I’d like to think that in a post-privacy, radically transparent world, it will be a trivial matter to verify any information on a job application or resume. Hopefully this will mean less need to sell oneself in an interview …

I had hoped this would be the case, too — and also that, once verified, the list of skills and academic coursework I have on my resume would speak for itself. (This was while looking for highly technical research-lab jobs … if there is any kind of job where personality takes a backseat to ability and training, those would have been it). Yet I found that wasn’t the case. The one place that actually gave me a reason for not hiring made a point of telling me my qualifications were great — it was my personality that was the deal-breaker.