I attended a former classmate’s wedding bash and asked to meet the lucky man who was now her husband, to offer him my congratulations. She told me it was good to meet him because he was also a headhunter. True, even though I wasn’t desperate for a job it would be good to make first contact with him.
However I think I need to update some of my old friends regarding my career plans, because the first thing my friend said in way of introduction was, “Vanessa is a web designer!”. I immediately received a job offer … to redesign his website.
I haven’t officially been a web designer for, like, 5 years. Yes, in my last job I whipped up web pages and newsletters during emergencies or when there wasn’t anyone else to do the job, but most of the time I would be managing online communication channels, vendors, giving advice on new media strategies, monitoring popularity of our websites and keeping our blogs and social networks going. So I added quickly that I used to do it, but not anymore; I said I was currently doing my MBA at INSEAD. That changed the subject matter of the conversation.
I’m not in denial of what I’ve worked as, but neither do I wish to be pigeonholed in a role that I no longer seek. I still value the substance of good design, and will implement it as far as possible in any work I do. But I think I really need to meet up with old friends more often to make sure their well-meaning statements actually help my positioning ;-)
Thanks anyway, A, and have a wonderful marriage!
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