Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding : A Linguistic Perspective [1 ed.] 9781443884587, 9781443876544

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Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding: A Linguistic Perspective By

Jolanta Łącka-Badura

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding: A Linguistic Perspective By Jolanta Łącka-Badura This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Jolanta Łącka-Badura All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7654-2 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7654-4

“The only thing your competitors cannot copy – your only truly unique and lasting competitive edge – is your people.” – J. Leary-Joyce 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures.............................................................................................. x List of Tables .............................................................................................. xi Introduction ............................................................................................... xii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................ xix Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1 Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective 1.1 Employee recruitment: definition, aims, and methods 1.2 Recruitment advertising 1.2.1 The content and design of recruitment ads: a HRM perspective 1.2.2 Job advertising - a marketing perspective

1.3 Recruitment advertising on the Web 1.4 Job advertising and employer branding 1.4.1 The concept of employer branding 1.4.2 Recruitment advertising as a channel for employer branding 1.4.3 Job branding

1.5 Concluding remarks Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 29 Discourse, Genre, Register: A Review of Concepts and Approaches 2.1 Discourse 2.1.1 Different approaches to discourse analysis 2.1.2 Organisational/workplace/business discourse

2.2 A genre-based view of discourse 2.2.1 The concept of genre 2.2.2 Discourse communities, collectives and networks 2.2.3 Genre sets, systems and colonies 2.2.4 Promotional genres 2.2.5 Genre analysis: move/step approach

2.3 Register perspective 2.3.1 Genres, registers, styles 2.3.2 Register analysis

2.4 Web-mediated communication 2.5 Concluding remarks

Table of Contents

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Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 56 Persuasion and the Language of Values 3.1 Persuasion and promotion 3.1.1 Persuasive and promotional strategies 3.1.2 Linguistic tools of persuasion

3.2 Language of values and evaluation as mechanisms of persuasion and promotion 3.2.1 Evaluation in linguistic studies 3.2.2 The language of values: orientations in axiological linguistics 3.2.3 Values and value appeals in advertising

3.3 Organisational values 3.4 Concluding remarks Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 82 The Discourse of Recruitment Advertising: A Genre-Based Analysis 4.1 Job advertising as discourse 4.2 The genre of recruitment advertising 4.2.1 Rationalising job advertisement as a genre 4.2.2.Rhetorical structure of job advertisements

4.3 Concluding remarks Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 108 The Register of Recruitment Advertising 5.1 Situational characteristics 5.2 The lexico-grammar of job advertising 5.2.1 Positively charged lexis 5.2.2 The grammar of job advertising

5.3 Evaluative signals in the register of job ads 5.4 Concluding remarks Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 129 Persuasive Strategies Used in Recruitment Advertising 6.1 Job advertising as a paradigm case of persuasion 6.2 The 4 Ps, AIDA, DAGMAR 6.3 Linguistic tools of persuasion: Mulholland’s tactics 6.3.1 Positive self-presentation of the communicator 6.3.2 Building a common ground/solidarity with the recipients 6.3.3 Enhancing persuadees’ position or status 6.3.4 Offering benefits/incentives 6.3.5 Encouraging addressees to take action 6.3.6 ‘Universal’ persuasive tactics

6.4 Concluding remarks

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Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 153 Employer Values and the EVP 7.1 Employer values 7.1.1 Employers’ business profile and market position 7.1.2 Corporate vision, strategy, culture, and values 7.1.3 Customers 7.1.4 Employees 7.1.5 Local community and other stakeholders 7.1.6 Employer values – summary of results

7.2 The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) 7.2.1 Rational/functional benefits 7.2.2 Emotional/psychological benefits 7.2.3 Core employee benefits - discussion

7.3 Concluding remarks Summary and Conclusions ...................................................................... 193 A Model Employer Branding Advertisement Appendix One.......................................................................................... 202 Appendix Two ......................................................................................... 210 References ............................................................................................... 211 Index ........................................................................................................ 229

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2-1. Perspectives on written discourse analysis (Bhatia, 2004: 19) Figure 2-2. Colony of promotional genres (Bhatia, 2004: 62) Figure 2-3. Components of a register analysis (Biber and Conrad, 2009: 6) Figure 4-1. Sample of a print job advertisement. The Financial Times, 19 January, 2012 Figure 4-2. Online job advertisement excerpted from the online edition of The Daily Telegraph, at www.telegraph.co.uk, accessed on 15 January, 2012. Figure 4-3. A customised online job advertisement excerpted from www.careerbuilder.com, accessed 15 January, 2012 Figure 4-4. Intertextual relations within the job search genre system Figure 4-5. Moves and steps in JA180 Figure 8-1. A model employer branding advertisement

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1-1. The content of job advertisements: summary of different models. Table 1-2. The content of job advertisements: general model (based on the summary provided in Table 1-1) Table 2-1. Defining characteristics of registers, genres, and styles (based on Biber and Conrad 2009: 2, 16) Table 4-1. Rhetorical structure of job advertisements: analytical model Table 4-2. Distribution of MOVES in the corpus Table 4-3. Distribution of STEPS in the corpus Table 7-1. Neutral nouns referring to employers, with evaluative modification Table 7-2. Categories of positive attributes referring to employers’ market position Table 7-3. Examples of evaluative structures modifying the nouns team/employees/staff Table 7-4. Employer values: summary Table 7-5. Employee benefits promised in JAs

INTRODUCTION

In the era of increased global competition and rapidly changing business environment, corporate success depends to a large degree on recruiting and retaining high-quality individuals whose contribution will add a considerable value to the employing company or institution (Cooper et al. 2003; Newell 2005). Organisational scholars claim that recruitment through advertising is probably the most frequently used method of attracting candidates in the last few decades (e.g. Cooper et al. 2003; van Meurs 2010). Numerous studies in the field of Human Resource Management confirm the high status of job advertising among external recruitment methods, both from the point of view of employers and potential candidates (Aswathappa 2007; Byars and Rue 2000; Dale 2003; Dessler and Phillipps 2008; Roberts 1997; Ryan et al. 2000; Thoms 2005; Wiktorowicz 2009). In this connection, employment ads should be regarded as socially significant texts, produced and/or consumed by a large proportion of job market participants. It may thus be surprising that, although the study of recruitment as an academic pursuit has increased considerably over the past decades, one of its key methods, i.e. recruitment advertising, seems to have been neglected by researchers. Some organisational scholars indicate that academic interest in job advertising is clearly insufficient, resulting in a lack of adequate empirical research and, consequently, limited amount of literature (e.g. Arcodia and Barker 2002; Belin and Wang 2010; Ryan et al. 2000; Secord 2003). Not so long ago, Asprey (2005: 268) made the following observation: “Recruitment advertising has always been seen as the poor relation to ‘mainstream’ advertising. This is reflected in the availability of reading resources about recruitment advertising – only a handful of books are available to buy which are even vaguely related to recruitment advertising, and nothing new has been published since 1994”.

Apart from being somewhat neglected by organisational scholars, job advertising seems to remain a rather unexplored territory in linguistic studies as well (if compared with product and service advertising). The above is despite the fact that HR researchers and practitioners investigating

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various recruitment methods, including employment ads, emphasise that the effectiveness of the latter largely depends on the language used to communicate the message to potential candidates (Arthur 2006; Asprey 2005; Barrow and Mosley 2005; Brown and Swain 2009; Cooper et al. 2003; Dale 2003; Foster 2003; Gáowicka 2009; Hornberger 2010; Martin and Hetrick 2005; Rafaeli 2001; Taylor 2005). Among the relatively rare examples of linguistic research related to recruitment advertising, Bruthiaux (1996), investigating the linguistic simplicity in the discourse of classified advertisements, proposes the core components of classified job ads. Bruthiaux (2005) offers some comments on the differences between classified job advertisements and other types of classified ads, indicating a markedly lower degree of text condensation and syntactic minimalism in the former text type. Bhatia (2004) classifies job ads as primary members of the colony of promotional genres, beside marketing-type advertisements, promotional letters and job applications. Fairclough (1995) discusses several interesting instances of academic job advertisements and the latter’s propensity to become increasingly promotional. Wolny-Peirs (2005) examines the language of success in a variety of text types, including job advertisements. As regards the studies that place recruitment advertising at the centre of attention, SkibiĔska (2002) examines the evolution of the genre of job advertisements in Poland after the year 1989, demonstrating how the structural components and their linguistic realisations changed together with the development of the capitalist market. Solly (2008) uses a small corpus of print ads advertising primary school teaching posts to investigate the way schools’ identities are presented and shaped by the ads; Loth et al. (2010) apply state-of-the-art text-mining techniques to the analysis of a corpus of job advertisements, aiming to extract the ‘ontological’ features of the jobs announced. Drawing on the framework of axiological linguistics and the conceptual theory of metaphor, àącka-Badura (2012a) investigates the linguistic representation and idealised cognitive model of an employer reflected in job advertisements; in a later study (2013), the author examines the realisation of indirect speech acts and their persuasive potential in recruitment ads. At the intersection of business and academic discourse, àącka-Badura (2012b) analyses the textual conventions of academic discourse reflected in academic job postings, whereas in (2014b) the author investigates English-language academic job announcements placed by higher education institutions in 5 Anglophone and 26 other countries, with a view to determining whether the job ads in modern academia may plausibly be regarded as acultural. Closely related to the

xiv

Introduction

subject of the present study, àącka-Badura (2014b) examines the extremely positive nature of the business register identified in job ads; the author’s later paper (2014c) reports on a comparative analysis between recruitment ads and the ‘central’ promotional genre, i.e. marketingtype/commercial advertisements. Two studies are particularly worthy of mention in connection with the present work, highlighting (as does this book) the less obvious communicative functions of recruitment ads. Norlyk (2006) investigates the use of narrative elements in job advertisements, and the former’s role in transforming the post-modern job ads from traditional logos-based messages to texts relying on pathos appeals; addressed at both external and internal audiences, job advertisements are seen by the scholar as revealing the presence of different occupational cultures within organisations, serving as examples of linguistic manifestations of those cultures. Askehave (2014) views bank manager job advertisements as conveyors of certain beliefs and values, rather than simply conventional textual manifestations of recurrent recruitment practices in the banking context; besides promoting the available position, recruitment ads simultaneously portray the ‘real’ bank manager. The ethnographic analysis reveals that such ideological construction may lead to different perceptions of the desirable candidate among potential male and female applicants, encouraging the former to apply, and discouraging the latter. The above mentioned papers and book chapters notwithstanding, the only larger, comprehensive, monograph-length work (known to the author at the time of writing) devoted entirely to the discourse of job advertising, is the study by van Meurs (2010), who investigates how, why, and to what effect English is used in job advertisements in the Netherlands. Three perspectives are adopted in the study: that of the sender of the job ad message, the message itself, and the perspective of the target audience. The analysis reveals that most senders use English in Dutch job advertisements consciously, assuming that understanding English (or partly English) ads will pose no comprehension problems for the receivers. The reasons for using English provided by job ad makers encompass both symbolic and non-symbolic ones. From the perspective of the target audience, it was found that the use of English had little effect on attitudes towards the ads, and no effect on the recruitment outcomes. The study provides a good reference point for the investigation of the use of English in job advertisements (and professional communication) in other countries and cultures. Without aspiring to be complete and exhaustive, the present book seeks to contribute to the body of research summarised above, investigating the

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genre and register of recruitment ads, with particular emphasis on their employer branding function. The corpus analysed for the purposes of the book was gathered in two stages; in the period from July 2010 to April 2012, 400 job advertisements were extracted at different time intervals from five Internet sources: the job sections of the Internet editions of three British quality newspapers: telegraph.co.uk, guardian.co.uk, and thetimes.co.uk, as well as two popular British job search websites: jobsite.co.uk and totaljobs.com. In order to ensure sufficient diversity, balance, and representativeness of the corpus, an equal number of 80 texts were retrieved from each source, with great care taken to spread the sample evenly across various types of jobs and different sectors of the economy. No other selection criteria were used in the compilation of the initial corpus. In view of the aim of the present study, i.e. investigating recruitment advertising as an instrument of employer branding, the second stage involved a selection of those ads that could plausibly be regarded as performing (at least potentially) an employer branding function. Since it would be hard to classify anonymous ads as ‘branded’, only texts revealing the names of the employing organisations were deemed relevant for the analysis, forming the final corpus (henceforth referred to as the corpus) comprising a total of 236 ads.1 The final size of the corpus comes to 74,949 running words, placing the sample in the category of small, specialised corpora (cf. e.g. Nelson 2000). Corpus researchers investigating specialised language samples indicate that, depending on the text type and length, a corpus of 20,000 – 50,000 running words is large enough to be representative of a genre (see e.g. GoĨdĨ-Roszkowski 2005; Nelson 2000, 2010). In accordance with the above, the size of the corpus used in the present study seems sufficiently large to achieve a representative picture of the genre of job advertising. As the majority of online recruitment ads do not remain on the jobsearch websites for more than a few weeks, and thus the URLs become inactive after a relatively short time, it has been deemed reasonable to provide in Appendix 1 only the addresses of the websites from which the texts were extracted. The entire corpus is, however, available upon request at [email protected]. Methodologically, the investigation involves elements of broadly understood discourse analysis, genre and register analysis, the study of 1

Although not the subject of this book, the fact alone that only 59% of the ads constituting the initial corpus disclose the employers’ names is an interesting issue that deserves more research attention (see chapter 1).

xvi

Introduction

persuasion and evaluation as well as some aspects of axiological linguistics, providing the methodology for the examination of the language of values reflected in job ads. As the analysis is based on a corpus, care has been taken to abide by the rules and conventions commonly observed in the domain of corpus linguistics (see e.g. Biber et al. 2007; LewandowskaTomaszczyk 2005; Sinclair 1991; Stubbs 2003). Drawing on several different methodological frameworks, and thus running the risk of departing from descriptive accuracy, the study, nevertheless, does not promote uncritical eclecticism in discourse analysis. It views the above methodologies as complementary rather than mutually exclusive, constituting an attempt to contribute to the voices claiming that the use of a range of perspectives renders the analysis more comprehensive and reliable. Since many aspects of persuasion and evaluation can only be correctly understood and interpreted when looking at their context, the research required a great deal of manual analysis, as well as timely and careful verification of the results obtained using computational tools (WordSmith Tools 3.0 and Microsoft Office 2007). The analysis is primarily qualitative, with quantitative measures used mostly to investigate to what degree certain linguistic means and strategies are employed to create employers’ positive image in recruitment ads. The book contains three theoretical chapters intended to provide the background and methodological framework for the analysis, and four analytical chapters accounting for the empirical investigation of the corpus. No separate chapter is devoted to the summary of the research tools chosen for the analysis; they are described in the concluding remarks to the three theoretical chapters. The study ends with a summary of results, offering a proposal for a model employer branding advertisement. It must be emphasised that the analytical chapters overlap at many points; consequently, their organisation is largely arbitrary, with particular chapters serving a function of foregrounding certain research perspectives, and highlighting particular linguistic means and strategies identified in the corpus. Following the present introductory chapter, chapter 1 views job advertisements from the perspective of Human Resource Management, providing the background for the linguistic analysis of job ads and their employer branding potential. In the first instance, the chapter reviews the concepts pertaining to the recruitment process, with job advertising presented as a recruitment method widely used by both employers and potential employees. Secondly, chapter 1 looks at the Internet as a medium of recruitment, briefly describing its forms, advantages, and drawbacks, an

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issue which seems significant given that the study examines a corpus of online job announcements. What follows is a brief overview of concepts related to employer branding, its integration with corporate and consumer branding, as well as with PR communication strategies, completed with a short summary of the benefits that organisations can gain from building strong employer brands. Finally, the chapter attempts to show job advertising as one of the instruments of employer branding, thus providing a platform for the investigation of linguistic means and strategies used in recruitment ads to project a positive image of employers. Chapter 2 offers a theoretical and methodological framework for the investigation of job advertisements as discourse and genre. It begins with an overview of theories and ideas related to the notion of discourse, followed by a brief account of various approaches to discourse analysis, with particular emphasis on organisational/workplace discourse. As the investigation performed in the analytical parts of the study views job advertising as a persuasive/promotional genre, chapter 2 then seeks to review the prevailing approaches to genre and register analysis, with the colony of promotional genres placed in the focus of attention. Since the corpus under study has been compiled from recruitment ads found in the Internet, certain aspects of web-mediated communication and webmediated genres are also briefly discussed, followed by a few comments on multimodal discourse analysis; the latter is becoming increasingly relevant, given the propensity of online job ads to use multi-modal representation of meaning and thus increasingly resemble the discourse of marketing-type advertising. The persuasive dimension of job advertisements being central to the study, chapter 3 offers an overview of the theories and approaches pertaining to the concept of persuasion, as well as an outline of the linguistic strategies commonly employed in persuasive and promotional discourse. As evaluation and the language of values are viewed as playing a pivotal role in the creation of employer brand, the evaluative and axiological orientations in discourse analysis are briefly reviewed, seen as intrinsic to the study of persuasion and promotion. Finally, chapter 3 addresses the issue of organisational values, preparing the platform for investigating such values as communicated in the discourse of job advertisements. The first of the analytical chapters, chapter 4 begins with an investigation of recruitment advertising as an increasingly multi-modal, business-oriented type of discourse. The main focus, however, is placed on the analysis of job advertising as a genre, a member of the system of job search genres, accounting for the rhetorical structure of prototypical

xviii

Introduction

recruitment ads, and demonstrating which structural features carry persuasive force and thus contribute to the creation of strong employer brands. Since the remaining analytical chapters demonstrate a high degree of overlap, investigating recruitment ads and their employer branding function from three slightly different perspectives, some arbitrary decisions had to be made regarding their organisation. Chapter 5 accounts for the register of job advertising, discussing the situational characteristics of recruitment ads, their lexico-grammar, including business-related lexis, and exponents of evaluation, with the focus of attention placed on the examination of those linguistic resources identified at the level of register that most significantly contribute to the projection of employers’ positive image. Chapter 6 places particular emphasis on the persuasive strategies used in recruitment advertising, viewing them as central to the creation and reinforcement of employer brands. The chapter thus seeks to rationalise job ads as persuasive discourse, further on investigating the persuasive mechanisms from the marketing perspective, as well as exploring the linguistic means of persuasion identified in the corpus. The last of the analytical chapters, chapter 7 places the language of values at the centre of attention, examining what types of employer values and components of the Employee Value Proposition play the most significant role in building strong employer brands, and how those values are linguistically expressed or invoked in the corpus of job advertisements. The chapter also seeks to investigate whether the findings are consistent with the organisational studies addressing the issue of employer and employee values viewed as having the strongest impact on potential candidates’ perceptions of the employing organisations. The concluding chapter provides a brief summary of the findings accounted for in the analytical chapters; it also offers a proposal for a model employer branding advertisement, which may hopefully be used as a reference point for linguists, as well as HR scholars and practitioners, in further research on the discourse of recruitment advertising.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AIDA DAGMAR ESP EVP HR HRM JA LDCE OALD

Attention, Interest, Desire, Action Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results English for Specific Purposes Employee Value Proposition Human Resources Human Resource Management Job Advertisement The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary

CHAPTER ONE RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING AND EMPLOYER BRANDING: A HRM PERSPECTIVE

This chapter aims to set the scene for further linguistic analysis of webbased recruitment advertisements and their employer branding potential. More specifically, it constitutes an attempt at investigating which aspects of job advertising as viewed from the perspective of Human Resource Management could be instrumental for the forthcoming study of the job ad corpus, performed within the framework of genre analysis, register analysis as well as the analysis of the language of persuasion and evaluation. At the outset, chapter 1 briefly reviews the concept of recruitment as one of key Human Resource Management functions, with particular emphasis on job advertising and its aims, as well as the position it occupies among other widely used recruitment methods. The chapter then offers a cursory overview of the forms, advantages, and drawbacks of the Internet as a recruitment medium, an issue which seems significant for the forthcoming analysis of a corpus of online job announcements. It further on discusses the concept of employer branding, briefly exploring its interrelations with marketing and PR communication strategies, as well as the benefits organisations gain from building and reinforcing strong employer brands. Finally, the chapter attempts to present job advertising as an important channel for employer branding and, in particular, communicating the Employee Value Proposition, i.e. (in simplified terms) the reasons for present and prospective employees to commit themselves to an organisation. The concept of job branding, foregrounding the significance of the job itself in the recruitment process, is also introduced and regarded as an extension to employer branding.

1.1 Employee recruitment: definition, aims, and methods Researchers investigating the field of Human Resource Management, whether from an academic or practitioners’ perspective, commonly

2

Chapter One

express the belief that people are a company’s most valuable asset (see e.g. Arcodia and Barker 2002; Gáowicka 2009; Leary-Joyce 2004; Pocztowski 1998; Price 2007; Renckly 2004). Even if other resources, money in particular, are indispensable for the smooth running of a business, it is the people who decide how the resources are to be accessed and used. Hence, Human Resource Management is regarded as a “great art” (Pocztowski 1998: 10, transl. J.à-B) and “the basis of all management activity” (Torrington et al. 2005:4), the fundamental idea of management being understood as “getting the people of the business to make things happen in a productive way, so that the business prospers and the people thrive” (ibid.). The aspect of Human Resource Management which is of particular interest for the purposes of this work is employee recruitment. Whether seen as part of the selection process (e.g. Roberts 1997), or more commonly perceived as a preceding activity, related and complementary to selection (see e.g. Graham and Bennett 1992; Lewis 1992; Newell 2005; Taylor 2005), recruitment is viewed by many scholars as the most important element and the key function of HRM (Pocztowski 1998; Roberts 1997) or, even more significantly, as one of the key aspects of overall company’s operations (Lewis 1992); in other words, “a critical activity” (Cowling, 1990: 41) or “a top priority” (Byars and Rue 2000: 150) in most organisations. Newell claims that, in the era of increased global competition, growing customer expectations, and rapidly changing business environment, continued success is “dependent on attracting and retaining high-quality individuals who can respond effectively to this changing environment” (2005: 15). The author goes on to state that hiring competent people is “of paramount importance” and “should not be underestimated” (ibid.). In general terms, recruitment may be defined as the process of searching for applicants for jobs, from among whom the right candidates will be selected. Aswathappa (2007: 132) offers a more elaborate definition: “It is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected”.

In a similar vein, Newell views recruitment as “the process of attracting people who might make an organisational contribution to fill a particular role or job” (2005: 117). The author also perceives recruitment from an ‘exchange perspective’: its anticipated outcome is the exchange and negotiation between the candidate and the recruiting manager, rather than

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

3

simply matching the applicant to a job profile or description. Nevertheless she admits that the traditional person-fit approach remains dominant, despite some inherent limitations. It follows then from the definitions that the aim of recruitment is to provide a pool of suitable candidates for the job opening. Researchers, however, emphasise another role that recruitment is meant to perform, namely to project or reinforce a positive image of the employer among the current and existing employees as well as other job market participants (see e.g. Aswathappa 2007; Beardwell and Holden 1994; Taylor 2005; Torrington et al. 2005). This aspect, being of utmost importance for the present work, will be discussed in more detail in the subsequent parts of the book. It is worth noting that recruitment is governed by both external and internal forces. The former comprise supply and demand of potential candidates, the current unemployment rate, labour market conditions, political and social factors, the company’s image; internal factors include the organisation’s size, its HR and recruitment policy, costs of recruiting, and the rate of growth and expansion (Aswathappa 2007: 133-135). In order to ensure that the recruitment process is cost-effective and supports the overall corporate strategy, an organisation needs to carefully consider all the factors and then decide which recruitment strategies and methods should be adopted to best satisfy the organisation’s needs and requirements. As Byars and Rue (2000: 157) maintain, “it seems safe to say that research has not identified a single best source of recruitment. Thus, each organisation should take steps to identify its most effective recruitment sources”.

A key decision that recruiting managers have to take is whether to recruit internally, i.e. from among existing staff, or externally, i.e. from outside the organisation. Among the internal sources and methods, those mentioned most frequently by researchers and practitioners dealing with recruitment include present employees, rotation schemes, re-hiring former employees (Arthur 2006; Aswathappa 2007; Byars and Rue 2000; Taylor 2005). Although such methods, often favoured by organisations that are keen to develop their internal human capital, display many advantages, internal sources often prove to be insufficient to supply a suitable pool of candidates; thus most organisations make use of external resources, of which they have a wider range at their disposal (Byars and Rue 2000; Newell 2005). The most frequently mentioned external recruitment methods encompass recruitment advertising, using the services of external agencies and professional or trade associations, employee referrals, liaison

4

Chapter One

with educational institutions, walk-ins, write-ins and talk-ins, job fairs, open houses, job board mining (Arthur 2006; Aswathappa 2007; Brown and Swain 2009; Byars and Rue 2000; Dale 2003; Graham and Bennett 1992; Newell 2005). As mentioned earlier, there is probably no method that may safely be regarded as ideal. Consequently, not only do employers resort to different strategies dependent on various factors and conditions governing a particular recruitment situation, but they frequently combine several techniques in the course of a single recruitment campaign, with a view to enhancing the prospects of attracting the most valuable candidates. Importantly, most of the researchers cited so far highlight the role of erecruitment as an approach or method, and the Internet as a recruitment and job advertising medium; since the text corpus analysed for the purposes of this work is a collection of web-based job announcements, and thus the use of the Internet is of high significance for the forthcoming analysis, this issue will be discussed in a separate section of this chapter.

1.2 Recruitment advertising Job advertising is widely regarded as one of the most popular recruitment methods, both from the point of view of employers and potential candidates (Aswathappa 2007; Byars and Rue 2000; Cooper et al. 2003; Dale 2003; Dessler and Phillipps 2008; Roberts 1997; Ryan et al. 2000; Thoms 2005; Wiktorowicz 2009). Van Meurs, investigating the use of English in employment ads in the Netherlands, reports on studies demonstrating that “job advertisements are used by a larger percentage of employers than the other [recruitment] sources” (2010: 4); equally significant, surveys conducted among job seekers show that job ads “were one of the most frequently used means of job orientation, with job sites becoming increasingly important” (ibid.: 5). Traditionally, job advertising has been defined as “the placement of help-wanted advertisements in daily newspapers, in trade and professional publications, or on radio and television” (Byars and Rue 2000: 155). Given the broad array of available methods and media, the definition provided by Brown and Swain, albeit remarkably brief and unsophisticated, seems to render the concept of job advertising more accurately: “placing press, online or other media advertising to attract potential candidates to respond” (2009: 224). From a functional perspective, job advertising is perceived as a recruitment method whose aim is

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

5

“to attract the attention of the best candidates who may not even be seeking another role, while not raising false expectations and allowing a healthy amount of self-selection. Notwithstanding, recruitment advertising is also advertising for the organisation itself. The form and content will project an image of the organisation”. (Secord, 2003:355)

The definition quoted above specifies the aim most immediately associated with job advertising, i.e. to attract the attention of suitable candidates; yet it also emphasises two other functions that recruitment ads are intended to perform. One of those is to discourage candidates whose lack of desired qualifications, experience, and personality renders them unsuitable, a function that contributes significantly to reducing the risk of hiring wrong people, as well as the time and costs involved in the recruitment process. Deterring unwanted applicants, leading to employee self-selection, is indicated as a job advertising function by many other researchers (see e.g. Foster 2003; Graham and Bennett 1992; Roberts 1997; Taylor 2005, among others). In accordance with the aims of recruitment in general (see 1.1), another role that recruitment advertisements are meant to perform is to project a positive image of the employing organisation. Rafaeli (2001: 248) seems to highlight this last function and its significance in the recruitment process: “The function of ads is (…) argued here to be not only, and perhaps even not primarily, to recruit employees. Rather, ads are proposed to be a means of helping individuals in the job market learn about available employment relationships and make a choice among these alternatives”.

Since this way of looking at job advertisements is of utmost importance for the present study, it will be discussed in more detail further in this chapter.

1.2.1 The content and design of recruitment ads: a HRM perspective Given that a recruitment ad is often “the first place where potential applicants are told what the organisation is looking for and what skills, abilities, and experience they should evidence” (Dale 2003: 65), the message needs to include relevant information in order to effectively perform the above stated functions. Although the format, graphic design, amount of white space are important factors, Cooper at al. observe that

6

Chapter One

“[t]he content of job adverts is probably the most important determinant of their success in attracting well-matched candidates” (2003: 83). Similarly, Secord maintains that “the information and design of the advertisement are crucial” (2003: 356). Drawing on five studies within the domain of recruitment and selection, as well as the guidelines provided by two Internet websites and online HR resources, Table 1-1 summarises the views on what should be included in an effective job advertisement. As can be seen from Table 1-1, the obligatory components of recruitment ads as proposed by HR researchers and practitioners comprise information about the organisation, job description, benefits, and instructions for application. Specifying job requirements is recommended in seven out of eight models and thus may plausibly be classified as obligatory. The ‘job title’ section is considered mandatory in five out of eight models, whereas including job identification and the name of an employing organisation is recommended in three and four models, respectively. Layout features are mentioned in only one model, similarly to training, the latter most probably being viewed in other models as part of benefits. Announcing job opportunity is recommended only by Foster (2003). The general model of job ad content that emerges from the above analysis is presented in Table 1-2. For the purposes of the forthcoming analysis of recruitment advertising as a genre, an assumption has been made that the above components (or stages) of job ads correspond with the moves realising core communicative functions of the genre (sensu Swales 1990, 2004, and Bhatia 1993, 2004, 2005). The general model of recruitment advertisements presented in Table 1-2 will thus be treated as the departure point for the move-step analysis to be performed in chapter 4. An attempt will also be made to examine whether, and to what degree, the obligatory/optional nature of particular moves is reflected in the corpus under study.

+ +

(+) (+) +

+

Cowling

+ + + + + + +

Torrington et al.

* (overview of the position / vacancy summary) ** (most often highlighted in the ‘headline’ section) *** (e.g. We are looking for …/ An opportunity has arisen for ...) **** (and person specification) ***** (logo and illustrations) ****** (fancy designs not recommended)

+ + + + +

+

Job identification* Job title**

Announcing job opportunity*** Training to be provided Name of organisation Information about organisation Job description/ responsibilities**** Requirements / competencies Benefits Instructions for application Layout features*****

Secord

Job ad component

+ + + + + +

+

Dejnaka

Table 1-1. The content of job advertisements: summary of different models

+ + + + + +

+

+ +

Foster

+ + + + + +

+

van Meurs

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

+ + + + + + ******

+

Isbister

+ + + + +

+

hiring. monster

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8

Table 1-2. The content of job advertisements: general model (based on the summary provided in Table 1-1)

Job ad component

Status

job identification

optional

announcing availability of the position job title announcing the job opportunity (We are looking for…)

optional

presenting the organisation

obligatory (but name – optional)

specifying responsibilities and requirements involved

obligatory

offering benefits

obligatory

instructing candidates how to apply

obligatory

There are obviously numerous departures from the standard (or prototypical) model summarised in Table 1-2, depending on a variety of factors. Moreover, researchers, as well as HR practitioners, are not entirely unanimous with regard to how detailed and specific the information included in job ads should be.1 This is a very broad issue whose discussion would go well beyond the scope of this work, therefore just a few comments will be made for the sake of exemplification. Brown and Swain claim that “a job advert is only a snapshot” and thus must be kept brief, for much of the detail presented in longer messages is ignored by potential applicants (2009: 226). By contrast, Foster (2003) and Hornberger (2010) opt for providing detailed, exhaustive descriptions of the job and organisation, claiming that such an approach enhances the credibility of an ad. Similarly, although with some reservations, Rynes and Cable (2003) report on several studies indicating that corporate recruitment image is improved by ads providing more information about the employer. In an interesting study investigating the manner in which recruitment message specificity affects applicant attraction to organisations, Roberson et al. 1

Belin and Wang (2010) provide a detailed account of the incoherence between different Internet sources (mostly HRM and recruitment websites) concerning the suggested size, content, and level of explicitness of job advertisements.

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(2005) confirm that explicit and detailed ads produce more favourable reactions on the part of potential candidates than do non-specific or general messages. A closer investigation reveals, however, that while such a positive correlation is found with regard to the applicants’ perception of the company’s attributes and person-organisation fit, providing more details may not lead to better perceptions of the organisation’s attractiveness. A more unambiguous viewpoint is presented by Foster who claims that “the more clearly you describe your organisation, the more you’re liable to attract the right candidates and repel the wrong ones” (2005: 135). Specifying the amount or range of salary might be a controversial issue; while researchers and HR practitioners seem to share the conviction that being explicit about the remuneration is very well perceived by potential applicants (see e.g. Belin and Wang 2010; Brown and Swain 2009; Dale 2003; Hornberger 2010; Isbister 2010; Lewis 1992; Torrington et al. 2005), yet they also provide a clear reason for many employers being vague about this important aspect of the job offered.2 The justification lies in “the frequent need to preserve confidentiality” (Taylor 2005: 174). Potential problems may arise when existing employees see the advertisement and compare their own salaries unfavourably with the package offered. Confidentiality issues may also be the reason behind another frequently used practice of placing ads in which there is no identification of the employer; Aswathappa (2007) labels such messages as blind ads. Although research shows that candidates react positively to ads which reveal the employer’s name (see e.g. Belin and Wang 2010), the possible justification of many organisations deciding not to disclose their identity is their reluctance to publicise the fact that they are seeking to fill a position; another reason might be that the contract they have signed with the recruitment agency acting on their behalf stipulates that only the agency’s name will be disclosed. All things considered, it seems most reasonable to find the right balance between satisfying applicants’ need to learn as many details as possible about the position advertised and the employer’s recruitment strategy. The extent to which the organisation, job responsibilities, and benefits are specified in detail should be well considered, taking into account both internal and external factors. The degree of explicitness or vagueness of recruitment messages, as well as the linguistic and textual

2

Isbister (2010) observes that a high amount of salary not only attracts the suitable candidates, but may also act as a filter for those who, being aware of the job market realities, feel that such a remuneration is beyond their reach.

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strategies employed by their writers, will be discussed more thoroughly in the analytical part of the book.

