OVERQUALIFIED:THE BOOK
REVIEW BY AARON CYNIC
The new great American depression has already left millions looking for work and despite all the talk of green shoots and economic stimulus, the unemployment numbers climb upwards each month. The image of Americas crumbling economy looks different from the soot faced men in the unemployment lines of the 1930s. Instead, one might picture a long line of men and women waiting for the fax machine at Kinkos or a packed waiting area for the public computers at a local library. Whatever our job security woes might be, Overqualified is a hilarious diversion while waiting for the latest batch of rejection emails.
By the time most of us hit our mid 20s, weve updated and changed our resumes dozens of times and sent countless cover letters. The cover letter is supposedly the chance for an employer to meet a prospect more intimately than a bulleted resume and a chance for a prospect to show off his or her extra credentials. We all know it doesnt really work that way. Most cover letters are barely scanned by employers. Prospective employees hardly write them. We copy cookie cutter templates about how motivated, hard working and excited we are to work for ABC corporation.
Joey Comeau points out the irony, hilarity and futility of the cover letter by writing the things were all thinking when figuring out how to make us appear more employable. As he says "you write the same lies over and over again, listing the store-bought parts of yourself that you respect the least." What if we wrote what we really thought instead? What if you told Super Colossal Mega Corp what you really wanted and what you really were like?
Some letters were actually sent as a joke, some are entirely fiction. All of them would raise an eyebrow or to in the HR office of any company. Overqualified also manages to weave in a narrative about a man struggling to deal with the loss of a brother, a rocky relationship with a lover, and the other family issues that we pine about from 9 to 5.
If youve ever felt the need to stick it to the man for not hiring you, Overqualified will give you fuel for your fire. Its funny, its sad, its short which are terms all too familiar for anyone whos been laid off recently. If you've ever wanted to tell your prospective employer "If I am in the computers as an employee, it won't see me coming, gasoline can in hand," then Overqualified is for you.
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Aaron Cynic is a zine writer, internet radio host, blogger, musician, and project organizer from Chicago. He mainly publishes a zine and website called Diatribe, which can be found at www.diatribemedia.com, but has published a few other one shot zines. Aaron has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications and sings in a Chicago based band called Burning Luck. His radio show appears Sunday nights at 8pm on Punk and Beans Radio. You can reach Aaron by emailing aaron _ diatribemedia dot com.
OVERQUALIFIED: THE BOOK
Author: Joey Comeau
Publisher: Ccw Press
Publish Date: April 1, 2009
Paperback, 96 Pages
Language: English
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