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Down and Out in the New Economy: How People Find (or Don’t Find) Work Today
What does it mean to market yourself as a business in today's job search world?
Finding a job used to be simple. Now . . . well, it’s complicated. In today’s economy, you can’t just be an employee looking to get hired—you have to market yourself as a business, one that can help another business achieve its goals.
That’s a radical transformation in how we think about work and employment, says Ilana Gershon. And with Down and Out in the New Economy , she digs deep into that change and what it means, not just for job seekers, but for businesses and our very culture. In telling her story, Gershon covers all parts of the employment she interviews hiring managers about how they assess candidates; attends personal branding seminars; talks with managers at companies around the United States to suss out regional differences—like how Silicon Valley firms look askance at the lengthier employment tenures of applicants from the Midwest. And she finds that not everything has though the technological trappings may be glitzier, in a lot of cases, who you know remains more important than what you know.
Rich in the voices of people deeply involved with all parts of the employment process, Down and Out in the New Economy offers a snapshot of the quest for work today—and a pointed analysis of its larger meaning.
Finding a job used to be simple. Now . . . well, it’s complicated. In today’s economy, you can’t just be an employee looking to get hired—you have to market yourself as a business, one that can help another business achieve its goals.
That’s a radical transformation in how we think about work and employment, says Ilana Gershon. And with Down and Out in the New Economy , she digs deep into that change and what it means, not just for job seekers, but for businesses and our very culture. In telling her story, Gershon covers all parts of the employment she interviews hiring managers about how they assess candidates; attends personal branding seminars; talks with managers at companies around the United States to suss out regional differences—like how Silicon Valley firms look askance at the lengthier employment tenures of applicants from the Midwest. And she finds that not everything has though the technological trappings may be glitzier, in a lot of cases, who you know remains more important than what you know.
Rich in the voices of people deeply involved with all parts of the employment process, Down and Out in the New Economy offers a snapshot of the quest for work today—and a pointed analysis of its larger meaning.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published April 12, 2017
18 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 10, 2017
An anthropologist’s view of the job seeking/hiring process. It makes me extremely happy that I am close to retirement. There’s been a sea-change in how people look at the process:
With this change in orientation, companies have encouraged job seekers to change their self-view as well. Instead of the “renting your time to your employer” model that has held sway since the Industrial Revolution, job hunters are now encouraged to think of themselves as their own businesses, “Me, Inc.” They must now seek to show that they are the “best fit” business-wise for a potential “partner.”
This basically means that each of us is an independent contractor, responsible for our own health care and retirement costs. The unequal nature of the relationship renders employment unstable at best, temporary at worst.
After reading this volume, I am quite skeptical of LinkedIn as a venue to find employment. All I can do is repeat what I said above: Thank goodness that I’m only a few years from retirement!
…in the mid-twentieth century, corporations believed that shareholder value depended on the ways in which a company contributed to stable careers and stable communities. Since then, corporations have changed their philosophies—their present concern is with keeping their stock prices as high as possible.
With this change in orientation, companies have encouraged job seekers to change their self-view as well. Instead of the “renting your time to your employer” model that has held sway since the Industrial Revolution, job hunters are now encouraged to think of themselves as their own businesses, “Me, Inc.” They must now seek to show that they are the “best fit” business-wise for a potential “partner.”
This basically means that each of us is an independent contractor, responsible for our own health care and retirement costs. The unequal nature of the relationship renders employment unstable at best, temporary at worst.
For the most part, consideration and respect for job seekers was thin on the ground, and having a thick skin for being treated shabbily is a necessity for people actively looking for work these days.
After reading this volume, I am quite skeptical of LinkedIn as a venue to find employment. All I can do is repeat what I said above: Thank goodness that I’m only a few years from retirement!
September 9, 2017
Helpful to read if you are anti-LinkedIn like me but now I keep one for personal reference of my work history, maintain zero connections, and use a free professional headshot that I got from my last job which I found out usually costs $244.00 :o but Idk..............................I'm tired of social media :(
This update marks my return, sort of, to Goodreads (?)
This update marks my return, sort of, to Goodreads (?)
April 1, 2025
main point: under neoliberal capitalism, we are forced to see ourselves as a business - constantly enhancing ourselves, self-branding ourselves, making networks, showing the impact of our work
(researched on white-collar workers, managerial class, tech&business in the Bay Area)
recommend for people who are interested in theories of workplaces, hiring, and LinkedIn
(researched on white-collar workers, managerial class, tech&business in the Bay Area)
recommend for people who are interested in theories of workplaces, hiring, and LinkedIn
June 11, 2017
I'm really glad I don't use LinkedIn.
Read
March 4, 2025for my class :( so bad
Read
March 5, 2025if i could rate this negative stars, i would
June 7, 2017
Given my anthropology background, I thought a book about recruiting and HR written by an anthropologist would be fascinating. Unfortunately this book was dull and difficult to get through.