1.2.2 Job advertising - a marketing perspective Scholars increasingly approach recruitment advertising not only from the HRM perspective, but also (sometimes mainly) from the marketing standpoint. Pocztowski (1998) claims that ‘acquiring’ employees may resemble the process of buying resources and supplies, and thus it should primarily be a marketing activity aimed at affecting the job market and offering the vacancy and organisation as a sort of ‘product’ which may enable people to satisfy their needs. Ryan et al. (2000), as well as York and Kim (2005), propose that HR managers should see organisations as providers of employment products (jobs), and employees as employment customers who may choose a supplier of employment in the same way as a typical consumer chooses a product. Taylor (2005) and Tokarz (2006) propose that job market participants engaging in the recruitment process play double roles, resembling those performed by sellers and buyers in a sales transaction: a job seeker is both a ‘product’ that some company may wish to ‘buy’, and a ‘seller’ trying to ‘sell’ him/herself on the job market; on the other hand, a potential employer also performs a double role: that of a ‘seller’ aiming to ‘sell’ the job offered, and that of a ‘buyer’ interested in attracting the most valuable candidates for the position advertised. Recruitment and job advertising perceived as selling vacancies to suitable candidates is frequently brought up by researchers (e.g. Asprey 2005; Aswathappa 2007; Dale 2003; Piotrowska 2009; Roberts 2007; Thoms 2005; Torrington et al. 2005), who increasingly tend to use terms such as ‘recruitment marketing’, ‘personnel marketing’ or ‘employment marketing’ when referring to employee recruitment activities (see e.g. Asprey 2005; Dobrowolska 2009; Price 2007; Roberts 1997; Ryan et al. 2000; Siniakowicz 2009).3 It follows from the above that recruitment advertising “now shares more with ‘mainstream’ advertising than ever”;4 it shares “much of the 3

Viewing the job advertised as a product and the job seeker as a customer is also the prevailing standpoint at HR and recruitment websites (see e.g. http://hiring. monster.ie/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/acquiring-job-candidates/ how-do-i-write-an-effective-job-advert-ie.aspx, Accessed 11 July, 2011).

4

The term ‘mainstream advertising’ will be used throughout the study interchangeably with ‘marketing-type advertising’, ‘commercial advertising’ and ‘product or service advertising’.

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

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theories and techniques of product and corporate advertising” (Asprey 2005: 268). Consequently, although “the expenditure on selection advertising rarely achieves the same heights as product advertising” (ibid.: 7), the mechanisms used by employers in job ads should, to a large degree, be comparable to those incorporated in ‘mainstream’ marketing. It therefore appears reasonable to assume that marketing theories generally associated with product or service advertising may be particularly useful in explaining the effectiveness of recruitment ads. Some of these theories are briefly discussed below. The Marketing Mix The term Marketing Mix refers to the “appropriate combination, in a particular set of circumstances, of the four key elements that are at the heart of a company’s marketing programme” (Mackay 2005: 12). Traditionally, the Marketing Mix has been seen as encompassing Product, Price, Promotion, and Place; the more ‘modern’ approaches propose the four Cs (Customer value, Cost to the customer, Convenience, Communication), with the emphasis shifted from the seller to the buyer, i.e. from the “selleroriented” approach to the “customer-oriented” marketing (ibid.: 14). Dale (2003), exploiting the metaphor of job vacancies being products’ that are ‘sold’ to potential applicants (‘the consumers’), considers how the four Ps can be used with reference to recruitment adverts: Product: in the employee recruitment context the product is the job vacancy; it should be appropriately ‘packaged’ and ‘presented’ to its potential ‘consumers’ (applicants). It has certain quality, features, and values. Price: from a candidate’s point of view, this is the cost of applying for the job offered; applicants invest their energy, time and effort in the recruitment process.5 Promotion: the recruitment message should be carefully designed so as to reach the target audience, i.e. the potentially suitable candidates who may be willing to apply; the method used for transmitting the message must be well thought-out. Thus the way recruitment ads should be constructed to effectively attract target applicants is of vital significance, and will be discussed more thoroughly later in this chapter. Place: the recruitment message should be placed in the most suitable location and transmitted through the most effective medium, for example 5

Ryan et al. (2000) consider the Price from the point of view of employers: it is the salary and benefits they will offer to the appointed candidates. Also, the authors understand the Place as the place of employment.

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the press (national or local newspapers and trade journals), job centres, recruitment agencies, billboards, flyers, posters, radio, TV, the Internet; the latter has been gaining prominence in the last decades, a notion which is going to be elaborated on in a separate section. Each of the media has its own strengths and weaknesses, and thus should be carefully matched with the requirements of the recruitment process (ibid.: 51-62). As seen from the above discussion, the concept of the Marketing Mix, whether understood as the four Ps or the four Cs, appears to be well suited for the analysis of recruitment advertising. AIDA One of the most frequently used methods of constructing advertisements and other persuasive messages is AIDA (see e.g. Wilmshurst 2005; Arens and Schaefer 2007).6 The acronym stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. It may thus be stated that, similarly to any well designed marketing-type advertisement, an effective recruitment ad should command Attention of potential applicants, arouse Interest in the position advertised, create Desire to apply, encourage Action (the act of applying). DAGMAR Another model, called DAGMAR, has now increasingly become more popular and is often regarded as more comprehensive than AIDA (see e.g. Wilmshurst 2005). DAGMAR steps are perceived as better defined and easier to apply. The term itself is also an acronym which stands for: Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. The model suggests that the ultimate objective of advertising is to lead the target audience to the awareness of the existence of the ‘product’ and its values. In accordance with DAGMAR, an effective ‘sale’ should carry a potential customer through four stages that, in the job recruitment context, might be interpreted as follows: Awareness: the prospective candidate must be first made aware of the existence of the organisation and the vacancy it offers. Comprehension: the potential applicant must comprehend what kind of job is being offered, and what requirements, benefits and values it involves.

6

Wilmhurst sees the AIDA model as an alternative to the previously popular concept developed by D. Starch in the 1920s, whereby advertising must be seen, read, believed, remembered and acted upon (2005: 25).

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

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Conviction: the prospect must then arrive at a mental conviction to apply for the position advertised. Action: the candidate must “stir himself to action” (ibid.: 26), i.e. to submit an application.7 USP Yet another acronym commonly used to denote a popular marketing and advertising concept is the USP: Unique Selling Proposition. It pertains to the strength of an appeal that provides a reason for a potential customer to purchase the product or service advertised rather than similar competitive ones. Lamb et al. define the USP as “a desirable, exclusive, and believable advertising appeal selected as the theme for a campaign” (2008: 509). It may clearly be incorporated in the job advertising context, where recruiters often take great care to render their recruitment message unique, with a view to making it stand out in the crowd of comparable messages. Although not synonymous with the USP, the HR concept of the EVP (Employee Value Proposition) has presumably been built on the former; it will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. Regardless of the numerous aspects that recruitment advertisements share with their marketing-type counterparts, as indicated above, these two notions should by no means be considered synonymous. Some significant dissimilarities between the two domains of advertising are presented below.8 a) The most significant differences seem to derive from the very aim of job advertising: while product or service advertising is usually viewed as effective if it appeals to the largest possible group of potential buyers, thus contributing to boosting sales and increasing the company’s profits, recruitment advertising is not intended to attract just any applicants who might possibly find the ‘product’ (job position) attractive; job ads “need to attract the right people for the company and the role. They have to have the right fit” (Asprey 2005: 270). This means that, unlike product or service ads, inadequately designed recruitment messages may entice the wrong candidates who, even if rejected in the course of the selection process, nevertheless constitute a cost to the organisation. Moreover, the 7

Bralczyk mentions other “mnemotechnic formulae” : SLB (Stay, Look, Buy), and DIPADA (Definition, Identification, Proof, Acceptance, Desire) (2004: 12).

8

See àącka-Badura (2014c) for a more detailed comparison between ‘mainstream’ and recruitment advertising.

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Chapter One

fact that a job advertisement appears attractive to the unsuitable candidates could be interpreted as indicating that the most valuable applicants may not have found it worth considering. Even if by means of shocking or apparently discouraging images, marketing-type ads are never intended to deter potential customers from purchasing the product or service. By contrast, a detailed account of the job responsibilities and requirements included in a recruitment ad does not perform a purely descriptive role; it also acts as a trigger for candidates’ preliminary self-selection. b) Although the textual, structural, and persuasive mechanisms used in recruitment ads will be accounted for in the analytical part of the book, it should be noted at this point that there are discrepancies between the communicative strategies and advertising techniques employed in job and product or service advertisements. In most cases, job ads have more information to convey to the reader than marketing-type ads, requiring the use of (longer) written texts. Rarely are vacancies announced in a spoken form on the radio, or shown on Television, as opposed to commercials constituting one of the most commonly used, albeit expensive, forms of non-recruitment ads. Having admitted that job announcements increasingly resemble ‘mainstream’ advertisements, it would nevertheless be very surprising (although probably possible) to find a job advert in the form of a poem, confession, or song, mechanisms that audiences are well familiar with in commercials. Similarly, techniques such as celebrity endorsement, or exploiting humour to enhance the persuasive appeal, very popular in non-recruitment advertising, are probably rarely employed in job ads. A powerful tool used in product and service advertising is the exploitation of visual or verbal motifs appealing to people’s sexual instincts (cf. Wojtaszek 2002), which is probably (as yet) not encountered in the recruitment context, for a variety of reasons whose discussion would go beyond the scope of this work.9 In advertising, “copy is the verbal language of an ad, art is the body language” (Arens and Schaefer 2007: 222; italics original). Even if this is true about any type and form of advertisements, including job ads (particularly in the times of an increasing role played by Internet 9

Ryan et al (2000) observe that humour, if used in recruitment advertising, appears mostly in the headlines, rendering them wittier and more attractive for people browsing long lists of similarly looking ads; the authors, however, also refer to studies reporting on the longstanding debate pertaining to the actual effectiveness of humour in advertising. Taylor (2005) suggests that humour is being used in Internet job postings slightly more than before, and predicts that features with sexual content may also be resorted to in the future.

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

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technologies in employment marketing), there is undoubtedly some difference in the degree to which the artistic imagery is intended to have impact on the subconscious reception and interpretation of the message in both domains of advertising. As the authors quoted above put it when describing the role of creative design in commercial advertising, “every ad uses art” (ibid.), a statement which is not valid for recruitment ads, at least if one takes the word ‘art’ at its face value. c) Asprey (2005) suggests that one of the biggest differences between recruitment and ‘mainstream’ advertising is the size and source of the advertising budget. The money to be spent on job advertising is usually less impressive than that allocated for placing product or service ads, particularly if one takes into account higher average costs of recruitment and non-recruitment advertising space in printed media; also, funds come from the recruitment, rather than marketing budget. Some companies, though, do have budgets for larger-scale recruitment marketing, especially if involved in employer branding, a notion which will be discussed later in this chapter. d) Time scales of advertising campaigns constitute yet another dissimilarity between recruitment and non-recruitment advertising (ibid.). Speed is of particular significance when there is an urgent need to fill a key vacancy. All things considered, it seems reasonable to conclude that recruitment advertising does share many functions and features with marketing-type advertising; nonetheless, the unquestionable dissimilarities, observed by both researchers and practitioners, appear to be sufficiently salient to confirm that these two types of advertising should not be treated as synonymous.

1.3 Recruitment advertising on the Web The growing importance of e-recruitment or ‘cybercruiting’ is widely acknowledged in the literature (see e.g. Arcodia and Barker 2002; Adamczyk and Kubasiak 2009; Asprey 2005; Brown and Swain 2009; Dale 2003; Foster 2003; Newell 2005; Robertson et al. 2003; Siniakowicz 2009; Stone et al. 2005; Taylor 2005; Torrington et al. 2005; Witte and Mannon 2010). Taylor (2005) and Torrington et al. (2005) claim that, although not entirely appreciated by all employers in terms of its effectiveness, the use of the Web is undoubtedly the most significant current development in the field of employee recruitment. As Stone et al. (2005) suggest, surveys show that between 70% and 90% of large companies use e-recruiting tools, and it is anticipated that more than 95%

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of organisations plan to use them in the near future.10 Unsurprisingly, some high-technology firms (e.g. Cisco Systems) recruit employees only through the Internet (ibid.). Many companies who have never used the Internet for product or service advertising “are happily using online advertising for recruitment” (Asprey 2005: 273). The growing popularity of the Internet as a recruiting medium is corroborated by data showing that approximately 50 million job seekers were searching online job boards every month in the year 2003 (Foster 2003). Although, as observed by Witte and Mannon (2010), today the majority of positions announced on the Web are high-skilled occupations, it does not seem very risky to predict that, with growing access to the Internet among all levels of society, most jobs in the future will probably be advertised online. The major advantages associated with Internet recruitment when compared with other approaches include cost savings, broad reach, lots of space, speed and ease of responding, real-time viewing and updating, being ‘media-rich’ i.e. offering numerous opportunities for creative use of graphics, voice, video and interactive content. Among the drawbacks, the most often mentioned are the high risk of technical problems and ‘spamming’, confidentiality issues, poor ethical standards of some ‘cyberagencies’, limited access to the Internet in some geographical areas or social settings (Dale 2003; Foster 2003; Newell 2005; Taylor 2005; Torrington et al. 2005; Stone et al. 2005). It is worth emphasising that Internet recruitment is by no means limited to advertising vacancies on the Web. It also serves as a platform for locating job applicants, carrying out short-listing and pre-selection of candidates, processing applications, conducting online interviews and personality assessment; it also enables instant employee referral, as well as interactive chat sessions, or webinars with students who are majoring in subjects related to the company activity. Having briefly discussed the importance of the Internet as a recruitment medium, this section might be concluded with a comment made by S. Newell (2005: 124), who states that “using the Internet to recruit has become common practice. For most companies the decision is not whether to use the Internet for recruitment, but how to fully utilise its potential”.

The above is even more true today, providing good justification for choosing online job advertisements as the material to be analysed for the purposes of this work. 10

Most probably, these findings pertain to the US labour market.

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17

1.4 Job advertising and employer branding With a changing balance between capital and labour, resulting from pressures of globalisation, technological innovation, a growing significance of individual transferable skills and emotional intelligence, as well as an increasing number of highly skilled people setting up their own businesses, to mention just a few factors, employers appear to be encouraged to treat employees with a similar (if not the same) care and coherence as they would value customers (Barrow and Mosley 2005). This recognition by all means reflects employees’ expectations: they “want the same kind of personalised attention that customers receive” (Holbeche 2009: 165). Hence an increasingly salient role of employer branding, wherein recruitment advertising may perform a significant function.

1.4.1 The concept of employer branding The notion of employer branding is a relatively recent one; it is said to have been used publicly for the first time by S. Barrow at the UK’s CIPD conference (Barrow and Mosley 2005), and defined by S. Barrow and T. Adler in 1996 as “the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company” (ibid.: xvi). First viewed primarily as a means of bridging the gap between HR and marketing, and a strategy of building employers’ reputation, it soon became a concept integral to organisations’ HR activities, encompassing “the employment experience as a whole” (ibid.: 8), and thus highly significant to overall corporate strategies. An employer brand survey conducted by The Economist in 2003 revealed a 61 per cent awareness among HR professionals and 41 per cent among nonprofessionals of the importance of building strong employer brands (ibid.). The results of a study performed in 2007 indicate that the employer brand approach was adopted by seven out of ten organisations of all sizes and sectors (Holbeche 2009). The concept of employer brand derives from that of corporate or consumer brand; as proposed by Martin and Hetrick (2006), corporate branding is one of the key notions under the umbrella term corporateness, the latter also encompassing closely related concepts such as corporate and organisational identity, image, reputation, and communications.11 At its simplest, a brand can be understood as a set of symbols representing a 11

These concepts are often used as synonyms; they are closely related and thus might be quite confusing. For more on the similarities and differences among these notions, see e.g. Martin and Hetrick (2006: 17-25) or Wood (2004).

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Chapter One

variety of ideas and attributes (Edwards 2005), “anything carrying a distinct identity, and the reputation, good or bad, associated with that identity” (Barrow and Mosley 2005: 57). A successful brand is part of the distinctiveness of a product, service and organisation. In Holbeche’s (2009: 172) view, it “implies a ‘promise’ and creates customer expectation, the consumer ‘buys’ that promise and is satisfied or otherwise. (…). When a brand is closely identified with its ‘product’, for example as a prestige item, every element of the design, production, quality of finished goods and after-sales service needs to be aligned with the brand promise”.

Following from the above, employer brand is the “brand an organisation as employer stands for” (Welsing 2006: 31); it may be understood as the organisation’s “image as seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires”, closely linked to the entirety of the “employment experience” and “what it is like to work” for that company (Martin and Hetrick 2006: 278). Employer brand is deeply rooted in the values emanating from an organisation; it acts as the foundation of the psychological contract between the organisation and its current and prospective employees (Welsing 2006). In the same vein, Holbeche defines employer branding as “how an organisation markets what it has to offer to both potential and existing employees” (2009: 171). Similarly, Edwards (2005: 171) provides the following definition:12 “Employer branding (sometimes defined as employment branding) is an activity that is often carried out by organisations in order to appear attractive to current and potential employees as a place of work”.

Aiming to develop and reinforce their employer brand, an organisation seeks to become or remain an employer of choice, i.e. “an attractive employer” (Welsing, 2006: 31) or, to use Anderberg and Froeschle’s, (2006: 3) definition,

12

The concept which is described as closely related to (but not synonymous with) employer branding is that of employee branding, understood as being more internally oriented, whereby the employee is the entity that has been branded, and customers are perceived as the recipients of the branding through their interactions with the workforce (Edwards, 2005). See also Martin and Hetrick (2006) for a more thorough discussion.

Recruitment Advertising and Employer Branding: A HRM Perspective

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“a firm whose employment policies and HR management practices give it an edge over its competitors in recruiting and retaining appropriately skilled workers and optimising their productivity while maintaining or increasing their profitability and market shares”.

As suggested above, the foundations of employment branding lie in marketing practices, resulting in the methods of corporate and consumer branding being used to attract, retain and motivate employees. Moreover, it is often said that employer and consumer brands, although competing in two different markets, i.e. one for products and services, the other for talent and commitment, should consistently complement, support and reinforce each other (see e.g. Barrow and Mosley 2005; Martin and Hetrick 2006; Ryan et al. 2000; Welsing 2006). Everything a company communicates, whether in the marketing or employment context, internally or externally, should be consistent with what it stands for or aspires to stand for. Barrow and Mosley propose an integrated brand model, showing that customer and employer brands are closely interrelated; while some “benefits, differentiators and reasons to believe” may be specific to different needs and aspirations of customers and employees, there is a “common focal point” integrating the core proposition of the organisation in its entirety (2005: 111). Just as consumer branding is designed to develop a lasting image of the product or service in the minds of customers, so does employer branding offer the same in that it creates an image of an organisation that renders current and future employees willing to work for the employer’s company and recognise its attributes and benefits (Backhaus 2004; Branham 2001; Grünewälder 2007). Employer branding also contributes to the construction of an organisation’s overall positive image and reputation, a function strongly associated with the area of public relations (see e.g. Fawkes 2004; Newsom and Haynes 2008). On the other hand, an effective PR strategy may add significantly to the promotion of a company as an employer of choice. In his article, meaningfully entitled “Employer and Employee Branding: HR or PR?”, Edwards (2005) observes that the management of an organisation’s image, although traditionally perceived as an important aspect of the marketing and public relations functions, is growingly becoming one of the roles associated with the HR department as well. As Martin and Hetrick suggest, “it is people who create reputations for excellence and memorable brands” (2006: vii), and thus “attracting, retaining and engaging talented people (…) means we are increasingly reliant on high quality reputations and brands” (ibid.). The authors therefore propose a closer interaction between all the functions within an

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Chapter One

organisation concerned with presenting its positive image and enhancing its reputation. Accordingly, HR in general, and employer brand managers in particular, utilise an array of instruments generally associated with the field of public relations, such as conferences, in-house newsletters, suggestion-boxes, presentations, events, CSR initiatives, web pages, leaflets (see e.g. Fawkes 2004; Piotrowska 2009). The major merits of brands of any sort, as proposed by Taylor (2005), are the following: a strong brand signifies a product or service as one of recognisable quality, reliability and value for money; brands help products and services stand out from the crowd of similar (competitive) items; brands convey familiarity, attracting customers away from competitors’ offers; customers tend to become loyal to brands; customers are often ready to pay a premium price for brands which they identify as reliable; with a strong brand recognition, less money needs to be spent on advertising. In parallel to the above, the benefits to be gained from a strong employer brand may be classified as below: a strong employer brand signifies an employer’s organisation; it helps the organisation differentiate from its immediate competitors; if recognised and memorised, an employer brand makes potential employees choose this organisation rather than similar competitive ones; satisfied and loyal employees may recommend the organisation to others, including potential future employees; employees are often ready to receive a slightly lower pay in exchange for having the opportunity to work in an organisation whose brand is well recognised; with a strong employer brand recognition, less money needs to be spent on recruitment advertising, as more potential candidates may send unsolicited applications. From a somewhat broader perspective, Barrow and Mosley (2005) propose three main benefits, closely interrelated, that organisations may derive from employer branding: Lower costs: while the primary role of brands is to add value, strong employer brands can also contribute to cost reductions, particularly in the costs inferred in the course of the recruitment process, but also costs of goods sold, those connected with errors and wastage, where savings may be generated due to higher levels of employee engagement. Strong employer brands tend to result in higher levels of worker retention and lower rates of absenteeism, leading, again, to reductions in employment costs. Customer satisfaction: studies reveal that employee satisfaction contributes significantly to the levels of customer satisfaction;13 this is 13

Cf. Dejnaka (2005), who claims that employee satisfaction is a precondition for customer satisfaction.

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21

particularly evident in retail companies, but similar correlations are observed in other sectors as well. A strong employer brand, leading to differentiation in the marketplace, motivates employees to truly ‘live the brand’ and show more than general commitment to increasing customer satisfaction. Financial results: a few percent increase in employee satisfaction, and thus higher commitment, may translate to hundreds of million dollars worth in additional revenue. There is strong evidence demonstrating “a clear link between the strength of the employer brand, high levels of employee engagement and financial performance” (ibid.: 72). Klimczak (2009) and Wiktorowicz (2009) indicate other benefits deriving from or related to the above mentioned ones: increased sales figures resulting from positive connotations that strong employer brands evoke in the minds of potential customers, higher levels of innovativeness, enhanced trust and respect for the senior management among employees.

1.4.2 Recruitment advertising as a channel for employer branding There is a broad spectrum of ways in which organisations may promote their employer brands. Within a company, strategies aimed at creating or reinforcing existing employees’ awareness of the strong employer brand, enhancing their engagement and commitment, encompass, for example, effective communications with employees through the corporate intranet, using newsletters and corporate journals, organising internal meetings, conferences and entertainment events, non-standard workshops and training sessions, conducting fair appraisal programmes, work-life balance programmes, providing coaching and mentoring, improving the working environment and infrastructure, monitoring staff’s comments and opinions concerning the organisation, activities undertaken within the area of corporate social responsibility, as well as offering corporate gifts and any extras added to standard benefits (Piotrowska 2009). Promotion aimed at external addressees, potential employees, and other job market participants, also involves a variety of methods and techniques. As mentioned earlier, besides advertising vacancies in various media, employer brand managers often utilise instruments and channels traditionally associated with marketing and PR; therefore employer brand may be communicated in the course of activities whose goals comprise, to a higher or lesser degree, projection of an organisation’s corporate brand, image and reputation. Examples include: image advertisements on TV, in

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Chapter One

the press and on the Web,14 billboard campaigns, interactive websites, online newsletters, spots and multimedia presentations, corporate blogs, social networks, discussion forums on the Web, corporate events, educational and placement programmes, job fairs (including virtual job fairs), engaging employer brand ambassadors, participation in employer rankings, charity and other corporate social responsibility initiatives, ‘ambient’ marketing, ‘viral’ and ‘buzz’ marketing (Piotrowska 2009; Siniakowicz 2009).15 Although, at the time of growing competition for talent, the above mentioned methods may prove more effective that the standard ones, such as recruitment advertising, the latter remains among the major channels for promoting employer brand. Given that “[e]mployer branding is primarily concerned with improving an organisation’s ability to compete for new staff” (Taylor 2002: 50), much of the employer branding activity inevitably revolves around traditional recruitment and HR tasks. In a survey conducted among HR professionals, as reported by Grünewälder (2007: 3), the most frequent expectation that HR managers associated with employer branding activities was the “ease in attracting candidates (84%)”. Researchers highlight the role of an employment ad as “an impression management message”, i.e. a message which not only functions as “a recruitment message”, but also “a message about the organisation” (Rafaeli and Oliver 1998 quoted in van Meurs 2010: 7). The role that recruitment ads may perform in selling the organisation (additionally to selling the vacancy) is also underscored at popular HR and recruitment websites, such as phdjobs.com. Thus the very nature of the aims that job advertisements are intended to perform renders them a salient component of an organisation’s employer branding strategy. As mentioned earlier, employer branding strategies incorporate approaches and methods commonly used in marketing, including the concept of the USP (Unique Selling Proposition), i.e. the distinctive 14 Image advertising is an approach to advertising that is designed to create and strengthen positive attitudes towards a brand, company, or concept, rather than advertising a specific product or service. In the HR context, image advertising does not focus on a concrete vacancy, “but delivers a corporate message or benefit of the company as an employer” (Wimmers 2009: 8). 15

‘Ambient’ marketing is concerned with utilising non-standard advertising media and communication channels, e.g. ‘promotional tattoos’, often combined with word-of-mouth. ‘Viral’ and ‘buzz’ marketing are strategies taking advantage of pre-existing online social networks, whereby messages are distributed with a view to increasing brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (Piotrowska 2009; Siniakowicz 2009).

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feature or aspect of the (broadly understood) ‘product’ that makes it more attractive than competitive offers. HR specialists propose another concept which, although not synonymous with the USP, has presumably been built on the latter. The notion in question is the EVP, an acronym which stands for Employee Value Proposition, denoting the balance of the rewards and benefits received by employees in return for their performance (e.g. Bakshi 2010; Barrow and Mosley 2005; Gáowicka 2009; Hill and Tande 2006; Martin and Hetrick 2006). Hill and Tande define the EVP as “a statement of why the total work experience at their organisation is superior to that at other companies”; the EVP specifies “the unique people policies, processes and programs that demonstrate the company’s commitment to employee growth and recognition and management development” (2006: 19). In other words, the EVP contains the reasons for employees “to commit themselves to the organisation” (ibid.). Bakshi views the Employee Value Proposition as a part of the continuum that, together with Total Rewards Framework, results in the construal of an employer brand. From this perspective, he proposes that the EVP “is a concept that outlines how an organisation articulates its identity, origins and values, and what it promises to deliver, to emotionally connect employees and prospective employees. It clearly articulates the employee experience – what is on offer, what to expect and why the organisation is a different and suitable place to work”. (2010: 17)

The author goes on to define Total Rewards Framework as “the summary of everything that is ‘returned’ to an employee in exchange for associating and contributing towards the efforts of the employer” (ibid., italics original). The ‘returns’ may be of various character, including compensation and benefits, as well as intangible rewards, such as peace of mind, respect in society, the feeling of satisfaction and self-fulfilment. Other researchers (e.g. Adamczyk and Kubasiak 2009; Gáowicka 2009; Hill and Tande 2006) do not differentiate between the EVP and Total Rewards Framework, viewing the Employee Value Proposition as an entire set of persuading factors that give employers an edge over competitors. Following a classification developed by A. Juchimiuk in his article “UmiejĊtnie sprzedaj pracĊ” (“Smart ways to sell a vacancy”, transl. J.à-B.), Adamczyk and Kubasiak divide the EVP elements into three categories:

24

Chapter One

rational benefits, comprising the remuneration, extra benefits, job safety and security, development and promotion opportunities, possibility of maintaining the work-life balance; emotional benefits, e.g. working in a highly valued environment, the atmosphere, satisfaction derived from task performance and diversity, levels of responsibility and autonomy, the prestige associated with the position, compatibility of personal values with the organisational values; employer’s image, including factors such as the employer being part of a larger group or business entity, the organisation’s country of origin (evoking positive or negative connotations), their corporate/employer brand, famous people associated with the organisation (2009: 145). In the same vein, Barrow and Mosley (2005) divide the employer brand benefits into three groups: functional benefits, e.g. payment for the services rendered, a safe working environment; emotional (psychological) benefits, i.e. people’s emotional attachment to the employer, the extent to which they feel satisfied and valued; higher order benefits and brand values: the core focus of the brand is shifted from the level of functionality towards a higher ground of brand values and image associations. In reality, many employers communicate merely the standard EVP in their recruitment advertisements, or focus on only several aspects of their offer, commonly regarded as attractive, thus failing to differentiate themselves from the competition. Importantly, scholars appear to be in agreement about employers tending to overestimate the value of financial compensation as the undisputedly predominant factor determining applicants’ and employees’ decisions to join, stay at, or leave an organisation (e.g. Anderberg and Froeschle 2006; Barrow and Mosley 2005; Gáowicka 2009; Hill and Tande 2006). Acknowledging the unquestionable significance of the financial rewards, Barrow and Mosley suggest that they are only important if “out of line with what is seen as the appropriate rate for the job” (2005: 17). Otherwise, as shown in a survey conducted in 2004, the job content appeared to be the main motivator, indicated by 43 per cent of respondents, while pay was noted by only 14 per cent as the key influence (ibid.). Hill and Tande (2006) report on a study showing that as many as 88 per cent of employees leave organisations for reasons other than money. The top three negative motivators mentioned were: limited opportunities for advancement (39%), unhappiness with management (23%) and lack of recognition (17%). An inadequate salary and benefits were indicated as the number four reason, chosen by 11 per cent of respondents. These findings were

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25

later corroborated in a survey conducted in 2007, as reported by Dobrowolska (2009), showing that the five key factors determining students’ decisions to apply are, in the order of importance: (1) the atmosphere and working conditions, (2) development and advancement opportunities, (3) adequate remuneration, (4) possibility of maintaining the work-life balance, (5) continuing education and training opportunities. As the aforementioned findings demonstrate, both employees and candidates, while appreciating the importance of an adequate salary and benefits, clearly express the need to enjoy their work, have opportunities for professional and personal growth, as well as seek to be recognised by superiors and colleagues. Employers’ position and reputation are also ranked highly by employees and applicants; Rynes and Cable observe that “many applicants are at least as concerned about picking the right organisation as about choosing the right job” (2003: 56). Even if an advertisement does not, overtly or implicitly, communicate the value of an organisation as an employer of choice, research has shown that organisational characteristics such as location, size, or industry are sometimes used as pre-screens before a vacancy is even considered by potential candidates (ibid.). The authors report on the results of several studies demonstrating that corporate image is associated with graduates’ perception of organisational attractiveness and students’ propensity to apply for the positions advertised. Potential candidates have also been shown to react strongly to the overall reputation of a prospective employer, seeking to associate themselves with organisations that enhance their self-esteem. Moreover, a positive corporate reputation is perceived as a signal that the organisation “is likely to provide other desirable job attributes, such as high pay and strong opportunities for career growth and development” (ibid.: 58).

1.4.3 Job branding Taking the concept of employer branding one step further, some HR practitioners, such as Lou Adler, the president of The Adler Group (a training and consulting firm helping companies find and hire top talent), and Paul Dodd, the president of Head2Head (a Toronto based company providing in-house recruiters and HR professionals), claim that the key to hiring the most valuable candidates is job branding (Adler, 2004; Welstead, 2006). It is defined as “making a particular position attractive to top talent based on what candidates will learn, do and become, combined with the rewards they can earn”. (Welstead 2006)

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Chapter One

While not questioning any of the benefits associated with employer branding, the authors maintain that the latter is effective for people beginning their careers, as well as those valuing job security over opportunity; ‘top people’, however, perceive the quality of an organisation as being a less important decision variable, except when “the company strategy and vision are tied directly to the actual job” (Adler 2004). Thus the significance of the job itself is foregrounded in the recruitment process, so that candidates and employees can clearly see growth opportunities and the significance of their potential position for the overall company mission. In accordance with the fundamentals of employer branding strategy, proponents of job branding recognise that prospective senior employees expect a considerable improvement in salary, career development, extra benefits and work environment; hence the Employee Value Proposition should focus on ‘total rewards’, encompassing far more than financial compensation. Dodd (quoted by Welstead 2006) sees job branding as a natural extension of employer branding having moved to the forefront of corporate strategies, with organisations increasingly recognising the importance of clearly communicating their competitive edge as employers. Accordingly, job branding will be viewed for the purposes of this study in exactly this way: as an extension, or perhaps a facet, of the broader concept of employer branding.

1.5 Concluding remarks Chapter 1 has sought, in the first instance, to provide the setting for the linguistic analysis of job advertisements performed in later sections of this book. It would be hard, if not impossible, to properly account for the role that recruitment ads play in projecting employer brands, without understanding, at least in very general terms, the core principles of the recruitment process as one of the salient dimensions of Human Resource Management, the position that job advertising occupies among other recruitment methods, as well as the concept and methods of employer branding. People being regarded by many researchers as “uniquely important to sustained business success” (Price 2007: 31), recruiting the right people first time round constitutes one of the key areas (or, according to some scholars, the key aspect) of HRM activities, adding considerable value to the employing organisation. Job advertising is considered to be one of the most popular of the external recruitment methods, frequently chosen from among many other ways of attracting candidates. Most of the researchers

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cited in this chapter emphasise the importance of the Internet as an increasingly popular recruitment and job advertising medium, and the role of e-recruitment as an approach or method. Employers seeking to attract the most valuable candidates are increasingly being expected to treat employees with a similar (if not the same) care and coherence as they would value customers. In this connection, employer branding has become a vital component (or extension) of the overall corporate branding strategy. It is understood as creating the image of an organisation as an employer of choice, ideally perceived as such by both existing and potential employees. Being deeply rooted in the values emanating from an organisation, it provides the foundation for the psychological contract between the company and its people. Employer branding should be closely integrated with customer branding and PR activities in order to contribute to the organisation’s overall image and reputation. One of the many benefits of employer branding described in this chapter is the fact that a strong brand enables an organisation to differentiate from its immediate competitors and thus project the image of the company as an employer of choice. In parallel to the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) in marketing, meant to provide a reason for potential customers to purchase the product or service advertised rather than similar competitive ones, the EVP (Employee Value Proposition) is an entire set of persuading factors intended to summarise everything that is ‘returned’ to an employee in exchange for contributing towards an organisation; the ‘returns’ may include both financial and non-financial incentives, or, alternatively speaking, rational and emotional benefits as well as those associated with the employer’s image. Drawing on the above summary of chapter 1, the following aspects and dimensions of recruitment advertising as viewed from the organisational (corporate) perspective are considered to be of utmost relevance for the linguistic analysis to be performed in the present study: 1) The function of job advertising is threefold: to attract the attention of the most suitable candidates, discourage those who lack the desired qualifications, experience, and personality, as well as to project a positive image of the organisation (thus contributing to the creation of the employer brand). The latter function being of key significance for this work, the analytical chapters are intended to investigate how it is linguistically realised in the corpus of job advertisements, both at the level of genre and register. 2) Drawing on organisational research and professional recruiters’ guidelines, a standard recruitment ad should comprise the following components: the job

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Chapter One

title, a brief presentation of the employing organisation, job description and requirements, remuneration and benefits, and instructions for application. The forthcoming analysis performed in chapter 4 will seek to examine whether this model is reflected in the rhetorical moves found in the texts under investigation. 3) Apart from constituting a salient HRM function, recruitment advertising is increasingly being viewed from the marketing perspective, as involving the ‘acquisition’ of new employees in a way resembling the process of buying resources and supplies. Job market participants engaging in the recruitment process play roles similar to those performed by sellers and buyers in a sales transaction, thus job advertising seems to have a great deal in common with commercial advertising. Following from this, such analytical tools as the Marketing Mix (the four Ps or the four Cs), as well as AIDA (or DAGMAR) are often extended to the context of recruitment advertising. Dale’s (2003) conceptualisation of job vacancies being ‘products’ that are ‘sold’ to potential applicants (‘the consumers’) seems well suited for the purposes of this book, and thus her model of the four Ps in job advertising will be applied as a descriptive tool for the analysis performed in chapter 6. The marketing models of AIDA and DAGMAR will also be utilised, in an attempt to see how they overlap with the linguistic/textual tools of persuasion used in job ads. 4) Job advertising is regarded as one of the channels for building and strengthening an organisation’s employer brand. As indicated earlier, the overarching aim of the analysis performed for the purposes of this book is to determine what linguistic strategies are utilised in the texts of online recruitment ads with a view to projecting strong employer brands and communicating attractive Employee Value Propositions. The linguistic realisation of the above mentioned functions will be investigated within the framework of genre analysis (chapter 4), register analysis (chapter 5), and the analysis of the language of persuasion and evaluation (chapters 6 and 7).

