You Must Think Happy Thoughts

Begun on April 15.

I am referring to the BS exercise that is the normal application process for a job, not to the PC environment of certain companies. (Can the corporate workplace be compared to a totalitarian regime in that respect, with HR and management functioning as thought police?) One has to express a desire to further one's career, an interest or belief in the company and its mission, dedication, and so on. How do those seeking work without wishing to compromise their integrity or ideals succeed, when they cannot beg for work? It seems to me that today hiring one's self out is not the same as before. It is more difficult to do so and one has less opportunities to prove one's self based on ability, product, and experience alone.

It is not enough that you give your labor, but you must also hand over your mind and soul to your employer. Modern-day professed enthusiasm for the company, the work, the product and the mission trumps any old-fashioned work ethic (Catholic or Protestant).

It seems to me that a white collar wage slave must be able to talk about grandiose life plans and implicitly show a desire to make the company's meaning and purpose one's own in order to be hired. Without a social network or valuable personal recommendations, can an employer really evaluate the character of a prospective employee? I imagine that the gatekeepers in HR are impressed with those who successfully BS them about fulfillment. Maybe I'm wrong about how much the initial HR review of a resume and cover letter gauges interest and "compatibility." The interview will give various people a better idea of what a person is like, with respect to social skills and interest, and an employer, when choosing between candidates for a position will probably want someone who wants to be there at the company and is thinking of working there for a while. They may want to find motivated workers, but duty doesn't count enough.


 
It reminds me a bit of universities and of medical schools, which no longer serve the local community by finding someone who wants to stay in the area and is suited for the work, but choose applicants based on other considerations, including enhancing their admissions profile.

Perhaps the technogeeks are doing what they like; is this true of everyone else in the white-collar sector, working for large companies? How much of the work being done in the (post-)industrial economy is truly useful or beneficial for society? (I.e. furthering the common good and our ultimate end, as opposed to promoting consumption for the sake of production?)


Once hired, a male in most corporations is neutered -- unable to openly express what one believes or feels; going along to get along is the SOP and necessary for keeping one's job. In a PC work environment, there is thought control -- one can't think bad thoughts. Otherwise one may lose one's job on the basis of some excuse (or worse, a false accusation of harassment or some other PC crime).
Am I too much of an outsider, relying too much on the experiences of others and my own imagination to write this?

Something from Common Dreams:
Delusion and Denial Part 1: Work, Jobs, Careerism, Charity
by Kristine Mattis