Once upon a time, employees were able to hang their hats at a company and bank on retirement. This sense of stability and loyalty has all but vanished – as neoliberalism has ushered in an epoch of increased precarity. The modern worker is now accustomed to switching jobs many times in their careers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker born between 1957-1964 held 11.7 jobs amid the ages of 18 and 48. These numbers are only getting worse, as the latest generation of laborers are switching jobs at a rate that nearly doubles that of their parents.
Applying and interviewing for a job are integral aspects of a capitalist economy. Advice for this shadowy process are disseminated under the header of “career development” on college campuses and throughout our communities. The typical workshop provides crucial guidelines to improve the appearance, etiquette, and marketability of prospective employees. Seldom noted among counselors, however, is the fact that the job interview process is humiliating and inhumane.
The means of production (i.e. the resources necessary for our survival – land, raw materials, factories, etc) are owned and controlled by the ruling class. In turn, the masses of people have nothing to offer but their physical and mental labor. A job is an opportunity granted to a powerless laborer by a powerful capitalist to produce wealth in exchange for a wage. Considering this fundamental arrangement, it is inadequate to state we “apply” for jobs. It is more accurate to say we beg for them. Our livelihood is contingent upon the decision of the ruling class to hire us.
The ruling class is not interested in what laborers need for a secure existence; they are only interested in what they need for profit. Desperate for survival, the masses shape themselves in accordance with the needs of employers. Our labor power is exchanged on the market as a commodity. In the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, Marx argues that workers “sink to the level of a commodity, and become indeed the most wretched of commodities.” This debasement of labor is only compounded by a competitive atmosphere which requires advertisement to differentiate products. The same way corporations use catchy lyrics and colorful lighting to attract consumers – workers deploy strategies to entice employers. Resumes are formatted so as to capture the attention of employers. When an employer is interested, we are given the chance to run another advertisement: an interview. We are essentially auditioning for the right to survive. We get all suited and booted, and do our best to impress the guy (more often than not!) with the clip-on-tie on the other side of the desk.
Resumes and job interviews shed light on the reasons our economy needs to be re-organized. Under capitalism, people can only survive if they possess productive labor capacities. For this reason, we boil our entire lives down to a single sheet of paper detailing our skills and accolades. Glossed over by the well-crafted document is our need for food, water, shelter, and health care. At every interview, we are asked “why do you want to work here?” Never are we able to say because we have to feed our families and pay the rent.
Our livelihood should not be hinged upon the anarchic desires of capitalists, it should be guaranteed. We need to construct a society that centers the needs of the masses. Instead of organizing work in such a way that we labor to benefit private individuals known as bosses, production should be socialized to benefit all of society. When we move beyond capitalism toward a more humane society, we can actualize Marx’s idea of “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
November 9, 2016 at 1:44 pm
Nice piece. I definitely agree that the interview process can seem like a plea for a position. Interesting perspective about the idea of applying for a job can feel like begging for a job. I’d like to think that instead of begging for a job; that I’m both selling myself to a job, and being sold the job. I like your writing style.
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November 9, 2016 at 2:54 pm
Thank you Jnaha! I feel you! I was beginning to think you were ignoring me! lol. I like your writing style too!
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November 26, 2016 at 4:00 pm
After graduating college I certainly felt like I was begging for a position, only to find out that even your accomplishments and awards can be viewed as nothing when employers are often looking for a certain “image” within their company. The idea of working 1, or even 3 jobs until retirement is archaic at this point. It’s saddening.
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November 26, 2016 at 4:07 pm
Hmm. Interesting! In your experience, what kind of “image” are employers looking for?
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November 26, 2016 at 4:47 pm
Of course white is ideal for most companies. The more ways to can show you are similar to “whiteness” – I feel that increases your chance. This includes hair and tone of voice. This will get you much further that even college degrees.
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November 26, 2016 at 5:21 pm
I agree 100%. I find myself “managing my blackness” at job interviews and in the workplace in general. I have to take the bass out of my voice, and make sure my hair is “done” (not an afro). And I am a guy, so I can only imagine how this is heightened for Black women. Smh
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November 26, 2016 at 6:31 pm
It’s very heightened. Of course any fro or natural hairstyle will put a black woman at a very strong disadvantage. Being a black woman alone automatically puts one on the bottom rung of the ladder. “Managing” blackness is something all black professional have to understand in America, even though it feels so unfair. It’s either conform or build your own because America isn’t budging smh. I can’t tell you the layers a black woman must put on….I’m sure you can imagine. I don’t wear makeup but to White America, that means you’re “unkept.”
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November 27, 2016 at 8:19 am
I agree with you , we either conform or build our own. Great way of putting it!
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December 3, 2016 at 3:50 am
This is the most comment ever. I like the symbolic make up quotes that is the truth. For me, I just hate it when people.of the fairer skin sees me and they feel like they have to “Black it up” I’m a bus driver (I can’t say for who without getting in trouble but y’all can figure it out) and sometimes I want to tell my passengers that they don’t have to start whistling “Jay-Z” When you get on the bus. Because when you were outside of the bus, you wasn’t whistling Jay-Z.
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December 3, 2016 at 3:51 am
The realist*
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December 3, 2016 at 8:18 am
Lol! Wowwwwww!
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December 3, 2016 at 2:10 pm
That’s real bro. I encounter similar dynamics. I feel like some young people start using slang with me and only me, whereas they do not with other people
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December 3, 2016 at 2:13 pm
Shit is annoying. Do u think it’s shame or guilt?