CHAPTER TWO DISCOURSE, GENRE, REGISTER: A REVIEW OF CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES

Chapter 2 aims to provide an overview of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the forthcoming linguistic analysis of job advertisements and their role in the creation of strong employer brands. The frameworks draw on theories and ideas applied in the field of broadly understood discourse studies, with particular emphasis on genre and register analysis. Although the overarching aim of this book is to investigate job advertising as an instrument of employer branding, and thus the above mentioned aspects of linguistic analysis are not central to the study, yet the analysis would neither be comprehensive in scope nor sufficiently insightful without accounting for the characteristics of the genre and register of recruitment ads. Moreover, as will be demonstrated in the analytical chapters, certain generic features and the lexicogrammatical patterns identified at the level of register vastly contribute to the employer branding potential of job advertisements. The present chapter thus attempts to review, in the first instance, the prevailing approaches to genre and register analysis interpreted as stages or paradigms of discourse studies. The genre colony placed in the focus of attention is that of promotional genres. The chapter also seeks to account for the conceptualisations of organisational discourse, with a view to preparing the ground for analysing job advertisements from this perspective. As the corpus has been compiled from recruitment ads found in the Internet, the medium and its influence on communication is also briefly discussed, followed by a cursory look at multimodal discourse analysis.

2.1 Discourse Researchers seem unanimous in claiming that the very notion of discourse is polysemous, vague and multi-dimensional (e.g. Biber et al. 2007; van Dijk 1997; Gajda 2005; Grant et al. 2004; Hünig 1998;

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Jørgensen and Phillips 2002; àyda 2007; Mayr 2008; Miczka 2005; Pennycook 1994; Wodak and Meyer 2009; Woods 2006). Van Dijk proposes three main dimensions of the concept of discourse: a) the already mentioned definition of discourse as “language use”, b) the characterisation embodying the functional aspects of discourse, i.e. discourse as “a communicative event”, c) the definition stressing the interactional aspect of communicative events where discourse is viewed as “interaction in social situations” (1997: 2). He also differentiates between discourse as a countable noun, understood in rather concrete terms, referring to “the specific use when we are dealing with a concrete example or token of text and talk”, and discourse understood as an abstract category “referring to a type of social phenomenon in general” (ibid.: 4); the latter, when encompassing ideas or ideologies, forms a very general system of discourse and ideas, a configuration of conventionalised discourse practices in particular social circumstances, that Fairclough (1995) refers to as an order of discourse, a notion frequently applied by other critical discourse scholars (see e.g. van Dijk 1997; Jørgensen and Phillips 2002).1 The conceptualisation of discourse as a communicative event is also indicated, among others, in Renkema’s “layman’s definition” which views discourse as “a set of connected meaningful sentences or utterances” by which “a sender communicates a message to the receiver” (2004: 39). The author himself further on questions this understanding of discourse as “not useful for scholarly purposes” (ibid.), and stresses the importance of the “discourse situation” in which a communicative event occurs: “In short, discourse is more than a message from sender to receiver. In fact, sender and receiver are metaphors that obfuscate what is really going on in communication. Specific illocutions have to be linked to the message depending on the situation in which discourse takes place”. (ibid.: 41)

The above view of discourse perceives communication as joint social action, adding information to the common ground of the participants (not just ‘senders’ and ‘receivers’), all of whom contribute to the construal of meaning. Moreover, Renkema does not see discourse as being only a part of the communicative situation, but understands it as capable of changing or even creating the situation (ibid.: 45). 1

Fairclough defines an order of discourse as “totality of discursive practices of an institution, and relations between them” (1995: 135). It may also be viewed as “a complex configuration of discourses and genres within the same social field or institution” (Jørgensen and Phillips, 2002: 141).

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The interactive, contextual and social dimensions of discourse are emphasised by other researchers as well. Although from different angles, they address, more or less thoroughly, the definitional continuum of the concepts of discourse, ranging from rather static, textually- and structurally-oriented approaches to more dynamic, processual, sociallyand culturally-focused views (see e.g. Bhatia 2004; Biber et al. 2007; Duszak 1998; Graesser et al. 2003; Fairclough 1995; Gajda 2005; Gee 2005; Jørgensen and Phillips 2002; Mamet 2005; Miczka 2002; Wenxing and Ying 2010; Woods 2006). Among the latter, Gee’s distinction between what he calls ‘discourse’ with a ‘little d’ and ‘Discourse’ with a ‘big D’ seems to adequately illustrate the complexity of the socio-cultural dimension of discourse: the ‘little d’ discourse refers to instances of language use, whereas Discourse is far more abstract and encompasses the ways of using language in particular social, cultural and institutional contexts, ways of thinking, speaking and behaving, “ways of being in the world” (2005: 7).2 Acknowledging the undisputed ambiguity and complexity of the concept of discourse, Trappes-Lomax claims that there is little to be gained from attempts to achieve a single, succinct and comprehensive definition of this phenomenon; instead, he proposes a set of definitions, synthesising the aspects of discourse described above, an approach which seems the most appropriate for the purposes of this study; he thus provides the following conceptualisations for discourse: 1) the linguistic, cognitive and social processes whereby meanings are expressed and intentions interpreted in human interactions; 2) the historically and culturally embedded sets of conventions which constitute and regulate such processes; 3) a particular event in which such processes are instantiated; 4) the product of such an event, especially in the form of a visible text, whether originally spoken or written (2006: 135-136). The variety of dimensions pertaining to the notion of discourse results in the diversity of approaches to discourse analysis, an issue to be discussed in subsequent parts of this chapter.

2.1.1 Different approaches to discourse analysis Depending on their understanding of discourse and discourse analysis, as well as their convictions and affiliations, different scholars tend to approach discourse analysis from somewhat different perspectives, 2

Cf. Graesser’s differentiation between a discourse and discourse (2003).

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emphasising some or other factors, and utilising different methodologies. Although far from being exhaustive, this sub-chapter attempts to serve as a cursory overview of the trends and tendencies encountered in the broad area of discourse analysis. One of the earliest conceptualisations of the goal of discourse analysis is that proposed in 1952 by Zellig Harris, who viewed discourse studies as aimed at “analysing connected speech and writing”, “the examination of language beyond the level of sentence and the relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour” (quoted in Paltridge 2006: 2). Modern discourse studies are said to have emerged in the 1960, developing within areas such as ethnography, structuralism and semiotics, discourse grammar, sociolinguistics and pragmatics, ethnomethodology, cognitive psychology, social psychology and communication studies (van Dijk 1997; cf. Pennycook 1994). Depending on research aims and theoretical paradigms, various approaches and methodologies may be applied; however, despite differences, contemporary discourse and conversation analysts generally agree that discourse studies “should attend to the structures or strategies of speech defined as a communicative event or as an instance of social interaction” (van Dijk 2006: 160). As mentioned earlier, the variety of conceptualisations pertaining to discourse analysis stems directly from the different views of the term discourse (see 2.1) Adopting the definition of discourse as ‘language in use’, discourse analysis should be regarded as studying the language in use (see e.g. Brown and Yule 1983; van Dijk 1997). Cook, defining discourse as “language in use, for communication”, views discourse analysis as “search for what gives discourse coherence” (1989: 6). Proposing the view of discourse as “language above the sentence or above the clause”, formalists/structuralists understand discourse studies as investigating how “different units function in relation to each other” (Schiffrin 1994: 23; italics original). Scholars conceptualising discourse as a ‘communicative event’, or a ‘joint social action’ (see 2.1), emphasise the importance of contextual and social dimensions of discourse and advocate that discourse analysis is a broad discipline encompassing a wide array of factors going far beyond those considered in a purely linguistic analysis. Renkema, for instance, having defined discourse studies as “the discipline devoted to the investigation of the relationship between form and function in verbal communication” (2004 :1), labels this definition as ‘rough’, merely a departure point for more elaborate considerations, whereby analysing discourse requires contributions from different disciplines such as linguistics, rhetoric, literature, stylistics, pragmatics, communication

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studies, psychology, as well as other fields concerned with verbal communication, sociology and philosophy. The author explains that “[d]iscourse phenomena cannot be studied adequately from just one of the perspectives. Because the concepts dealing with these phenomena are taken from many disciplines, a common ground is necessary. Discourse studies is this common ground. It serves as an inter- or multidiscipline that enables different research schools to have the necessary interaction so that specific contributions can be made to research into the relationship between form and function in verbal communication”. (ibid.: 2)

The interdisciplinary nature of the field of discourse studies viewed as the ‘common ground’ for various perspectives is emphasised by many other researchers as well (Duszak 2002; Graesser et al. 2003; Fairclough 1995; Jørgensen and Phillips 2002; Miczka 2002; Ostaszewska 2008; Trappes-Lomax 2006; van Dijk 1985, 1993, 1997, 2006; Wenxing and Ying 2010). Biber et al. attach great importance to the concepts of genre and register, viewing them as “central to previous investigations of discourse” (2007: 7). The genre orientation in discourse analysis is also advocated by other scholars. By way of example, Bhatia’s conceptualisation of the different traditions and dimensions in the analysis of written discourse is, to a large degree, consistent with that proposed by Biber et al.; Bhatia defines the analysis of written discourse as “the study of naturally occurring written discourse focusing in particular on its analysis beyond sentence level” (2004: 3). He indicates four domains of discourse studies stemming from four different perceptions of discourse, largely overlapping with the approaches hitherto reviewed, as well as reflecting the historical development of discourse studies evolving from ‘textualisation and lexicogrammar’, through ‘organisation of discourse’, to ‘contextualisation of discourse’. Following from this, Bhatia proposes four dimensions of discourse analysis: discourse as text: an approach adopted within the domain of text linguistics, focusing on the surface-level properties of discourse, including both formal and functional ones. At this level of analysis, the emphasis is essentially on “the properties associated with the construction of the textual product, rather than on the interpretation or use of such a product” (ibid.: 20); discourse as genre: focusing on the communicative purposes and the socio-cognitive patterns of discourse organisation. The analysis at this level is extended beyond the ‘textual product’, seeking to investigate how

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Chapter Two

the text is constructed, interpreted, used and exploited in professional and institutional contexts to achieve specific disciplinary goals; discourse as professional practice: an approach closely related to the previous one, emphasising the importance of genre knowledge in professional settings, but also the role that professional knowledge and experience play in ‘professional space’; discourse as social practice: incorporating broad social context on a larger scale, with an aim to investigate, among other issues, the changing identities of discourse participants, or the social structures of professional relationships as maintained or changed by genres.3 Parallel to the above categorisation, Bhatia creates a four-space model of written discourse studies, placing the generic perspective between the textual domain on the one hand, and the professional and social space on the other. The model is reproduced in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1. Perspectives on written discourse analysis (Bhatia, 2004: 19) 3

Cf. Schiffrin (1994), Trappes-Lomax (1996), and Miczka (2002), who offer somewhat different classifications of the approaches to discourse analysis.

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As can be seen, genre-based approaches occupy the space above the textual dimension, mostly associated with the pedagogical perspective, and below the professional and social dimensions, related with the sociocritical perspective. Being of high importance for the present study, the discourse as genre approach, as well as the register orientation, will be discussed in more detail further on in this chapter.

2.1.2 Organisational/workplace/business discourse As an attempt will be made later in the study to investigate job advertising as an area of organisational discourse or workplace/business discourse, a few comments need to be made about the studies related to this concept. It should be noted at this point that the notions of organisational/institutional/professional/business discourse are often used interchangeably be various researchers. Although the term organisation seems more appropriate when referring to commercial corporations (see e.g. Torrington et al. 2005), whereas institution is usually associated with the public organs of state, these two concepts are, to a large degree, overlapping, and thus organisational discourse and institutional discourse are frequently employed as referring to the same reality (Mayr 2008). Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson (1999) point out that the basic difference between such confusable terms as institutional/professional/ business discourse lies in the discourse participants.4 The field of organisational discourse has borrowed extensively from literature on discourse analysis, exhibiting similar complexity and diversity. Grant et al. (2004: 3) define organisational discourse as “the structured collections of texts embodied in the practices of talking and writing (as well as a wide variety of visual representations and cultural artefacts) that bring organisationally related objects into being as these texts are produced, disseminated and consumed”.

Consequently, texts can be regarded as manifestations of discourse and the discursive units on which the organisational discourse researcher focuses (ibid). 4

The term professional discourse is often used meaning interactions between lay people and professionals, institutional discourse seems to be most appropriate when referring to interactions between a lay person and an expert, and business discourse is “the process of talk and writing between individuals whose main work activities and interests are in the domain of business and who come together for the purpose of doing business” (Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson 1999: 2).

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Chapter Two

Closely related to organisational discourse is the notion of workplace discourse, viewed as “embedded in professional and organisational contexts” (Koester 2004: 1). Drew and Heritage (cited in ibid.: 2-3) propose the following characteristics of ‘institutional talk’ (i.e. workplace and professional talk), rendering it different from ordinary conversation: goal orientation, rules or restrictions pertaining to allowable contributions and turn-taking in conversations, professional lexis, asymmetry and specific structure of interaction. Although analysed from the perspective of spoken interactions by the aforementioned authors, most of the characteristics seem to pertain to written genres as well, a claim that will hopefully be made clear in the forthcoming analysis of job advertisements. Another concept which seems particularly relevant to the analysis performed for the purposes of the book is business discourse, pertaining to “how people communicate using talk or writing in commercial organisations in order to get their work done” (Bargiela-Chiappini et al. 2007: 3). Drawing on research in organisational communication and discourse studies, Zorn and Simpson regard business discourse as referring to “communication as talk, text and discursive practice within, between and about organisation” (2009: 32). The authors emphasise that, although the term business is usually interpreted as applying to strictly commercial transactions and activities, the notion business discourse is applicable to social interaction taking place within or related to broadly understood business settings.

2.2 A genre-based view of discourse As mentioned earlier, the genre-based view of discourse, as proposed by Bhatia (2004), is viewed as instrumental for the purposes of this study; in order to prepare the ground for the subsequent analysis of job advertising as a genre, this sub-chapter attempts to discuss the concept and definition of genre, as well as to review different approaches to genre analysis.

2.2.1 The concept of genre Similarly to the concept of discourse, the notion of genre is viewed by researchers as complex, multi-dimensional, and difficult to define (see e.g. Bhatia 1997; Caballero 2008; Chandler 1997; àyda 2007; Nelson 2000; Ostaszewska 2008; Wojtak 2008b). It is believed to have originated from

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considerations of discourse use in specific situations (Renkema 2004);5 in recurring situations, discourse tends to have more or less the same, often highly conventionalised, characteristics. In simplified terms, genres are commonly defined as “’natural’ discourse types” (van Dijk 1997: 7), “particular kinds of texts” (Paltridge 2006: 7), “a matter of text-types” (Caballero 2008: 15), “particular discourse types” (Wang 2009: 81).6 Slightly more comprehensive is the definition viewing genre as “a kind of shorthand serving to increase the ‘efficiency’ of communication” (Gledhill 1985 quoted in Chandler 1997:6).7 More elaborate conceptualisations see genres as “multidimensional artefacts defined by both formal-textual and functional features” (Caballero 2008: 23), “standardised, recognisable, self-inforcing forms of communication” (Bazerman 2004: 317), or “recognisable communicative events which raise a set of expectations as to the communicative purpose” (italics original; Catenaccio 2008: 17). Following Miller (1984), and in keeping with the premises of social constructionism and structuration theory (cf. Bargiela-Ciappini and Nickerson 1999; Heracleaus 2006; Yates and Orlikowski 1992), Devitt (2004: 31) offers a conceptualisation of genre as ‘social action’, performing multiple ideological and situational functions for groups of discourse participants; she emphasises the reciprocity of human action and genres: “I propose, then, that genre be seen not as a response to recurring situation but as a nexus between an individual’s actions and a socially defined context. Genre is a reciprocal dynamic within which individuals’ actions construct and are constructed by recurring context of situation, context of culture, and context of genres”.

5

Witosz (1999) observes that the notion of genre does not have an unequivocal ontological status among Polish linguists; researchers use a variety of terms, not always synonymous, such as speech genre, texteme, genre/text type, superstructure, potential generic structure, text prototype, to mention but a few.

6

Wang (2009) differentiates between text types, involving text-internal elements, such as surface linguistic features and textual functions, and genres, encompassing both text-internal and text-external contextual elements. See also Lee (2001) for a more thorough account of the distinction between genres and text types. The view of genre as involving text-internal and text-external features is emphasised in Bhatia (2008).

7 Importantly, Gajda (2008) claims that people communicate solely through the use of genres.

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The view of genre as a typified social action undertaken in response to recurrent rhetorical situations (Miller 1984) is particularly common within the domain of research into scientific, professional, and organisational discourse (see Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson 1999; Berkenkotter and Huckin 1995; Bhatia 1993; Swales 1990; Yates and Orlikowski 1992, among others). In a similar vein, Orlikowski and Yates define genre as “socially recognised types of communicative actions (…) habitually enacted by members of a community to realise particular social purposes”; when adopted by a particular community, it serves as “an institutionalised template for social action” (1994: 542). The authors argue that the most salient characteristics of genre are its 1) substance (the content appropriate for the context realising particular communicative purposes) and 2) common aspects of form, the latter viewed as encompassing structural features, communication medium, and linguistic characteristics such as formality and the use of specialised lexis. From a slightly different angle, Bhatia (1993) distinguishes three discourse features realising genres: the lexico-grammatical features, text-patterns and the structural organisation of texts. Perhaps the most influential approach to genres understood as conventionalised forms of discourse use was proposed by Swales (1990), and further developed by Bhatia (1993). Swales (1990: 58) defines genre in the following way: “A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognised by the expert members of the parent discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style”.

Other features of genres, as viewed by Swales, comprise the following: genres vary in their prototypicality, and their communicative goals establish constraints on what is allowable in terms of genres’ content and form. Swales attaches particular importance to ‘genre nomenclature’ and discourse participants’ knowledge of the conventions of a genre, as factors influencing successful participation in (professional) communicative situations. Bhatia’s research corroborates the role of the communicative purpose as the factor which “shapes the genre and gives it an internal structure” (1993: 13); the scholar also underscores “highly structured and conventionalised” character of genres, as well as the fact that “various genres display constraints on allowable contributions in terms of their

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intent, positioning, form and functional value” (ibid.: 14). Bhatia develops Swales’s understanding of genres by emphasising their inherently dynamic nature, the importance of taking into account not only socio-cultural, but also psychological factors in genre analysis, as well as viewing genres as reflections of disciplinary and organisational cultures (ibid., 2004).8 He proposes a definition of genre which seems particularly well suited to the context of professional/organisational practices: “[genre] is a rhetorical strategy used within a professional culture to organise knowledge in the form of professional action to achieve the objectives of professional communities”. (2004: 179)

Also drawing on Swales’s approach, Renkema defines genres as “communicative vehicles for achieving purposes”; those purposes are “shared by and recognisable to the participants in the communicative event” (2004: 74). The communicative purpose or functionality is thus regarded by many researchers as the principal criterion for classifying a collection of communicative events as genre (Askehave and Nielsen 2005; Bhatia 1993, 1997, 2004, 2007; Caballero 2008; Chandler 1997; DudleyEvans and St John 1998; Nunan 1993; WilkoĔ 2005, among others).9

2.2.2 Discourse communities, collectives and networks A salient notion in the understanding of genres is that of discourse community. Swales conceptualises the latter as a group of individuals defined by the following six characteristics: 1) discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals; 2) it has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members; 3) it uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback; 8

The dynamic nature of genres is emphasised by many scholars (see e.g. Bazerman 2004; Bhatia 2002; Caballero 2008; Chandler 1997; Devitt 2004; Gajda 2001; Halmari and Virtanen 2005; àyda 2007; Norlyk 2006; Orlikowski and Yates 1994, among others). See also Bhatia (1997, 2004) for a thorough discussion on the apparent contradiction between the emphasis on the conventionality of genres on the one hand, and their propensity for innovation and development on the other.

9 Cf. Wojtak (2008a, 2008b) who proposes a global view of genre, composed of four interrelated dimensions: structural, pragmatic, cognitive, and stylistic.

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4) it possesses and utilises one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims; 5) in addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific texts; 6) a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (1990: 24-27). Treating the above conceptualisation as a point of departure for a genre-based analysis, it should be noted that delimiting discourse communities is a complex task (see e.g. Mamet 2005). Orlikowski and Yates offer a broad view of the notion community as including “identifiable social units such as groups, organisations, occupations (…) or communities of practice" (1994: 542). Devitt attempts to go beyond the concept of Swalesian discourse community, regarding it as too idealistic and circular, not accounting sufficiently for the heterogenic, dynamic and fluid character of the communities (2004: 36-39).10 She thus proposes to confine the label ‘discourse community’ to groups of people who “share substantial amounts of time together in common endeavours” (ibid.: 42), and introduces the concepts of collectives and networks, the former sharing “a single repeated interest, without the frequency or intensity of contact of a community”, whereas the latter being “loosely linked” groups of people producing and receiving “common discourse”, connected (once or more) through “common contact with another person or organisation” (ibid.: 44-46). Importantly, in the context of research into business discourse, Rubin sees discourse community as “a social group for whom a text has social relevance” (quoted in Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson 1999: 6); at a deeper level, Rubin’s conceptualisation of discourse community views the latter as a consensus encompassing, among other aspects, what is worth communicating and how it may be communicated in a particular discourse type, how other members of the community may be persuaded, and what they are likely to know or believe to be true about certain subjects. Such a broad understanding of the concept of discourse community seems particularly well suited for the analysis performed in this study. The ‘producers’ and ‘consumers’ of the recruitment advertising genre will thus be viewed in the remainder of the study as loosely linked, heterogenic, dynamic and fluid network of people for whom the texts of 10 Devitt (2004) acknowledges that Swales himself described the connected with his definition, concluding that a redefined conception of community still remains a valuable and helpful approach to genres. Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) on the difficulty of defining a community.

problems discourse See also discourse

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job advertisements have social relevance; the common discourse, produced and/or received, connects the communicators and recipients in the totality of circumstances involved in the recruitment process.

2.2.3 Genre sets, systems and colonies Discourse communities and networks employ not only individual genres, but also their sets, systems, and colonies. Genres within specific disciplinary domains can be subcategorised in a number of ways. Genre sets or repertoires refer to a range or collection of text-genres produced by a particular professional group in the course of their daily routine; genres within a set are individually distinct, but also intertextually linked (Bazerman 2004; Bhatia 2004; Orlikowski and Yates 1994). As Orlikowski and Yates emphasise, members of a community rarely depend on a single genre; they tend to use “multiple, different and integrating genres” for their communication (1994: 542). Identifying a community’s repertoire of genres provides information about the established communicative practices of the community and, hence, about the ways it organises some of its activities. Several genre sets used by “people working together in an organised way”, often involving more than one occupational group, constitute a genre system, also encompassing “the patterned relations in the production, flow, and use of these documents” (Bazerman, 2004: 318).11 Genre systems comprise all the discursive forms or interrelated genres interacting with each other in specific settings, invoked by all the participants involved in a professional activity (Bhatia, 2004: 54).12 In addition to genres within specific disciplines, Bhatia distinguishes colonies of related genres, defined as constellations of “individually recognised genres that display strong similarities across disciplinary and professional boundaries” (2004: 57). Such genres, albeit different in a number of respects, share, to a large extent, their individual communicative purposes. Any major change in the communicative purpose(s) is likely to give rise to different genres; however, minor changes or modifications allow analysts to distinguish instances of sub-genres (Bhatia, 1993).

11

Bazerman (2004) further distinguishes the notion of activity system, understood as the framework of the total work accomplished by people using a certain genre system.

12 See Devitt (2004) for more on genre sets or repertoires, and systems or sequences.

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The aforementioned process of colonisation involves genres or genre conventions invading the integrity of other genres, as well as expert writers exploiting and appropriating those conventions to ‘bend’ genres to their own advantage, often leading to the creation of hybrid genres (both mixed and embedded). Such colonisation manifests itself most prominently in non-commercial or non-promotional genres appropriating resources typical of commercial/promotional discourse, a mechanism also referred to as commodification, marketisation, or promotionalisation of discourse (e.g. Bhatia 2005; Catenaccio 2008; Fairclough 1995).13 In keeping with the view of genre as an ideal type within a larger group of exemplars sharing a number of common features, the distinction lines between particular genres, as well as genre sets, systems and colonies, are far from being clear-cut and constant; on the contrary, due to the complexity of genres and their dynamic and flexible nature, the boundaries “will always be fluid to some extent” (Bhatia 2004: 58). Some genres (e.g. annual reports) may be members of more than one colony, others may acquire a different status over time. Consequently, although classifications are useful for analysis and practical applications, scholars underscore the necessity to consider an “endless continuum” of genres mixing with one another and forming “generic blends” changed and adapted by discourse participants (Wang 2009: 83).14 To exemplify how genres form constellations of closely related discourse types realising similar communicative purposes, the colony of promotional genres is briefly reviewed in a separate section below, a choice dictated by the fact that this colony comprises the genre of job advertisements constituting the subject matter of the present book.

2.2.4 Promotional genres With the invasion of promotional values in all forms of discourse (including academic genres, long regarded as ‘neutral’), promotional genres have become the most versatile and fast developing area of discourse. Even genres that are traditionally perceived as informative are increasingly colonised by promotional functions (see Bhatia 2005; Fairclough 1995, among others). Koester (2010) posits that promotional genres are of high significance for business and professional communication as they are widely used in the world of work. 13

See also Bhatia (2004, 2007, 2008) for a discussion on critical genre analysis.

14 See also Gajda (1993), Ostaszewska (2008), Witosz (2005), for more on the fluid/flexible nature of genre typology.

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The feature that genres within the colony (or family) of promotional discourse types have in common is that marketing is their most distinctive communicative goal; thus promotional genres share an overlapping purpose of “promoting a product or service to a potential customer” (Bhatia 2004: 60), or “’selling’ commodities, brands, organisations and institutions” (Fairclough 2003: 33). They are inherently persuasive, in the sense that their addressers aim to “elicit a specific response” from the addressees (Bhatia 1993: 45).15 Along with sharing overlapping communicative purposes, promotional genres are also similar in terms of the use of lexico-grammatical and discoursal resources (Catenaccio, 2008). As opposed to, for example, reporting genres, making use of such ‘primary speech genres’ as narrations, arguments and descriptions, promotional genres typically resort to descriptions and evaluations (Bhatia, 2004). Common instances include advertisements, promotional letters, book blurbs, grant proposals, fundraising letters. Figure 2-2 below presents Bhatia’s visual representation of the colony of promotional genres.

Figure 2-2. Colony of promotional genres (Bhatia, 2004: 62)

Figure 2-2 demonstrates that advertisement is the most central/ prototypical member of the colony of promotional genres, with job 15

See section 3.1 on the distinction between persuasion and promotion.

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applications, sales promotion letters, job advertisements, book blurbs and reference letters regarded as primary members. Travel brochures, film reviews and public campaigns are granted a secondary status, whereas genres having mixed communicative purposes, “partly promotional, partly information-giving or opinion-giving”, are considered peripheral members of the colony (ibid.).

2.2.5 Genre analysis: move/step approach Sub-chapter 2.2 has hitherto discussed the very concept of genre, together with notions commonly associated with genres, such as discourse communities, collectives, or networks, and genre sets, colonies and systems. The remainder of the sub-chapter is devoted to a brief discussion on genre analysis, with particular emphasis on Swales’s move-step model. In simplified terms, genre analysis is viewed as “the study of situated linguistic behaviour” (Bhatia 2002: 4), ranging from close linguistic studies of texts as products, through investigating complex communicative practices of professional communities, to comprehensive social-cultural and critical procedures applied to interpret genres in different settings. Thus genre investigations tend to employ a variety of tools, including, among others, textual analyses, ethnographic techniques, cognitive procedures, computational analysis and critical awareness (Bhatia 2004). The broad array of tools and perspectives applicable in generic frameworks derives from the fact that the very nature of genre analysis is multidisciplinary (Bhatia 1997, 2002). Paltridge (1995) provides a review of approaches to genre analysis encompassing Hasan’s generic structure potential analysis, Martin’s schematic structure analysis and genre network approach, Ventola’s flow chart representation of genres, and Swales’s analysis of moves and steps in genres. The author views the latter approach as “perhaps more eclectic in its perception of the notion of genre”, as compared with the former approaches based on the premises of Halliday’s systemic functional linguistic, yet he underscores that all the perspectives seek to identify structural elements in texts and “make statements about the patterning of these elements” (1995: 503). Paltridge proposes another approach: a relational perspective of genre analysis, examining texts in terms of the types and categories of the underlying semantic relationships between discourse units in a genre.16 16 The key notions in the relational perspective on genre analysis are: unitary value units of discourse elements and binary value patterns of discourse relations and

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The approach to genre analysis that is remarkably widely used by researchers is the framework proposed by John Swales at the beginning of the 1980s, commonly referred to as move-step analysis. It was developed as a top-down approach to analysing the discourse structure of texts viewed as sequences of rhetorical moves, where each move represents “a discoursal or rhetorical unit that performs a coherent communicative function in a written or spoken discourse” (Swales, 2004: 228). Each move not only has its own purpose, but also contributes to the overall communicative purpose (or purposes) of the genre. Moves generally have distinct linguistic boundaries that render themselves to an objective analysis. They may contain multiple components that together, or in some combination, realise the move. Swales (1990) refers to these elements as steps, whose primary function is to achieve the purpose of the move to which they belong.17 The move-step approach has been widely adopted for investigations of structural/rhetorical patterns in professional and business genres (Askehave and Nielsen 2005; Bargiela-Chiappini et al. 2007; Bhatia 1993, 2004, 2005; Biber et al. 2007, among others). In such analyses, moves are examined as “socio-cognitive patterns that most members of a professional community use to construct and interpret discourses specific to their professional cultures” (Bhatia 2004: 9). The genre analysis performed within the framework of the move-step approach generally involves identifying and describing the move types that can occur in the target genre, followed by segmentation of the selected texts into particular moves, and describing the overall structure of a text in relation to the sequence of move types (Biber et al. 2007). The examination is intended to show how texts representing the same genre exhibit various patterns of similarity in terms of structure, intended audience, content and style (Swales 1990). Askehave and Nielsen (2005: 2) offer the following summary of Swales’s three-level genre model: Communicative purpose realised by Move structure realised by Rhetorical strategies semantic relations, the latter being divided into three broad categories of associative, logico-deductive and tempero-contiguity relations (Paltridge 1995). 17

Cf. the concept of illocutionary steps in Wojtak (2008a).

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The constituents of the model capture the essence of the concept of genre and the interaction of its content, structure and communicative purpose. The model will thus be employed as the main analytical tool for the genrebased analysis of recruitment ads to be performed in chapter 4.

2.3 Register perspective While sub-chapter 2.2 sought to provide the analytical framework for the forthcoming analysis of recruitment advertising as genre, the present sub-chapter offers a brief overview of the register perspective in discourse analysis, with a view to preparing the ground for the examination of the main lexico-grammatical patterns found in the corpus under study. The sub-chapter thus attempts to define register against the background of two other interrelated concepts: genre and style, followed by the core premises and components of register analysis.

2.3.1 Genres, registers, styles Discourse and genre scholars frequently refer to the three interrelated concepts: genre, register, and style. The two former notions in particular have been salient in discourse studies, being regarded as the two “constituent elements of discourse” (Grimshaw 2003: 27). Distinguishing between genre and register is often perceived as problematic (see e.g. Caballero 2008; Lee 2001). Many investigations simply adopt one of these terms and disregard the other, whereas some authors differentiate between those two notions; Martin, for instance, proposes that “genres are realised through registers, and registers in turn are realised through language” (quoted in Swales 1990:40). Other authors, as suggested in Biber et al. (2007) and Biber and Conrad (2009), tend to use these two terms interchangeably. Style is another ambiguous concept, viewed by van Dijk as “a notoriously difficult notion to define” (1997: 11). The author conceptualises style as “the choice of a specific word” depending on the discourse type, group membership, position or opinion of the speaker or writer (ibid.). Biber and Conrad indicate that style is commonly treated as “a characteristic way of using language” by particular authors, genres, texts, or in particular periods (2009: 23). Likewise, Coulthard (quoted in Mamet 2005) proposes that the choice of styles is of social, rather than situational significance, as opposed to registers which are determined by the communicative situation.

