Bait and Switch

Barbara Ehrenreich shows how not to look for a job.
By Tyler Cowen and Alan Wolfe
Posted Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005, at 3:33 AM PT



From: Tyler Cowen
To: Alan Wolfe
Subject: Barbara Ehrenreich Shows How Not To Look for a Job
Posted Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005, at 3:33 AM PT

Dear Alan,

I did not expect to like Barbara Ehrenreich's new experiment, recounted in Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, but even so I am disappointed. The main thing I learned is how not to look for a job.

Ehrenreich gives up her identity and sends around a vita for media/public relations work. After a year of looking—with comic adventures along the way—she has no serious offer. She concludes that the white-collar world is one of "economic cruelty."