I cannot help but want to give up at times and just be what they say I am.
Some will tell me to keep going, others will tell me to just stick to what I know. The worst part about it is the latter seems more prevalent. However, why should I want to stagnate for a prolonged period of time and prevent myself from growing, from bettering myself?
With that being said, it is time we start seeing labels for what they are: unproductive and unhelpful. While it is understandable to seek a certain set of characteristics, skills, or education as an employer, it is getting more and more challenging to meet the impossible criteria for entry-level jobs out there. Basically, we are expected to work for free for a year or two until we become ‘experienced’ enough to merely get our foot in the door.
So, this is dedicated to whoever has been put in a box and labelled as one-dimensional, to whoever struggles to find a job because they are not an expert in one particular field but know how to do many things, as well as has many transferrable skills and talents.
This is dedicated to whoever feels they should be more. More than being just assertive or just sensitive, more than just emotional or logical. Instead, being both assertive and sensitive at the same time, or both emotional and logical. Whatever it is, being put into a single box as a person is counterproductive.
As people, we have many layers of complexity with different experiences and talents. Therefore, it is time we embrace our multifaceted selves and start presenting ourselves as such. Just because it is more convenient for someone to see us in one type of way, does not mean we have to conform to those standards.
What may be true for one individual, may be the opposite for the other. After all, if two people experience the exact same situation, both are likely to take away different lessons. Just listen to two individuals telling the same story from their point of view.
Because of that, we cannot keep reducing humans to what makes us more comfortable and fills in superficial gaps, whether it is in a professional environment or not. Even if having a structure and some criteria of evaluation helps, heavily relying on that while denying the complexity of human nature should become a thing of the past. So, let’s embrace our individuality and see it as a virtue. Let’s keep challenging the status quo. Because, I am so much more, and so are you.