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A comprehensive account of the three overlapping notions of genre, register and style is offered in Biber and Conrad (2009). The scholars use these terms to refer to three perspectives on text varieties, differing in terms of (1) the ‘texts’ considered for the analysis, (2) the linguistic characteristics taken into account, (3) the distribution of those linguistic characteristics, and (4) the interpretation of linguistic differences, as summarised in Table 2-1 below. Table 2-1. Defining characteristics of registers, genres, and styles (based on Biber and Conrad 2009: 2, 16) Defining characteristic

Register

Genre

Style

Textual focus

sample of text excerpts

complete texts

sample of text excerpts

Linguistic characteristic

any lexicogrammatical feature

specialised expressions, rhetorical organisation, formatting

any lexicogrammatical feature

Distribution of linguistic characteristics

frequent and pervasive in texts from the variety

usually onceoccurring in the text, in a particular place in the text

frequent and pervasive in texts from the variety

Interpretation

features serve features are not features are important conventionally directly functional; communicative associated with the they are preferred functions in and genre: the because they are are commonly expected format, aesthetically valued used in association but often not (associated with with the purposes particular functional; authors/historical and situational analysis includes periods) context of texts description of the purposes and situational context of a text variety

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As Table 2-1 illustrates, the style perspective is similar to the register perspective in its linguistic focus, text characteristics and their distribution, the main difference being that the use of those features tends to be aesthetically motivated in the former perspective, and functionally motivated in the latter one. The genre perspective focuses on complete texts, their rhetorical organisation, formatting and specialised terminology, with particular emphasis on the conventional (rather than functional) structures, which may occur only once in a complete text, as opposed to pervasive occurrence of function-determined features of register. Both the register and genre perspectives account for the communicative purposes served by text features in a specific situational context.18

2.3.2 Register analysis As mentioned above, register analysis examines samples of text excerpts, searching for any lexico-grammatical features frequently and pervasively occurring in texts representing a certain variety; those features serve important communicative functions in the texts analysed and are commonly used in association with the latter’s purposes and situational context. Register analysis is viewed as the first stage in the development of the area of English for Specific Purposes (Bhatia 1993; Hutchinson and Waters 1987; Dudley-Evans and St.Johns 1998). Describing the stages in ESP development, Mamet (2004) emphasises that register analysis explores the distinctive features of specialist texts at the sentence-level, rather than the level above the sentence, the latter approach being common in discourse analysis. The scholar thus perceives register analysis as a level or dimension of genre analysis. Viewing register as “a variety of language distinguished according to its use”, Bhatia (1993: 6) advocates that register analysis should focus “mainly on the identification of statistically significant lexico-grammatical features of a linguistic variety” (ibid.: 5).19 Likewise, as mentioned in the previous section, Biber and Conrad emphasise the functional character of register, viewing the latter as “a variety associated with a particular 18 See also Bhatia (2004) for a discussion on the interrelationship between registers, genres and disciplines. 19

In his later work, Bhatia underscores that genres are “much more action-oriented than registers”, and “have certain socio-cognitive realities”, whereas registers are “restricted to typical configurations of contextual features as realised through different aspects of the grammatical system” (2004: 32).

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situation of use (including particular communicative purpose)” (2009: 6). Such conceptualisations have an immediate impact on the understanding of the purposes and procedures in register analysis. Within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics, registers have often been identified on the basis of a specific configuration of three situational and contextual factors: the field, mode, and tenor of discourse (Halliday and Hasan 1985; Martin and White 2005). In simplified terms, field refers to what is going on in a situation (including the subject matter or content being discussed), tenor reflects the interpersonal relations and roles adopted by participants, and mode is concerned with the symbolic organisation of the text, rhetorical modes (persuasive, expository, didactic, etc.), and the medium and channel of communication (e.g. spoken/written, monologic/dialogic, computer-mediated, etc.). By understanding these three variables, it can be predicted what kind of language is likely to be used in a particular setting. It should also be emphasised that, while registers are determined by the communicative situation, the latter is also created by the choice of specific registers (Hymes quoted in Mamet 2005). Biber and Conrad (2009) propose that register analysis should account for the three major components of register: the situational context, the linguistic features, and the functional relationships between the first two components, as represented in Figure 2-3 below:

Situational Context communicative purpose

Linguistic Analysis of use, including of words and structures that commonly occur

Å------- FUNCTION ------Æ Figure 2-3. Components of a register analysis (Biber and Conrad, 2009: 6)

One of the researchers’ central arguments is that, when considered from a register perspective, linguistic features, i.e. “typical lexical and grammatical characteristics” are “always functional” (emphasis original, ibid.); their frequent/pervasive occurrence in register is determined by their suitability for the purposes and situational context of the register. The functional interpretation is based on the comparison of the situational and

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linguistic analyses, attempting to answer the question why particular linguistic features commonly occur in a certain context.20 Importantly, Biber and Conrad view the situational component as “more basic than the linguistic features” (ibid.: 9). They propose a comprehensive list of the major situational characteristics relevant for describing and comparing both registers and genres. The list encompasses the following elements, overlapping with or extending the field, tenor and mode orientation in SFL: 1) Participants: addresser(s), addressees, on-lookers 2) Relations among participants: interactiveness, social roles, personal relationship, shared knowledge 3) Channel: mode, specific medium 4) Production and comprehension circumstances 5) Setting: time and place of communication 6) Communicative purposes: general and specific purposes, factuality, expression of stance 7) Topic: general and specific (Biber and Conrad 2009: 39-47). There is no single ‘right’ level for a register analysis (ibid.: 32); it can be conducted at a very general level (e.g. public speaking), at a more specific level (e.g. a sermon), or at a very specific level (a sermon delivered by a Roman Catholic priest). A register-based investigation typically involves a quantitative analysis of the pervasive or frequent register features, followed by an interpretation of the relationships between the linguistic characteristics and the communicative situation of the target register.

2.4 Web-mediated communication The choice of the communication medium is regarded as a salient contextual factor having a significant influence on communication and organisational practices (see e.g. Askehave and Nielsen 2005; BargielaChiappini and Nickerson 1999; Bargiela-Chiappini et al. 2007; Dale 2003; Lengel and Daft 1988; O’Keefe 1990). As pointed out by Marshall Macluhan in the sixties, “the medium is the message” (Askehave and Nielsen 2005: 3). It has also been indicated in sub-chapter 1.3 that many 20

Biber and Conrad (2009) also underscore the iterative nature of register analysis: the analysis may often demonstrate that the linguistic patterns are different from those expected, leading to a reassessment of the situational characteristic of the register examined.

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scholars are in agreement about the Internet having become the primary medium of business communication, including commercial and recruitment advertising. Throughout the last decades, the Web has also been gaining importance in nearly all spheres of human interaction, influencing the language, as well as changing the very nature of communication. David Crystal (2001: 2-3) defines the Internet as “an association of computer networks with common standards which enable messages to be sent from any central computer (or host) on one network to any host on any other”.

The digital medium has a number of characteristics that influence communication. One of its most distinctive features is the link system, resulting in an extremely high degree of intertextuality of web-mediated texts; other characteristics of the Internet include its global reach, immateriality, multimodality and blurring of the author-reader boundaries (Askehave and Nielsen 2005; Grzenia 2007). Caballero contends that “hypertextual links have topical, rhetorical and discursive implications” (2008: 23), helping users connect textual chunks or informational nodes inside the text and expand the topic of a text by linking it (e.g. through its key words) with other texts, providing readers with different reading options, creating opportunities for readers and writers to interact faster and more actively than in traditional print practices. As a medium, the Internet has transformed many traditionally spoken or written genres, whose flexible and dynamic nature enabled their adaptation to the communicative practices of the Web. Caballero finds that while some genres have remained actually the same as their print counterparts (e.g. many of the academic papers accessible online), others show “diverse degrees of digitalisation and/or novelty”, exhibiting a “mixture of conventional and new - digital - traits”, or becoming unique to the online medium (e.g. wikis and social networking websites) (2008: 21). Thus, while some genres have adapted to the new medium, others emerged as specifically web-based types of discourse (see also Orlikowski and Yates 1994). Shepherd and Watters (1998 quoted in Caballero, 2008) classify online genres into two broad categories: extant genres, which replicate conventional genres, further grouped into replicated genres or variant genres, relative to their greater or lesser exploitation of the possibilities offered by the medium (e.g. hypertextual links); novel cybergenres, which are typical of the new medium, further divided into emergent genres (such that have evolved from the conventional ones

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to the extent that they can be regarded as fairly new), and spontaneous genres (those which only exist in the Internet). Largely overlapping with the above classification are the three sets of genres available on the Web accounted for by Crowston and Williams (1999, 2000 quoted in Caballero 2008): reproduced genres (exhibiting no changes with regard to the print originals), adapted genres (which take advantage of the possibilities of the digital medium and thus may go beyond their original purposes, e.g. online newspapers), and new genres (which are unique to the online medium, e.g. hotlists or weblogs). Caballero posits that the key parameter in describing and defining genres in the Internet seems to be functionality, a facet which is “intrinsically related to the technological side of digital genres”, enabling users to do things that would be impossible without hypertext technology (2008: 22). Hypertexts enable “a non-linear transmission of information”, a phenomenon which has serious implications for genre analysis (Askehave and Nielsen 2005: 3). Hypertexts have a capacity of activating at least two modal shifts in the reading process: the reading mode ( similar to traditional, mostly sequential reading) and the navigating or linking mode, which allows the reader to navigate the site and actively construct the reading path. The authors suggest that the analysis of web genres should be centred around the two modes. When a web-mediated text is considered “in the reading mode”, and thus the text consumption is not very different from the consumption of a printed text, the traditional genre analysis seems an appropriate tool for a genre description; if, however, the text is to be treated as an interactive medium, the “navigating mode” may prove more suitable, allowing the analyst to “zoom out of the text” and use the web document as a medium and exploit its navigation possibilities (ibid. :3-4). Although the online job advertisements constituting the corpus under study will be analysed primarily in the reading mode, and thus the texts of the ads will be at the centre of attention, the remainder of this section will be devoted to multi-modal representation of meaning, an issue which is becoming increasingly silent in the context of recruitment advertising. Iedema (2003) describes multimodality as the current mutation of discourse analysis, drawing on social semiotics which appears to have taking the studies of text and meaning making beyond oppositions traditionally separating language-oriented research and sign-systemoriented semiotics. He defines multimodality as an approach taking into account “semiotics other than language-in-use, such as image, music, gesture, and so on” (ibid.: 33). He further explains:

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“In general terms, the trend towards a multimodal appreciation of meaning making centres around two issues: first, de-centring of language as favoured meaning making; and second, the re-visiting and blurring of the traditional boundaries between and roles allocated to language, image, page layout, document design, and so on”. (ibid.)

The multi-modal nature of meaning making is emphasised by researchers exploring advertising discourse (e.g. Bralczyk 2004; Cook 2001; Wojtaszek 2011; Woods 2006), critical discourse scholars (e.g. Fairclough 2001), as well as those dealing with organisational/institutional discourse, the latter being viewed as having adopted, to a remarkable degree, multi-modal ways of self-representation (Bargiela-Chiappini 2007; Garzone 2009; Iedema 2003; Mayr 2008). Lemke (2002), quoted in Bargiela-Chiappini et al. (2007: 49), combines multimodality with hypertextuality, bringing the creation of meaning to a higher level of hypermodality, “looking beyond the textual aspects of e-communication through hypertext”.21

2.5 Concluding remarks As can be seen from the above considerations, the field of discourse analysis is an overwhelmingly complex, multifaceted and multidimensional area of interest and study. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to select one particular approach to discourse analysis and claim it offers a researcher sufficient tools to meet all the requirements of a thorough and reliable investigation, as understood from the perspective of modern discourse studies. Acknowledging this complexity, scholars increasingly advocate a need for integrating various approaches, a standpoint that enables analysts to draw from different perspectives and utilise methodologies and tools associated with different schools of analysis (see e.g. Bargiela-Chiappini et al. 2007; Bhatia 2002, 2004; van Dijk 1997, 2006; Flowerdew 2005; Jørgensen and Phillips 2002; Schiffrin 1994; Heracleous 2006). Different perspectives and approaches, albeit dissimilar, do not have to be mutually exclusive; in fact, they often support and complement one another. As Jørgensen and Phillips propose, the differences between various approaches 21 Caballero (2008) offers an interesting discussion on the necessity of handling different semiotic codes in computer-mediated communication, resulting in traditional literacy giving way to multiliteracy. See also Askehave and Nielsen (2005) for a thorough account of the difference between ‘traditional reading’ and ‘hyper-reading’, as well as ‘modal shifts’ in the reading process.

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are essentially “matters of degree”, and thus particular perspectives occupy different spaces on the “continua” of methodological choices (2002: 18). In the same vein, Heracleous posits that dissimilar views on discourse analysis “are not mutually exclusive, but they can be seen as analytically different” (2006:2). While the investigation performed for the purposes of the present book does not aim to promote uncritical eclecticism in discourse analysis, it will hopefully reflect the complex and often ambiguous reality of studying language in use, and attempt to contribute to the voices claiming that utilising a range of perspectives may enable a discovery of a variety of aspects and thus render the analysis more comprehensive and reliable.22 In this connection, a number of research tools and theoretical constructs drawing upon various fields of discourse analysis are regarded as useful for the investigation of recruitment advertisements to be performed in chapters 4 and 5: 1) The term discourse is used in the analysis in its broad sense, encompassing the meanings of discourse as real language in use, a particular communicative event, the product of such an event (e.g. a text), interaction in social situations, and sets of conventions constituting and regulating such interactions. It is thus interpreted both as Gee’s (2005) ‘little d’ and ‘big D’ discourse, i.e. both as an abstract concept and concrete instances of language use. Drawing on this conceptualisation, an attempt will be made in chapters 4 and 5 to briefly analyse job advertising as organisational/workplace/business discourse, with the reservation that the latter term is understood in its broad sense as applicable to any type of social interaction taking place within or related to broadly understood business settings (Zorn and Simpson 2009). 2) The discourse of job advertising will be examined in chapter 4 from the discourse as genre perspective, as proposed in Bhatia (2004). The view of genre as a typified social action (Miller, 1984) is seen as the most appropriate for investigating job advertising as a corporate public genre, emphasising the intertextual character of genres entering relationships with other genres, as well as focusing on the actions that genres are intended to accomplish in relation to typified, recurrent situations. This view involves understanding of successful communication as facilitated through the “shared (socially created) recognition of type, including the type of situation, type of participants and type of rhetoric” (Bargiela22

Some researchers do, as a matter of fact, promote eclecticism in modern discourse studies; see e.g. the discussion in Kahn (2003). In the domain of critical discourse studies, Wodak and Meyer claim that CDA is necessarily multidisciplinary and eclectic (2009: 3).

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Chiappini and Nickerson 1999: 9), a standpoint which seems well suited for the job advertising context. The notion of discourse community, salient in the domain of genre-based studies, is understood in line with the broad conceptualisation offered by Rubin (quoted in Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson 1999: 6), viewing discourse community as “a social group for whom a text has social relevance”. Following the widely held assumption that the core criterion for classifying communicative events as genres is the function (or a set of functions) they perform, the analysis will seek to determine, in the first instance, whether recruitment advertising indeed constitutes a separate promotional genre, and to what degree the genrebased investigation corroborates the view on the purposes served by job ads as proposed by organisational researchers. Drawing on Swales’s movestep model of genre analysis, the analysis performed in chapter 4 will seek to investigate how the communicative purposes are realised by the move structure of job ads, and what rhetorical strategies contribute to the realisation of these moves; particular emphasis will be placed on the position that the employer branding function occupies among the roles performed by recruitment ads. 3) Partially overlapping with the above, and also focusing on the communicative functions of texts, the analysis at the level of register performed in chapter 5 will seek to determine the field, mode, and tenor of job advertising discourse (from the SFL perspective), together with its major situational characteristics, as proposed by Biber and Conrad (2009). It will also attempt to investigate what lexico-grammatical features serve important communicative functions in job advertising, with particular emphasis on the persuasive/evaluative strategies serving the employer branding function (see chapter 3). 4) Online job advertising is regarded in the study as instantiating extant web-mediated genres, rather than novel cybergenres, the latter being typical of or exclusive to the new medium. Web-mediated recruitment ads mostly replicate their print counterparts, nonetheless increasingly exploiting the possibilities offered by the Internet, especially hypertextual links to organisations’ websites, and active e-mail links which enable applicants to contact the company directly and immediately. In this connection, the analysis of Internet language does not appear relevant for the purposes of this book. The present study focuses on, to use the term offered by Askehave and Nielsen (2005), the ‘reading mode’ analysis of job advertising discourse; yet the semiotic complexity and the interplay between the various modalities in web-based recruitment ads (as compared with commercial advertisements) will also be mentioned, albeit in a cursory manner, in chapter 4.

CHAPTER THREE PERSUASION AND THE LANGUAGE OF VALUES

The previous chapter sought to provide the theoretical background for examining job advertisements within the frameworks offered by several approaches to discourse analysis, mainly the genre and register perspectives. Drawing on these approaches, the investigation to be performed in the analytical part of the study will hopefully demonstrate what generic and lexico-grammatical features of recruitment ads mostly contribute to their employer branding function, the latter constituting the main theme of this book. Acknowledging the importance of the above mentioned perspectives, it must however be emphasised that it is the persuasive/evaluative dimension of job advertisements that seems to play the most salient role in creating and reinforcing employers’ image. The present chapter thus seeks to offer, in the first instance, an overview of the concepts of persuasion (as compared with promotion), as well as the strategies and textual mechanisms commonly employed in persuasive and promotional discourse. Given that evaluation is intrinsic to persuasion (see e.g. GalasiĔski 1992; Laskowska 2008; Thompson and Hunston 2000), the axiological parameter of persuasion is further on placed in the focus of attention, preceded by a brief discussion of the complexity and ambiguity of the relationship between evaluation and the language of values. Lastly, this chapter theoretically reviews the concept of organisational values, with a view to preparing the ground for investigating such values and their persuasive potential in the discourse of recruitment ads.

3.1 Persuasion and promotion Kurt Mortensen, one of America’s foremost authorities on persuasion, motivation, negotiation and influence, claims that “persuasion is the number one skill possessed by the ultraprosperous” (2008: 2); irrespective of one’s profession and the context, success, to a large degree, depends on

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persuasion.1 Persuasion is both a science and art, “an integral part of human interaction” (Halmari and Virtanen 2005a: 4). Some researchers and psychologists contend that all communication can in a sense be regarded as persuasive in that all texts are intended to exercise some kind of influence on the readers’ or listeners’ activities, feelings or ways of thinking (Batko 2004; Halmari and Virtanen 2005a; àabuz and UrbaĔski 2006; Mulholland 1994; Tokarz 2006). In a similar vein, Tokarz (2006) draws on the speech act theory to suggest that the very concept of perlocutionary force, i.e. how things are done through language (cf. Austin 1975; Searle 1985), indicates that influencing interlocutors’ attitudes and actions is inherent to linguistic interaction.2 Simons defines persuasion as “human communication designed to influence the autonomous judgements and actions of others” (2001: 7). Within the domain of genre studies, Halmari and Virtanen offer a similar definition: persuasion is “all linguistic behaviour that attempts to either change the thinking or behaviour of an audience, or to strengthen its beliefs, should the audience already agree” (2005a: 3). Thus, at its simplest, persuasion involves influencing or inducing others to willingly and knowingly do something, to change their beliefs and, as a consequence, the way they behave.3 Having acknowledged the problems with providing sharp-edged distinctions between persuasive and non-persuasive communication, O’Keefe (1990) proposes six common features of paradigm cases of persuasion:4

1

See also Simons (2001) on the findings of research into the importance of persuasive skills in achieving business success.

2

O’Keefe proposes that “to persuade is a perlocutionary act”, as compared to e.g. urging, viewed as an illocutionary act (1990: 26).

3

Researchers emphasise the fact that persuasion, dissimilarly to manipulation and propaganda, should be understood as acting, in accordance with ethical standards, to encourage a person to share the communicator’s view or take the desired action, rather than insist on the addressee acting on the addresser’s wishes (cf. Gorman 2007; Mulholland 1994). See also KamiĔska-Szmaj (2004) and LubaĞ (2006) on the concepts of persuasion, manipulation and propaganda, as well as GalasiĔski (1992) on the notions of persuasion and coercion. 4

Paradigm cases are viewed as “the sorts of instances that nearly everyone would agree are instances of the concept in question; they are straightforward, uncontroversial examples” (O’Keefe 1990: 15).

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1) embedded in persuasion is the notion of success: persuasion is a successful attempt to influence;5 2) the presence of some criterion of goal that the persuader aims to achieve; 3) the existence of some correlative intent to reach that goal; 4) some measure of freedom (free will, free choice, voluntary action) on the part of the persuadee; 5) paradigm cases of persuasion are achieved through communication (especially through the medium of language); 6) persuasion seeks to involve a change (or reinforcement) in the mental state of the persuadee; in some instances of persuasion, only a change in mental states is involved; yet persuasion is often intended to evoke behavioural changes (persuadees taking the desirable actions), given rise to by the relevant mental states, i.e. attitudes. Halmari and Virtanen (2005a) underscore the role of the audiences/addressees (whether individual or multiple, actual or implied, visible or invisible, interlocutors or onlookers) as contributors to the intentional and interactive process of persuasion, as well as the salience of the situational and socio-cultural context in which persuasion takes place. Halmari and Virtanen (2005b) propose a model of persuasion as engaged in an interplay with genres, often blurring genre boundaries and leading to genre hybridisation and promotionalisation. Consequently, persuasion is viewed in this model as a force that may “trigger generic change, thus explaining the evolving forms of inherently persuasive genres” (ibid.: 230). Although persuasion seems to be inherent to promotion, it should be noted that not all persuasive discourse is necessarily promotional (Bhatia 2004). These two terms are often used interchangeably, as they may overlap in some meanings, yet they also have meanings that are not shared, as can be seen in the LDCE definitions: persuade: 1) to make someone decide to do something, especially by giving them reasons why they should do it, or asking them many times to do it; 2) to make someone believe something or feel sure about something; = convince promote: 1) encourage to help something to develop or increase; 5 Cf. Wolny-Peirs (2005) for an investigation of genres heavily exploiting the language of success, including, among others, the genre of job advertising.

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2) to give someone a better, more responsible job in a company; 3) to help sell a new product, film etc. by offering it at a reduced price or by advertising it; 4) in sport–play in a better group of team the next year; 5) to try to persuade people to support or use something; 6) to be responsible for arranging a large public event such as a concert or a sports game. Not all the meanings of the lexeme promote offered above are relevant for the present study; those particularly salient are definitions 3 and 5, whereby promoting means helping sell something, and trying to persuade people to support or use something. Compared with the lexeme persuade as defined above, promoting appears to be a more specific/narrower concept, focused on (broadly understood) marketing activities. Such an understanding is offered by Bhatia (2004), who seems to indicate that the term promotional should be understood in the marketing sense, as encompassing persuasive aspects and resources characteristic of marketing/advertising discourse. Bhatia (2005) discusses promotional genres viewed as displaying a mixture of “promotional or persuasive overtones” (2005: 223). In a similar vein, the view that promotion is, in simplified terms, a ‘stronger’, more marketing-oriented dimension of persuasion, is adopted for the purposes of this book.

3.1.1 Persuasive and promotional strategies Persuasion may be accomplished through a variety of means and resources, yet there seems to be an agreement between scholars about the salience of verbal communication in achieving persuasive goals (see e.g. Bralczyk 2004; Mulholland 1994; Mortensen 2008; O’Keefe 1990; Wolny-Peirs 2005). LubaĞ (2006) suggests that persuasion is realised through three macro-functions of language: referential (imparting information), emotive/expressive (expressing feelings and intentions), and conative (oriented toward and exercising influence on the addressee, winning them round to the addresser’s arguments). GalasiĔski (1992) and LewiĔski (2000) highlight the conative aspect of persuasion, yet they view the conative function as frequently disguised under the cover of another (usually referential) function. In his study of the discourse of advertising, an inherently persuasive type of communication, Cook (2001) underscores the role of the poetic macrofunction, understood in Jakobsonian terms as foregrounding the linguistic message itself. Perelman (2002) views persuasion as a part of the more general concept of argumentation, the latter covering the whole range of discourse

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that aims at persuasion and conviction. He draws on and develops Aristotle’s classic theory of persuasion, which identifies three major types of persuasive appeals: ethos: used in order to create a positive image of the communicator, i.e., in simplified terms, build the communicator’s credibility; pathos: appealing to recipient’s emotional, moral and attitudinal views, arousing emotions which are supposed to stimulate addressees to act in the way intended by the speaker; logos: used to appeal to the reasonable side of the addressees by utilising rational arguments (providing facts, statistics, information). Persuasive appeals analysis based on Aristotle’s theory has been applied by many scholars investigating persuasive and promotional texts, either as the central or complementary perspective (see e.g. Biber et al. 2007; Halmari and Virtanen 2005, among others). Researchers drawing on Aristotle’s classic rhetoric are not alone in suggesting that effective persuasion should appeal to both reason and emotions. In a similar vein, Mortensen claims that “optimal persuasion appeals to both logic and instinct” (2008: 70). Emotion inspires people to take action, but logic justifies those actions (ibid.). It is thus critical to integrate both dimensions and achieve the balance of emotional and logical resources, the former encompassing for example testimonials, stories, analogies, pictures and metaphors, while the latter including evidence, statistics, studies, graphs and charts. The same view is advocated within the domain of research into managerial persuasion; McIntosh and Luecke (2011) suggest that in some cases persuasive language should address the head (logic), whereas in different circumstances it should appeal to the heart (emotions); there are situations when both logic and emotions should be addressed. Mortensen (2008), Tokarz (2006), Wieczorek (1999), among others, underscore the rule of reciprocal benefits in persuasion; the persuaders and persuadees seek to ‘swap’ what they have for what the others desire. Likewise, Simons claims that persuasion theorists are unanimous about incentives being “essential in getting people to act” (2001: 38). The author observes, that (in the majority of cases) “the greater the incentive, the greater the likelihood of successful persuasion” (ibid.). Thus offering or promising rewards, benefits and incentives is perceived as one of the most effective persuasive strategies. The reward power refers to “delivering rewards or benefits to influence others” (Mortensen, 2008: 156); compared to other resources, it is “the fastest to persuade” (ibid.).6 Similarly, 6

See also O’Keefe (1990) on promising rewards viewed as one of the compliancegaining techniques.

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McIntosh and Luecke (2011) suggest that presenting features of a product sets the groundwork for the more appealing and effective stage of promising/offering benefits. Another persuasive strategy emphasised by researchers is the projection of the communicator’s positive image and gaining high credibility (McIntosh and Luecke 2011; Mortensen 2008; O’Keefe 1990; Tokarz 2006; Wieczorek 1999, among others). Credibility amounts to a belief on the part of the persuadee that “statements by credible sources can be trusted” (O’Keefe 1990: 106); it thus refers to the judgments made by the message recipient concerning “the believability of the communicator” (ibid.: 130). O’Keefe proposes that the main dimensions of credibility are competence and trustworthiness (1990: 132-133).7 Closely related to credibility is the notion of a persuader’s power, its main source being his/her authority, derived from their status, position, background, or rank (Mortensen 2008: 145).8 Positive reception of the message communicated may also be increased by enhancing the persuadee’s position or status, making them feel valuable, important and/or unique (Bralczyk 2004; Gorman 2007). Thus, the strategies of reciprocal benefits and positive self-presentation of the addresser seem central to persuasive discourse. LubaĞ (2006) contributes two more elements of persuasive messages: indicating the communicative goal of the message, and committing the recipient to taking action as desired by the communicator.9 Additionally, Bralczyk (2004), O’Keefe (1990), Mortensen (2008) underscore the salience of evoking the feeling of similarity between the communicator and recipient. Some of the ways used by persuaders to find a ‘common ground’ include value appeals, goals, interests, referring to past history and experience, point of view, attitude, morality, appearance, socioeconomic background, ethnic similarity. Largely overlapping with the above elements are the “three basic persuaders” proposed by Gorman (2007:157): the recipient’s value (what 7

Similarly, Wieczorek (1999) claims that the key dimensions of credibility are competence, impartiality/objectivism, honesty.

8

Mortensen’s authority refers to the authority that a person has (the position he/she occupies in the society, their titles, external characteristics, etc.), yet it seems justified to extend the notion to the market position of a business organisation (an employer in recruitment advertising discourse). 9

The remaining persuasive elements as proposed by LubaĞ (2006) are viewed as realising the persuasive strategies discussed elsewhere in this section.

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will they derive from doing as suggested), differentiators (why should the recipient choose the communicator’s offer rather than some other option), and price (how much will it cost the recipient to derive the promised value). Several most commonly applied persuasive strategies, realised both through logical and emotional appeals, seem to emerge from the foregoing discussion, highly convergent with the marketing concepts of AIDA, DAGMAR and USP (see 2.2.2.): 1) positive self-presentation of the communicator (their credibility and values); 2) building a common ground/solidarity with the recipients; 3) enhancing the persuadees’ ‘position or status; 4) offering benefits/incentives (for the ‘price’ that the recipient is willing to ‘pay’); 5) encouraging the addressee to take action as indicated by the communicator.

3.1.2 Linguistic tools of persuasion Persuasion being integral to human communication, the choice of linguistic/discursive tools that persuasive discourse may employ is indeed multifarious, including: flattering, reasoning, amusing, arguing, agreeing, insisting, badgering, soliciting, lobbying, challenging, bragging, threatening (in ethical ways), empathising, apologising, seducing, scorekeeping, bargaining, trading, storytelling, piggybacking and persisting (Gorman 2007:1-2). Mulholland (1994) provides a comprehensive catalogue of some 300 persuasive tactics drawn from scholarly studies on rhetoric, research in communication, linguistics, pragmatics, and related fields; the author emphasises that resorting to multiple tactics can be, in many cases, more successful than using just one, both in the domains traditionally associated with persuasion (political and legal discourses, advertising discourse) and in everyday communication. Some of those tactics, such as active listening, turn-taking, or using appropriate intonation, are employed solely in spoken discourse. There are a number of tactics particularly useful in specific communicative acts such as complaining, apologising, accusing, confessing, denying, attacking opponent’s argument in argumentative discourse, to mention but a few. For the purposes of this book, those of Mulholland’s tactics that seem particularly well-suited to written persuasive/promotional discourse have been grouped into several categories (and slightly modified), hopefully

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reflecting the major persuasive strategies summarised in the previous section:10 1) positive self-presentation of the communicator - accumulating (of data, facts and arguments); - accuracy (showing the degree of the accuracy of the presented facts/information) - attributing degree of quality (and indicating the degree to which someone/something has the quality); - boasting (self-praise); - comparison (demonstrating that someone/something has a higher/lower degree of qualities than other subjects, and thus suggesting particular evaluation); - describing subjectively (showing attitude covertly through apparently factual description); - descriptive phrases (summarising a person or thing); - generic ‘THE’ (used to present a matter as important); - impartiality (presenting oneself as impartial and thus trustworthy); - statements (formulating opinions, ideas, or facts as statements, making them appear as non-persuasive, and thus more acceptable as true and provable information);11 - statistical support (referring to statistical figures to support the point or enhance the communicator’s position; frequently used in advertising to render the message ‘objective’); - validation of material (used to indicate clearly the validity of the material) - myth (incorporating a belief shared by the community to assist persuasion; reinforcing a specific idea by appeal to the community’s general belief );12 10

See also Bralczyk (2004) for a discussion on persuasive strategies employed in advertising, largely overlapping with Mulholland’s tactics. 11 Statements possess 4 special qualities that may exert strong persuasive impact: 1) they are assumed to be true and provable, 2) they are understood to be offered just for consideration, 3) they are seen not as persuasive in intent, but to be something which is communicated in order to be on public record, 4) they are taken to be offered dispassionately (Mulholland 1994: 353). 12

The word ‘myth’ is not used meaning a falsehood or fantasy, but rather “a particular social and cultural understanding of some aspect of the world” (Mulholland, 1994: 191); examples include the myth of ‘progress’, or ‘the nuclear family’ seen as an ideal in many Western societies.

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- personification (used to highlight particular voices/attributes of inanimate objects or groups of people); - stereotypes (containing automatically evoked value judgements, also present in professional discourse; stereotypes foster communication by “packing a lot of meaning into one or two words”) (ibid.: 356); 2) building a common ground/solidarity with the recipients - accommodating (to the language and associated communicative behaviours of the addressees); - myth (also salient in the self-presentation strategy); - direct address (addressing the recipients directly); - stereotypes (also salient in the self-presentation strategy); 3) enhancing the persuadees’ position or status - praising/complimenting the addressee (to make them feel pleased with themselves and present the communicator as respectful and generous); - politeness strategies (acknowledging the ‘face’ and needs of addressees, showing respect and concern); 4) offering benefits/incentives (for the ‘price’ that the recipient is willing to ‘pay’) - offering (presenting something for acceptance or rejection, often based on the expectation that everyone will benefit ) - promising (declaring a commitment to undertake some action and thus encouraging the addressee to do as the communicator suggests) - attributing degree of quality (also employed frequently as a part of the self-presentation strategy); 5) encouraging the addressee to take action as indicated by the communicator - advising (indicating that a course of action is good or bad) - appealing (having the addressee do what the communicator wants done). Apart from the above, the linguistic means that seem applicable to all of the five strategies proposed above (and any persuasive message as a whole) encompass those referring to the mode of communication, the genre choice, the message structure/organisation, word choice, stylistic tropes and rhetorical devices: mode of communication (the choice of written, rather than spoken, mode of communication may also be viewed as having some persuasive value,

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for instance in situations when it is advantageous to present the material in lengthy units intended to be read and analysed precisely); genre choice (the very choice of genre may be seen as persuasive; if addressees recognise the genre, they settle in the appropriate pattern of reading/listening behaviour, playing the role that their experience of the genre suggests); foregrounding (to highlight or focus attention on a topic or section in a text); idea arrangement and text/paragraph design (following or departing from the established conventions, with a view to ensuring that the design achieves the communicative goal of the text); word choice and word combinations (the choice of words that best represent the communicator’s views, beliefs, opinions and attitudes, as such that will be acceptable to the addressee); emphasis (used to present something in a fresh and exciting way, or insert a forbidden matter); slogans (used particularly often in advertising discourse to reinforce attitude); expressing emotions (through e.g. word choice or exclamations used to express or evoke strong feelings); expressing personal involvement or detachment; humour (frequently used in advertising to raise the attractiveness of the message and create a social experience of enjoyment); metaphors and metonymies (used to, among others, help addressees understand a complex matter, add an imaginative dimension to arouse interest, increase the impact, and guide interpretation of the message); questioning: rhetorical questions (incorporating an answer and thus often acting as strong assertions); repetition (employed e.g. to highlight some matter). The above list of tactics will be used as the framework for the analysis of persuasive strategies employed in job advertising (chapter 6).

