1 Performing Professionalism
What is professionalism? How do we define it? What does it look like in particular circumstances and for different people?
Learning Objectives
- Craft and perform your professional identity in response (and/or resistance) to market logics.
- Compose at least one updated version of your resume that reflects your professional identity, experiences, skills, education, and employability.
- Become comfortable writing formal letters and emails.
Capitalism shapes how we answer the questions above. Market logics ask us to regard both things and people as commodifiable. In the future, you may enter a workplace or other professional setting that is premised on market logics. It makes sense, then, to reflect on how a market-based economy embraces certain professional values—including what some people call “grit,” “resilience,” and “professional behavior.”
Our rhetorical response to such market-based expectations is to encourage you to consider how identity/identities are tied to the exchange of goods and services. Part of your professional identity involves reflecting on those ties and then deciding how you will perform “professionalism” in different spaces, places, and times.
Genres You’ll Practice
- resumes
- formal letters (including cover letters)
- emails (including those composed on mobile devices)
Contemporary Conversations
In the following examples, consider the way definitions of and behavior associated with “professionalism” may be affected by market logics.
- “‘I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.’ This Is What It’s Like to Be a Teacher in America.” [Time]
- “There’s no job better than another…every job is worthwhile…” Actor Geoffrey Owens speaks out, responding to job shaming and backlash after a photo of him working at a grocery store was posted online. [Good Morning America]
- Amazon is raking in billions of dollars, while some of its employees rely on food stamps just to get by. [MSNBC]
Professional Writer Spotlight
Below are quotes from our interviews with Frank, Anthony, and Ava, each of whom write professionally in for-profit and/or non-profit organizations. We don’t necessarily endorse each of their opinions below, but we think it’s worthwhile for you to know how actual professional writers think about how to perform professionalism. Their perspectives come from having worked as professional writers in the world for at least the last 12 months or more.
Frank, on Grit and Resilience
“We had, both of my kids were swimmers. They both swam in college. So I know a lot about swimmers. We hired somebody a couple years ago who was the captain of her swim team at Miami. And the reason that mattered to me when I read that, in part, it’s cool. Because we’re gonna have to work with these people, but you’re looking for people that’ll be fun to be around.
But I also know that people who are swimmers get up early in the morning. I know that they have a crazy workout schedule. They have to compete with pain. It’s completely a mental game, because the competition is all about you, you’re the one who’s gotta touch the wall before the next guy. And if you’ve ever watched people on the block, when there’s been kind of a delay before they hit the horn, there is simply nothing that is more nerve-wracking than being on that block. And yet these are people who did this from the time they were little kids. And it doesn’t mean that they’re gonna be a great lawyer, or even a nice person, but it does tell you something about their personal grit, their personal resilience, their commitment to a task. And you find that in a bunch of different disciplines.
When I see resumes, people who played in symphony orchestras, same thing. Because that’s who they were. When you see people who have military service, that’s a big deal, because they had to flourish in an environment that doesn’t really care what you think. And that’s not the environment we want, but if you can do that, I know you can do this. So I definitely want to see things that communicate whatever it is that makes you unique. And hopefully something that tells me that I know you can, that you’re a stand up person. You’ll be able to get by when things are tough.”
Anthony, on Cover Letters
“Specifically within the Google network, I had a friend of mine who worked there and recommended me for a job. And it didn’t pan out but…when she was recommending for me to do this, she told me that specifically at Google and within startups they have their own version of resume logic that they follow. And people who haven’t done their research and haven’t applied knowing that, are generally tossed aside pretty immediately. So there’s, that was totally mind blowing to me…”
Anthony, on social media presence outside of work
“And that was something that we…really diligently observed and kind of looked through with new employees to make sure that their social media presence…wasn’t offensive or potentially problematic for the organization once they came on…People share all this information out in the world and you like to kind of get a sense of someone’s personality and Googling them, interviewing them, all this content can tend to pop up…You know, we would like to get a sense of who we hired before um …But as far as the city goes, you know, we’re to not ever cross the two worlds. Whatever…you say on behalf of the city as a city employee…you’re in one camp for and the other half is your private life. So, you are not permitted to cross the two.”
Ava, on Professional Profiles like LinkedIn
“I would keep it very professional I wouldn’t have anything outlandish on your LinkedIn or anything that’s not business professional because a lot of people are using it like Facebook lately and I don’t like that. And also I would definitely under every job put a very detailed job description because some recruiters will recruit you from a LinkedIn profile instead of finding your resume somewhere. So they’re treating that as your resume. So you should have a very detailed job description…in your LinkedIn profile. I would say above all treat it like a resume.”
Tactical Questions
- When working within the standard written genre conventions of resumes, formal letters, emails, and text messages, how can you maintain (or convey a sense of) who you are and what you value?
- Consider the consequences of changing the genre conventions of your resume, cover letter, and/or professional emails, especially in light of different stakeholders’ responses—e.g. How would a boss perceive you versus a family member? What decisions do you feel you must make about your document design(s)/professional identity after considering these consequences?
- What institutions and/or structures shape how you understand “professional behavior”? What’s considered “normal” professional behavior? What are the consequences of participating in structures that reinforce normative notions of professionalism? What might it look like to resist such structures?
Expectations and standards for behavior in professional settings, including timeliness, ability, and efficiency in producing work. These standards are culturally informed; that is, they vary depending on workplace environment, leadership, and the cultural background those around you and you yourself carry.
The rules of efficiency, productivity, austerity, and competition that inform corporate behaviors in a free market economy. These logics permeate other institutions when we take up their values in our practices and behavior.
A political/economic model of organizing production around private ownership and wage-labor. Characterized by working class exploitation where individuals sell their labor to those who own and control capital. Though it has roots in class-based market economics of the past, modern industrial capitalism is 200-300 years old, with its strongest characteristics emerging from the industrial revolution. This model affects not only economic interactions, but social and political ones as well.
Written communication for both internal and external audiences, the platform for which can differ depending on workplace. Email is a medium of communication, rather than a genre, since it can look very different depending on workplace norms, management expectations, audience, and security/confidentiality.
An informal form of communication, texting is typically used internally among coworkers around or outside of official communicative channels. Norms for texting differ depending on management expectations and security/confidentiality.