Non-traditional work is finally getting the popularity it deserves in the company world. Today, caregivers and stay-at-home mothers can post their experiences on LinkedIn. But what about divorcees?
An promoting executive says his divorce was the worst job he ever had – so he added the job, like several other, to his LinkedIn profile.
“Make no mistake, it was an unpaid job with unreasonable hours,” Karl Dunn wrote in a private essay for Business Insider.
Dunn was director of brand name innovation at promoting giant Saatchi & Saatchi before his divorce. The divorce was so stressful that it affected his performance and he was eventually fired, he says.
“I turned my workroom into a toxic environment with daily rants about my divorce,” he explained, adding that along with his day job, he was putting in 20-hour weeks on divorce matters, including “never-ending office work.”
“Like many divorcees, I was self-medicating my anxiety, suffering from insomnia, battling the worst depression of my life, all while running a multi-million dollar global business.”
Dunn’s divorce has been happening for five years now, and he now works as a contract executive creative director. It was only two weeks ago that he decided to list the event as work experience on LinkedIn.
“Although my divorce was often a painful marathon, it ultimately helped me a lot in my career,” he adds. “You can’t outsource your divorce, you can’t delegate it, you have to drive the bus yourself.”
Skills gained through divorce: endurance training, anger management and law
Like another job you’d list on LinkedIn, Dunn highlighted the talents he learned through the yr and a half he went through his divorce, including “endurance training” and “anger management.”
Karl Dunn—LinkedIn
“I lost track of the number of desks I didn’t throw through windows. After a few rocky first months, I was able to successfully conduct sales presentations and sell campaigns while keeping my inner anger outside the boardroom,” he wrote.
He said he had learned some legal basics in “months” and in addition “how to spend a 12-hour day with an average of three hours of sleep.”
“When you’re working full time and spending 20-plus hours on your divorce, there’s no time off,” he adds. “Divorced people, especially divorced parents, become masters at getting it over with and putting it behind them.”
By listing your divorce, you’ll be able to stand out to employers
Although Dunn’s disclosure of her divorced life story appears to be a primary on LinkedIn, LinkedIn didn’t reply to Fortunes Please comment on how rare that is – divorces have gotten an increasing number of common.
Accordingly a report According to a study commissioned by Hearst Publications, as much as 70% of an organization’s workforce has passed through a divorce – or has been affected by a detailed colleague going through one.
And in Dunn’s eyes, highlighting your experience of marital failure on the networking platform – like several other profession setback – can actually increase your possibilities of getting hired – or at the very least expand your network.
Immediately after he made his divorce public on the app, other divorcees began messaging him, Dunn said.
“Anyone in your company who is divorced is now probably made of steel and more competent and compassionate than you ever imagined,” he concludes.
“If I had to hire someone, all other things being equal, I would always choose the divorced person.”