3.2 Language of values and evaluation as mechanisms of persuasion and promotion Evaluation is a significant aspect of our lives, pervading people’s behaviour in their interaction with the world, when they perceive, categorise and interpret what they encounter. Our short term evaluations may turn into long-term values, which determine to a large part who we are and what we do (see e.g. Bednarek 2006). Wieczorek observes that

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human language is “immersed in value”, and thus acts of verbal communication generally entail some form of evaluation (1999: 13). In a similar vein, Bednarek (2006) suggests that it is difficult (if not impossible) for people to speak without imposing evaluations on one’s utterance and communicating value judgments. The presence of attitudinal meaning, i.e. “the speaker’s subjective emotional evaluation of the referentially semantic content” (Bakhtin 1986 quoted in Jullian 2008: 49) is so ingrained in language that it can hardly be detected and detached from the referential content of a message (ibid.). Hence the division into referential/propositional and attitudinal/evaluative content may constitute an extremely difficult task. Values and evaluation play a prominent role in persuasion. In his discussion on persuasive tactics, Mortensen suggests that verbal communication is far from neutral and objective, as “it is hard to find a neutral word” (2008: 216). Laskowska (2008) claims that all persuasive acts entail evaluation and, conversely, the mere use of evaluative mechanisms in a message renders the message persuasive. Similarly, Thompson and Hunston conclude that evaluation is “a hidden persuader” (2000: 26); it “construes the field as well as the tenor of persuasive texts” (Hunston 2000: 177). GalasiĔski (1992) seems to go one step further, claiming that persuasive acts are based on (usually implicit) valuation. The author concludes that all acts of persuasion should be regarded as (directly or indirectly) evaluative. Importantly and interestingly, his means of evaluation, viewed as a persuasive strategy, largely overlap with the linguistic tools of positive self-presentation proposed by Mulholland (1994) (see 3.1.2), comprising the following: - the addresser presents him/herself as possessing certain attributes commonly regarded as desirable in the community/society; - the addresser presents him/herself as playing certain roles or participating in certain situations commonly viewed as requiring the positive attributes; this method involves boasting about facts, from which the recipient is expected to draw inferences about the desirable qualities of the communicator; - the addresser suggests that s/he is in possession of potentially desirable values, both material and non-material (authority, contacts, and connections); - the addresser suggests that the recipient can benefit from interaction with the former; - the addresser makes reference to other people’s positive opinions about him/herself; this strategy is intended to function as a means of neutralising

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the act of boasting, as the communicator projects him/herself as being praised, rather than boasting; - the addresser boasts about his/her successes, either describing them explicitly, or referring to some facts and events, and expecting the recipient to interpret them as successful (GalasiĔski 1992: 47-50). As can be seen from the above classification, what is generally viewed as persuasive within the domain of research into the phenomenon of persuasion, is simultaneously regarded by GalasiĔski as evaluative, an approach which contributes to the picture of evaluation being inherent to persuasion. Since evaluation in linguistic studies is a complex, multidimensional issue, whose thorough study would go far beyond the scope of this work, the concept will be discussed only briefly in an attempt to introduce some essentials of the theoretical background for the present analysis.

3.2.1 Evaluation in linguistic studies The term evaluation itself is employed in different ways in linguistics; apart from being often used in its every-day sense, as a nominal derived from the verb to evaluate (i.e. to “assess or form an idea of the amount, quality or value of somebody/something”, according to OALD), it is also employed by various linguists to refer to positive and negative judgements (Bednarek 2006: 24). There seems to be a great deal of inconsistency in the way researchers choose between the lexemes evaluate or value to denote either assessing someone/something or ascribing value to an object.13 In Polish there are two verbs: oceniaü and wartoĞciowaü, the former used most frequently as an equivalent of the English assess, and the latter commonly understood as referring to ethical, moral, aesthetic and other values (but also used meaning estimate, especially in the financial context). Puzynina (1992b) uses the nominal valuation as the equivalent of the Polish lexeme wartoĞciowanie and indicates that it is also used to replace the German Bewertung.14 LeszczyĔski (1992) proposes that wartoĞciowaü means oceniaü (assess) “plus the emotional load” (quoted in Karolczuk 1994: 13 The word object will be used as referring to a person, thing, idea, event, i.e. anybody or anything viewed as an object of evaluation. 14

Puzynina (1992b) nonetheless observes that the lexeme wartoĞciowaü is broadening its semantic scope and getting semantically closer to the lexeme oceniaü. This seems to corroborate the validity of using the English lexeme evaluate to denote both assessing and ascribing values to objects.

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269). Krzeszowski tends to use the verb to value, and seems to make a clear distinction between its two senses: 1) to calculate the value, price or worth of something, coming close to the meaning estimate, not necessarily entailing positive value, and 2) to attribute a positive value to something, as an aspect of a more general axiological operation. The author underscores that whatever values are attributed to objects, they are not inherent in those objects themselves but are “attributed to these objects by people who conceive these objects as having a certain value” (1997: 23). The usage of the term evaluation appears even more complex in English; evaluation is viewed as a confusing and slippery notion researched widely under various names (evaluation, appraisal, stance), often considered together with constructs such as affect, subjectivity, modality, hedging, evidentiality, commitment (see e.g. Bednarek 2006; (Hunston 2011; Thompson and Hunston 2000). Within the systemic-functional tradition, the term appraisal is used to denote “the semantic resources used to negotiate emotions, judgements, and valuations, alongside resources for amplifying and engaging with these evaluations” (Martin 2000: 144). Appraisal is conceptualised in terms of systems which constitute sets of linguistic choices used to express attitude, emotion and evaluation. The framework focuses on the resources that the communicator employs to position themselves interpersonally, and, thereby, indirectly position the recipients. The model realises the tenor at the level of discourse semantics and is constituted by three semantic categories (or systems): attitude: ‘ways of feeling’, expressed through 3 subsystems: affect (the resource deployed for construing emotional responses), judgement (covering moral assessments of behaviour), and appreciation (resources for construing the aesthetic quality of semiotic texts, processes and natural phenomena); engagement: (monoglossic or heteroglossic, providing the means of authorial voice to position itself with respect to the other voices and alternative positions); graduation: mechanisms by which speakers/writers amplify or mitigate either the force of the utterance or the focus of the categorisation by which semantic values are identified (based on Martin 2000; Martin and White 2005). This model’s terminology is couched in terms of systems: sets of options available to the speaker covering the meanings that can be typically expressed in particular contexts, and the linguistic means of expressing them.

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Conrad and Biber (2000) propose stance as a cover term for the expression of personal feelings and assessments in three major domains: epistemic stance: commenting on the certainty (or doubt), reliability, or limitations of a proposition, including evidentiality; attitudinal stance: conveying the speaker’s attitudes, feelings, or value judgments; style stance: concerned with the speaker’s comments on the communication itself (56-57). The scholars are primarily concerned with adverbial stance markers, expressing meanings associated with the addresser’s stance towards the message they communicate; the markers can be characterised with respect to three major parameters: semantic class, grammatical realisation and placement in the clause.15 Although Conrad and Biber do not explicitly stress the salience of lexical items as markers of evaluation, they do regard value-laden words as strong markers of stance. Bednarek posits that evaluation is connected (and overlapping) with the notion of subjectivity: broadly speaking, the latter is defined as “being concerned with self-expression, i.e. the expression of the speaker’s attitudes, beliefs, feelings, emotions, judgement, will, personality, etc.” (Lyons 1982 quoted in Bednarek 2006: 20). Subjectivity is even more speaker-centered than evaluation, encompassing more linguistic phenomena than evaluation. Thus “the study of evaluation could be seen as being part of the greater study of subjectivity” (ibid.: 20). The author offers a complex framework for analysing evaluation based on nine ‘sets of values’ or ‘evaluative parameters’: emotivity, importance, expectedness, comprehensibility, possibility/necessity, reliability, style, mental state, evidentiality. Another parameter-based approach is that proposed by Francis (1995 quoted in Bednarek (2006), distinguishing eight main parameters: modality (evaluating something as e.g. possible, impossible, likely, unlikely, certain, uncertain), ability (e.g. easy, hard, possible to…, impossible to…), importance (e.g. important, unimportant, necessary, unnecessary), predictability ( e.g. surprising, unsurprising, natural, amazing, inevitable), obviousness (e.g. obvious, clear, evident), value and appropriacy (e.g. better, best, wonderful, good, worth, right, legitimate, fitting, interesting, exciting, wrong, illegal), rationality (e.g. reasonable, fair, absurd, stupid), truth (e.g. true, false, untrue). Bednarek provides a review of other parameter-based approaches, yet she observes that none of 15 See Conrad and Biber (2000), as well as Biber et al. (2007), for a comprehensive list of evaluative discourse markers.

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them seems broad enough to capture all aspects of the complex phenomenon of evaluation. The approach that appears most adequate for the purposes of the present study is the broad and holistic view of evaluation offered by Thompson and Hunston (2000:5), who propose the following definition: “Evaluation is a broad cover term for the expression of the speaker’s or writer’s attitude or stance towards, viewpoint on, or feelings about the entities or propositions that s/he is talking about. That attitude may relate to certainty or obligation or desirability or any of a number of other sets of values”.

As can be seen, Thompson and Hunston view the term evaluation as a very flexible notion, allowing the analyst to talk about both “the values ascribed to entities and propositions which are evaluated” (ibid.; italics original). The authors distinguish between three functions of evaluation: 1) to express the speaker’s or writer’s opinion, and in doing so to reflect the value system of that person and their community; 2) to construct and maintain relations between the speaker or writer and hearer or reader (also to persuade or manipulate the reader); 3) to organise the discourse: evaluation often occurs at the boundary points in discourse, providing clues to its organisation. Thompson and Hunston’s model is widely embracing; attitudinal values may be communicated using a vast array of linguistic means at all levels of the language: lexical, grammatical, propositional and textual, along with pragmatic inferences and conventional and figurative meanings: “Conceptually, evaluation has been noted to be comparative, subjective, and value-laden. Identifying evaluation, then, is a question of identifying signals of comparison, subjectivity, and social value. (Thompson and Hunston, 2000: 13)

Following from the above, the evaluative signals are grouped into three categories: comparative forms, including comparative adjectives and adverbs, adverbs of degree, comparator adverbs, expressions of negativity (morphological, grammatical, lexical); markers of subjectivity, including, among others, modals and other markers of (un)certainty, certain nouns and verbs, stance adverbs and conjunctions, report and attribution structures, marked clause structures;

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value-laden lexical items, including indications of goals and their achievement (what achieves our goals is viewed as good) or nonachievement (what impedes the achievement of our goals is regarded as bad) (ibid.: 21). The latter category seems to be foregrounded by Thompson and Hunston; the salience of lexis as the key resource in the expression of evaluation is also underscored by other researchers (see e.g. Hunston 2011; Martin 2000 quoted in Jullian 2008: 67).16 However, it is often a difficult task to determine whether lexical items are evaluative per se or not; those which are commonly viewed as ‘neutral’ may acquire positive or negative attitudinal associations, frequently arising from the context and semantic prosody (Jullian 2008: 67). Thompson and Hunston agree that “[i]t is by no means easy to establish criteria for distinguishing evaluative from non-evaluative items” (2003: 14). Some apparently value-free items or purely descriptive labels (e.g. student) may have very positive/negative connotations (intelligence/laziness, heavy drinking habits).17 Another unclear distinction is that between explicit and implicit evaluation. Explicit evaluation is viewed as “the articulation of attitudinal meaning on the surface of the discourse, so that it can be easily identified as such by any speaker of the language” (ibid.: 66). The most conventional resources include, among others: lexis, modality, that-clause, comparative forms, lexical-grammatical sequences always performing evaluative functions (e.g. there is something x about y). Implicit evaluation is seen as “implied by the transmission of apparently non-evaluative information” (ibid.: 69); it is thus more elusive and problematic to detect or systematise. The distinction between explicit and implicit evaluation being so unclear, conveyance of attitude should probably be regarded as a combination of explicit devices and implicit strategies. The explicitness/implicitness seems to be a matter of degree in the continuum of scales of intensity (Bednarek 2006).

16 To a higher or lesser degree, all domains of research into the language of evaluation and axiogically-oriented linguistic studies appreciate the role of valueladen lexis in the construction and expression of values and value judgements in texts (BartmiĔski 2003; Krzeszowski 1993; Puzynina 1992; Thompson and Hunston 2000). 17

The same view is expressed by many scholars dealing with values and evaluation in language (Krzeszowski 1997; Puzynina,1992a, 1992b, 2003; Wieczorek 1999, among others).

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Researchers emphasise that evaluation can only be correctly understood, interpreted, and analysed, when looking at its context (see e.g. Hunston 2004); following from that, the study of evaluative force embedded in linguistic expressions often requires a manual analysis, since the evaluative load may not be noticeable in an automatic corpus-based study (Stotesbury 2003 quoted in Bednarek 2006: 8).18

3.2.2 The language of values: orientations in axiological linguistics Despite enormous attention devoted to investigation of values and value theory in various disciplines (political theory, psychology, sociology and especially philosophy), fundamental disagreements remain about such core issues as the concept of value, the differences between value and valuing, hierarchies of values, the transitivity of individuals’ values, and the justification for value-based collective actions (Bozeman 2007). The issue also gives rise to doubts and disagreements in the value-oriented research within the domain of linguistics. BartmiĔski (2003) proposes that the language of values refers to at least three types of relationships between language and values: language is an instrument of valuation, the source of information about values accepted by language users and immersed in the language, and the carrier or bearer of values (language itself may be subject to valuation). Each of these dimensions opens possibilities for different research perspectives. Language and values are almost always interlocked (Doob 1999). Thus language has “a staggeringly vast vocabulary that reveals and functions as a guide to values” (ibid.: 49). Nonetheless, the study of values has been, generally speaking, relatively scarce in the main domains in modern linguistics (Felices Lago and Cortés de los Ríos 2009; Felices Lago and Hewitt 2004). As indicated in section 3.2.1., researchers in the US, Great Britain and Australia seem to be focused on the (variously understood) evaluation, either disregarding the language of values, or addressing the issue as part of broader concepts such as subjectivity or attitude. By 18

It must, however, be noted that corpus investigation techniques play an increasingly significant role in the study of evaluative language, allowing researchers to establish that a given word/phrase has a typical evaluative use or polarity, quantify the evaluative meaning in one set of texts and compare it with other texts, investigate the patterns/consistency in the occurrence and cooccurrence of certain evaluative devices in different text types as well as consistency in the mapping of meaning on to form, to mention but a few research areas (Hunston 2011).

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contrast, Polish scholars appear to be more interested in the axiologically oriented study of language (see e.g. Krzeszowski 1993, 1997, 1999; Puzynina 1992a, 1992b, 2003; Wieczorek 1999; ĩywiczyĔski 2010). Value constitutes a very important (and multi-dimensional) concept in communication and the society (Fleischer 2010); anything can possess or manifest value, as long as there is somebody who ascribes some value to it (ibid.). Most philosophers view values as “motivating behaviour, as permitting judgements about others’ behaviour, and as the centre of deliberations about moral questions” (Bozeman 2007: 114), but beyond these general areas of agreement there is not much consensus as to the meaning of the concept of value. The LDCE provides three meanings of the notion value: 1) the economic meaning: value denotes the amount of money that something is worth; 2) the mathematical-logical meaning: value signifies the mathematical quantity shown by a letter of the alphabet or sign; 3) the axiological meaning: value denotes the importance or usefulness of something, a good or interesting quality of something, one’s ideas about what is right or wrong, or what is important in one’s life. Placing the third (axiological) meaning at the centre of our attention in this study, it nonetheless must be observed that scholars, including those focusing on the axiological aspect of meaning, regard the economic dimension of value as the central one, other meanings being viewed as extensions of the pivotal economic sense (see e.g. Puzynina 1992b; Fleischer 2010). According to Bozeman (2007: 117), there is both a cognitive and emotional aspect to value; these two dimensions are captured in the summary definition proposed by the author: “A value is a complex and broad-based assessment of an object or set of objects (where the objects may be concrete, psychological, socially constructed, or a combination of all three), characterised by both cognitive and emotive elements, arrived at after some deliberation, and, because a value is part of individual’s definition of self, it is not easily changed and it has the potential to elicit action”.

The term value is seen as closely connected with attitude and beliefs (Puente 2007; Simons 2001). Attitude is a “judgement that a given thing is good or bad, desirable or undesirable, or something to be embraced or avoided”; beliefs are “judgements about what is true or probable”, and values are “judgements of relative worth” of objects or their attributes and thus are “relatively stable” (Simons 2001: 28). Drawing on Rokeach’s

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(1973) theory of values, Simons proposes that some values (e.g. happiness, self-fulfilment), which are “ends in themselves”, are called terminal values; others (e.g. fair play or generosity) are “means to an end”; these are called instrumental values (Simons 2001: 28-9). Similar distinction is made by many authors dealing with the axiologically oriented investigations (see. e.g. Puzynina 1992a, 1992b). Puente observes that “values connect attitudes with social structures” (2007: 1); he views the concept of value as being related to activity, in line with the findings in modern psychology which links values and goals. A similar conceptualisation is offered by Grunert-Beckmann and Askegaard (1997), who provide a view of value as an individual’s concept of a transsituational goal (terminal or instrumental) that expresses interests (individualistic, collectivist or both), concerned with a specific motivational domain and evaluated on a range of importance as a guiding principle in one’s life. In a similar vein, Schwartz’s Theory of Values defines values as “desirable, trans-situational goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives” (2007: 1). It has already been emphasised that evaluation constitutes a salient aspect of persuasion. Within the domain of research into values, Stevenson (quoted in ĩywiczyĔski 2010), and Simons (2001), among others, similarly underscore the persuasive role of beliefs and values; valuative terms are seen as “partly emotive and partly descriptive”; beside performing an expressive function, they also play the persuasive role of evoking feelings and thus stimulating action (Stevenson quoted in ĩywiczyĔski 2010: 54). BartmiĔski (2003) contrasts the residual/structural concept of value judgements within a language with the holistic approach. In simplified terms, the former proposes that values and valuations constitute an addition to meaning, whereas the latter argues for a much closer relation between language and values: the axiological domain is an inherent component of language and linguistic worldview. In the Polish school of axiological linguistics, Puzynina (1992), regarded as an advocate of the more residual approach, views valuation as a mental activity which consists in determining what positive and negative values the evaluator perceives as characteristic of certain features, behaviours, states of affair, and (indirectly) objects. In simplified terms, valuation is about “regarding something as good (in certain respects and to a certain degree), or bad (in certain respects and to a certain degree)” (Puzynina 2003: 27, transl.: J.à-B.). The scholar makes a distinction between the linguistic approach to the study of values and the axiological approach. In her view, the linguist’s task is to show how language describes values, without having a bearing on axiological problems, such

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as the nature of values or value hierarchisation. She differentiates between the overarching categories of positive and negative values; within these categories she proposes instrumental values and ultimate values: positive values: instrumental values (usefulness) and ultimate values, the latter including transcendental (metaphysical), cognitive, aesthetic, moral, customary, vital, sensual values; negative values: instrumental values (uselessness) and ultimate values, the latter including transcendental (metaphysical), cognitive, aesthetic, moral, customary, vital, sensual values.19 According to Puzynina (1992a, 2003), valuations and value judgements may be expressed directly (explicitly) or indirectly (implicitly). She refers to the former as ‘systemic/ semantic’ means of expressing value, where the positive/negative value judgements are embedded in the semantic structure of a linguistic entity, whereas the latter are described as ‘textual/connotative’, i.e. such whose evaluative load is the connotation motivated by speaker’s/reader’s general knowledge and cultural competences. Values are largely expressed by non-systemic (pragmatic) means. In Puzynina’s typology, the aforementioned categories are also referred to as purely/primarily and secondarily evaluative lexemes. The scholar emphasises that the demarcation line between those two types is not strict and clear-cut, and the evaluative load carried by linguistic entities may often be conventional.20 She also seems to attach great importance to the role that stylistic tropes (especially metaphors, metonymies, similes, euphemisms) play in expressing the values and value judgements in/through language. Drawing on Sperber and Wilson’s (1995) relevance theory, Puzynina observes that construction of the majority of persuasive texts (and job advertisements do serve persuasive functions, with valuation performing a salient persuasive role) is based on the mutual assumptions on the part of the addressers and addressees concerning the shared common knowledge related to the communicative situation, including stereotypes, inferences 19 Various researchers apply different terms to what Puzynina differentiates as ultimate/instrumental values; alternative notions encompass intrinsic/instrumental values, prime/instrumental values, ultimate/immediate values, terminal/ instrumental values, ends and means (see e.g. Bozeman 2007; Puente 2007; Simons 2001). In the present study these alternatives are regarded as synonymous. 20

See also Thompson and Hunston (2003) who observe that some lexical items are very clearly evaluative, in the sense that they have an inherently evaluative meaning (e.g.: adjectives: splendid, terrible; adverbs: happily, unfortunately; nouns: success, failure; verbs: win, lose) (2003: 14).

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drawn from the text, as well as a common system of positive/negative connotations. Krzeszowski describes Puzynina’s approach as “the pragmatics of axiology”, or “the pragmatics of axiological concepts” (1997: 16). Valuation is placed within the domain of pragmatics by other researchers as well (Skowronek 1993; Wieczorek 1999, among others). Wieczorek (1999) proposes a category of evaluative speech acts, including the act of advertising viewed as encompassing microacts of encouraging, praising, offering, etc. (cf. Skowronek 1993). She proposes that linguistic resources used for valuation comprise lexical elements, morphological elements (e.g. emotional suffixes), syntactic and contextual elements (e.g. inferences and implicatures). Another influential strand of research into the language of values is grounded in the cognitive-axiological perspective initiated and developed by Krzeszowski (1993, 1997), and later applied (or extended and modified) by other scholars (Pauwels and Simon-Vanderbergen 1993; Cortéz de los Ríos 2002; Felices Lago and Hewitt 2004; Felices Lago and Cortés de los Ríos 2009; ĩywiczyĔski 2010, among others). Within this framework, value is seen as a broad and graded concept “embracing the entire semantic content of the semantic pole of each symbolic unit” (Krzeszowski 1997: 63). Krzeszowski (1993, 1997) proposes a comprehensive framework for a linguistically oriented study of values, comprising various areas of linguistic enquiry (semantics, pragmatics, syntax, discourse analysis). His position may be described as linguistic axiology, i.e. “the study of language implemented with a view to discovering the nature of values” (ĩywiczyĔski 2010: 70). Krzeszowski (1997) takes a view that differs from Puzynina’s strong commitment to linguistics; in his conception, language is not merely a means of expressing values – he understands the latter as being immanent in the structure of language, particularly in its semantic component. Valuation, similarly to other linguistic processes, is “a cognitive event ’akin to categorisation’” (ibid.: 48), and thus both values and the acts of valuation are seen as integrated into cognitive-linguistic phenomena. Values may be ascribed to all entities that are subjects to conceptualisation (cf. Fleischer 2010).

3.2.3 Values and value appeals in advertising In the broadly understood marketing context, value appeals are applied with a view to projecting a certain self-image, buffer customers’ selfesteem, transmit a sense of integrity, enhance interpersonal relations (e.g.

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by buying goods that conform to group norms), avoid risks (e.g. by buying well known brands), and ensure the achievement of utilitarian functions (O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy 2003). Cortés de los Ríos claims that advertising discourse “is particularly suitable for doing research on the linguistic codification of values” (2002: 41). This standpoint draws on the views held by the prominent marketing theorist Richard Pollay (quoted in Cortés de los Ríos 2002: 41) who underscores the utmost salience of values in advertising: “Values are probably the single most important dimension of advertising. Values are important from both the sender’s and the receiver’s points of view since it is the ‘goodness’ of products that lies at the heart of the whole communication. Despite the economist’s concern for information transmittal, it is clear that advertising’s primary function is to transmit value to a product or brand, and information is of tactical usefulness only to the extent that consumers are responsive to it, effecting a communication of values”.

Similarly, Bralczyk (2004) claims that values constitute the most distinctive carriers of persuasive force in advertising discourse. This view is also advocated by Felices Lago and Hewitt (2004) who find Pollay’s standpoint suitable for all promotional discourse. Value appeals in advertising may refer to any message designed to motivate consumer to purchase, serving as a motivational/persuasive technique used by advertisers to communicate how their products or services satisfy customers’ needs (Chung 2006). Ambekar underscores the role of advertising appeals in influencing the way consumers view themselves and how buying certain products may be beneficial for them; thus the appeals promise incentives, but also create a positive image of the individuals who use the product. Chung suggests that the term advertising appeals is interchangeable (or, at least, very closely related) with the notion of cultural values, as advertisers often refer to core values of consumers when selecting their primary advertising appeals.

3.3 Organisational values Within the domain of research into organisational values, Hultman points to their “executive role” in personality and organisational culture (2005: 33). The author proposes that all organisations are guided by some sort of values and, in this sense, are value-based. In the same vein, O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy suggest that declaring values has become an extremely important aspect of corporate image management

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since “values announce where we stand” (2003: 43). The declaration of superordinate corporate values induces emotional unity, sense of solidarity, and persistence in the achievement of common goals. Hultman (2005) agrees with Rokeach’s (1973) view that the ultimate purpose of people’s value system, as well as their attitudes and beliefs, is to maintain and enhance our self-conception or self-worth. Along the same lines as Puente (2007), Hultman views terminal values as the overall goals that individuals and organisations wish to achieve, the missions and visions defining what they seek to become. He perceives instrumental values as preferred modes of conduct, applied with a view to fulfilling the overall purposes. Thus terminal organisational values “reflect corporate mission and vision”, whereas instrumental values act as “standards for attaining the ends” (2005:41). In a similar vein, Frederick (1995) proposes a theory of business values based on four conceptualisations of value: 1) A theory of business values based on the psychological conception: Rokeach’s (1973) understanding of value as an enduring belief related to modes of conduct or end-states of existence, i.e. (broadly speaking) a theory of the characteristic beliefs held by people in business. 2) A theory based on the sociological way of defining value as expressing a relationship that a person or group has to others or to the environment; i.e. (broadly speaking) a theory of the characteristic relations and linkages between people in business. 3) A theory using the means-ends concept of value (philosophical or logical in construct), focusing on value as judgmental standard (including the standards and criteria brought to bear in the judgemental process); i.e. (broadly speaking) a theory of the characteristic judgements made by people in business and the methods, processes, and standards by which those judgements are formed. 4) A theory reflecting the experiential nature of values, whereby values, understood as being derived from human experience, are integral to human lives; i.e. (broadly speaking) a theory of values as the manifestations of human experience (1995: 16-19). The instrumentalist, utilitarian judgements are typical of business thinking; for instance, the instrumentalist criteria of success and failure constitute the utilitarian standards by which businesses are judged, and the means-ends processes are a central value component of all business enterprise. Yet business values may be understood and interpreted at all the above mentioned levels: “as beliefs, as social relationships, as judgemental processes and criteria, and as manifestations of experience gained as problems are confronted” (ibid.: 20). Each of these

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conceptualisations is salient in explaining the role that values play in the business system. Frederick claims that the “original business values” (the essential/core/ first-order values) are: economising, growth, and systemic integrity. Economising is measured by the financial profit (or loss); it conveys the idea that “a firm has (if profitable) or has not (if unprofitable) acted prudently and efficiently in using resources in ways that sustain (or do not sustain) its existence” (ibid.: 25). Growth is “an outcome of enhanced productivity, which is a sign of ever more successful economising by the firm” (ibid.). The ability to expand operations is viewed as a mark of a successful business activity. Systemic integrity refers to the essential organisational integrity and identity of an organisation, its “unit wholeness” implying collective and functionally cooperative behaviour (teamwork). The three core values are closely entwined, together sustaining the overarching economising value. The original business values are rooted in the nature of the physical world and the laws of thermodynamics; their role is “vital and indispensable if life is to continue” (ibid.: 56). Beside those mentioned above, four other business values as proposed in Frederick’s theory are not ‘original’; they encompass hierarchical (rank-order) organisation, managerial decision power, power-system equilibrium, and power aggrandisement. One of the most powerful vehicles of communicating company values is that of mission statement, commonly defined as a communication tool addressing multiple internal and external audiences, whose aim is to convey a corporation’s nature and reason for being, its goals, strategies, priorities, philosophy, values and beliefs (Mamet 2005; Williams 2008). Mamet (2005: 91) proposes the following criteria for classification of mission statement components related to various corporate values and virtues: 1) business profile, 2) corporate goals and vision, 3) corporate philosophy/self-concept/strategy, 4) the company’s market and customers, 5) its employees, 6) the local community and other stakeholders. WolnyPeirs (2005) regards mission statements as messages of success focusing on the positive presentation of organisational goals, strategies, standards of conduct and values. The values and norms communicated in an organisation’s mission statement are viewed as forging the bond uniting all those who contribute to the organisation’s success.

3.4 Concluding remarks In view of the fact that the persuasive/evaluative parameter is central to the creation and reinforcement of the employer brand, this chapter has

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attempted to offer a theoretical overview of concepts and approaches pertaining to persuasion and promotion, with evaluation and the language of values seen as the former’s inherent dimensions. Persuasion is viewed in the present study as type of communication aimed at influencing or inducing others to willingly and knowingly do something, to change their beliefs and, as a consequence, the way they behave. It differs from promotion in that the latter seems to be a more specific and narrower concept, focused on marketing activities, i.e. aimed particularly at selling things. Verbal communication is considered to be the primary carrier of persuasion, offering an array of strategies appealing to both reason and emotions. Chapter 3 has also sought to present evaluation as a significant aspect of our lives, and thus an inherent aspect of communication. Evaluation is a complex and multidimensional issue, with a great deal of ambiguity surrounding the very meaning of the verbs to evaluate and to value. The approach that appears most appropriate for the purposes of the present book is the broad and holistic view of evaluation offered by Thompson and Hunston (2000), seemingly encompassing both the language of values ascribed to entities, and propositions which are evaluated. Following BartmiĔski (2003), the language of values is understood as referring to language as an instrument of valuation, the source of information about values immersed in the language, and the carrier or bearer of values. Being strongly interlocked with language, values constitute a very important (and multi-dimensional) concept in communication and the society. They are regarded in this study as relatively stable beliefs, as well as motivational constructs referring to the desirable goals people strive to attain, guiding people’s selection or evaluation of actions and policies. Values are viewed as constituting significant (or, according to Bralczyk 2004, the most distinctive) carriers of persuasive force in advertising discourse, thus it seems both justified and interesting to find out what kind of value appeals are made in the discourse of job advertising, and how the values are expressed linguistically. Moreover, within the domain of organisational studies, declaring values is considered an extremely important aspect of corporate image management, therefore their role in the projection of strong employer brands cannot be overestimated. The two major approaches in the linguistic study of values discussed in this chapter are the ‘structural- residual’ approach (represented by e.g. J. Puzynina), and the cognitive-semantic approach (initiated and developed by T. Krzeszowski). Although drawing on different theoretical frameworks,

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the two approaches are viewed in the present study as complementary rather than mutually exclusive. In connection with the above, the following research tools overviewed in chapter 3 are regarded as instrumental for the analysis of job advertisements: 1) The corpus will be analysed with a view to investigating whether it may plausibly be classified as persuasive discourse, in accordance with the defining criteria for ‘paradigm cases’ of persuasion, as proposed by O’Keefe (1990). The sample will also be examined to determine whether such persuasive strategies as positive self-presentation of the addresser, building a common ground/solidarity with the recipients, enhancing the persuadee’s position or status, offering benefits/incentives, encouraging the addressee to take action, are indeed employed in the discourse of job advertising. The analysis will then seek to investigate what linguistic tools of persuasion, as summarised in section 3.1.2, largely overlapping with the means of persuasive evaluation, as proposed by GalasiĔski (1992), are used to realise the above-mentioned strategies (chapter 6). 2) Partially overlapping with the above mentioned analytical frameworks, the corpus will be scanned for the evaluative signals as categorised by Thompson and Hunston (2000): comparative forms, markers of subjectivity, and value-laden lexical items, the latter category being regarded as the most important for the analysis (chapter 5). 3) Following the ‘structural-residual’ approach to the linguistic expression of values, job advertisements will be examined with a view to identifying the lexical markers of value (evaluative lexemes) in the corpus, as well as investigating which of them may be classified as direct/semantic/systemic/ explicit, and which seem closer to the indirect/connotative/textual/implicit pole of the explicit/implicit continuum. The framework for this part of the study will be created drawing on the classification of corporate/ organisational values, as overviewed in sub-chapter 3.3., in order to find out which of these values are projected in the discourse of job advertising, and how they are expressed linguistically. An attempt will also be made to examine whether the values promised to potential employees in recruitment ads (the Employee Value Proposition, discussed in section 1.4.2) correspond with the findings offered by organisational scholars with regard to benefits commonly viewed as having the strongest impact on applicants’ choices.

CHAPTER FOUR THE DISCOURSE OF RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING: A GENRE-BASED ANALYSIS

The preceding two chapters attempted to present an overview of theories and approaches pertaining to discourse and genre analysis, persuasion and promotion, as well as evaluation and the language of values, providing a theoretical framework and methodological reasoning for the analysis of job advertising viewed as an instrument of employer branding. The present chapter is the first in the analytical part of the study, aiming to investigate, in the first instance, job advertising as an increasingly multimodal type of business-related discourse; further on, it attempts to rationalise job advertising as a genre, a member of the system (or sequence) of job search genres, as well as propose the rhetorical structure of prototypical recruitment ads. Although not central to the present study, the discourse as genre perspective (see chapter 2) allows to demonstrate what discoursal and structural features of job advertisements contribute to the creation and reinforcement of the employer brand. The analysis, drawing on Swales’s move/step approach, thus examines the moves and steps in the corpus, investigating their frequencies and distribution, providing examples instantiating various structural patterns in the sample, as well as discussing their brand building potential.

