shopping cart CART ITEMS: -
| CHECKOUT
Conferences Series Events
SPACE   |   EVOLUTION   |   PHYSICS   |   SOCIAL SCIENCES   |   NATURAL SCIENCES   |   DNA   |   PSYCHOLOGY   |   BIOTECH   |   MEDICINE   |   ANTHROPOLOGY   |   ASTRONOMY
INTERNET   |   NEW MEDIA   |   START-UPS   |   PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY   |   WIRELESS   |   COMPUTING   |   ENGINEERING   |   CEOS
RELIGION   |   GAMING   |   FILM   |   FASHION   |   SEX   |   PHILOSOPHY   |   EDUCATION   |   HISTORY   |   ARTS   |   MUSIC   |   TRAVEL   |   PHOTOGRAPHY
Watch Now

Barbara Ehrenreich

4
Likes
0
Dislikes
RATE
16,821 Views

  • Info
  • Bio
  • Chapters
  • Highlights
  • Transcript
  • Download
  • More
Please or register to post a comment.

LEX6819 Avatar
LEX6819
Posts: 2
Posted: 08.24.10, 07:43 AM
While I sympathize with the predicament of Gen-Y, graduating into the worst recession in decades, with piles of student loans and only "McJobs" at the end of the tunnel, I think the whole idea of getting a "job" has jumped the shark. No "job" should be the end in itself. The job should be where you learn your strengths, familiarize yourself with a market of buyers, and make entrepreneurial plans based on knowledge acquired on the "job". People who still expect the college degree to be the path that leads to a job are missing the boat. The job is the path that leads to the idea that leads to the new business venture, that leads to a "real" income and middle class lifestyle. So what if you have a degree in advertising and the ad agencies are laying off, and closing whole divisions. Seth Godin has far more useful things to say to you than does Ms. Ehrenreich. The TV-industrial complex is dead, traditional publishing is dead, traditional banking is dead -- the list goes on and on. Go ahead and get a job you're overqualified for, and learn as much as you can about the needs of the market you serve. That is the way to find opportunities you can exploit. Gen-Y must become Gen-Linchpin if it has even the slightest hope of a future. If you're going to join an organization that wants to turn back the clock to the 1960s when the employer-employee relationship was cradle-to-grave loyalty, with predictable raises and status conferred by college degrees, you're dreaming. The future won't look anything like that.
Permalink
McGruff Avatar
McGruff
Posts: 24
Posted: 10.26.06, 12:25 PM
I second rocketdog's remark. It may certainly be true that many people remain underemployed in jobs they assume they are theoretically qualified for, but it is certainly possible that many of these people are simply trying to get into the wrong profession. Just as an introverted, creative person may find a hard time finding employment as a PR representative, an outgoing extrovert may not be the best fit for a job as a writer, editor, or etc. There are exceptions to these broad generalizations, to be sure, but as Ehrenreich's book draws these same sorts of generalizations I don't think I am getting out of line here. We can't all be doctors or lawyers, or even white-collar PR representatives. And that is a good thing.
Permalink
rocketdog Avatar
rocketdog
Posts: 211
Posted: 10.13.06, 10:31 AM
I'm going to have to question Eherenreich's conclusion that businesses are looking for extroverted, outgoing people exclusively at the expense of traits like creativity and skill. Isn't it true that your options for employment depend to a huge degree on the type of jobs you're applying for? Ehrenreich's study involves one person (Ehrenreich herself) applying for allegedly hundreds of jobs as a PR representative. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't extroversion and outgoingness qualities you would want in a PR representative? She points out that her resume doesn't exactly indicate that she's suited for this job. If that's the case, then how is this book supposed to be conclusive of anything? If it's Ehrenreich herself who isn't personally qualified for the job she spent a year trying to get, then I'm not surprised it didn't work out. I'm guessing if she applied for a job as a journalist this would have been a much shorter book.
Permalink
bigbigbrain Avatar
bigbigbrain
Posts: 3
Posted: 10.09.06, 05:03 PM
On the topic of employers being more interested in personality than ability, I'm really creeped out by how it seems that all businesses want someone who is "very outgoing" and who "loves to meet people". It's possible to be perfectly skilled at Customer Service without possessing either of those traits...I don't know when extroversion became the new favorite personality type (maybe with the advent of reality tv, where all the people are more or less that way), but I wish more employers would realize that both types of people, introverts and extroverts - and people who are in the middle, like maybe moi - can be good employees.

Was that a thread hi-jack, I hope it wasn't. Am I only supposed to talk about Ehrenreich's speech, or can I digress a little on what other people have said?

As far as her speech goes, I thought it was dead-on and I love the fact that someone has recognized this problem of well-educated people in their twenties being out of work, and even started an organization to help them. I guess it's a drawback to so many people being educated and all wanting similar jobs...
Permalink
savageb Avatar
savageb
Posts: 67
Posted: 10.02.06, 10:59 AM
Erhenreich's description of the business world is both ironic and frightening. Anyone who has recently graduated has encountered at least some of these situations if not worse. She explains that experience can be bad, employers are more interested in your personality, rather than your ability or talent, dress codes often determine your status and work compatibility. She offers advice for what she calls the "working poor," people who are college graduates and graduate students who are still working at Starbucks. She even started a networking organization called United Professionals to help those who are in the situation.
Permalink
Advertisement
NO ADS + DOWNLOADS + HQ VIEWING
UPGRADE TO FORA.tv PLUS
JOIN NOW >>

Recommended

Zadie Smith: On Beauty Zadie Smith: On Beauty
00:42:26 min | 40,180 Views
Jane Poynter: Inside the Biosphere Jane Poynter: Inside the Biosphere
00:44:56 min | 8,775 Views
The Audacity of Hope The Audacity of Hope
01:06:45 min | 64,661 Views
Harry Shearer Harry Shearer
01:01:29 min | 2,336 Views
High Tech Trash High Tech Trash
00:50:25 min | 1,310 Views

Get Our Free Newsletter

Advertisement