Looking for a job is tough, and, as resources dwindle it is difficult not to panic. Things you may not have noticed about yourself are made resoundingly clear when you parade around town as a prospective employee. You don’t have ANY shirts orpants that fit and that DIY haircut isn’t fooling anybody.Having gone on my first “real” job interview (meaning: not a job in food service) I can honestly say that I was fully unprepared to explain myself in intelligible, concise sentences to a complete stranger. I didn’t realize until the interview was over that I was meant to “sell” myself. This may seem obvious to all you MBA’s graduating today, alas, it is the obvious that is so often overlooked.You’ll be happy to know I was called back for a second interview. I walked myself right down to SEARS and bought an outfit from their assortment of petite professional wear. Thus equipped, I felt I could pass as the amenable to superior direction “creative” type.

The interviewing process is difficult for both parties. It calls upon the bottom line of “likability” while attempting to weigh equitably the merits and potential of a given candidate. For those under scrutiny, it often feels like you must pretend to be what you think people want in order for them to choose to find out who you “really” are. Which, translated back to modern culture-speak means we have to sell ourselves. That’s right, it all boils down to branding. That simplistic under-pining of consumer logic which I loathe. I sympathize with our presidential candidates right now, running the gauntlet of public appeal, creating a persona that people expect to see in order to inspire the ephemeral flicker of “electability”.