4.1 Job advertising as discourse Following from the conceptualisations of organisational (institutional/ professional/business) discourse accounted for in sub-chapter 2.1.2, job advertisements can reasonably be regarded as manifestations of business communication. They seem to adequately fit the definition of business discourse offered by Bargiela-Chiappini et al., as they are indeed related to “how people communicate using talk or writing in commercial organisations in order to get their work done” (2007: 3). In a recruitment advertising situation, people (mostly HR specialists), whose job is to

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attract the best candidates for the position that needs to be filled in an organisation, communicate using written texts in order to best perform their essential tasks. Recruitment ads also match at least some of the criteria of ‘workplace and professional talk’ proposed by Zorn and Simpson (2009); they are 1) goal oriented, the goal being two-fold: to encourage the most valuable candidates to apply (simultaneously discouraging those unsuitable), and project a positive image of the employing organisation; 2) governed by certain commonly accepted rules and restrictions (or conventions) pertaining to the text content and form; 3) they comprise professional lexis related to a specific area of business activity as well as the (broadly understood) HR context. It also seems justifiable to regard recruitment ads primarily as instances of communication between an employing organisation and the public (cf. Pickett quoted in Sobkowiak 2008: 23); it is from the general public that the most valuable candidates will finally be selected. Consequently, job advertisements are public texts, i.e. non-confidential, accessible to a virtually unlimited number of readers, as opposed to private documents (such as minutes of a meeting) whose readership is usually strictly limited (see Barbara and Scott 1996 quoted in Nelson 2000). It is, however, not unreasonable to view recruitment ads also as communication within a company (existing employees may read the ads and learn about the current staff needs, provided that the company’s identity has been revealed), or, under some circumstances, communication between companies (other organisations may draw conclusions related to the advertising company’s recruitment needs and strategies). Job advertisements come in various sorts and sizes. At their simplest, they are short, telegram-like texts published in the classified ads columns of newspapers beside such advertisements as apartment or auto ads. Bruthiaux describes classified ads as “unobtrusive, unfancied, and mostly taken for granted” (1996: viii); they are often perceived as “written in a way which would not be suitable for any other purpose in any other context” (ibid.). The author provides the following example: LEGAL secy, several positions in greater LA, w recent exp in workman's comp or medical malpractice, salary is $36,000 + xlnt benefits & every 4th Friday off, call Lee Ann 213-385-1234 (ibid.: 127).

The sample above clearly manifests the tendency of many classified advertisements to “do little more than list the salient features of the item being offered” (Bruthiaux 2005: 138). The job features are listed in an

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extremely condensed form, with frequent abbreviations rarely found in other discourse types (e.g. ‘secy’ for secretary, ‘w’ for with, ‘exp’ for experience, ‘xlnt’ for excellent). No part of the text is foregrounded or highlighted, except the first word being capitalised, most probably in accordance with the conventions governing the publication of particular newspapers. The conspicuous textual compression caused by tight spatial constraints is viewed by Bruthiaux as underlying the idiosyncratic form of classified ads. Although frequently telegram-like, classified job announcements, if compared with the whole class of classified ads, tend to make more frequent use of fully elaborated noun and verb phrases, and rely more on coordination;1 they also comprise more descriptive statements than other classified ads, the latter making slightly more frequent use of comments and evaluative phrases. This is not to say that short recruitment ads are devoid of evaluations; evaluative elements are embedded in or entwined with informational elements, forming highly integrated nominal groups (ibid.). Figure 4-1 on the next page presents a sample of a longer print recruitment advertisement excerpted from The Financial Times. It is significantly more complex and elaborate than classified ads, making use of complete statements which, in turn, form separate paragraphs, and shifting toward a pictorial level of representation, with pictures, logos, varied print types and sizes highlighting certain elements in the texts. Figure 4-2 offers a printout of a standard job advertisement found in the online edition of The Daily Telegraph. Similarly to the previous example, it comprises a number of statements grouped into several distinct paragraphs, with the ‘job summary’ section at the top, characteristic of web-based recruitment ads. What clearly differentiates this advertisement from its printed counterparts is its interactive nature achieved through the hyper-textual links inherent to Internet communication: the viewers may submit applications directly using the Apply for this job button; they may also click the icons on the right enabling them to view the employer’s website, immediately print the ad, email it to friends, ask for similar job advertisements to be sent to them directly, find more vacancies from the same recruiter, or view other jobs related to this area of business. Such interactive options are offered by all the recruitment websites studied, grouped under various headings, for example ‘YOUR OPTIONS’ at 1

Bruthiaux further posits that the content/function word continuum in classified advertising comprises used cars advertisements at the content word extreme, with job ads somewhere in the mid-space, and personal ads at the form word end of the continuum (2005: 138).

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Figure 4-1. Sample of a print job advertisement. The Financial Times, 19 January, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk, or ‘JOB TOOLS’ at www.totaljobs.com. At www. telegraph.co.uk and www.guardian.co.uk viewers may also click the button directing them to a list of vacancies ‘visited’ by other job seekers who were interested in the advertisement currently viewed. Some employers do not use the job ad format offered by recruitment websites, but choose to place customised advertisements standing out from the multitude of competitive announcements. Those may range from relatively simple ads, only slightly more attractive than the standard ones, to extremely sophisticated advertisements resembling elaborate and artistic commercial ads. The sample presented in Figure 4-3 on page 87 clearly shows that modern recruitment advertising is increasingly shifted toward multi-modal representation of meaning (cf. Norlyk 2006); not only does the ad demonstrate a high level of text layout and design, as well as displays the employer’s logo and corporate colours performing the

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Figure 4-2. Online job advertisement excerpted from the online edition of The Daily Telegraph, at www.telegraph.co.uk , accessed on 15 January, 2012.

attention-catching and image-building function, but it also makes use of moving pictorial elements (the pictures in the upper section of the ad), a short promotional film with sound effects, as well as a whole range of interactive tools, including the Find us on Facebook function, with photographs and profiles of people who like careers at Just Energy. Scholars seem to increasingly appreciate the link between the visual attractiveness of job advertisements and the number of applicants (see e.g. Kaplan 2005 quoted in van Meurs 2010). On the other hand, there are also studies showing that layout features (such as bold font, illustrations, logos, white space) affect the job pursuit intentions of applicants who are “less able or motivated to read job ads carefully”; those of job market participants who are more able or motivated are less affected by the layout features (Jones et al. 2006, cited in van Meurs 2010: 10). Thus the content and language appear to remain the most salient features determining the rate of response.

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Figure 4-3. A customised online job advertisement excerpted from the www.careerbuilder.com., accessed 15 January, 2012

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4.2 The genre of recruitment advertising The forthcoming sections draw on the theoretical perspectives on genre overviewed in chapter 2, in an attempt to rationalise job advertisement as a genre, discuss it as a member of the job search genre sequence and a representative of the colony of promotional genres. Particular attention is given to the structural components of job ads performing the employer branding function of the genre.

4.2.1 Rationalising job advertisement as a genre As indicated in sub-chapter 2.2.1, the view of genre as a typified social action undertaken in response to recurrent rhetorical situations seems well suited for job advertising; the latter does constitute a social action, with its specific functions salient for all job market participants, and is characterised by typical features well known to both the addressers and addressees; arguably, job advertisements may be viewed as constituting, to use Orlikowski and Yates’ (1994) terminology, institutionalised templates for the social action of searching for suitable job applicants. Job advertising also responds to the recurrent rhetorical situation of employers seeking to fill vacant positions and job seekers searching for attractive vacancies. Adopting Swales’s (1990) criteria for classifying a stretch of language as genre, job advertisements are regarded in the present study as constituting a genre for the following reasons: 1) Employment ads are communicative events, i.e., to employ Swales’s definition, such “in which language (and/or paralanguage) plays both significant and an indispensable role” (1990: 45). A job advertisement is a bounded entity with the purpose of communicating a specific message; it would be hard to imagine this entity not resorting, at least partially, to language as a means of communication. 2) Recruitment advertisements realise several communicative purposes, of which the most obvious and immediate one is that of attracting the attention of the most suitable candidates and encouraging them to apply. This goal is achieved both through informing the audience about the job position, and persuading them to choose this vacancy rather than the competitive ones, an issue to be elaborated on further in this study. As indicated in section 1.2, job ads serve a number of subsidiary purposes as well, such as filtering out the unsuitable applicants, establishing the organisations’ credibility and promoting its good image, thus contributing to the creation and reinforcement of the employer brand.

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3) Job advertisements are shared by members of the parent discourse community, the latter being understood in a broad sense (following Devitt 2004), as a network or loosely linked group of people producing and receiving common discourse (i.e. recruitment ads and other texts constituting the job search context). There is a certain consensus, to use Rubin’s terminology (quoted in Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson 1999), as to what is worth communicating and how it may be communicated in a text of job advertisement, how candidates and other job market participants may be persuaded, and what they are likely to know or believe to be true about the employing organisation and the job position advertised. 4) Employment advertisements are, to use Bhatia’s (1993) phrasing, highly structured and conventionalised discourse types, both in terms of content and form. As indicated several times in the previous chapters, although researchers and HR practitioners are not entirely unanimous as to what a good job ad should contain and how it should be structured, they appear to be in consensus about the core components of recruitment announcements. Belin and Wang suggest that job adverts “are rather similar and repetitive, almost like they would have been written by the same person” (2010: 11); in order to be functional, they have to contain certain elements. This might constitute a problem for those job ad writers who seek to create original advertisements with a view to differentiating them from competitive messages. 5) Job ads have specific genre nomenclature: together with functional and structural constraints, they share certain linguistic features such as formality and the use of specialised lexis, the latter being characteristic of the job search context, as well as reflecting the industry-specific words and phrases. 6) Employment adverts draw on discourse participants’ knowledge of the conventions of the genre: both recruitment ad writers and potential candidates, as well as other job market participants, are well aware of the conventions underlying the creation and interpretation of a typical ad; the addressers are thus capable of predicting and responding to potential applicants’ expectations pertaining to how the nature of the vacancy advertised should be communicated. Also, the addressees are able to evaluate the attractiveness of the job and assess, albeit roughly, the likelihood of their own qualifications and experience matching (or not) the employers’ requirements. Job advertisements are highly intertextual. Following the theoretical framework overviewed in section 2.2.3, they should be viewed as members of the system (or sequence) of genres related to the activity of

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job search, encompassing, beside recruitment ads, such genres as job descriptions, resumés or curricula vitae, application or cover letters, invitations to interviews, ‘thank you’ notes, rejections, job offers (Devitt 2004: 56). A recruitment ad is produced drawing on a specific job description; following from this, CVs and application letters are written by prospective candidates in response to the ad. If regarded as potentially suitable, the candidates then receive invitations to a job interview, to which they may respond. Subsequent to the interview, candidates may send ‘thank you’ notes, as well as obtain letters of rejection or firm job offers. Figure 4-4 presents a proposal for a visual representation of the intertextual relations between text types constituting the job search genre system.

Figure 4-4. Intertextual relations within the job search genre system

As is visible from Figure 4-4, some genres in the job search sequence are intrinsically related, whereas the interrelations between others are less obvious; a job interview, for instance, naturally follows the invitation, as well as results in either a job offer of rejection of the candidate, yet it also forms intertextual relations, albeit slightly less obvious, with the applicant’s CV and cover letter (documents conventionally referred to during the interview), as well as the initial job description and

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advertisement which presumably act as the checklist for the interviewer’s questions and assessments. Similarly, a job offer or rejection, directly following from the job interview, will also explicitly refer to (or at least draw on) the job description, advertisement, the candidate’s CV and cover letter, as the decision to accept or reject a candidate is inevitably rooted in the aforementioned texts. All these genres are thus closely interrelated, referring to one another and co-constructing the whole job search genre sequence.

4.2.2 Rhetorical structure of job advertisements With regard to the rhetorical structure of the genre of recruitment advertisements, even their simplest instances seem to corroborate the findings reported in organisational studies pertaining to job ad components (cf. 1.2.1). In his work on the linguistic simplicity in the discourse of classified advertisements, Bruthiaux (1996) observes that classified job ads typically consist of five components (communicated in a telegram-like language): - a target element, stating the type of person being recruited; - a recruiter element, including information about the company or individual placing the ad; - duties of the job being advertised; - requirements, specifying minimum qualifications or experience; - a reward element, often including benefits in addition to details of salary; - a contact segment, usually consisting of a telephone number and, in about a quarter of the cases, the name of the person to be contacted. The author proposes the following typical information sequencing in classified job ads: Target Recruiter Requirements Reward Contact

LEGAL secy, several positions in greater LA, w recent exp in workman's comp or medical malpractice, salary is $36,000 + xlnt benefits & every 4th Friday off, call Lee Ann 213-385-1234 (ibid.: 127-128)

Despite somewhat greater variation in information sequencing in this ad category (compared with apartment and auto ads), stemming from the greater

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range of possible referents, classified job ads, similarly to other recruitment advertisements, are nonetheless regarded as highly conventionalised. Drawing on the above, as well as using the core components of standard recruitment ads as proposed by HR scholars and practitioners (see Table 1-1), and allowing for the specificity of online job announcements, a MOVE model has been constructed for the purposes of this book, complemented with a series of STEPS realising particular moves. As indicated in 2.2.5, a MOVE is understood in the present study as a discoursal/rhetorical unit performing a coherent communicative function, whereas STEPS are the smaller units/elements contributing to the realisation of the moves. The communicative purpose of a discourse type is thus realised by a MOVE structure which, in turn, is realised by various STEPS. Table 4-1 presents the move/step model proposed for the structural/rhetorical analysis of the corpus of recruitment advertisements.2 It must be emphasised that the decisions pertaining to classification of a given stretch of language as a move or step cannot be entirely objective. A variety of aspects may also influence an analyst’s choice to attribute a distinct communicative function to particular moves and steps, including his/her experience, intuition, and knowledge of the context. Consequently, the analysis performed in this and the following sections should be treated as a proposal rather than a definitive answer to how recruitment ads are structured. Table 4-1. Rhetorical structure of job advertisements: analytical model MOVE

Communicative function realised by the move

MOVE 0

Job identification (job overview/summary)

MOVE 1

Announcing availability of the position STEP 1: Stating job title STEP 2: Announcing job opportunity (We are looking for…); (optionally: repetition of basic information about the vacancy)

2

All the tables included in this and other analytical chapters of the book have been drawn up by the author.

The Discourse of Recruitment Advertising: A Genre-Based Analysis MOVE 2

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Presenting the organisation – building credibility STEP 1: Revealing the name of employing organisation STEP 2: Specifying type of activity (products, services) STEP 3: Announcing achievements STEP 4: Communicating/referring to organisation’s vision/ /mission/values/culture STEP 5: Providing links to other sources of information (company website) STEP 6: Including Equal Employment Opportunity statement STEP 7: Employer’s LOGO

MOVE 3

Specifying responsibilities and requirements involved STEP 1: Describing position and tasks involved STEP 2: Specifying candidate’s personality STEP 3: Specifying requirements and competencies (qualifications and experience)

MOVE 4

Offering benefits STEP 1: Specifying the amount of salary (or salary range) STEP 2: Describing the salary as attractive/competitive STEP 3 Salary depending on/commensurate with experience STEP 4: Promising other benefits

MOVE 5

Inviting applications/Instructing candidates how to apply STEP 1: Specifying contact method STEP 1a: The Apply here/ Apply for this job button generated by the website STEP 2: Deadline for applications STEP 3: Specifying requirements related to application process STEP 4: Urging responses/high pressure tactics

In order to demonstrate how particular moves and steps listed in Table 4-1 are distinguished in the sample under study, what follows is a proposal for a detailed move/step analysis of one job advertisement selected from the corpus. The ads constituting the sample differ in a number of ways: they range from very short and terse texts to lengthy and elaborate ones

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consisting of several paragraphs marked with highlighted headings.3 Figure 4-5 presents the structure of a relatively long job advertisement (JA180).4 B2B Sales Consultants

Employer: HIFX Posted: 12 January 2012 Location: South East region Industry: Finance & Accounting Function: Sales Level: Senior Executive Contract: Permanent Hours: Full Time Salary: £30,000 basic rising to £32,000 after probation (3 months), + Car Allowance (£4,000) + uncapped commission + benefits Further information HiFX is a leading UK specialist provider of intelligent financial solutions providing private and corporate clients with fast and efficient foreign currency dealing. We are an innovative organisation offering individuals opportunity for ongoing learning and development. We have the following vacancy available based at our Head Office in Windsor, Berkshire: Sales Consultants (Corporate Premier Teams) £30,000 basic rising to £32,000 after probation (3 months), + Car Allowance (£4,000) + uncapped commission + benefits Main purpose of role: Sales Consultants are responsible for the generation of new business relationships for Corporate Premier dealing services with responsibility for all pre-trade/account opening activity. The role involves development of an accurate and up to date customer prospect database from which introductory and follow-up consultative sales calls are made. Sales consultants pro-actively

MOVE 1 step 1 2:1 MOVE 0 4:1 || 4:4

MOVES 2, 4 2:1/|| 2:2/2:3/4:4

MOVE 1 1:2/1:1 MOVE 4 4:1 || 4:4

MOVE 3

3 Only 5 ads in the corpus comprise below 100 words (JA73, JA154, JA196, JA230, JA231). The longest advertisement (JA24) comprises 901 words, and the average text length amounts to 318 words. See Appendix 2 for more text statistics. 4

The abbreviation JA (Job Advertisement) is used throughout the analysis. See Appendix 1 for a complete list of the JAs constituting the corpus under investigation.

The Discourse of Recruitment Advertising: A Genre-Based Analysis qualify applications for our services predominately via telemarketing with the objective of gaining commitment from client to open a trading facility. In addition to sales and marketing activity, sales consultants are also responsible for setting up new customer accounts and assisting the compliance team with antimoney laundering and due diligence checks for new customer accounts. Key Responsibilities: Responsible for identifying business sectors and industries with foreign exchange exposure. Follow up on warm leads from the core sales team with a view to gaining commitment from client to open a trading facility. Build, maintain and develop an accurate sales prospect pipeline Ensure all contact notes with prospective customers in pipeline are input into database and diarised for call-backs and follow up activity. Conduct introductory calls (initial fact-find / qualification) to sales prospects in order to determine suitability for HiFX Express Online / Premier Dealing Services Ensure the prospective customers understand the features and benefits of HiFX Premier services. Provide and ensure sale prospects receive relevant HiFX products/services literature. Conduct follow-up sales activity within agreed timeframe Sales Consultants will also identify and refer opportunities for other corporate sales teams. Conduct all account opening administration required to open new dealing facility. Skills & Experience required: Demonstrable sales experience gained within business to business environment marketing and selling at key decision maker level (e.g. Director / Executive); Experience working within a telephone based, targeted sales role is essential; Previous experience in an FX or FS sales role would be advantageous (but not essential); Can demonstrate fluent ability to build rapport with client prospects quickly and in a professional and courteous manner; Must be able to demonstrate outgoing, persuasive & influential character Apply with CV

Figure 4-5. Moves and steps in JA180

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3:1 (including 2:1 repeated 3 times)

MOVE 3 3:3 3:2/3:3 3:2

MOVE 5 5:1a

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The ad begins with the job title (STEP 1:1, highlighted in boldface and enlarged font), followed by a standard job summary (MOVE 0), with embedded STEPS: 2:1, 4:1 and 4:4. Thus the employer’s name and the benefits promised (the exact amount of salary specified, the prospect of earning more after the probation period, car allowance, commission and other benefits) can be easily seen even by those viewers who do not bother to read the whole text. Subsequently, the employer presents themselves in MOVE 2 realised through STEP 2:1 (repeated), as well as STEPS 2:2 (specifying the type of activity) and 2:3 (boasting/announcing achievements), entwined with STEP 4:4 (promising benefits other than salary). It is clearly visible how the latter three steps are difficult to separate: the statement that the company provides private and corporate customers with financial solutions/foreign currency dealings mingles with the act of boasting about the firm’s leading position on the market as well as its fast, efficient, intelligent, and innovative services. Stating and boasting is further interwoven with the act of promising opportunities for ongoing learning and development. The tendency for steps to co-occur and be entwined with one another is visible throughout the corpus and will be dealt with in more detail later in the chapter. Following the combination of STEPS 2:2, 2:3, and 4:4, is the employer’s announcement of the job opportunity, with the job title repeated again (STEPS 1:2 and 1:1). What follows is MOVE 4, realised again through STEPS 4:1 and 4:4, in exactly the same form as in the vacancy overview section. The longest move in the text is MOVE 3, realised through STEP 3:1 (describing position and tasks involved), offering a very detailed account of the role’s purpose and the responsibilities involved. Embedded in STEP 3:1 is STEP 2:1 (repetition of the employer’s name, occurring three times). MOVE 3 is further realised through STEPS 3:3 (specifying requirements and competencies) and 3:2 (specifying candidate’s personality). At one point these two steps are entwined; the phrase stating that the candidate can demonstrate fluent ability to build rapport with client prospects quickly and in a professional and courteous manner may plausibly be interpreted as both indicating the personal qualities that candidates must possess and certain experience gained in previous customer-related jobs. Finally, STEP 5:1 is the Apply with CV button which provides the way for submitting applications, and thus realises the function of inviting viewers to apply, at the same time instructing them how to do it.

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Distribution of moves and steps in the corpus Table 4-2 demonstrates what percentage of the job advertisements under investigation comprise particular moves. Table 4-2. Distribution of MOVES in the corpus MOVE

0

1

2

3

4

5

Number/ percentage of JAs including this move

218

236

236

236

223

236

93%

100%

100%

100%

95%

100%

210* (89%)* * The number/percentage of JAs in which employers’ self-presentation is effected through something other than the organisation’s name, logo and/or link to their corporate website.

As the analysis shows, although varying significantly and realised through different steps, MOVES: 1 (announcing availability of the position), 2 (presenting the organisation/building credibility), 3 (specifying responsibilities and requirements involved), and 5 (inviting applications/ instructing candidates how to apply) are present in all the JAs. Moves 1, 3, and 5 appear to constitute the very core of recruitment ads; in order to perform their communicative function, job ads naturally comprise the job title, at least the basic requirements (and/or responsibilities) involved in the position as well as some sort of indication of how potential candidates can apply. MOVE 2, although not inherent to the function of recruitment ads (cf. 1.2.1), has been identified in all JAs in the corpus, presenting employers from various angles, at least announcing the name of their organisation; 210 JAs, accounting for 89% of the sample, include employers’ self-presentation in a descriptive form, i.e. other than merely communicating the company’s name and providing its logo or link to the corporate website. It should, however, be reminded that the corpus comprises JAs viewed as contributing to the projection of employers’ brands, and thus has been selected from among a larger corpus in which over 40% of texts do not even reveal the employers’ names, not to mention other strategies of self-presentation.

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MOVE 4 (offering benefits) appears in 95% of JAs in the corpus, a remarkably high percentage if compared with other corpora of job advertisements where “branded” ads are mixed with “no-name” ones (ibid.). The “‘what’s in it for me’ factor”, to use Belin and Wang’s (2010: 30) phrasing, is a salient component of employer branding, construing the Employee Value Proposition, as well as the overall image of an employing organisation, notions to be discussed later on in the study. MOVE 0 (job identification/review/summary), has been found in 93% of JAs in the corpus, being absent only in customised ads, where its function is often realised in other parts of the texts.5 In 65% of JAs, MOVE 0 communicates the employer’s name (and, frequently, provides a link to the corporate website), as well as information related to the salary and/or other benefits. Alongside those, MOVE 0 typically comprises: the reference number/job ID, location, the date when the position was advertised, basic characteristics of the position (job function, industry, position type, hours, type/duration of contract, company department, who the position reports to), the start date, and contact information; the way the information is selected and arranged most probably depends on the job search website and its format. A more detailed analysis reveals interesting patterns of STEP distribution in particular moves, as demonstrated in Table 4-3 on the next page. It clearly shows that, consistently with the (more general) move analysis, the steps that appear obligatory in the job advertisements studied are: 1:1 (stating job title), 2:1 (revealing the name of employing organisation), and 5:1a (Apply here or Apply for this job icon). This is not surprising taking into account that, as mentioned before, the advertisements in the corpus are branded (resulting in at least the names of employers’ being revealed), and web-based, i.e. naturally offering the possibility of online contact and/or application. Among the most frequently occurring steps are also those realising MOVE 3: STEP 3:1 (describing the position and tasks involved, identified in 94% of JAs), 3:2 (describing desirable features of candidates’ personality, found in 88% of JAs), 3:3 (specifying job requirements and candidates’ competencies, in 94% of JAs). MOVE 3 is thus realised in the vast majority of JAs through all three steps, indicating that employers attach great importance to providing detailed descriptions of the responsibilities, qualifications, experience, and personal qualities expected from candidates.

5

Customised ads account for 11% of all the JAs in the corpus (26 texts).

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Table 4-3. Distribution of STEPS in the corpus STEP

OCCURRENCES

NUMBER OF JAs

% OF JAs

1:1 1:2 2:1 2:2

405 163 438 203

236 145 236 160

100 % 62 % 100 % 68%

2:3 2:4 2:5 2:6 2:7 3:1 3:2 3:3 4:1 4:2 4:3 4:4 5:1 5:1a 5:2 5:3 5:4

337 146 148 45 149 399 307 321 227 81 42 408 127 236 90 134 24

189 103 121 42 149 222 208 221 157 65 35 174 120 236 89 115 17

80 % 44 % 51% 18 % 63 % 94 % 88 % 94 % 67 % 28 % 15 % 74 % 51 % 100 % 38 % 49 % 7%

Further on the frequency list, STEP 2:3 (announcing employing organisation’s achievements) appears in 80% of JAs, clearly aiming to project a positive image of the employing company and thus confirming the ‘brand building’ function of recruitment ads. A similar role is played by the logo (STEP 2:7, occurring in 63% of JAs), parts communicating or referring to an organisation’s vision, mission, values, culture (STEP 2:4, found in 44% of JAs), as well as – albeit often indirectly and implicitly – STEPS 2:2 (specifying the products and services offered by the employing organisation, in 68% of JAs) and 2:5 (providing links to other sources of information about the employer, in 51% of JAs). The employer branding strategies applied in MOVE 2 will be analysed more thoroughly in later

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parts of this book. Finally, STEP 2:6, i.e. the Equal Employment Opportunities statement, is the least frequently occurring step in MOVE 2 (found in only 18% of JAs), a result probably stemming from the fact that discrimination is forbidden by law and the majority of employers do not consider it necessary to explicitly communicate that they offer the same opportunities to all sections of the society. Some employers nonetheless wish to emphasise their non-discriminative employment practices, contributing (at least to some degree) to the projection of their organisation’s corporate culture and values. As regards MOVE 4 (offering benefits), over two thirds (67%) of JAs specify the amount of salary or provide the salary range (STEP 4:1); a similar frequency (74%) has been found for STEP 4:4 (promising benefits other than the remuneration), confirming the salience of the benefit factor, as indicated earlier in this chapter. The salary is described more ambiguously in a lower percentage of JAs: as attractive/competitive in 28% JAs, and as depending on/commensurate with experience in only 15% of texts in the corpus (STEPS 4:2 and 4:3, respectively). The results seem to demonstrate that employers are well aware of the findings within the domain of HR management indicating that candidates highly appreciate recruitment messages unambiguously specifying the benefits to be expected (cf. 1.2.1). The above analysis largely confirms the model of standard job ad content proposed by HR researchers and practitioners (ibid.), yet some significant differences also emerge, particularly with regard to MOVES 1 and 4. The former is deemed optional in the HR model, with 5 out of 8 authors recommending inclusion of ‘job title’, and only 1 out of 8 viewing ‘announcement of job opportunity’ important, whereas the present investigation demonstrates that ‘job title’ (STEP 1:1) is stated in all the JAs analysed; additionally, phrases such as We are looking for… / An opportunity has arisen for … / We seek… / We require… are used to announce job opportunity (STEP 1:2) in not an insignificant number of JAs (62%). The discrepancy pertaining to STEP 1:1 may probably be attributed, at least partially, to the fact that the job ads analysed in the present study are all announced through the medium of the Internet, whereas the HR researchers might have taken into account ads placed in any medium. One of the most distinctive qualities of Internet job searching is that job titles are presented in lists, functioning as links to the advertisements; they also enable automatic retrieval of many different offers for a particular type of position, an option not available in other media. The medium of communication may also serve as an explanation for the high percentage (93%) of JAs containing MOVE 0 (job

The Discourse of Recruitment Advertising: A Genre-Based Analysis 101

identification/overview/ summary), most probably generated automatically by the website, at least in case of standard recruitment ads. As regards MOVE 4 (offering benefits), deemed obligatory by HR researchers, its presence in 95% of JAs in the corpus proves that an overwhelming majority of employers recognise that this MOVE is one of the core components of an effective job ad. Similarly, almost 90% of JAs communicate some information about the employing organisation (STEP 2:2), confirming that, by far, most job ad writers agree with HR specialists and consider this component extremely important. As explained above, the presence of STEP 2:1 (name of the employing organisation) in all JAs in the corpus, contradicting the optional status of this component in the eyes of organisational scholars and practitioners, stems from the fact that the sample contains only ‘branded’ ads, thus the results would be different for other corpora of recruitment ads. Finally, the apparently low level of importance attached by HR specialists to STEP 1:2 may result from the fact that they do not perceive it as separate from the ‘heading’ (which normally includes the job title), an issue that may require further investigation. Importantly, an in-depth analysis of the distribution of steps identified in the corpus reveals a markedly high degree of overlap and interwovenness among particular steps.6 The highest tendency for steps being embedded in or entwined with one another is found between STEPS 2:2 and 2:3 (in 57% of the sample) as well as STEPS 3:2 and 3:3 (in 56% of the sample). The former pair combines the communicative function of specifying an organisation’s type of activity (STEP 2:2) with the function of announcing employer’s achievements (STEP 2:3). Examples include the following: (1)

Based in the heart of Manchester, we’re one of the UK’s leading Home Shopping and multi-channel retailers. We’ve been established for over 140 years, have a turnover exceeding £700 million, operate 25 catalogues and websites and are enjoying further success in new international markets. (JA10)

The extract clearly shows that the two above mentioned functions are not easy to separate: realising STEP 2:2, the text communicates that the company is a Home Shopping and multi-channel retailer, based in the 6

It must once again be emphasised that a high degree of intuition (combined with the author’s general knowledge of the recruitment advertising context) has been used when attributing specific communicative functions to particular parts of texts under examination.

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heart of Manchester, operating through 25 catalogues and websites. It simultaneously presents the organisation’s achievements: a leading position on the UK market (we're one of the UK's leading…), longstanding market presence (We've been established for over 140 years), healthy financial condition (a turnover exceeding £700 million), successful operations in international markets (and are enjoying further success in new international markets). The seemingly neutral expressions, explicitly realising STEP 2:2, e.g. multi-channel, new international markets, providing the number of catalogues and websites, as well as overtly positive expressions (in the heart of Manchester), create an image of a successful and expanding business and thus clearly contribute to the realisation of STEP 2:3. The high degree of overlap between providing ‘neutral information’ and ‘boasting of achievements’ as part of employers’ positive self-presentation will be discussed more thoroughly in the following chapters. The second of the most frequently entwined pairs (STEPS 3:2 and 3:3) combines the communicative function of describing ideal candidates’ personality (STEP 3:2) with the function of specifying job requirements and competencies (STEP 3:3). This combination seems quite natural in the discourse of job advertising; employees’ personality features and competences are often intrinsically connected, as can be seen in the example below: (2)

We see you ideally as bringing to the role knowledge of corporate and CSR sectors. You’ll have the ability to think creatively, having developed tailor made proposals with a proactive approach to new business opportunities. Having a proven ability to negotiate and persuade, you’ll have managed senior level relationships. Most importantly we are seeking a team player looking to join one of the most exciting environments imaginable. (JA14)

In the above extract, requirements pertaining to candidates’ personal qualities (e.g. the ability to think creatively) are entwined with the expected experience and qualifications (e.g. experience in performing managerial functions at a senior level and developing tailor-made proposals). Some of the requirements (a proven ability to negotiate and persuade, being a team player) may be regarded as both personality traits and qualifications. Other steps that are embedded in the combination of STEPS 3:2 and 3:3 presented in extract (2) are STEPS 2:3 and 4:4, realised in the last sentence; specifying the requirement (the candidate must be a team player), the sentence performs two acts simultaneously: that of presenting the employer’s achievement of having created one of the

The Discourse of Recruitment Advertising: A Genre-Based Analysis 103

most exciting environments imaginable (STEP 2:3), and offering successful candidates an attractive non-financial incentive: the opportunity to work in such an environment (STEP 4:4). Unsurprisingly, the combination of STEPS 3:2 and 3:3 is often entwined with STEP 3:1 (describing the position and tasks involved). While STEP 3:1 overlaps with either STEP 3:2 or STEP 3:3 in 15% and 9% of JAs, respectively, a pattern where all these three steps are combined, occurring in various orders, has been identified in 19% of JAs in the corpus. The extract below clearly exemplifies such a combination: (3)

Tried and tested sales skills are the key. Especially within the Public Sector. You must be an expert at developing business relationships, exceeding targets and negotiating. We’ll expect you to devise effective account development plans and to execute them efficiently. You will be an expert in understanding for Public Sector procurement processes and sales cycles. It’ll take drive and tenacity. Not to mention self-motivation. (JA22)

The requirements related to candidates’ skills and experience, i.e. STEP 3:3 (tried and tested sales skills, understanding for Public Sector procurement processes and sales cycles) are combined with the job description, i.e. STEP 3:1 (to devise effective account development plans and to execute them efficiently) as well as the desirable personal profile of candidates, i.e. STEP 3:2 (drive, tenacity, self-motivation). The requirement to be an expert at developing business relationships, exceeding targets and negotiating acts at the same time as a description of responsibilities involved in the job advertised. Equally unsurprisingly in the context of job advertising, the job description (3:1) often comprises a repetition of the job title (STEP 1:1), a pattern identified in 18% of JAs. Among the other frequent combinations of steps identified in the sample, the most salient in terms of their employer branding function are those containing STEP 2:3 (announcing employer’s achievements), STEP 4:4 (promising benefits other than salary),7 and STEP 2:4 (communicating organisation’s vision/mission/values):

7

Understandably, all the steps realising MOVE 4 (offering benefits) contribute to the employer branding function. However, the role of remuneration, and the degree to which its exact amount is revealed, has already been discussed earlier in this chapter. The present section thus focuses on STEP 4:4, demonstrating a remarkably high degree of overlap with other (often seemingly neutral) steps.

