Ofer Sharone
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226073361
- eISBN:
- 9780226073675
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226073675.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
American white-collar job seekers engage in the “chemistry game,” a set of job search practices premised on the idea that getting hired requires more than presenting one’s skills; it requires ...
More
American white-collar job seekers engage in the “chemistry game,” a set of job search practices premised on the idea that getting hired requires more than presenting one’s skills; it requires presenting oneself––the person behind the skills––and establishing interpersonal fit. The focus on chemistry is not inherent to white-collar job searching in advanced economies. Israeli workers looking for similar jobs under similar economic conditions engage in a very different “specs game,” which focuses on presenting one’s skills and credentials and requires masking the person behind the skills. These job-search games are the products of different labor market institutions, and they generate different unemployment experiences. Unemployed American white-collar workers are vulnerable to highly personalized forms of self-blame and often end up feeling deeply flawed, while unemployed Israeli workers often report feeling dehumanized and invisible. Losing at the chemistry game produces self-blame; losing at the specs game produces system-blame. American blue-collar job seekers engage in yet another distinct job search game, focused on displaying their diligence, which generates a distinct unemployment experience. Stepping back, the book shows that understanding the experience of unemployment requires looking beyond global economic forces or national cultures and closely examining the specific institutions that structure the day-to-day activities and strategies of job searching. At a broader level, this book develops a theory of the mechanisms that link the objective structures and subjective experiences.Less
American white-collar job seekers engage in the “chemistry game,” a set of job search practices premised on the idea that getting hired requires more than presenting one’s skills; it requires presenting oneself––the person behind the skills––and establishing interpersonal fit. The focus on chemistry is not inherent to white-collar job searching in advanced economies. Israeli workers looking for similar jobs under similar economic conditions engage in a very different “specs game,” which focuses on presenting one’s skills and credentials and requires masking the person behind the skills. These job-search games are the products of different labor market institutions, and they generate different unemployment experiences. Unemployed American white-collar workers are vulnerable to highly personalized forms of self-blame and often end up feeling deeply flawed, while unemployed Israeli workers often report feeling dehumanized and invisible. Losing at the chemistry game produces self-blame; losing at the specs game produces system-blame. American blue-collar job seekers engage in yet another distinct job search game, focused on displaying their diligence, which generates a distinct unemployment experience. Stepping back, the book shows that understanding the experience of unemployment requires looking beyond global economic forces or national cultures and closely examining the specific institutions that structure the day-to-day activities and strategies of job searching. At a broader level, this book develops a theory of the mechanisms that link the objective structures and subjective experiences.
Ofer Sharone
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226073361
- eISBN:
- 9780226073675
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226073675.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter explores the distinct job search strategies and unemployment experiences of American blue-collar workers. Labor market institutions in this context shift the focus away from both ...
More
This chapter explores the distinct job search strategies and unemployment experiences of American blue-collar workers. Labor market institutions in this context shift the focus away from both subjective chemistry and objective specs and instead make salient a “diligence” filter where getting hired is widely understood to depend on whether the job seeker is perceived to be a reliable hard worker. In a surprising finding, American blue-collar job-search experiences are more parallel to those white-collar Israelis than to those of their American white-collar compatriots. Drawing on in-depth interviews with blue-collar job seekers the data suggest that similarities in unemployment experiences are rooted in structural similarities between the specs and diligence job search games, including the nature of the required emotional labor and the perceived importance of job search strategies in determining the outcome. Taken together, the cross-class and cross-national comparisons suggest that to understand unemployment experiences the analysis must move beyond culture and class to the specific job-search games unemployed workers must engage in when looking for work, and the concrete labor market institutions that structure such games.Less
This chapter explores the distinct job search strategies and unemployment experiences of American blue-collar workers. Labor market institutions in this context shift the focus away from both subjective chemistry and objective specs and instead make salient a “diligence” filter where getting hired is widely understood to depend on whether the job seeker is perceived to be a reliable hard worker. In a surprising finding, American blue-collar job-search experiences are more parallel to those white-collar Israelis than to those of their American white-collar compatriots. Drawing on in-depth interviews with blue-collar job seekers the data suggest that similarities in unemployment experiences are rooted in structural similarities between the specs and diligence job search games, including the nature of the required emotional labor and the perceived importance of job search strategies in determining the outcome. Taken together, the cross-class and cross-national comparisons suggest that to understand unemployment experiences the analysis must move beyond culture and class to the specific job-search games unemployed workers must engage in when looking for work, and the concrete labor market institutions that structure such games.
