Curriculum Vitae: Confessions of Faith in the Labour Market

Abstract

Typically the CV is criticised as self-aggrandisement or the commodification of the self for the market. Building on emergent research on jobseeking, both off and on-line, this chapter examines CV advice books and the interface of LinkedIn as a networked platform. Moreover the CV is explored here as a confession of the self; not just as a profession of faith in the self and the market, but as a process of self-scrutiny and reflection which avows unemployment as a personal fault. Following a longer history, the CV is an inheritor of the demand to ‘tell the truth about the self’ which is a transformative trial for the self, in a power relation, once with an abbot or priest, but now with a work coach. Furthermore, the audience of the CV is not always embodied, but distant – God or the Market is the judge of the worth of the person and the truth of their confession. Thus, the CV is not a neutral representation, but entices individuals to internalise the perspective of potential employers and the judgements of welfare officials.