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Announcing employer’s achievements The first on the list, STEP 2:3 exhibits a very strong tendency to overlap with other steps, leading to a conclusion that employers take great care to express pride in their success and attainments even while communicating information seemingly not related to announcing accomplishments; apart from the extremely frequent 2:2/2:3 combination discussed earlier, STEP 2:3 is mostly entwined with STEP 4:4, a pattern identified in 65 (28%) JAs in the corpus, where the announcement of employer’s achievements is combined with promising benefits other than the salary. STEPS 2:3 and 2:4 are combined in 24% of JAs; embedded within the act of boasting about employer’s achievements is the communication of the company’s vision, mission, values, and culture, for example: (4)

We are small enough to care and large enough to have impact. We are an innovative company committed to customer service, offering an extensive range of high quality products at competitive prices. (JA3)

STEP 2:3 also overlaps with STEPS 3:1 (21% of JAs), as well as with the steps realising MOVE 1, particularly STEP 1:2 (announcing job opportunity), a combination identified 20% of JAs. Promising benefits other than salary STEP 4:4 (promising benefits other than salary) is another step exhibiting a very strong tendency to be embedded within other steps. Apart from the 4:4/2:3 combination described earlier, STEP 4:4 is frequently entwined with all the steps realising MOVE 3 (specifying responsibilities and requirements); the patterns 4:4/3:1, 4:4/3:2, and 4:4/3:3 have been found in 20%, 22%, and 19% of JAs, respectively, often combining STEP 4 with all the STEPS in MOVE 3 simultaneously, as shown in the following extract: (5)

Since we work with the public, we're looking for people with retail sales, hospitality or similar customer service related experience. If you have what it takes to work hard, overcome challenges and lead others, you won`t get stuck in a position with no potential for growth. (JA43)

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Communicating organisation’s vision/mission/values Combinations of STEP 2:4 with 2:2, found in 14% of JAs, as well as with STEP 4:4, identified in 12% of JAs, indicate that employers, apart from embedding 2:4 in 2:3 (see above), wish to relate the organisations’ missions, visions and values to both the specification of the companies’ activities (STEP 2:2), and benefits other than salary promised to prospective employees (STEP 4:4). An interesting pattern is that of employers’ values, corporate culture, mission and vision (STEP 2:4) being entwined with the job description (3:1), a combination found in 10% of JAs, as exemplified below: (6)

Setting and maintaining standards, you will monitor performance, hold budget responsibility and ensure the philosophy of the service is implemented. In short, it will be your responsibility to ensure the delivery of consistent and high quality services as directed by the Service Manager and in line with the Business Plan. (JA179)

The information that successful candidates will be expected to set and maintain standards, ensure the philosophy of the service is implemented, and that the services delivered are consistent and high quality, implies that, firstly, the company has a philosophy and respects standards, and, secondly, cares about values such as quality and consistency. The above analysis has demonstrated that the communicators seem determined to exploit any opportunity to boast about employers’ achievements, communicate their missions, visions, and values, as well as promise benefits to potential employees. While the latter aim is entirely consistent with the core communicative function of recruitment advertising (encouraging the most valuable candidates to apply), the former two appear to realise primarily the employer branding function, presenting employing organisations in the best possible light. Moreover, as will be illustrated in chapter 8, promising benefits is central to the EVP (Employee Value Proposition), a salient component of employer brand.

4.3 Concluding remarks Chapter 4 has sought, in the first instance, to rationalise recruitment advertising as discourse and genre. It has shown that job ads are instances of communication between a company and the public, veering towards multi-modal representation of meaning and growingly resembling ‘artistic’ product or service ads. Yet the effectiveness of recruitment advertising

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continues to be determined primarily by content and language, at least in the eyes of the more able and motivated job market participants. Secondly, in keeping with the theoretical framework laid out in chapter 2, the analysis has provided justification for regarding job advertisements as a distinct genre, and a member of the system (or sequence) of genres related to the activity of job search. The move/step analysis has further demonstrated that the rhetorical structure of online JAs that emerges from the investigated corpus largely concurs with the recommended content of job advertisements as proposed by HR scholars and practitioners (see 1.2.1) as well as Bruthiaux’s (1996) observations on the composition of classified job ads. The MOVES that appear obligatory in job advertisements which form the corpus of ads classified as ‘branded’ are MOVES 1, 2, 3, and 5, i.e., (respectively): announcing availability of the position, presenting the organisation – building credibility (at least through revealing the name of the organisation), specifying responsibilities and requirements involved, and inviting applications/instructing candidates how to apply. Being absent only in customised ads, MOVE 0 (job identification/ review/summary) may reasonably be regarded as obligatory in standard web-based announcements. MOVE 4 (offering benefits) appears in 95% of JAs in the corpus, contributing to the positive image of both the vacancy advertised and the employing organisation. Importantly for the present study, the move structure found in the corpus confirms the initial hypothesis that recruitment ads contribute to the projection of employer brand; while MOVES 1, 3, and 5 are inherent to the core communicative functions of recruitment advertising (i.e. attracting the most valuable candidates and filtering out those unsuitable), and with MOVE 0 naturally occurring in online job ads, MOVES 2 and 4 perform the most significant role in co-constructing a positive image of an employing company. Job ad writers take great care to present their organisations in the best light and to promise benefits that will potentially be deemed attractive by the most worthy applicants. The prevailing STEPS, present in 100% of JAs in the corpus, are again those inherent to job advertising: 1:1 (stating job title), 2:1 (revealing the name of employing organisation – obligatory in ‘branded’ ads), and 5:1a (Apply here/ Apply for this job icon). Very high frequencies (around 90%) are also observed for STEPS realising MOVE 3. The steps identified within MOVE 2 strongly contribute to the projection of employer brand, with STEP 2:3 (announcing achievements) occurring with a remarkably high frequency. The brand building function of recruitment ads is confirmed by frequent use of the company logo (STEP 2:7), referring to an

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organisation’s vision, mission, values, culture (STEP 2:4), specifying the products and services (STEP 2:2), and providing links to other sources of information about the employer (STEP 2:5). The salience of the benefit factor attracting candidates and projecting a positive image of the employing organisation is corroborated by strong (around 70%) presence of STEPS 4:1 and 4:4, i.e. specifying the amount of salary/salary range, and promising benefits other than the remuneration. A closer analysis of the rhetorical structure of recruitment ads reveals a remarkably high degree of overlap and interwovenness among particular steps, with the employer branding functions being commonly embedded in or combined with other (seemingly neutral) steps, particularly with regard to STEP 2:3 (announcing achievements), STEP 4:4 (promising benefits other than salary) and STEP 2:4 (communicating organisation’s mission/vision/values), manifesting a very strong tendency to overlap with other steps. The issue of boasting about company’s position and success being embedded in or camouflaged as providing information about the organisation will be considered more thoroughly in chapters 6 and 7.

CHAPTER FIVE THE REGISTER OF RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING

While the previous chapter focused on the structural/rhetorical analysis of the genre of recruitment advertising, chapter 5 seeks to investigate job advertising at the level of register. As indicated in section 2.3.2, register analysis is viewed in the present study as aimed at examining the corpus in search for its distinctive or statistically significant lexico-grammatical features, taking into account the situational/contextual factors creating (and being created by) the text variety. The present chapter thus analyses, in the first instance, the situational characteristics and lexico-grammar of recruitment advertising, with the focus of attention placed on the examination of those linguistic resources that most significantly contribute to the creation and reinforcement of the employer brand. Following from that, the linguistic exponents of evaluation are discussed briefly, summarising (and further illustrating) what has been said earlier in this chapter on the evaluative force of the lexico-grammar in JAs. As many of the linguistic phenomena to be discussed in the remainder of this book demonstrate a great degree of overlap, some arbitrary decisions had to be made regarding the organisation of chapters 5, 6, and 7. For the sake of clarity, precision, and completeness, the present chapter is intended to be a rather cursory and dry account of the most salient characteristics of the lexico-grammar of job advertising and its role in the creation of the employer brand, including some comments regarding the persuasive and evaluative dimension of the register, with a view to preparing the ground for a more insightful analysis focusing on the linguistic means of persuasion (and evaluation) in chapter 6, and the language of employer and employee values in chapter 7.

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5.1 Situational characteristics The situational characteristics of job advertising discourse, as proposed within the domain of Systemic Functional Linguistics, as well as Biber and Conrad’s (2009) model (see 2.3.2), may be summarised as follows: Field The field is viewed as encompassing two of the situational characteristics differentiated by Biber and Conrad (2009): topics and communicative purposes. As discussed in chapter 1, Human Resource Management and business/workplace communication may be regarded as the general topics of job advertising, with the specific topic being that of employee recruitment. The communicative purposes include informing, describing, and persuading, the former two functions contributing to the overarching persuasive goal. Tenor Tenor refers to who is taking part in the discourse, and what the participants’ nature, status, and roles are, including such variables as power and solidarity between interactants. To use Biber and Conrad’s (2009) framework, tenor thus involves the participants (addressers, addressees, onlookers), as well as the relations among the different groups (interactiveness, social roles, personal relationships, shared knowledge). Drawing on the above, the participants of job advertising discourse encompass three groups: the addressers (employers, i.e. recruiters or writers of the ads acting on behalf of employers), the addressees (members of the public - potential candidates for the positions advertised (readers of job advertisements looking for jobs), and the onlookers (other job market participants, for example: recruitment agencies, employment market analysts, competitors, people who have jobs and are not intending to change them, but are interested in job market trends). As stated above, the discourse of job advertising is interactive in nature, with the social distance between the addressers and addressees being maximal (or nearly maximal). The personal relationship between the interactants is that between strangers (who may potentially become colleagues), with an underlying assumption that both sides share an amount of specialist knowledge related to job market realities and the specificity of the position advertised.

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Viewing the addressers and addressees of job advertising discourse as the writers and readers of recruitment ads, it may be stated that their relationship is temporary and non-hierarchical, especially as long as the readers are onlookers. The situation becomes more complex if we take into account the primary addressees of job ads: people looking for vacancies that will match their qualifications and expectations. If perceived as merely writers and readers, the former’s role is to inform the public about the vacancy and what it entails, as well as present the employing organisation, whereas the latter’s role is to read the message, interpret it using their best knowledge and experience, gauge the content against their own expectations and demands, and take the decision whether to apply or not. However, viewing the addressers and addressees as potential employers and employees, and taking into consideration the job market conditions, their relationship appears more permanent and hierarchical, with rather unequal power distribution, particularly if a candidate does have a chance to be accepted and become part of the organisation’s structure. Mode Job advertisements are messages communicated in written form, increasingly using the Internet as a medium of communication; if printed, they can be classified as rather permanent, whereas the online form renders them closer to the transient end of the permanent/transient continuum. As far as the production circumstances are concerned, recruitment ads are planned and precise, organised and coherent, most probably revised and edited. The place and time of communication are not physically shared by the interactants; job ads appear in the public sphere and are intended to be read within a few days (or weeks) of being published. They are often associated with a particular city or region, but may generally be regarded as not constrained to any specific setting.

5.2 The lexico-grammar of job advertising The analysis of the lexico-grammatical features of job advertisements performed for the purposes of this study takes into account particularly those aspects which serve persuasive/promotional (and evaluative) functions and thus contribute to the projection of strong employer brands. The focus is placed in the first instance on positively charged lexis demonstrating strong persuasive/evaluative potential (cf. Bralczyk 2004; Hunston 2011; Krzeszowski 1993; Puzynina 1992; Thompson and Hunston

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2000). Secondly, drawing on the list of the grammatical characteristics of marketing-type advertising proposed by Bralczyk 2004, the corpus will be investigated in terms of the following grammatical categories: grammatical number, comparative structures, personal pronouns used as dialogic forms, tenses, the imperative voice, questions, exclamations, syntactic choices, and other distinctive characteristics.

5.2.1 Positively charged lexis1 The analysis has demonstrated that the corpus under study abounds in positively charged lexis, particularly adjectives, participles and adverbs, a feature characteristic of all persuasive/promotional discourse (e.g. Bralczyk 2004). Remarkably, positive adjectives and/or adverbs have been found in an impressive 98% of the corpus. Given that only 16 of those ads (7% of the sample) use positive adjectives and adverbs to refer to subjects other than the employing organisation or the position advertised, it may be concluded that a vast majority of JAs make some use of positively loaded structures referring to employers, thus contributing to the creation of employer brands. Among the ten most frequently occurring adjectives and participles, as many as eight (80%) are of a highly positive nature: new (e.g. new challenge in JA43, new ideas in JA214), good (e.g. good communication skills in JA6, good working relationships in JA233), permanent (e.g. permanent recruitment in JA7, permanent appointment in JA203), excellent (e.g. excellent benefits in JA10, excellent opportunities in JA87), successful (e.g. successful candidate in JA44, successful team in JA56), high (e.g. high quality products in JA3, high profile role in JA88), full (e.g. full details in JA92, full understanding of… in JA179), key (e.g. key stakeholders in JA29, key priority in JA77). Positively charged adjectives and participles constitute 55% of the 100, and 48% of the 200 most frequently occurring adjectives and participles in the corpus.2 Positively charged adjectives and participles represent a large and varied group of lexical items in the corpus; they not only show high 1

This section of the analysis draws extensively on the paper devoted entirely to the positive dimension of business register in recruitment advertising (àącka-Badura 2014b).

2

All lexical items discussed in the analytical sections of the study have been lemmatised. The decision to take into account only lexemes which occur in at least 2 JAs in the corpus has been taken in keeping with the text mining standards (see e.g. Lula 2005).

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occurrence frequencies, but many of them also appear in a relatively high percentage of JAs. Some of the adjectives are intrinsically positive (e.g. good, excellent, successful, professional, leading), others carry positive load in the context of recruitment advertising (e.g. a permanent, senior, key position will naturally be valued higher than a temporary, junior, support position). Many of the positive lexemes identified in the corpus, such as exciting, creative, exceptional, ideal, outstanding, generous, attractive, efficient, fantastic, rewarding, solid, valuable, impressive, may be regarded as the ‘magic words’ of recruitment advertising, similarly to such adjectives as fresh, wonderful, special, enjoying the status of ‘magic words’ in commercial ads (cf. Bralczyk 2004). The extremely positive evaluative load carried by the adjectives and participles is corroborated by the fact that the entire corpus contains only 11 adjectives or participles (found in • 2 JAs) that may qualify as intrinsically negative: unsuccessful, unable, difficult, hard, dull, illicit, faint-hearted, disabled, pressured, demanding. Not only are they used very rarely, each of them occurring in maximum 2% of JAs (with the exception of demanding found in 5% of JAs, often used in positive terms, and hard found in 3% of JAs), but, more importantly, the context either neutralises their negative appeal, or enhances the overall positive impact of the message, as shown in the examples below: 3 (1)

(2)

(3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

3

If you have not been invited for interview within 14 days after the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. (JA116) To apply for this vacancy you must be eligible to work in the UK as we are unable to offer sponsorship to applicants outside the European Economic Area. (JA5) Our internal estimates indicate that illicit trade represents in excess of 6% of global consumption of tobacco, … (JA18) Demonstrates sensitivity and strong arbitration skills in difficult situations ... (JA120) This role is not for the faint hearted … (JA188) Working for a water company is far from dull … (JA200) And our incentive scheme will see that your hard work is well rewarded. (JA215) … we will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for any disabled candidates that apply. (JA156)

Two instances of a neutral use of the adjective hard (hard copy of the details in JA67 and information pack in JA90) have not been taken into account.

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In (1) and (2) the negative lexemes unsuccessful and unable contribute to the politeness strategies mitigating the possible negative feeling that applicants may experience if not accepted for the position. Extract (3) comes from an advertisement placed by the Anti Illicit Trade Intelligence Unit, obviously communicating what the organisation is fighting against. In (4) difficult refers to situations that prospective candidates will be supposed to deal with, and thus may be interpreted as a potentially negative aspect of the job. Similarly, 2 JAs in the corpus require applicants not to be afraid of hard work. Other instances of hard are, however, used in a clearly positive context, as exemplified in (7): the communicators imply that employers realise how hard the work may be and are willing to appreciate and reward it. In extracts (5) and (6) the words faint hearted and dull are negated, implying that what the company has to offer is exactly the opposite. Finally, extract (8) clearly projects a positive image of an employer who cares about the disabled. Similarly to adjectives and participles, the positive adverbs include instances that are intrinsically positive (e.g. effectively, ideally, actively, independently, successfully, strongly, positively, efficiently, professionally), but also such that, although possibly neutral in other contexts, are positive in the context of recruitment advertising. By way of example, the adverb highly frequently appears as an intensifier of positive qualities attributed to the employing organisations. Fast, quickly, rapidly also accompany positively associated verbs, such as to grow, to develop or to deal with problems. As has already been indicated, companies operating internationally, nationally, globally are perceived as more powerful and reliable than those doing business solely at a local level. Importantly, the only two negative adverbs (found in • 2 JAs) are unfortunately and hard; the former occurs in 3 JAs (1%), expressing the communicators’ ‘regret’ that they will be unable to supply feedback to candidates who have not been shortlisted (JA72), or to write to all applicants (JA158). The lexeme hard appears in 4% of the corpus, yet only 2 instances refer to the job requirements, announcing that candidates must be prepared to work hard (JA43 and JA150). In other JAs the concept of working/playing hard is presented in positive terms, as exemplified below: (9) (10)

We have a great team of 40 people and like to work hard and have some fun too. (JA3) Work hard, play hard is the name of the game at Midlands Consulting Centre so if you are looking for your next challenge b then you have found your place! (JA41)

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Extract (9) communicates that the existing employees work hard and enjoy it. Work hard, play hard in (10) is most probably a motto implying that the company philosophy is to promote the virtues of hard work by adding a counterbalancing focus on play; employees are expected to put as much effort as they can into their assignment, but they will be rewarded with optional free time and/or entertainment opportunities in the end. It should be emphasised at this point that a large proportion of the positively loaded adjectival and adverbial forms are also related to broadly understood business activity, including such lexemes as professional, competitive, specialist, efficient, entrepreneurial, tailor-made, to mention but a few. The adjectives and adverbs are associated with action, evoking connotations of progress, strength and dynamism (challenging, active/proactive, dynamic, forward thinking, fast, new, influential, intensive, determined, outgoing, stimulating, vibrant, thriving, lively, effectively, actively, rapidly, firmly). Given that business lexis is found to be “positive in nature”, emphasising “action rather than emotion” (Nelson 2000: 90), the above mentioned lexical structures, with many of the positive lexemes functioning as the ‘magic words’ of recruitment advertising, clearly place job advertising among texts representative of business discourse.4 The positive and action-oriented nature of the register of recruitment ads is also confirmed by the analysis of the nouns and verbs identified in the corpus. All of the 20 most frequently occurring nouns in the corpus are closely related to business activities. Importantly, 8 of them are also among the top 20 positive key words identified in the Business English Corpus: business, company, customer, sale, management, service, client, team (cf. Nelson 2000).5 Moreover, the analysis of the complete frequency list of nouns found in the corpus shows that as many as 39 nouns found in more than 5% of the JAs analysed appear in Nelson’s list of the BEC top 100 positive key words (ibid.), including: market, product, contract, performance, year, account, group, director, information, office, system. High positions are occupied by nouns directly related to the recruitment 4

The sample naturally contains a wide variety of jargon words and phrases related to HR and recruitment, as well as lexemes specific to other areas of business activity referred to in particular JAs. Examples include the following: goal-driven individuals (JA60), ‘can do’ approach (JA59), B2b and b2c (JA49), traditional ‘back-office’ (JA93), incentivised payment scheme (JA96), customer facing quality regime (JA116), sales prospect pipeline (JA180). 5 Positive key words are those that appear in the Business English Corpus more frequently than in general English (Nelson 2000).

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process (e.g. experience, job, salary, employer, application, position, candidate, graduate, function, training). A large proportion of the less frequent nouns present in the sample can clearly be regarded as (at least partially) related to business and action, for instance: implementation, process, contact, solution, change, success, result, activity, growth, practice, improvement, decision, objective, action, construction, progress, expansion, involvement. The analysis of the 20 most frequently occurring verbs in the corpus under study demonstrates that at least 7 of the top 20 verbs on the list are commonly associated with business activities: apply, work, provide, manage, offer, deliver, lead. Importantly, the modal verb will, found to be the most frequently occurring verb in Nelson’s (2000) list of the top 100 BEC words, is used in 87% of JAs in the sample. Other verbs confirm the business-oriented nature of the register of job ads, including such lexemes as trade, gain, produce, reward, monitor, supply, establish, conduct, organise, appoint, negotiate, motivate, invest, coordinate, shortlist, acquire, fund, optimise, launch. It should also be emphasised that merely less than 10% of the verbs occurring in more than 1% of JAs in the corpus may be deemed static and/or related to emotions and mental states (e.g. want, expect, understand, enjoy, feel, love, know, think, believe, like, consider, appreciate, relish, respect, mean). Thus, over 90% of the verbs are (to a smaller or lesser degree) action-oriented, including such dynamic verbs as lead, drive, start, achieve, create, implement, promote, to mention but a few. Interestingly, the register analysis has demonstrated that job advertisements can also be viewed as one of the text types making extensive use of the language of success, beside such genres as mission statements, application letters, direct mail promotional letters, horoscopes, affirmations, success guides or self-help book introductions (Wolny-Peirs 2005). Wolny-Peirs offers a list of 500 key success words, of which 50 are found to occur with particularly high frequency in the sample of ‘success texts’. It is of high significance that all of the top 50 success words appear in the JAs analysed in this study, some of them constituting the core lexical items in the corpus (e.g. experience, service, team, management, customer/client, skills, development, opportunity, sale, offer, need, plan, success, new/modern, attractive, professional). The above discussion has hopefully shown that the lexis found in the corpus under study is overwhelmingly positive, a feature that is also reflected in other lexico-grammatical structures discussed further in this sub-chapter; the register may also be regarded as business register, with a

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wealth of business related lexical structures, and their extremely positive, success- and action-oriented nature.

5.2.2 The grammar of job advertising The examination of the grammatical structures seen as most significant in the corpus includes the following categories: grammatical number, comparative structures, personal pronouns used as dialogic forms, tenses, the imperative voice, questions, exclamations, syntactic choices, and other distinctive characteristics. With regard to the GRAMMATICAL NUMBER, strong quantifiers and other structures indicating multitude or scarcity have been identified 74% of JAs, emphasising the singularity or uniqueness of the employing organisation, plurality/multitude of the activities performed and products or services offered, benefits promised to successful candidates, or the qualifications required. The most frequently used form that can be classified as a strong quantifier is the pronoun all, present in 56% of the corpus. Examples include the following: (11) (12)

Promoting choice and value for all gas and electricity customers. (JA35) Be able to work in a pressured environment with a smile at all times. (JA52)

Relatively high frequencies have also been found for the determiners every and each, present in 16% and 9% of JAs, respectively, for instance: (13)

(14)

We’re committed to upholding exceptional standards in customer service, involving our tenants at every step, and supporting their needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (JA232) Royston has a strong emphasis on new technology; over 75 new products & upgrades are introduced each year. (JA12)

Other structures include plenty of, a wealth of, always, never, none, most (denoting the majority/the largest part of something), as well as nonspecific numerals (hundreds, thousands, millions) often used to exaggerate things. In some JAs strong numerals are accumulated to create an impression that the ‘goods’ delivered by the employing organisation are unimaginably numerous, for example:

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The Credit Protection Association plc, established 1914, accelerates payment of hundreds of millions of pounds to thousands of UK clients every year. (JA36)

The impression of multitude is also reinforced by the use of the prefix multi- attached to non-specific numerals, found in 12% of JAs, as shown below: (16)

… a multi-million pound organisation … (JA32)

COMPARATIVE AND/OR SUPERLATIVE FORMS have been found in 53% of the corpus; their evaluative and, by implication, persuasive potential can hardly be overestimated. Rather than overtly stating that employing organisations are in any respect better than competitive companies, the majority of comparative structures present employers as constantly seeking to improve, expand, grow and develop their own potential, for instance: (17)

… we’re aiming higher, thinking smarter and acting faster than ever before. (JA34)

Also, typically for all advertising discourse, the comparisons are mostly incomplete as they do not indicate who or what the item it is being compared with. The examples below clearly instantiate this tendency: (18) (19)

We work closely with organisations to help make IT more efficient and … (JA207) … your advice will help our clients to get better visibility of their supply chains and to operate more efficiently and effectively. (JA126)

It may only be inferred from the above extracts that the point of reference is the employing organisations’ (or their clients’) own past. Superlative forms are used in a similar way, for instance: (20) (21)

… a best in class HR service … (JA30) … so we are looking for the best of the best. (JA206).

Some instances, however, do specify the companies and the business or geographical areas that the employing organisation compares itself with, as shown below: (22)

We’re the world’s biggest building society. (JA34)

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The claim that an organisation is the best/the largest in, for instance, a country, is sometimes hedged with the phrase one of, which only slightly diminishes the ‘greatness effect’, simultaneously protecting the company from being accused of making excessively positive claims: (23)

MHA is one of the UK's largest charities providing a range of high quality care homes … (JA11)

Apart from superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs, other comparative structures used in the corpus to indicate (directly or indirectly) the uniqueness and superiority of the employing organisation include the following: (24) (25)

And with organisational and communication skills that are second to none, … (JA119) So, if you’re a natural problem solver with a 2:1 degree, or predicted degree, discover a procurement role like no other. (JA 199)

The PERSONAL PRONOUNS: you (your) and we (our) are regarded as the most natural ‘dialogic' forms commonly used in advertising (Bralczyk 2004). The former (you/your) acknowledges the recipient and his/her individualism, at the same time creating the impression of familiarity and intimacy:6 (26) (27)

If you wish to be considered for the role of Fragrance Category Development and Innovation Director, please forward a CV … (JA4) In this vital role within our Intelligence Unit, your principal responsibilities will encompass: … (JA18)

The latter pronoun (we/our), while contributing to the aura of familiarity and intimacy with potential candidates, also projects the image of a well integrated company, with strong bonds among workers, as well as between management and employees.7 The extracts below demonstrate how this image is created linguistically, exemplifying at the same time the wide range of things, people, processes, goals, and values that employers present as ours:

6

Instances of you/your apparently performing an impersonal (rather than addressive) function have been excluded from the count.

7

The function that we/our performs in recruitment advertising seems to be parallel with the role this pronoun plays in corporate mission statements (cf. Mamet 2005).

The Register of Recruitment Advertising (28) (29)

(30)

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We can also manufacture to specific customer specifications. (JA3) We’re proud of the range of clothing, footwear, household and electrical goods we provide to our 3.5 million customers, and of the Financial Service products we offer on an affinity basis. (JA10) … our aspiration is that our corporate partners are truly integrated into our objectives and plans. (JA14)

Importantly, over 90% of JAs in the sample use at least one of the ‘dialogic’ pronouns, and 71% frequently resort to the we/our form when referring to employers, AND the pronoun you/your when addressing the candidates. It is thus clear that the majority of the JAs in the corpus seek to create, at least to some degree, an atmosphere of familiarity and intimacy between employers and prospective employees. As far as GRAMMATICAL TENSES are concerned, in the discourse of ‘mainstream’ advertising both the real time reference and the use of tenses clearly indicate that the central promotional genre is focused on the future and present (ibid.) The same picture emerges from the analysis of the recruitment ads under study. The Present Simple and Present Continuous occur in almost all of the JAs (99%), whereas the Future Simple and Continuous have been found in 92% of the ads in the corpus. Also resembling the discourse of ‘mainstream’ advertising, recruitment ads often employ the IMPERATIVE VOICE with a view to influencing the recipients and encouraging them to take action, i.e. to apply for the position offered. All JAs in the corpus make at least a single use of the imperative in the Apply / Apply here / Send your application icons, most probably generated by the job search websites. With regard to the actual texts of job advertisements, a vast majority (73%) of JAs employ imperative forms solely in MOVE 5, inviting responses and/or instructing candidates how to apply. Examples include the following: (31) (32)

For further details and to apply please visit www … (JA18) Please send a letter of application supported by a CV by e-mail which outlines the personal and professional qualities you will bring to the role. (JA47)

11% of JAs in the corpus resort to the imperative for purposes other than those exemplified above; most imperative structures in this group carry a high persuasive (and evaluative) potential, as exemplified below: (33) (34)

Fulfill your ambitions and potential with a global industry leader. (JA39) Don’t just take our word for it – here is what is said by AIMS Accountants:… (JA108)

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Chapter Five Join our Defence Commercial Graduate Programme and you’ll make a vital contribution to this work. (JA199)

These and other similar structures overtly encourage the recipients to take some action, yet they also imply promises of certain benefits if the desired action is taken (e.g. fulfill your ambitions and potential), and reinforce a positive image of the employing organisation: seemingly discouraging the addressees from accepting their boasts as facts (Don’t just take our word for it), employers invite potential candidates to read the ‘evidence’ of their status and attractiveness, thus not only strengthening the positive appeal, but also presenting themselves as objective and trustworthy. The imperatives found in the corpus also function as ‘answers’ to hypothetical questions presupposing what candidates may wish to know about the positions advertised; additionally, in some JAs the appeal of the imperative structures is reinforced with exclamation marks. INTERROGATIVE FORMS have been identified in 15% of JAs in the corpus; all of them are rhetorical questions, mostly presupposing the answers intended by the addresser and/or implying the reason why the recipient should apply for the position advertised, as shown in the extracts below: (36) (37)

Are you looking for a great opportunity where you can make your mark and money? (JA3) Want to transform the performance of ethically-driven organisations worldwide? (JA70, bold print original)

The above ‘questions’ clearly presuppose that the ‘answers’ will be positive, i.e. that people reading the job advertisements are looking for a great opportunity to have a successful career and do want to play an important role in a global company. They simultaneously imply that potential candidates should apply because the position offers great opportunities to future employees. The interrogatives also carry a huge evaluative load: employers present themselves as ethically-driven organisations operating worldwide, where successful candidates can make their mark and money. The interrogative structures often form parts of mini-dialogues in which the communicators seek to engage their readers. The two minidialogues quoted below are very persuasive in nature: (38)

Ready to make a difference? Then, we have opportunities for you! (JA41)

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What's in it for you? Competitive basic salary (£17,000 dependant on experience), … (JA233, bold print original)

(38) is clearly reminiscent of the discourse of marketing-type advertising which commonly employs the following model of seller-buyer ‘interaction’: Do you want/need … ? If so/Then, we offer (what you want/need) The interrogative in (38) implies that the potential candidates are looking for a job where they can make a difference, presupposing at the same time they have to possess suitable qualifications and personality to make a difference. The ‘answer’, beginning with the dialogic form then, is a straightforward offer: We have opportunities for you!; its appeal is strengthened by an exclamation mark as well as the highly interactive pronouns we and you. The for you structure further tempts worthy applicants, carrying a persuasive load almost as heavy as the especially for you form often found in commercial advertising. The benefits to be expected are specified in the next extract (39), in reply to the rhetorical question: What’s in it for you?. The ‘question’ is of a highly persuasive nature for at least two reasons: firstly, it implies that the employer projects themselves as recognising that candidates will only offer their talent and qualifications in exchange for attractive benefits; secondly, the colloquial tone of the ‘question’, together with the pronoun you, creates an atmosphere of partnership and familiarity, a feature that reinforces the appeal of the message. The main function of the 59 EXCLAMATORY STRUCTURES identified in 12% of JAs in the corpus is to strengthen the emotional impact of the message communicated. This, in turn, enhances the overall persuasive load of the recruitment ads analysed. Examples include the following: (40)

(41) (42)

We believe that the Trainees and Consultants of today are the Managers and Directors of tomorrow – even our CEO started out at Red Commerce as a junior Consultant! (JA89) The breadth of opportunities that RBS offers is vast; you might be surprised to find just where we can take you! (JA95) There is a good reason why KPMG consistently features in the Top 10 of the Sunday Times Best Big Companies to work for! (JA136)

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The above extracts praise employers’ power and achievements, communicate their beliefs, values, and ambitions, make promises of the benefits awaiting potential employees. Apart from the exclamation marks that reinforce the emotional appeal, the latter is also enhanced by the use of emphatic and highly evaluative language (e.g. even our CEO…, you might be surprised …, there is a good reason why …). In MOVES 3 and 4 of the job advertisements under study (stating job description and requirements, and offering benefits), exclamatory structures emphasise certain aspects of the position, most probably implying that it is different from (and better than) competitive employers’ offers, for instance: (43) (44) (45)

Real work to do (not fake busy work!) (JA144, bold print original) EXCEPTIONAL & realistic commission structure (to 50% on perm!) (JA210) £250-1000 per week!!! (JA58)

In (43) above, the real work that the employer offers is juxtaposed with fake busy work that candidates might have experienced with other employers. Given that the exclamation is followed by a list of challenging and rewarding tasks and duties to be performed by the successful candidate, the real work may only be interpreted in positive terms. The exclamations in (44) and (45) emphasise the attractiveness of potential financial rewards, implying that they are (at least) higher than average. Exclamation marks also add to the hope and excitement associated with the benefits in those extracts where an already impressive list of potential rewards is closed with an exclamatory expression, for example: (46)

And plenty more! (JA10)

Exclamations also occur in MOVE 5, directly encouraging candidates to apply, or even wishing them good luck with the application process: (47) (48) (49) (50)

…, we would like to hear from you! (JA152) With “Pizza in style” as the backdrop of everything we do, there could not be a more exciting time to join us! (JA190) Click the APPLY button below to send us your CV and covering letter today! When you return to the office, we will look to make final decisions from there. Good Luck! (JA150)

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The above examples not only function as acts of inviting and encouraging, but may plausibly be classified as pressure tactics typical of marketingtype advertising, an issue to be discussed in chapter 6. The SYNTACTIC PATTERNS identified in the corpus corroborate the persuasive nature of job advertising discourse. The most frequently occurring patterns are the clauses of purpose and result (found in 86% of JAs), supported by the clauses of reason/cause (in 16% of JAs). Both naturally contribute to the informativeness of job advertisements, specifying and clarifying various aspects of employers’ activities and the positions advertised, as well as providing the reasons for, and rationale behind, employers’ requirements, actions, and achievements. Yet they also enhance the employer branding effect of the recruitment messages, as the communication of intentions, goals, and results presents the employer as a professionally managed organisation taking deliberate and well considered actions. CONDITIONAL STRUCTURES, particularly the first conditional (found in 28% of JAs in the corpus), typically appear in the closing sections of job advertisements, referring to the information provided earlier, and constituting part of MOVE 5 (inviting/encouraging applications). Indirectly, the conditionals also contribute to the realisation of one (or more) of the following functions: stating what conditions potential candidates have to meet to be considered for the job, explaining the application process and providing instructions on how to apply, implying the reasons why addressees should ‘buy’ what is advertised. The functions are exemplified, respectively, in the extracts provided below: (51) (52) (53)

If you think you have what it takes to accelerate our progress in delivering a demanding change agenda, then please visit ... (JA16) If you wish to discuss the role further, please call … (JA93) So if you want to take home more than just great pay then apply today! (209)

While the latter two functions clearly resemble the discourse of product and service advertising, contributing to the persuasive appeal of the message, the first function is of a different nature. It has already been stated at several points in the study that job advertisements are not intended to attract just any applicants who might possibly find the job position attractive. Unlike the prospective customers targeted in marketing-type ads, who do not need to satisfy any conditions other than having enough financial resources and the willingness to make a purchase, the ‘clients’ in a job search situation have to meet specific requirements in order to qualify for the position advertised. The first function thus

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corroborates the classification of recruitment advertising as a separate genre. Other grammatical categories, deemed significant in demonstrating the employer branding potential of job advertisements include high degree of NOMINALISATION (most probably stemming, again, from the high level of text condensation, but also creating an impression of employer’s competence, professionalism and trustworthiness in providing detailed descriptions of the tasks and requirements involved in the position), INVERSION AND PARALLELISMS (contributing to the persuasive appeal of the JAs in the corpus by increasing their rhetorical impact), ELLIPSIS AND VERBLESS STRUCTURES (often found in slogans, reminiscent of mainstream advertising). The fact that the corpus is predominantly structured in THE ACTIVE VOICE further confirms the positive, action-oriented nature of job advertising as positive business discourse.

