It’s time to admit we’ve been thinking about professional identity wrong

The pandemic showed us a vision of a world post-stuffy professionalism, and we need to jump in with both feet.

I still remember the writing assessment I was given while applying for my first job out of college at a small PR firm six years ago. There were three pieces for me complete: faux-ghostwriting an executive quote, crafting a two-paragraph company boilerplate and a drafting a sample blog post.

After clinically completing the first two, I felt instinctively inclined to just lean into my personality on the assessment, and have a little more fun with the final portion. I seemed to have good rapport with the hiring manager, and felt like it would go over well and help me stand out, so I worked a “Ghostbusters” and “Friday Night Lights” quote into final assignment (which was a blog post promoting a fake social network for pet photography).

It wasn’t my most sophisticated writing ever, but it was quirky and effective, because it was me. And it got me the job. My first week on the job, my manager confirmed that my willingness to show a sense of humor and not be deathly serious with the assessment was one of the things that sold them on me as candidate.