How can I avoid being typecast as the physical labor guy?
Are you tired of always being assigned physically demanding tasks just because you are strong? I am a muscular guy who excels in more interactive roles like cashiering, but I constantly find myself stuck with heavy lifting and intense physical labor. Not only is it exhausting, but it can also be detrimental to my body in the long run. How can I break free from this cycle and showcase my intelligence and people skills instead?
#physicaljobs #typecast #strength #smartworking #careeradvice #breakingthecycle #changingroles #physicaldemands #bodyhealth #interactioniskey
Don’t apply for physical labor jobs?
Dress the part
Define very smart
Best advice I ever got was: don’t be good at a job you don’t want. Just show them you are better at something else.
Do it badly on purpose but not too much so that you’re fired just enough that they get someone else
Be smarter.
Strong silent guy but have the best ideas, I was always put in charge of stuff because I was physically intimidating but more so mentally intimidating.
This is me, not a guy though. No suggestions just sorry, friend.
Wear a pair of non-prescription glasses.
>Idk if this is the right place but I’m a pretty muscular dude (above average strength) and I always seem to get assigned to the departments that require the most physically demanding work.
I would say overall this would have more advantages than disadvantages. Unfortunately, people will always typecast you, and if you’re demonstrably strong then people will notice this.
I’ve always managed to weasel my way out of physical labour due to a combination of extreme reluctance and being weak AF.
Drop things. Break stuff.
I’m struggling with fighting against typecasting myself! My resume is chock full of retail, sales, and CSR experience, but I’m trying so hard to pivot out of sales/retail. I get texts and emails daily about insurance sales positions and they’re driving me insane. I just want a cozy office gig where I don’t have to grind for my paycheck
Be the best cashier in the store. Or the best salesperson. Or…
I feel you (but the other way around). As a young petite woman in retail I was often put into the body care and makeup department even though I didn’t give a fuck about those. Women would approach me with questions about makeup and I had noooo clue how to answer. Also customers would always doubt my abilities when I came to help move heavy stuff into their car. Sir, I am a gymnast.
Pocket protector and or calculator in your front shirt pocket, wear glasses. If you’re getting type cast based on visual traits give them other visual traits. Or ask your boss if you can transfer to X job. It’s your call if you want to live like a sitcom or not.
Tell them you have a bad back or a bad knee and can’t do physical stuff.
Second the glasses. 🤓
I know it sounds like a bad joke but it will change people’s perception of you.
What’s the job description of the position you were hired for? If manual labor is not in your job description then simply say; “That’s not in my job description, but I’d be happy to discuss a raise appropriate for the additional tasks you’ve assigned me.” Usually they’ll assign the shit work to someone else rather than paying you more.
If it IS in your job description then you’re kinda SOL…
Get old! That’s what I did.
When you apply for a new job, if it’s at a workplace where some jobs are physical labor and others are not, make it *very* clear to the prospective employer than you are only interested in the non-physical-labor jobs. If the employer offers a work contract, make sure that it is written into your contract that your job duties/responsibilities do not include physical labor.
You could also tell them in the interview that in addition to wanting to do *(whatever kind of work it is in which you are actually interested)*, you have a bad back due to previous physical labor jobs, and so now you are unable to be a physical laborer.
What kind of job do you do now? I mean, I know you said you get assigned to physicaly demanding work, but at what sort of place? You can say the actual employer name if you like, but if not just what sort of place — home improvement store? car dealership? grocery store? etc. And what kind of place/work would you *like* to be doing?
Dress like a dandy fop.
Have some intellectual and professional skill sets.
Highly valued and professional skill sets and certifications are the best way to avoid manual labor.
Take the manager training. Get into excel and start automating the tasks that suck. Or apply for jobs that don’t have a physical aspect at all.
I would push back on this kind of thing. My ex had this done to him where he works because he was a big guy so they would expect him to do heavy difficult things that probably should have involved multiple people and equipment. He finally started to push back on the requests because they were sometimes unsafe and he had back, knee and ankle problems. If they want you doing things that are more likely to cause injury, physically demanding they either need to pay for it if this is part of your job role or stop singling you out based on your size. IMHO any job at a workplace should be set up so most people can do it either with equipment or multiple people.
Where ever you end up & what ever you end up doing – kneeling on concrete, or any hard surface, or on anything damp is a big no no. After nearly forty years in welding/fabrication – & it has to be said riding motorcycles year round in glorious British weather – I have the knees of a 120 year old. Fine when I was young, muscles in my spit & stamina forever, cheerfully ignoring all the old hands who kept telling me to get a leather pad to kneel on or at least some knee pads.
Now I have knees that feel like rotted teeth. Be warned.
I once quit a job because I was always asked to do the physical jobs. Mostly because I was the only full-time male on the premises. All the other males had field jobs and were only at the factory part-time. They hired me back at a higher wage because nobody else could keep up with those jobs.
Let them know when you’re hired that you’re recovering from hernia surgery
Don’t wanna do it- do it bad.
Yes stop working labour jobs.
You should ask for what you need from management and why.
Depending on the job and your boss: a reputation for clumsiness goes a long way to cut down on being given manual labour. Take 1 day a month and do something “accidental”… drop a mug, spill something. Bump someone and drop something
Amazingly people don’t assign you to things when they think you will break it
Also happens to just big fellas, I have never been turned down in an interview for a job at 6’4 250 I can pick it up, whatever it is, and they know that. The job changes as to what they need and it Always pays less than infinitely easier jobs.
Fight the good fight brother.
Use big words. Say pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, and say you can recite the quantum chronodynamic guage invariant Langrangian in your sleep.
Yeah it sucks man. I work in a team with usually fairly equal parts men and women. At the moment it’s 4 men and 3 women. Whenever there’s really hard physical tasks it’s always “allright fellas” get to it. I’ve started complaining/refusing some tasks. That’s the first step. Sometimes a manager will just keep doing what works and if you don’t complain they might not even realise it’s a problem. “I have a bad back” is one way to lighten the load. Another problem is looking younger than you are. I’m 45 but look younger, so I get that “get in there youngin’ ” bullshit too. Nah, I’ve done my turn at wearing my body down, too old for injuries now thanks.
It’s hard I’m a ex rugby boy but with uncommon tickets. My boss gives me as much upward movement as she can but has told me that she can’t replace me. I’m happy where I am for know as I have a half and half job but I can see myself having to leave to go any higher which sucks as I have a good situation.
I was that guy in my department. I worked in a home improvement store where you ‘save big money’. Our department covered paints and stains, groceries, and pets. I always got the tasks of climbing the rolling steps to overstock dog food, colorant, canned goods, moving pallets of bottled water, birdseed, paint.
Nope and you get penalized double for being tall.
Get hurt. Workers comp will change your typecast real quick.
Took me a long time to get an office type job after years of labor work. What I did was only put apps for office types of jobs. I focused on what I did in college. For work skills I only spoke about experiences that geared toward the office at work such as computer skills at work and team work through diplomacy. Eventually I got an entry level job and that led me to getting a better clerk position at a better company.
I mean, if you are so smart, are you communicating your needs and preferences well? Use those intelligent social skills you’d like to be using with customers, and talk to your managers.
At the same time, someone who is big and strong IS better suited to the more difficult physical tasks, you, like anyone are simply craving a varied workload and changes of scenery to break up the monotonous labor tasks.
You will likely have to assert yourself and attempt to help them understand you several times, as they will have a hard time comprehending someone big and muscular as having feelings, and like, being human.
Tell them you have chronic back pain.
I’m tall and kinda strong. Has always equalled that I’m supposed to do all the physical part of my female coworkers’ jobs.