I think it’s appalling that people are afraid to be themselves, particularly online, because they fear judgment by hiring managers and recruiters. While the fear is often abstract, it is certainly not unfounded in today’s world thanks to Facebook and Google. When I was growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, I do not recall my elders saying that I should modulate my words and behavior for the benefit of a gatekeeper behind a computer screen. It just wasn’t a part of the culture back then.
What my mentors did tell me is to be myself and that it would be a mistake to spend my life trying to please others by being someone I’m not. I still hear this all the time, but it’s never the advice given to a job seeker. Any advice related to maintaining’s one’s individuality and integrity goes out the window in a professional context. For example, sometimes at networking events people will stop talking to me in the middle of a sentence to go chase someone they deem important to their job search. This is not considered rude or unusual. Job seekers, including myself at times, will also dress in ways they never dress normally, exaggerate their accomplishments, and use corporate speak the way a backpacker uses the local tongue. It’s a form of (lifeless) theater.
We fail to question the implications of hiding who we are for the sake of a job. A job should work for us as much as we work for it. But this is very often not the case: a Gallup poll in 2017 found that only 30 percent of American employees are engaged in their jobs. Worldwide, the number drops to 15 percent.
A lot of the explanation for these numbers rests on the personality flaws of supervisors and substandard working conditions more generally, but the bigger issue is the way we betray our true selves to please both the gatekeepers and bosses alike. It would not be a stretch to say that some of us willingly sacrifice our souls for the sake of a job—any job. We act as if life is, to quote the movie “Little Miss Sunshine,” “one fucking beauty contest after another.” I do not recall signing up for any beauty contest.
I have no solution to this problem other than socialism—and most Americans either hate it or don’t understand it (usually both)—so instead I’ll just offer some words of encouragement that are reminiscent of Tyler Durden’s words from “Fight Club”: you are not your (empty) bank account, you are not your (threadbare) khakis, you are not the contents of your resume, you ARE a lonely and unique snowflake!
Make sure every glorified gatekeeper and belligerent boss knows it.
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Matthew Johnson is a writer, editor, and UX designer. He has published numerous academic articles, op-eds, and sponsored posts. He is co-author of the 2018 book Trumpism: The Politics of Gender in a Post-Propitious America. He has also served as an educator in a variety of contexts.
What my mentors did tell me is to be myself and that it would be a mistake to spend my life trying to please others by being someone I’m not. I still hear this all the time, but it’s never the advice given to a job seeker. Any advice related to maintaining’s one’s individuality and integrity goes out the window in a professional context. For example, sometimes at networking events people will stop talking to me in the middle of a sentence to go chase someone they deem important to their job search. This is not considered rude or unusual. Job seekers, including myself at times, will also dress in ways they never dress normally, exaggerate their accomplishments, and use corporate speak the way a backpacker uses the local tongue. It’s a form of (lifeless) theater.