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December 3, 2016 at 2:16 pm
Probably a little bit of both and feeling comfortable around another black person and having a desire to connect on another level
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December 3, 2016 at 3:47 am
And that’s the sad truth brotha. My brother and I play basketball with this young dude Matt who is 24. He is in law school and he just passed the bar. He had an afro and he is biracial. Due to Kaepernick he said he felt like he had to cut his fro off because he knew none of his white counterparts would take him seriously. It was a nice 1970s esq fro. Clean and neat. I feel for our brothers and sisters with dreads or braids who feel that they have to cut off their natural hair to excel in a country that they were born in.
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December 3, 2016 at 2:09 pm
Damn. That’s wild. I would love to have an afro and sport a dashiki, but like you said, it is not taken seriously. It is a cultural bias and racism at the end of the day. I see people sporting dashikis today but i think those are fads, not cultural statements to be honest
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December 3, 2016 at 2:12 pm
Most def it is. I’ve always had a dashiki and Kenta cloth as well. I don’t mind the extra attention of it but I do mind the fad part of it. Like only rocking a dashiki because it matched your air forces smh hahaha that’s what I mind
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December 3, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Lol yeah I see way too much of that
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November 27, 2016 at 5:23 pm
All of this is accurate Darryl. This is what happens when you commodify people. You’ve described everything very clearly and I agree with you and Soulance’s assessment of managing blackness. I’ll add that you’d be proud of me. This last job I told the person I was here to pay my rent. We’re friends, so I felt comfortable to say that, but you’re right. Most wouldn’t appreciate this blatant answer. Most jobs/careers want you to feel “passionate” about begging for money. Such a matrix we’ve all designed and perpetuated.
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November 27, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Thank you Dr. Garland!
I agree – most employers are using these interviews to gauge how “passionate” we are.
What disturbs me is that a lot of companies, when trying to fill a position, post only the job description – not the wage/salary or whether or not benefits are being offered. Employers are now at the point where they believe our survival is secondary to our “passion” for the job. It is only near the end of the interview (after you have danced around and begged for 45 minutes!) that they decide to bless you with this crucial information. They honestly think we should just want to work there without first considering our needs! And some of the time, the wage/salary is embarrassingly low .. to the point where if we had that information to begin with, we never would have applied. But I imagine that is the reason they withhold the information.
I am glad you were able to be honest at your job interview! I hope for a day where that is the norm. I hope for a day where fulfilling our needs is more important than the profit of a few.
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November 27, 2016 at 10:49 pm
With age, I learned not to stress in job interviews.
Basically, I take the attitude that I am checking THEM out to see if I want to work there.
In that way, I am taking the upper hand. LOL!
Always a pleasure love 🙂
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November 28, 2016 at 10:38 am
Lol!
That is a good attitude to take. All of these self-help books and college campuses have us on the defensive – but it is much more productive to be offensive, that way we are not nervous. We have to be willing to check them because work takes up a huge percentage of our time (people spend more time at work than at home in some cases) – so we really do need to take the upper hand! =D
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November 29, 2016 at 9:48 am
Absolutely, you’ll be stuck with these folks for awhile so it’s best to ‘interview’ them too! LOL!!!
Fact is, you guys are already qualified, hell the interviewer could see that based on your resume. So I say to my dear millennials: You take the driver’s seat and make sure that a potential employer is one that YOU like.
My son is approaching graduation from college and this is exactly what I am telling him 🙂
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November 29, 2016 at 4:52 pm
Lol I can dig it! Put them on the hot seat as well! Sound advice to your son 😀
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November 28, 2016 at 10:58 pm
sad truth
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November 29, 2016 at 5:14 pm
😢😕 yeah for real
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December 5, 2016 at 11:23 am
I’ve found the best technique for job interviews is to go with the purpose that I am interviewing the employer. Is this someone with integrity I can help out and maintain integrity and a certain degree of happiness as well. But I do think this technique requires a faith in God, a good and loving creator or whatever you want to call it. Knowing that your needs will be provided and that there is more, much more, to maximizing business efficiency and profits. I don’t know how Marx would take this prerequisite though:)
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December 5, 2016 at 11:39 am
Hello!
Thank you for the wonderful advice! I try to keep that in mind on interviews – as people spend more time at work than they do at home in some cases, so it is important to be comfortable there. It is definitely important to “vet” potential employers! =D
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December 13, 2016 at 9:21 pm
“At every interview, we are asked ‘why do you want to work here?’ Never are we able to say because we have to feed our families and pay the rent.”
True story. The whole post is a true story, unfortunately. I hope things will change one of these days. Maybe it will take some of us who think this way to be owners of our own businesses and build a new model where integrity can be put into place from the door.
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December 14, 2016 at 12:08 pm
Good point! I can see the value of going into business for ourselves – if and only if we, as you said, “build a new model”. To me, that means building an alternative to capitalism. I do not think capitalism with a black face is better than what we have now. Black capitalism will still exploit our brothers and sisters and not be a system where “integrity can be put into place from the door”. I think we have to move beyond this entire system of economics. Kwanzaa is coming up and one of the principles is Ujamaa: cooperative economics (as opposed to competitive economics). This is something to consider. I hope things will change, too.
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December 14, 2016 at 6:32 pm
Yeah you’re right. I think we would have to play the game for awhile to build the wealth in order to build a new model and I’m thinking that’ll take a long time for that to happen but not impossible. Probably not in our lifetime though but we can always start to plant the seeds.
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December 14, 2016 at 7:05 pm
I agree! We have to smile and play along for a bit. Rome was not built in a day and anything that is worth sustaining for the long haul has to build gradually.
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