{"id":3636,"date":"2025-04-14T19:34:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T19:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3636"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:24:31","slug":"your-skills-not-your-jobs-are-part-of-your-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/your-skills-not-your-jobs-are-part-of-your-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Skills, Not Your Jobs, Are Part of Your Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Rather than focusing on job titles or specific industries during a job search, candidates who imagine how their skills and experience could translate to a variety of roles are better able to bounce back after career setbacks and transition from one professional identity to another.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd<\/a> of the University of Notre Dame said that research he conducted on disabled veterans found that some of them did well in transitioning to new careers after leaving the military, while others did poorly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ones who did poorly looked at superficial links between their previous jobs in the military and the civilian jobs they were considering: \u2018I was a sniper in the army; we don’t need anyone to be a sniper in in civilian life but the police use weapons\u2019 or \u2018I used to drive a tank. What can I do in civilian life? I can drive a bus,\u2019\u201d Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut other people\u2014the ones who did well\u2014looked at it more structurally and said, \u2018In the military, I learned discipline; I learned to be able to attend to important responsibilities for an extended period of time; I learned how to follow orders and execute those things at a structural level, which means that in entrepreneurship, I can do X and Y,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For example, the newspaper, magazine, and publishing industries have been disrupted by the transition from print to digital advertising, the availability of free content, the rise of social media and AI, and other factors, which has lead to a structural decline in the number of jobs in those areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis concept relates to the media landscape; if you lose a career in journalism, you could say, \u2018Okay, I could find something that superficially matches my professional identity, such as PR [public relations] or media relations, or maybe journalism means other things: \u2018I\u2019m an investigator\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m a writer who\u2019s a subject-matter expert on these things\u2014what could that lead to?\u2019\u201d Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it might lead to something that on the surface looks like something very different but that structurally uses the same skills that you used in your previous career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe advice is to try and look at things not just superficially but rather at a deeper level and consider how your skills can transfer to a different career and professional identity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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