Book Review: Bait and Switch

Book Review: Bait and Switch: The Futile Pursuit of the American Dream
By the Liberal Arts Dude

In this book (a follow up to the bestseller Nickel and Dimed), Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover, once again, to expose an aspect of the dark underbelly of American society. Whereas in Nickel and Dimed she went incognito as a blue-collar, minimum wage worker, in Bait and Switch, she masqueraded as a white-collar job hunter in search of a solid, middle-class job. “Middle-class job” being defined in this case as paying at least $50,000 per year with health benefits. Because of her background in Journalism, Ehrenreich decided to masquerade as a job applicant in corporate Public Relations.

Ehrenreich followed much of the advice and strategies white collar job-hunters usually undertake in a typical job search. She hired expensive career coaches to help her refine her job-hunting strategy and burnish her image. She spent a lot of money on a new wardrobe and makeup to project a more professional image. She went to networking organizations and meetings to establish a support system with fellow job-hunters as well as seek potential job leads. Although not religious herself, she even went so far as to join Christian-based networking groups. She pored hours over Internet bulletin boards and company websites. She wrote and re-wrote her resume. She cold-called companies offering her services as a PR professional whether or not they have a job advertised. She attended job fairs. She attended PR-specific seminars in the hope of meeting a contact or two that can generate leads for a job. She perfected her sales pitch of herself and her services so she can be ready to network with anyone at any time.

She did the above activities under a pseudonym. She ended, after about a year, with no job offers in her chosen field. The two offers she got were a commission-based sales job for an insurance company which did not provide an office, equipment, or health insurance; and another sales position for a cosmetics company that required putting one’s own money down (almost $2,000) as seed money to start. She rejected both offers and ended up at the end of her book at the same place she was at the start of her undercover assignment—unemployed but at least $4,000 poorer from job-hunting related expenses.

Throughout her experience, she stresses the psychological damage that job-hunting and prolonged unemployment does to her psyche (and to the psyche of the typical white-collar worker). The endless networking, applying for jobs, researching companies and cold-calling only to be met with—not even rejection—but absolute silence, is what makes the process very difficult and emotionally hard. On one hand one is supposed to treat job-hunting as a fulltime job. One is supposed to maintain an upbeat, confident, and “sell myself” attitude. On the other the lack of response from companies (she sent over two hundred applications over the course of a year) except for a postcard or an automated email acknowledging receipt of her application drove her close to chronic depression and anger. The financial instability of unemployment coupled with the stone-cold silence of the corporate world will inevitably strike down even the most peppy and upbeat people.

The book was a quick read for me. I finished it overnight in about three sittings. I found the topic engaging and fascinating, given that I am a white collar worker (albeit in a nonprofit setting); I have firshand experience of the white-collar job-hunt and prolonged unemployment and underemployment (the experiences which have led to this blog); and I am currently studying Public Communications as a part-time graduate student. I found that in the scale of 1-10 in terms of job hunters, Barbara would have easily scored a 10 in terms of the sheer breadth of strategies she employed, how many jobs she applied for, and how willing she was to go in adapting herself to the job-hunting game (to the point of getting a complete physical and emotional makeover). Yet despite all this effort, she still ended up unsuccessful.

What she found was she was not alone. Many of her job-hunting compatriots were middle-aged people who were laid off or downsized out of their jobs. She followed up with many of them about a year after ending her undercover research and found out that many were still unemployed. Those who were employed were working “survival” jobs—jobs meant to pay the bills and far below their professional and educational credentials.

A common thread throughout her book is that she sees the plight of the unemployed and underemployed white collar worker as a social problem. The solution, according to her, is for these white collar workers to unite and band together and, through collective action, make life better for people like them. She says what is needed is a mass discussion of the failures and strategies of the corporate world in taking care of its employees. This is an age of mass insecurity for workers due to corporate policies that are quick to cut employees and their benefits as a way of cutting costs. She says a discussion of the issues among white collar workers along these lines would be a good start. She also recommends the implementation of a universal health care system that is not employer-based as a crucial first step in white collar workers reclaiming their dignity.

A depressing ending to an otherwise fine book. She gives no easy answers and her prescriptions on how to address the issue of the plight of the white collar worker seemed, to me, hollow and unspecific. One thing though—I would recommend the book as recommended reading to anyone who will go through or has gone through the white- collar job-hunt in America. New graduates especially, need a good hard dose of reality and to see the world from this perspective as they prepare to enter the dog-eat-dog world of the marketplace. Will it help them any? I don’t know. But I do know that reading books like Bait and Switch and Nickel and Dimed is a crucial first step in developing a realistic consciousness of oneself as a worker who somehow fits into the Scheme of Things in the national and the global economy.

