Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America has taken on the role of undercover reporter in the job-seeking world again in Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream. Her second book follows the formula of the first, and I found the entire approach an upsetting primer in how NOT to get a job.
Ehrenreich’s perilous process is as follows:
1) Suspect the worst of “corporate America” and of work life in general. Believe that work is an entitlement, and that any company that expects more than 9 to 5 from its employees and guarantees anything less than a lifelong commitment is contributing to the general anxiety of America’s white-collar populace. Please, don’t consider work a potential source of enjoyment, affirmation, sense of self-worth, and feeling of meaning and accomplishment.
2) Assume a false identity that downplays your biggest achievement to date. If you are a successful writer, revert to your maiden name and craft an identity as a PR professional and event planner, playing up a minor feature of your resume in order to break into another industry.
3) Knock networking. Diss your fellow participants as drab, droll, and dearly misguided—and be convinced that they are only interested in selling you their product or service.
4) Be intent on thwarting the support that is offered to you. When a coach offers you a model or method for approaching your experience (personality tests, for example), critique the coaching industry as a whole, the specific tool in question, and the coach’s personal ethic and morals rather than looking sincerely at your own blocks or issues (such has your ill will toward business, bosses, or authority in general—see #1) that may legitimately stand in the way of you being gainfully and longitudinally employed.
I found the book humorous, despite the continuous attack on people who genuinely seek to support others in their careers.
It is Ehrenreich who has orchestrated a “bait and switch” at every stage of her game. More importantly, she misunderstands the essence of the real transformation happening in America. Whether the people at the top of corporations masterminding the changes Ehrenreich suggests are cutting the middle class off at the knees and creating a class of pertpetually in transition white-collar workers are truly as evil as she believes is irrelevant.
The reality is that big businesses are shrinking and can’t be counted on for lifetime employment, while small business and entrepreneurship is on the rise. Increasingly we will all need to function as corporations of one — people who are aware of our skills and gifts, adept at representing ourselves and our value accurately, and intent on creating truthful and mutually beneficial relationships inside and outside of our lives as businesspeople.
