Should I change my name?

Up until recently, I have quite happily lived with my given name of Karen. Although I always found it a little boring and often wished my parents had picked something more elegant or exciting, I never expected my name to be a problem in life.

Suddenly I find myself in need of a new job (or perhaps a complete career change). I haven't had to blindly apply for a position in over 20 years and as I'm overhauling my outdated and rather bland CV, I realise that perhaps my name will throw a subconscious bias into my new and daunting job search. I'm a Karen, Karening towards a new career. I certainly never thought a meme craze would throw my future into a possible new direction.

I am a Karen who does not fit the Karen profile. I'm about as opposite from a Karen meme as you can get. Although I can be assertive, I tend to apologise rather than complain and a recent stint at dog-walking has proven to me that I even care how I sound to dogs. I doubt anyone who knows me, would put me in the Karen meme catalogue.

Is this going to open a whole new career path for me? Perhaps I can fly in on the name and leap totally out of my comfort zone and become a paid complainer. Or perhaps, it will go the other way and no one will hire me in case I turn out to be a typical Karen and destroy their company reputation with my outrage.

In updating my CV, I never in a million years thought that I would be tempted to use my middle name instead. Corona Virus has brought some weird into my life and perhaps a name change will be another weird outcome. Hmmmm, watch this space as I document my hunt for a new career.