Working Online: An Exploration of Social Recruiting and Digital Marketplaces

Abstract

This chapter evidences how the practices of job search and recruitment within and beyond the networked knowledge economy are being partially or entirely reterritorialised as a result of the intermediation of online resources, and how these are principled on an analogous notion of reputation as value. This is illustrated via the discussion of empirical data from an international study on social recruiting, and a case study exploration of a digital marketplace for contractors, Elance. These examples evidence how the broad knowledge labour market is founded on the logic of the reputation economy and envisages how this promises to remain central in the next decades, simultaneously warning against the risks of an 'algocracy' based on the fetishism for algorithms and online rankings.

Self-branding strategies of online freelancers on Upwork

“…Self-branding is defined as “a form of affective, immaterial labor that is purposefully undertaken by individuals in order to garner attention, reputation and potentially profit” (Hearn, 2010: 427). Conceptualized as a strategic and self-instrumentalizing practice from the start during its emergence in the 1990s, self-branding has become a valuable, intangible form of social capital for aspiring workers, one which they can draw upon to obtain access to new work opportunities (Gandini, 2016b; Gorbatov et al, 2018). While individuals often partake in self-branding practices subconsciously as part of a modern occupational habitus, self-branding is not natural nor is it divorced from an individual’s skill level.…”

“…Because of the competition facing online freelancers for both visibility and reputation, individualized self-branding has become a vital component of finding and securing work (Duffy and Hund, 2015; Gandini, 2016b; Moriset, 2017). As a form of impression management (Goffman, 1958), self-branding refers to the process of marketing oneself using proven techniques to exude a desired persona, which can be embodied using words, images, or behaviors.…”