Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

Taking Care of Business

Bait and Switch Book of the Month: May 2006

Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream

Author: Barbara Ehrenreich

Publisher: Metropolitan Books

So, what happens to you when you’ve done everything right, followed the rules, embraced organizational loyalty as a show of strength, achieved a college degree, mastered a set of competencies and built the kind of resume that would make Einstein nervous? You’ve done all that and still find yourself banished from the corner cube because the company is shedding its ‘surplus’ employees. What’s an unemployed white collar employee to do? Barbara Ehrenreich painstaking trek along this recently discovered path is a journalistic triumphant answer to that question. Bait and Switch goes beyond the usual bullet point declarations of how ‘not’ to do something and into the hearts, minds and fears of shattered good life dreams.

Ms. Ehrenreich’s account of her transitional relocation into the shadowy world of the covert career seeker takes the reader on a fast pace romp through the modern day carnival of job fairs, boot camps, guru lead motivational sessions, image makeovers, career coaches and other acclaimed snake oil charlatans who charge an arm and a leg to run you through a maze with no clear ending. The reader is forced into the stark realities of false promises and cheer leading as part of a promising support network should the corporate pendulum cut the last thread of that rope known as job security. There are two clear themes that connect several of the real life characters in this new club in which Ms. Ehrenreich is an honorary member. It is clear that, (1) many of the white collar unemployed don’t know how to find a job and, (2), what is known isn’t helpful at all. Consequently, there is openness to anything because it feels like you’re doing something. Spinning your wheels in a mud hole, at least, gives the illusion of movement.

Make no mistake, Bait and Switch is equally gripping and humorous and stands as a steady reminder that the rules for middle class success have changed sharply over the last decade. The void created by job loss is not quickly filled by job replacement, but by ‘networking’ opportunities. As a writer I never understood what benefits I would derive from the advice of other unpublished writers and so it stands to reason that I don’t really get what benefits come from networking with other unemployed people. Ms. Ehrenreich confirms my suspicions while at the same time throwing a cautionary to the reader to ‘Beware of guru’s bearing books’.

I would recommend Bait and Switch as required reading for the freshman at a local community college enrolled in his/her first business course and on up to the seasoned corporate manager still unconvinced that these experiences happen to other people. Bait and Switch will have a long shelf life because the content is timeless and the message is timely.