Copyright 2005

Pro Wrestling and White Collar Work

Why the Work World is Like Pro Wrestling
By the Liberal Arts Dude

One thing that always struck me about the white collar workworld is how similar it is to the world of pro wrestling. You know—the sport of two or more sweaty, muscular men in their briefs or tights grappling each other in an elaborate ritual combat of good versus
evil.

Huh? This is what you must be saying. How on earth can being in the work world be like pro wrestling? Let me elaborate.

The workworld is governed by a set of unwritten rules which everybody knows implicitly and recognizes—but do not overtly acknowledge. Just like in pro wrestling! Here’s an example. Ever wonder why the “babyface” or the good guy follows the rules judiciously while the “heel” or bad guy breaks them with impunity? Because those are the unwritten rules of pro wrestling.

The same way with the workworld. In being interviewed for a job, for example, you’re supposed to wear a business suit, act enthusiastic, exude absolute confidence, and write thank you notes. Because this is what is expected of you as a job candidate. That’s what the unwritten rules say which every serious professional should know about.

It doesn’t matter that in actual hiring, that there are ways to getting around the unwritten rules. Like knowing someone in the organization or company who is willing to vouch for you to get you hired over other job candidates. If you want to play the game of job-hunting you have to play by its rules (or be experienced enough to know the ways to go around them).

Here’s another one: in pro wrestling, you are supposed to fall down and writhe in pain when you get hit by a punch that is in reality, pulled. Same thing in the workworld. When you get hit by a critical comment or negative evaluation by your boss, there are certain ways to react that is correct and professional. Follow the unwritten rules and you will be able to defend yourself and perhaps even redeem yourself.

Of course, part of the unwritten rules is to roll along with the punches—acknowledge the validity of the negative feedback, always be positive, and do not directly challenge the feedback in a way that makes your boss look bad. Do so and you will be in for a real-life fight.

When someone in the workplace says “how are you?” or “how are you doing?” they aren’t really asking how you are. They are following a ritual where you are supposed to respond “doing great!” or some other variation of it. Respond honestly and if what you say is negative you open yourself up to criticism and being thought of negatively by the asker. Unless they choose to cut you some slack. Either way, the power of judgement is with them and not with you.

You’re supposed to wear a costume. For wrestling, if you’re a pretty boy you wear pretty boy costumes. If you’re an ass kicker, you wear a costume that indicates that. If you are comedy relief, your costume will reflect that as well.

In the workworld, if you’re in the corporate world in a senior, managerial position, you had better look the part. That means conservative business suits with little variation. Even if you are in a less formal, nonprofit setting, “business casual” will be your look. Jeans can be OK in “casual Fridays.” But sneakers and t-shirts? No. Under any circumstances.

Some people get a kick by saying “wrestling is fake” or “it’s not real.” Apparently, this is their way of showing how smart they are in saying the emperor has no clothes. We have people in the workworld like that too. They are called whistleblowers. The mild version of that who is not willing to stick their neck out in the open are called the office gossip.

In real life, however, you play the role of whistleblower at your own risk. In wrestling, you suffer no real consequences from wrestling fans if you insist on the fakery of wrestling. In the real world, reveal the secrets behind a facade or point out a facade as a facade and you will be potentially fired or at least you will burn some bridges. Both will affect your employability for the future.

Despite all of this, at the end of the day, work is still work. Unwritten rules aside, you still need to be good at what you need to do. You still need to have organizational skills and people skills. You still need to do the job you were hired to do. In other words, you still need to deliver. Same with pro wrestling. It all may be staged. But the show—the
matches—still need to deliver. You still need to wow the crowd and make sure they are entertained.

Copyright 2005

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Hello everyone

Just wanted to drop a line to the readers of this blog to have a happy and safe holiday season! If you're job-hunting best of luck and hopefully you will get some bites. If you're a recent graduate (yes, there are December graduates) make sure to enjoy the holidays while putting the old nose to the grindstone and pounding the pavement. And if you are a student wondering what life will be like after you graduate, hang tight. Give yourself time to enjoy your last few months in college and party it up. Because it's all downhill after you enter the Big Bad Real World! :-) Hehehehe... I was just half-joking.

Anyway, drink up, eat well, be merry! Have a great holiday season no matter what holiday you celebrate!

The Liberal Arts Dude

PS: Here's an emoticon I've always wanted to use \m/

It's the devil horns hand sign for heavy metal and hard rock. It has nothing to do with Liberal Arts but I thought I'd throw it in for fun!