November 29, 2019
I absolutely loved reading this book, not because it offered up good reasons for how job searches are typically conducted these days or explained how to best position yourself in the hyper-connected (and highly competitive) world of job hunting. No, the reason I loved this book is the author's genuine scepticism and persistent questioning of how we have reached a point where seeking a new position in a company has become some weird bird-of-paradise dance, with all kinds of tactics, insider tips and second guessing, when in fact most hiring decisions are totally subjective, grounded in the antagonistic motivations of the people making the decision and above all chance.
Having hired people in the past, I feel like I was able to create a process that fairly compared similar candidates across numerous vital areas: ability, communication, attitude, creativity and ambition. While scoring candidates on these metrics was important, interviews were positive experiences for all parties and resulted in even rejected candidates sending thank you notes for the opportunity and helpful feedback that we could provide. In contrast, I can't think of any time when sitting in the interviewees chair that it's felt like a positive dialogue and it's always struck me as such a strange thing - why? From this book, I see the reasons are many, but more than anything, people are nearly always rubbish at interviewing because they don't like doing it. It's seen as a chore, something they would rather not have to do and in the end, more interviewers don't even form a concrete opinion. They fall back on the tried and tested safe option; say no.
So back to the book - while the focus may be on the US market, it does appear to be relevant elsewhere, particularly in the analysis of the role LinkedIn and the Internet has come to play in the hiring process both from the job seekers and recruiters perspectives. While there are all kinds of tips and guides on how best to put yourself out there, it's actually still totally ambiguous how people are supposed to interact with the wider world whether they are currently in a role or not. Those working but looking to move are playing one game, having whispered conversations about potential new roles while showing full commitment to their current employer. Those not working and looking play another game, doing all they can to come across as totally cool with their situation despite the fact they see new roles everyday they could do in their sleep but then don't get contacted when submitting their version of a two-page biography. Why might that be? There are a million different reasons, but what it comes down to is chance.
Finally, what I liked about this book is that the author doesn't simply accept the recent trends in hiring that she has identified and debated. She pushes back, explaining that while businesses may like to treat their employees like businesses when it suits them, convincing those employees to think of themselves as businesses can have dangerous consequences. For instance, businesses go bust everyday - in fact most businesses fail, but what happens when that business is an individual? They lose their confidence, their sense of purpose, their health, their home...maybe more. Companies with short-term goals aren't very interested in long term commitments to their people. But people are the only thing that can give meaning to any goals, short or long term. As such, maybe it's time for leaders to remember that people matter above all else, made up of every individual that enters their sphere of awareness in any given moment. The easiest place for them to start is at home, with their teams, their departments and across their entire organisations.
Having hired people in the past, I feel like I was able to create a process that fairly compared similar candidates across numerous vital areas: ability, communication, attitude, creativity and ambition. While scoring candidates on these metrics was important, interviews were positive experiences for all parties and resulted in even rejected candidates sending thank you notes for the opportunity and helpful feedback that we could provide. In contrast, I can't think of any time when sitting in the interviewees chair that it's felt like a positive dialogue and it's always struck me as such a strange thing - why? From this book, I see the reasons are many, but more than anything, people are nearly always rubbish at interviewing because they don't like doing it. It's seen as a chore, something they would rather not have to do and in the end, more interviewers don't even form a concrete opinion. They fall back on the tried and tested safe option; say no.
So back to the book - while the focus may be on the US market, it does appear to be relevant elsewhere, particularly in the analysis of the role LinkedIn and the Internet has come to play in the hiring process both from the job seekers and recruiters perspectives. While there are all kinds of tips and guides on how best to put yourself out there, it's actually still totally ambiguous how people are supposed to interact with the wider world whether they are currently in a role or not. Those working but looking to move are playing one game, having whispered conversations about potential new roles while showing full commitment to their current employer. Those not working and looking play another game, doing all they can to come across as totally cool with their situation despite the fact they see new roles everyday they could do in their sleep but then don't get contacted when submitting their version of a two-page biography. Why might that be? There are a million different reasons, but what it comes down to is chance.
Finally, what I liked about this book is that the author doesn't simply accept the recent trends in hiring that she has identified and debated. She pushes back, explaining that while businesses may like to treat their employees like businesses when it suits them, convincing those employees to think of themselves as businesses can have dangerous consequences. For instance, businesses go bust everyday - in fact most businesses fail, but what happens when that business is an individual? They lose their confidence, their sense of purpose, their health, their home...maybe more. Companies with short-term goals aren't very interested in long term commitments to their people. But people are the only thing that can give meaning to any goals, short or long term. As such, maybe it's time for leaders to remember that people matter above all else, made up of every individual that enters their sphere of awareness in any given moment. The easiest place for them to start is at home, with their teams, their departments and across their entire organisations.
May 2, 2020
Rather than giving advice, this narrative is about the advice given; it looks, from an anthropologist’s point of view, at employment in the workplace of America’s corporate world.
