Human's are complex social beings and each individual has a unique set of strengths and talents. However, this complexity is incompatible with how the labor market works. Specifically it's incompatible with how labor is commodified.
Let's use a tech parallel to explain how labor is treated as a commodity. Take Docker for instance. Docker commodifies applications by wrapping them in a uniform interface. The whole point is that packaging up the whole app into a standardized container makes it easier to work with. You don't have to care about the internal complexity of the application, you interact with all Docker containers the same way.
Commodification of goods goes hand in hand with the mass production of goods and the ability for markets to function. Think of commodity markets as an example. Oil is traded in barrels, a standardized container for oil, and at regulated grades. This makes buyers confident that they are getting what they're paying for when they buy oil. One barrel of sweet crude is just as good as any other barrel of sweet crude. We trade commodities as a means to an end.
The problem happens when we do the same to people. The debasement we feel during the hiring process is due to how people are treated as a commodity. Take the resume as an example. The resume is an abstraction of you as a person. It helps HR and hiring managers sort through candidates because of the way it abstracts labor. But at the same time, it reduces a person to a list of bullet points on a page or two at most. There is a stark contrast between the whole person as a living breathing human being and a list of bullet points. Some people find being treated as a means to and end humiliating.
I think by now you can choose others parts of the hiring process and use this lens to see in which ways people are treated as commodities.
I expect to get reactions along the spectrum from "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Of course that's how it works!" to "Huh, I never thought of it that way before." Both are fine. I've heard it all.
