No, I'm not talking about prostitution and I'm not actually going to give you tips on how to sell yourself. I'm talking about the medium of networking, specifically for jobs. As business students, we are constantly told to sell ourselves to companies in order to get a job. We need to create an image of ourselves that will sell. The true person inside? Oh no! That won't do at all! They want to see what they expect and they need to hear what they want. Basically...play by the employers' rules, kiss serious butt, and forgo your true self to get the job.
"If you can't sell yourself, you might as well just give up"- this is the message we're bombarded with. So we put on our suits, paint a smile on our face and proceed to be fake. What happened to the days when skills mattered? Why are we managing personal images rather than company assets? How is it that we're putting our focus on people's perceptions rather than the actual job at hand? Why do rumors play as big of roles as they do in our professional lives? Most of us can answer these questions through superficial justifications because we've been trained to believe there is nothing wrong with holding back to gain more.
It's ALL about image control and how people perceive you as opposed to how skilled you actually are. Those who aren't social butterflies will definitely find it difficult to compete in the business world
Is it no wonder that our society is so focused on image when that was the most important thing for the business leaders of our nation?
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