If resumes and interviews don’t provide the information needed to make well-informed hiring decisions, what options are available to the job seeker? Are all prospective employees equal players in the employment game? What happens when the advice benefits the company more than the job applicant?
What skills do you need? Should you specialize or become a jack-of-all-trades? Or should you focus on what services you can offer to the company? Do you think of yourself as a business?
Being hired seems to be a complicated process, one with no singular right or wrong way in the approach. Everyone may complete the same standardized form, but everyone must also find a way within the confines of that standardization to show their own distinctiveness.
With the Internet advertising available positions and the ease of online applications, job seekers should be aware that the hiring manager might not ever see their applications. So how do those seeking employment make certain the right people in the company notice their applications? Is networking truly the most reliable tool for being hired? Should job seekers consider such options as developing their own personal brand in order to sell themselves to their prospective employers? And just what constitutes a good employer/employee relationship?
Explore the benefits and handicaps of tools such as LinkedIn; consider endorsements and recommendations. Examine second-order information, how you present yourself on Facebook, and whether or not your profile picture represents you in the best light possible.
In today’s world where hiring practices often mean more than just the application form and interview, job seekers must also consider social media, personal qualities, what happens when they get the job, when a job is simply a stepping-stone, and how leaving a company may have become the new normal in today’s job market.
At a time when so many people are finding themselves unemployed, there’s much to consider in this informative and timely review of hiring trends and practices.
Chapter notes and an extensive bibliography are included following the narrative.
If resumes and interviews don’t provide the information needed to make well-informed hiring decisions, what options are available to the job seeker? Are all prospective employees equal players in the employment game? What happens when the advice benefits the company more than the job applicant?
What skills do you need? Should you specialize or become a jack-of-all-trades? Or should you focus on what services you can offer to the company? Do you think of yourself as a business?
Being hired seems to be a complicated process, one with no singular right or wrong way in the approach. Everyone may complete the same standardized form, but everyone must also find a way within the confines of that standardization to show their own distinctiveness.
With the Internet advertising available positions and the ease of online applications, job seekers should be aware that the hiring manager might not ever see their applications. So how do those seeking employment make certain the right people in the company notice their applications? Is networking truly the most reliable tool for being hired? Should job seekers consider such options as developing their own personal brand in order to sell themselves to their prospective employers? And just what constitutes a good employer/employee relationship?
Explore the benefits and handicaps of tools such as LinkedIn; consider endorsements and recommendations. Examine second-order information, how you present yourself on Facebook, and whether or not your profile picture represents you in the best light possible.
In today’s world where hiring practices often mean more than just the application form and interview, job seekers must also consider social media, personal qualities, what happens when they get the job, when a job is simply a stepping-stone, and how leaving a company may have become the new normal in today’s job market.
At a time when so many people are finding themselves unemployed, there’s much to consider in this informative and timely review of hiring trends and practices.
Chapter notes and an extensive bibliography are included following the narrative.
April 17, 2018
An anthropologist takes a look at modern hiring and jobseeking, particularly the role that technology like LinkedIn plays in the process. I expected more on the impact of the gig/sharing economy on employment as a whole.
February 11, 2018
If you are perplexed by the new economy, this is a must read.
April 25, 2019
Not my type of book. School reading that I think wasn't for me.
July 19, 2019
Not useful.
August 23, 2019
A few months later I've basically forgotten about this book, which is pretty much right. It's a book-worthy topic but the research underpinning this one is limited in space and time (so maybe not very generalizable) and it didn't add up to a very coherent story.
Three things I learned:
1. Granovetter’s famous “weak ties” are less less important today, because *discovery* of open positions is not a challenge due to the Internet (same is true for discovering workers to some degree)—instead direct workplace ties that can vouch for your skills are now more important
2. More applicants for each job today + more information per applicant (both driven by the Internet)-> more screening for “reasons to say no” rather than yes, which leads to a more homogeneous pool, making it harder to stand out
3. LinkedIn sparked a massive social innovation -- it became acceptable to current employers (even desirable in some fields) to have your resume available publicly for others as “professional networking” (also making it easier for other employers to hire you away)
Three things I learned:
1. Granovetter’s famous “weak ties” are less less important today, because *discovery* of open positions is not a challenge due to the Internet (same is true for discovering workers to some degree)—instead direct workplace ties that can vouch for your skills are now more important
2. More applicants for each job today + more information per applicant (both driven by the Internet)-> more screening for “reasons to say no” rather than yes, which leads to a more homogeneous pool, making it harder to stand out
3. LinkedIn sparked a massive social innovation -- it became acceptable to current employers (even desirable in some fields) to have your resume available publicly for others as “professional networking” (also making it easier for other employers to hire you away)
Read
May 26, 2017650.14097 G381 2017
Read
March 9, 2018Cool perspective on what it requires to get a job in the new gig economy. Provides solid perspective of what candidates go through as well as internal hiring procedures.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews