Of Tools & Relationships

Job Hunting

There is nothing like an unexpected job hunt to throw you into the task of learning (or relearning) a new skill.  Hopefully, for most of us, looking for a job is something we engage in very infrequently. But as anyone who has joined the ranks of the unemployed after a long period of employment knows, much has changed.  Much must be learned.

For one thing, looking for a job in the current age is much more digitally intensive than it was a number of years ago.  Paper resumes are seemingly of limited interest. Potential employers often require all work history to be laboriously plugged into their idiosyncratic web-forms for faster filtering on their part.  Selection often depends on whether key words appear in your materials when the hiring manager runs a query.

Secondly, experience in very narrow areas seems to trump breadth of skills.  I guess because turnover rates are high and employer/employee loyalty is relatively low, there is little benefit seen in recruiting individuals with “potential.”  The long cultivation of talent has often been forsaken and replaced with the search for someone who can “hit the ground running.”

Networking & Human Value

But in some ways, the major components of the job search remain the same.  “Who you know” remains king. The majority of job offers continue to go to those who are known to the employer.  Hence, you cannot go to a career advice website, book, or periodical without reading an extended discussion of the importance of networking.

Here’s where questions begin to ring in my ears.  Any “how to” question raises issues of instrumentality.  What tools and techniques do I need in order to achieve my desired end?  With respect to crafting a well-tuned resume, adapting to the digital revolution, and navigating available job websites, instrumental questions and answers are fine.  But what about when it comes to the question of developing a network of professional colleagues?

As soon as we begin to view networking as a means to an end, we are tempted to treat relationships as means to an end.  Once started down that road, we are tempted to look at people not as ends in themselves, but as tools we can use to accomplish our purposes.  The very idea of networking as a technique for survival in the world of work brings with it dehumanizing baggage. To use Martin Buber’s famous terms, networkers become inclined to “I-It” relationships rather than those he describes as “I-Thou.”

When we begin to view our fellow humans in instrumental terms, we start prioritizing people based on how much they might be able to help us.  We can’t seem to help but assess chance meetings and contacts based on how helpful the relationship might be in advancing our desired ends – whether those ends be a new job, promotion, greater popularity, or just increased personal pride.  Whole swaths of the population are devalued by such a viewpoint.

Jesus & Relationships

In Luke 14, Jesus addresses the problems and temptations of networking by encouraging an approach to relationships entirely contrary to most career advancement advice.  Sitting at a banquet of the rich and powerful he makes a rather surprising statement.

12He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (ESV)

Jesus seems to imply that one of the great temptations in relationships is to view them in transactional terms.  Quid pro quo.  “Logrolling.”  “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”  This practice becomes dehumanizing. The value of an individual is based on what they have to offer and not on the individual as the bearer of the image of God.  Hence it is easy to ignore those seen as having nothing to offer and to jettison relationships that are viewed as no longer “useful.”

Jesus’ solution is to do the exact opposite of the skilled networker.  Build relationships with those who have nothing to offer: the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.  By acting in this way, you avoid the temptation of basing relationships on instrumental grounds. Of course Jesus is not saying have nothing to do with the rich and powerful.  He himself was at an influential man’s banquet when he said these words. However, the approach he advocates ensures relationships that avoid the question of “what can this person do for me?”

Jesus doesn’t imply that there can be no self interest in our actions.  The last sentence in the quote above belies that. Jesus asserts that those who follow his advice will be repaid.  But the source cited by Jesus is anchored where it should be. Those who would follow Jesus’ approach to networking and the job search must look to God.  He is the ultimate source of help. Not only do relationships built on instrumental intents fail, but they tend to steer us away from the ultimate source of help.