5.3 Evaluative signals in the register of job ads Although the evaluative signals found in the register of recruitment ads have been mentioned at several points in this chapter, the present section is meant as a summary and completion of what has been said above with reference to the linguistic exponents of evaluation identified in the corpus. As indicated in 3.2.1, Thompson and Hunston’s (2003) broad and holistic approach to evaluation has been adopted as the most appropriate framework for the purposes of this book. The scholars divide the evaluative signals into three categories: value-laden lexical items, comparative forms, and markers of subjectivity. The first of the above mentioned categories, i.e. POSITIVELY CHARGED LEXICAL ITEMS, was thoroughly analysed in section 5.2.1; it will be revisited further in the study, in relation to the persuasive tactics identified in the corpus (chapter 6) as well as the language of employer and employee values (chapter 7). As regards the second category, beside the comparative structures discussed in section 5.2.2, the evaluative grammatical form (related to comparison) that deserves to be mentioned here is that of ADVERBIAL INTENSIFIER. The most frequently occurring intensifier is the adverb highly (52 occurrences in 16% of the corpus). Less frequent, but found in at least 3% of JAs in the corpus, are: very (29 in 10% of JAs), really (15 in 5% of JAs), fully (11 in 5% of JAs), extremely (7 in 3% of JAs). Examples include the following:

The Register of Recruitment Advertising (54)

(55) (56) (57) (59)

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… , we are looking for an exceptional individual to join our already highly successful management team as Regional Director for London. (JA190) We aim to provide the very best motorsport service available, (JA126) We still love what we do. And we really love how we do it. (JA117) This senior international marketing role has a fully global remit across … (JA4) This is an extremely exciting opportunity. (JA28)

The sample also contains less frequent instances of other highly evaluative adverbial intensifiers including: incredibly (JA136), spectacularly (JA15), hugely (JA178), totally (JA186), massively (JA224). All of them contribute to the persuasive appeal of JAs and reinforce the positive image of the employing organisations. The third category, i.e. LINGUISTIC MARKERS OF SUBJECTIVITY, has hitherto received the least attention. Space precludes a thorough coverage of this issue, but some aspects deserve a few comments. Drawing on Thompson and Hunston (2003), Conrad and Biber (2000), Biber et al. (2007), linguistic markers of subjectivity include, among others, modals and other markers of (un)certainty, stance adverbs and conjunctions, certain verbs, nouns, and adjectives expressing stance, report and attribution structures, marked clause structures (cf. 3.2.1). The remainder of the present sub-chapter addresses, albeit in a very simplified and cursory manner, some aspects of subjectivity identified in job advertisements. The analysis of modal and semi-modal verbs occurring in the corpus has demonstrated that modals are used mostly to express strong prediction (will), ability (can), necessity/obligation (must, have to, should), less frequently tentative prediction and volition (will/would), possibility (can, could, may), permission (may). It is worth noting that in the sample under investigation modal verbs are very rarely used in their epistemic sense. By way of example, no instances of epistemic must or should have been identified, whereas might appears in merely 4 JAs. Can/could and may expressing possibility are employed far less frequently than deontic modals. Other markers of (un)certainty are very scarcely used either. The adverb really appears mostly as an intensifier rather than a stance adverbial, of course and certainly occur in merely 7 and 4 JAs, respectively, whereas other stance adverbials (undoubtedly, indeed) have been found in only single JAs in the corpus. As far as stance adverbs expressing likelihood are concerned, lexemes such as apparently, evidently, probably, maybe are absent in the sample, whereas possibly and perhaps occur in only 3 and 2 JAs, respectively. Likelihood is never

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expressed with stance verbs such as appear, seem, with only one instance of tend found in JA89. As regards verbs expressing attitude/emotions on the part of the communicators, 12 JAs express what the employers want, 8 JAs communicate what they are proud of, 7 JAs specify what they believe, 6 JAs announce what they love doing or would love to do, 4 JAs - what they value. In only single instances of JAs do the addressers state what they wish, think, hope, regret. The persuasive impact of these verbs cannot be underestimated, yet other tactics (some of them making use of these subjectivity markers) play a more significant role in creating a positive image of the employing organisations, as will hopefully be demonstrated in the next chapter. Although extremely simplified and selective, the above discussion indicates that, on balance, certainty, probability, and possibility are very rarely expressed in the corpus of job advertisements. Phrases expressing attitude and emotions are employed more frequently, particularly those referring to employing organisations’ beliefs and values (see the following chapters). The persuasive and employer branding potential of the first two groups of evaluative signals discussed (positively charged lexis and comparative structures) seem to be exploited in job advertising to a significantly greater degree than subjectivity markers.

5.4 Concluding remarks The analysis performed in chapter 5 has hopefully demonstrated that the register of recruitment ads clearly harmonises with the core communicative functions of the genre; the lexico-grammatical choices also contribute significantly to the secondary employer branding function of job advertisements. Probably the most distinctive feature of the register of recruitment ads is its extremely positive nature. Positively charged adjectives and adverbs have been found in 98% of the corpus, whereas the negative ones are not only used very rarely, but, more importantly, the context either neutralises their negative appeal, or enhances the overall positive impact of the message. The most frequently occurring nouns and verbs also contribute to the positive, dynamic, success- and action-oriented character of the register, characteristic of Business English corpora. The above picture is confirmed by the fact that job advertisements are predominantly structured in the active voice, similarly to other business related texts aiming to persuade the recipients to take certain actions and, as a secondary function, create a positive image of the addressers.

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As regards other lexico-grammatical choices, strong quantifiers and other structures emphasising the singularity or uniqueness of the employing organisation, plurality or multitude of the activities performed and products or services offered, as well as the benefits promised to successful candidates, play distinctive persuasive and evaluative roles; when referring to the qualifications required, such structures specify the nature of the position advertised, acting at the same time as a filter for unsuitable candidates. Comparative and superlative forms, identified in over 50% of JAs in the corpus, present employers as better than competitive companies, but primarily project an image of organisations constantly seeking to improve, expand, grow and develop their own potential. The way personal pronouns are used in the corpus, particularly the highly interactive you and we, contributes to the dialogic dimension of job ads, clearly resembling the discourse of ‘mainstream’ advertising. Personal pronouns also play a significant role in building a common ground with the addressers, an issue that will be discussed in the next chapter. The use and distribution of tenses in the corpus clearly indicates that recruitment advertising, similarly to the central promotional genre of product and service advertising, is focused on the future and present, in keeping with the communicative job searching context: both the organisations and candidates are interested in where the company stands now, what strategies it has for the future, what the future candidates are able to contribute, and what the organisation is willing to offer in return. Also reflecting the core communicative purposes of job advertising, the imperative voice is used in the corpus with a view to influencing the recipients and encouraging them to take action, i.e. to apply for the position advertised. When used for other purposes, the imperative structures demonstrate a strong persuasive potential, reinforcing the positive image of the employing organisations. Similarly, the main function of exclamations is to urge prospective candidates to apply, but also to strengthen the emotional impact of the message communicated and thus contribute to its overall persuasive appeal. The rhetorical questions, mostly presupposing the answers intended by the addresser and/or implying the reason why the recipients should apply, again, encourage action, simultaneously projecting an image of employers who deserve candidates’ interest and enthusiasm. As far as the syntactic choices are concerned, the recurring purpose/result and reason/cause clauses naturally contribute to the informativeness of job advertisements, yet they also enhance the latter’s .

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persuasive appeal, presenting employers as professionally managed organisations taking deliberate, well considered, and entirely justified actions. Similarly to the above mentioned structures, conditionals reflect the communicative purposes of JAs, performing three major functions: they state what conditions potential candidates have to meet to be considered for the job (an aspect differentiating the genre of recruitment advertising from the central promotional genre), explain the application process and provide instructions on how to apply, as well as imply the reasons why addressees should apply for the position, the latter aspect reinforcing the positive image of employing organisations. Finally, the very brief summary of the evaluative signals identified in the corpus shows that, apart from positively charged lexical items and comparative structures, job advertisements make frequent use of highly evaluative adverbial intensifiers, contributing to the positive image of employing organisations. As regards linguistic markers of subjectivity, the cursory analysis demonstrates that certainty, probability, and possibility are rarely expressed in the corpus. Phrases expressing attitude and emotions are employed more frequently, particularly those referring to employing organisations’ beliefs and values, an issue that will be elaborated on in the following chapters.

CHAPTER SIX PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES USED IN RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING

Although some aspects of the persuasive strategies used in recruitment advertising have already been discussed in the previous two chapters, rather inevitably (given the nature of the analysis performed), the present chapter places particular emphasis on this issue, drawing on what has been said so far, but also viewing the tools of persuasion from three different standpoints. Persuasion is regarded as central to the theme of the book: employer branding intrinsically encompasses the creation of employers’ positive image, which in turn necessitates the use of various persuasive strategies. Importantly, job advertising is viewed in the study as persuasive discourse; although primarily informative (giving information about the organisation, vacancy, job requirements, and terms of employment), recruitment ads should be seen as “persuasive communication designed to change people’s behaviour e.g. to encourage them to apply at a specific organisation” (Thorsteinson and Highhouse 2003 quoted in van Meurs 2010: 6). In the same vein, Timmerman (1992) observes that the information given in job ads is subservient to its persuasive aim (ibid.). The present chapter aims to confirm the above observations. In the first instance, chapter 6 thus seeks to justify the classification of job advertising as persuasive discourse in accordance with the defining criteria for ‘paradigm cases’ of persuasion proposed by O’Keefe (1990). Further on, it investigates persuasion in job advertising from the marketing perspective, providing a brief analysis of the marketing concepts of the four Ps, AIDA, and DAGMAR reflected in the corpus under study. What follows is an attempt at an in-depth exploration of the linguistic means of persuasion, drawing on the tools proposed by Mulholland (1994), selected (and slightly modified for the purposes of the study) in section 3.1.2. Evaluation, being regarded as inherent to persuasion (see sub-chapter 3.2), is not accounted for separately, but discussed in this chapter jointly with other persuasive tactics.

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6.1 Job advertising as a paradigm case of persuasion Despite the communicative functions of job advertising not being identical with the central promotional genre of ‘mainstream’ advertising, it nonetheless seems justifiable to classify the former as one of the ‘paradigm cases’ of persuasion. Drawing on O’Keefe’s (1990) criteria (see 3.1), the persuasive nature of recruitment advertising may be rationalised as follows: 1) job advertisements attempt to successfully influence the (suitable) addressees to apply; they also communicate that broadly understood success occupies a high position in employers’ hierarchy of values, boasting about successful operations (past and future), and promising success to potential employees (see also 5.2.1); 2) the goal (or set of goals) that the persuader aims to achieve is clear: to encourage the most valuable candidates to apply, simultaneously building or reinforcing the organisation’s positive image; 3) the correlative intent is most probably that of discouraging the unsuitable candidates and thus avoiding recruitment of people who are not likely to contribute to the organisation’s success and prosperity; 4) the persuadees are free to choose whether to attempt to ‘buy the product’ (apply for the position) or ignore the advertisement; 5) persuasion in recruitment advertising is achieved through communication (especially through the medium of language); 6) recruitment advertising seeks to involve a change (or reinforcement) in the mental state of the persuadees. Job seekers who have not known about the position advertised and/or about the employing organisation, or those who have not been convinced that the job is worth applying for, may become aware of the vacancy and its attractiveness (as well as learn about the employer’s virtues), which results in a change in mental state. Ideally, effective persuasion in job advertising leads to a behavioural change, meaning that the persuadees decide to apply for the position.

6.2 The 4 Ps, AIDA, DAGMAR As indicated in sub-chapters 1.2. and 3.1, commonly applied marketing concepts, such as the four Ps, AIDA, DAGMAR, USP, appear to be well suited for the analysis of recruitment advertising. In accordance with the four Ps model, job vacancies may justifiably be viewed as ‘products’ that are ‘sold’ to potential applicants (‘the consumers’), and as such should be appropriately ‘presented’ or ‘packaged’, adequately ‘priced’, carefully

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designed so as to reach the ‘target audience’, ‘placed’ in the most suitable location, and transmitted through the most effective medium. AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) is one of the most frequently used methods of constructing advertisements and other persuasive messages (e.g. Bralczyk 2004; Wilmhurst 2005; Arens and Schaefer 2007). The concept is also commonly applied in the recruitment process, by both candidates and prospective employers (e.g. Hodes 1982; Tokarz 2006). It may thus be stated that an effective recruitment ad, similarly to any well designed marketing-type advertisement, should - command Attention of potential applicants, - arouse Interest in the position advertised, - create Desire to apply, - encourage Action (the act of applying). The analysis of the corpus demonstrates that the four steps of AIDA are realised through the following communicative and linguistic strategies: Commanding ATTENTION The name of the job position is probably the most salient factor attracting the attention of applicants browsing through job offers. As shown in the structural analysis of recruitment ads, ‘stating the job title’ is an obligatory STEP of MOVE 1 (announcing availability of the position). Applicants’ attention is also commanded by providing an employer’s name (STEP 2:1, obligatory in the corpus of ‘branded’ job ads), their logo (STEP 2:7, found in 63% of JAs), as well as by the use of phrases explicitly announcing job opportunities, such as: we are looking for/seeking/recruiting/hiring, or we look for/require/need/wish to recruit (STEP 1:2, identified in 62% of JAs). Slogans contribute significantly to the attention-catching effect of job ads, an issue that will be discussed further in this chapter. Perhaps the most powerful strategy of commanding candidates’ attention is that of ensuring that advertisements are visually attractive; modern recruitment advertising, and Internet advertising in particular, is increasingly shifted toward multi-modal representation of meaning, demonstrating a high level of text layout and design, displaying pictures (often highlighting employers’ corporate colours), making use of moving pictorial elements and short promotional films with sound effects, as well as offering a variety of interactive tools (see 4.1).

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Arousing INTEREST This stage is realised through employers’ positive self-presentation and references to the benefits offered to prospective employees, as well as details pertaining to the role advertised. All three factors contribute significantly to creation and/or reinforcement of employer brand, and will be discussed at length later in the present chapter. Creating DESIRE Desire to apply can be created through the above mentioned strategies, as well as a variety of other persuasive elements that will be accounted for in the forthcoming sections, such as building a common ground/solidarity with potential candidates, enhancing their status, appealing to commonly appreciated values, or using positively charged language. Encouraging ACTION The addressees are encouraged to take action as indicated by the addresser, i.e. apply for the position advertised. This is realised directly through explicitly inviting or appealing to potential candidates, or urging them to submit an application, both functions constituting the obligatory MOVE 5. Applying the concept of DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results) to the discourse of recruitment advertising, an effective ‘sale’ of a job position should carry a potential customer through four stages accomplished by means of the following communicative/linguistic strategies: AWARENESS Prospective candidates are first made aware of the existence of the organisation and the vacancy it offers. This is achieved through employers’ self- presentation (both visual and verbal), i.e. MOVE 2, as well as the steps contributing to MOVE 1 (stating the job title and announcing availability of the position).

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COMPREHENSION Potential applicants must comprehend what kind of job is being offered, and what requirements, benefits and values it involves. MOVES 3 and 4 (specifying responsibilities and requirements involved, and offering benefits, respectively) contribute to the realisation of this stage. CONVICTION This is probably the most challenging phase, as convincing the prospect to apply for the position advertised must be realised at various levels of persuasion: persuasive strategies mentioned in the DESIRE stage of the AIDA concept contribute significantly to this process, and so does the seemingly ‘objective’ information indirectly creating a positive image of the role and organisation advertised. ACTION This component may be viewed as entirely overlapping with the ACTION stage in the AIDA model. Finally, the third marketing concept that may justifiably be applied to recruitment advertising is that of the USP (Unique Selling Proposition); as indicated in section 1.4.2, it pertains to the strength of an appeal that provides the reason for a potential customer to purchase the product advertised (rather than similar competitive ones). Although not entirely synonymous with the USP, the HR concept of the EVP (Employee Value Proposition) denotes the balance of the rewards and benefits (both financial/rational and non-financial/emotional) received by employees in return for their performance. The realisation of the EVP in the corpus under study will be discussed more thoroughly in chapter 7.

6.3 Linguistic tools of persuasion: Mulholland’s tactics It has been proposed in sub-chapter 3.1 that the most commonly applied persuasive linguistic strategies, highly convergent with the marketing concepts of AIDA, DAGMAR and the USP, can be summarised as follows: 1) positive self-presentation of the communicator (their credibility and values); 2) building a common ground/solidarity with the recipients;

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3) enhancing the persuadee’s position or status; 4) offering benefits/incentives (for the ‘price’ that the recipient is willing to ‘pay’); 5) encouraging the addressee to take action as indicated by the communicator. The above model, enriched with those of Mulholland’s (1994) persuasive tactics that have been deemed most relevant for the discourse of recruitment advertising, is used as a framework for the analysis of linguistic tools of persuasion identified in the corpus of job advertisements.

6.3.1 Positive self-presentation of the communicator The self-presentation category of persuasive tactics found in the discourse of recruitment advertising constitutes the largest group of strategies among those proposed by Mulholland (1994). Two of them have been identified in virtually all JAs in the corpus: ACCUMULATING (of data, facts, arguments), and using DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES to summarise a person or thing.1 Descriptive phrases understandably occur in sections of the JAs summarising the roles advertised, candidates’ features, and, again, employers’ qualities. The example below illustrates how these two tactics are hardly separable: (1)

Wivenhoe House, an elegant 18th Century Grade II* Listed Hotel is reopening in June 2012 after a £9m redevelopment and will feature period suites and rooms, a new garden wing, a signature restaurant for more formal dining, a brasserie for informal dining, and meeting rooms, all designed to provide the best of the quintessential modern country house experience with an intriguing edge. (JA125)

The above description of the Wivenhoe House hotel contains accumulated information regarding the facilities offered (period suites and rooms, a garden wing, a signature restaurant, a brasserie for informal dining, meeting rooms). The hotel and its facilities are further described as, among other characteristics, elegant, 18th Century Grade II* Listed, new, for more formal dining. A more elaborate descriptive phrase containing evaluative comparisons and positively charged lexis completes the description (all designed to provide the best...).

1 Descriptive phrases have been found in all JAs, whereas the tactic of accumulating is used in 234 JAs (99% of the corpus).

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Several other aspects of employers’ positive self-presentation have been discussed, at least partially, earlier in the study. COMPARISONS, for instance, indicating (directly or indirectly) the uniqueness and superiority of the employing organisation, have been accounted for in sub-chapter 5.2. As regards the rhetorical structure of job advertisements, section 4.2.2. has hopefully demonstrated how the mere presence of certain moves and steps, as well as their propensity to co-occur and be entwined with one another, confirm the brand building function of recruitment ads. Juxtaposing the results of the structural analysis with the list of Mulholland’s tactics for positive self-presentation, it can easily be shown how addressers’ attempts to appear impartial and objective are reflected in their tendency to combine the employer branding functions with other (seemingly neutral) steps; the most frequently occurring combination in the corpus is that between steps 2:2 and 2:3, i.e. specifying an organisation’s type of activity/its products or services, and announcing employer’s achievements, respectively. The communicators formulate opinions and ideas, presenting them in the form of seemingly neutral statements; apparently factual descriptions are, in fact, mostly subjective, covertly expressing attitudes and evaluations. As a result, boasting about a company’s position and success is embedded in or camouflaged as providing information about the organisation. An instance of how these tactics are used in job advertisements has been provided in section 4.2.2. The extract below constitutes one more example: (2)

Ofgem E-Serve is currently managing Phase 1 of this £10 billion change programme on behalf of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), which requires energy suppliers to replace some 47 million existing meters. In addition, it will require significant changes to industry data management and communication systems. (JA35)

It is clear that the seemingly objective statements communicating what the company is currently doing, how much the change programme is worth, on whose behalf the programme is being introduced and what it requires, are in fact far from being entirely non-persuasive. In the context of recruitment advertising the addressers are well aware of the positive image generated by a large scale of operations that an employer is involved in, as well as the company’s ties with other (well known and reputable) organisations. Even if one insists on regarding the passage as neutral, what follows makes the reader change perspective and see the extract as an introduction to real boasting:2 2

See àącka-Badura (2013) for more on ‘informative’ utterances preparing the ground for the subsequent acts of boasting in recruitment ads.

136 (3)

Chapter Six This is one of the most important and exciting energy projects of the decade and is a major Government programme. (JA35)

As mentioned in sub-chapter 3.2., GalasiĔski’s (1992) MEANS OF EVALUATION (viewed as underlying all persuasive acts) largely overlap with the linguistic tools of positive self-presentation proposed by Mulholland (1994). When analysed within the framework of GalasiĔski’s evaluative strategies contributing to the acts of boasting, extract (2) on the previous page appears to be a good example of: 1) the addresser presenting him/herself as possessing certain attributes commonly regarded as desirable in the community/society (operating on a large scale, owning or having access to substantial financial resources); 2) the addresser presenting him/herself as playing certain roles or participating in certain situations commonly viewed as requiring the positive attributes (being responsible for the implementation of an impressive change programme); recipients are expected to draw inferences about the desirable qualities of the communicator from the facts presented in the form of statements, and interpret those facts as indicators of success; 3) the addresser suggesting that s/he is in possession of potentially desirable values (authority, contacts and connections): Ofgem E-Serve acts on behalf of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), is involved in one of the most important and exciting energy projects of the decade and a major Government programme; 4) the addresser suggesting that the recipient can benefit from interaction with a company possessing such resources and connections; this tactic can also be realised more overtly, as shown in the following example: (4)

But if you make the grade, there’s no telling how far you – and O2 – could go. (JA22)

Extract (2) illustrates yet another two tactics indicated by Mulholland: ACCURACY and STATISTICAL SUPPORT; not only do the addressees learn that the programme to be implemented is worth £10 billion, but they are also informed that energy suppliers will be required to replace some 47 million existing meters. Precise figures enhance the communicator’s credibility and render the message more ‘objective’. These tactics (one of them or their combination) have been identified in 42 JAs (18% of the corpus), including the following instances: (5)

… Johnson Matthey (JM) operates in 30 countries with annual turnover in excess of £4 billion. … JM supplies 1 in 3 of all autocatalysts ever made; … (JA12)

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(7)

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Working with law enforcement agencies around the world in 2008, this unit’s activities led to the seizure of over 1 billion cigarettes and 163 containers of illicit product. (JA18) Since January 2010 we have saved the UK over £185 million via 6,000 deals, ranking us as one of the 50 most visited websites in the UK. (JA84) The Black Country Living Museum is one of the UK’s leading open-air museums – having recently welcomed its 7 millionth visitor since it opened 33 years ago and now attracting 312,000 visitors annually to its astonishing 26 acre site, two miles from the town centre of Dudley. (JA157)

Another tactic indicated by both Mulholland and GalasiĔski, found in 10% of the sample, is that of VALIDATING THE POSITIVE CLAIMS referring to the employing organisation, often accomplished through quoting or mentioning other people’s opinions about the company. The opinions appear even more credible when based on (supposedly objective) rankings organised by (supposedly reputable and reliable) institutions; the communicator thus projects him/herself as being praised, rather than boasting, as exemplified below: (9)

(10) (11) (12)

Best Charity to Work for – Charity Times Awards 2009 Best Fundraising Charity to Work for – Institute of Fundraising Awards 2008 (JA14) … work in our restaurant, described by Giles Coren as 'The lunch of my life'. (JA42) … join the UK’s most experienced and popular driving school*. … *Based on independent research. (JA53) This strategy has led to Red Commerce being named as one of the fastest growing UK companies in the Virgin Fast Track for three consecutive years (2005, 2006 and 2007) and being awarded a place in the prestigious Sunday Times Best Small Companies To Work For 2007, 2010 & 2011. (JA89)

The tactics of validating and providing accurate figures and statistics neutralise the acts of boasting, at the same time making them more persuasive (cf. GalasiĔski 1992: 47-50). Naturally, the corpus also abounds with open acts of self-praise, including the following examples: (13)

(14)

…, Body Shop International plc is the original, natural and ethical beauty brand, with over 2,500 stores in more than 60 markets worldwide and is part of the global L'Oréal group. (JA4) AQA is the UK’s favourite exam board, with a proud history of developing and running national qualifications. (JA212)

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(17)

Chapter Six The successful candidate will be joining a long standing, successful and fast growing company. (JA230) Dedicated to building and sustaining a world class enterprise, that sets the standard on an international basis, Cummins Power Generation in Ramsgate, Kent is part of a global power systems business, operating at the forefront of new technology in continuous power generation. (JA64) South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a dynamic, innovative and highly successful organisation with an excellent reputation for service delivery. (JA138)

Extremely positive modifiers (original, natural and ethical, UK’s favourite, with a proud history, long standing, successful, fast growing, world class, dynamic, innovative, highly successful) describing the organisations leave no doubt as to the communicators’ intentions to present the employers in the best light. Nor does the claim that one of the companies enjoys an excellent reputation for service delivery. The word brand also bears a very positive connotation, particularly in business context. The fact that a company operates worldwide and at the forefront of new technology, is part of the global group or system, and sets standards, contribute to its positive image. Extract (16) communicates what the organisation is dedicated to, thus revealing the values (or myths, to use Mulholland’s wording) that the company holds; the ‘myth’ of building and sustaining a world class enterprise is a commonly respected value, undoubtedly appreciated among all job market participants, irrespective of their personal views and beliefs. The way employers are portrayed in job advertisements, as well as the values attached to these characteristics, will be discussed more thoroughly in chapter 7. Another persuasive tactic proposed by Mulholland is that of exploring STEREOTYPES to pass value judgements and enhance the persuasive impact of the message. The corpus contains a lot of imprecise, rather unoriginal phrases, bordering on platitude, yet rendering stereotypical images of a desirable job and an attractive employer. The most frequently occurring one is that of an employee having the ability or opportunity to make a difference, found in 11 JAs (5% of the corpus), for instance: (18) (19)

This is a real opportunity to help make a difference (JA71) This is an excellent opportunity for someone who has a passion for excellence and the ability to make a difference. (JA162)

Other examples of stereotypical phrases include the following: (20)

.., there really is something for everyone. (JA223)

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… developing next generation drugs and vaccines to combat disease, to helping identify and provide clean energy for our future. (JA165) Beyond that, anything is possible. (JA83) …, but we are much more than that. (JA126)

Further on, the persuasive strategy of PERSONIFICATION is extensively explored in the corpus of recruitment advertisements, attributing human qualities and abilities to companies and institutions. Employing organisations are commonly referred to as though they were individuals (e.g. leader in JA1), performing a variety of human-like actions; by way of example, they support (JA5), deliver (JA11), operate (JA12), are looking for candidates (JA13) and welcome them (JA9). Finally, the DEGREE to which certain positive characteristics are attributed to the employing organisations constitutes another persuasive factor, closely related to comparison, grammatical number, and (often extreme) adverbial intensifiers discussed in sub-chapters 5.2. and 5.3. The high degree of employers’ attractiveness is also reflected in the use of the rhetorical device of HYPERBOLE, for instance: (24) (25) (26) (27)

… we are seeking a team player looking to join one of the most exciting environments imaginable. (JA14) We don’t just build cars, we realise dreams. (JA61) The scale of our operation today is truly breathtaking. (JA82) We aim to provide the very best motorsport service available, … (JA100)

Although clearly exaggerated, and thus not taken literally by conscious recipients, such extravagant statements are nonetheless likely to evoke positive connotations, reinforcing the positive image of employers.

6.3.2 Building a common ground/solidarity with the recipients A common ground and solidarity with the recipients are built using several persuasive tactics. Firstly, the communicators operate by ANSWERING HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS that might be asked by applicants, thus engaging in a ‘dialogue’ with potential candidates. The dialogic nature of job advertising is manifested in a variety of linguistic structures, such as interrogatives, imperatives, elliptical clauses, and the combinative use of the personal pronouns we and you, issues that have been accounted for in sub-chapter 5.2. As the analysis reveals, the persuasive effect of the ‘dialogues’ in recruitment advertising is reinforced by the fact that they often assume the form of a CASUAL ‘CONVERSATION’, as exemplified in the extracts below:

140 (28) (29) (30) (31)

Chapter Six … - not sure, then just ask our current workforce what it is like to work here. (JA40) Looking to really begin a career than start a regular job? Go no further! (JA41) And underpinning our success is our ability to effectively analyse and forecast budget requirements – this is where you come in. (JA61) One thing’s for sure, it doesn’t matter whether … (JA82)

The above instances illustrate how informal the ‘conversations’ may become. Phrases like: not sure, then just ask, Go no further! (exclaimed ‘in reply’ to an informal elliptical question), one thing’s for sure, or this is where you come in, are very likely to appear in a casual conversation between people who have a lot in common and are similar in status. Around 20% of JAs in the corpus may roughly be classified as very conversational in tone. Fragments of one such ad (JA79) provide a good illustration: (32)

The idea is this: you do something for the business and we give you something back. Like free air-time in return for marketing. Hence the name ‘giffgaff’, which is ye olde Scottish for mutual giving. … So where do you fit into all this? Let us explain. … After all, we run a tight ship here – without big advertising campaigns. And we’ll be relying on your technical brains and writing style to ... Plus, you can expect support, recognition and the chance to progress with us. (JA79)

It is clear from the above extract that the addresser wishes to create an atmosphere of familiarity and solidarity with potential recipients. The italicised phrases are characteristic of a casual conversation, and the idiomatic expressions (we run a tight ship) and colloquialisms (your technical brains) reinforce the informal feel of the message. Closely related to the dialogic nature of ads, DIRECT ADDRESS constitutes another tactic viewed by Mulholland as building a common ground and solidarity with the recipients. The vast majority of the advertisements analysed (90% of JAs in the corpus) resort to addressing potential candidates directly (at least at one point in each ad), making use of the personal pronoun you and/or the imperative structures; thus merely 10% of JAs may be classified as indirect and impersonal. The findings corroborate the observation that the communicators are well aware of the persuasive effect of addressing the recipients directly.

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The atmosphere of solidarity and familiarity is enhanced by another persuasive tactic, drawing on the popular STEREOTYPE, or MYTH (in Mulholland’s understanding of the term) of togetherness and partnership. 66 JAs (28% of the corpus) make it clear that the prospective employers are willing to treat future employees as partners with whom they will act together to achieve shared goals and aspirations. The following extracts illustrate this tactic: (33) (34) (35) (36) (37)

(38) (39) (40)

We look forward to exploring opportunities with you. (JA85) In return we offer a positive and supportive culture which ensures that together we can help our customers do great things. (JA105) With your help, we’ll be Britain's Best Insurer. (JA145) WE NEED YOU TO HELP US CHANGE DIRECTION. (JA133, CAPITALS original) You’ll work on a range of assignments, from some that may only take a few days to complete, to ones that last several months. We’ll sit down together with you to decide exactly what they are. (JA82) We’ll provide a fantastic working environment – one built on teamwork, fun and mutual respect. (JA215) …, we’ll put you to work in a range of roles to round out your knowledge and make you an indispensable part of our future. (JA83) You will share our belief in service delivery and … (JA147)

As can be seen from the above examples, the communicators project an image of a friendly employer who wishes to build a team of people sharing similar values and beliefs, respects their people, treats them as an important part of the organisation and its plans, sees their role as helping (rather than serving), welcomes the idea of taking decisions and exploring opportunities together with employees.

6.3.3 Enhancing persuadees’ position or status Related to the tactics discussed in the previous section, enhancing potential candidates’ position and status is a common persuasive strategy found in job advertisements. The addressers aim to make the applicants feel pleased with themselves, with a view to projecting the employing organisation as respectful, appreciative, and generous. The extracts below exemplify how prospective candidates are PRAISED and COMPLIMENTED in recruitment ads: (41)

WORK FOR A COMPANY AS UNIQUE AS YOU ARE. (JA33, CAPITALS and bold print original)

142 (42) (43)

Chapter Six …, our success as a firm depends on our ability to attract and retain the brightest and most able people. (JA131) It’s also perfect for a problem solver of your calibre. (JA199)

Instances of implying that employers believe the (suitable) candidates are unique, bright, able, of high calibre, are clear signals of respect and appreciation. Potential candidates’ status is also enhanced through references to the key, pivotal, or central role that they will play for the organisation, as well as the degree to which they will help and contribute to the company’s success (see also 7.2.). Perhaps less straightforward, but also effective, are various POLITENESS STRATEGIES used by the communicators to show that applicants’ qualities and their interest in the position are not taken for granted. The majority of JAs (57%) make use of the lexeme please when instructing candidates on how to apply, or drawing their attention to important points, for example: (44) (45)

Please apply by CV and covering letter no later than 5pm on Friday 27th May 2011. (JA72) Please be aware that this job closes at 11:30PM on 14/08/2010 (JA1)

Some ads contain passages where please is used several times: (46)

Please include your name and “Legal Intern” in the subject field of the email. … Please note we will unfortunately be unable to supply feedback to candidates who have not been shortlisted. (JA72)

The word please is not the only marker of politeness found in the above extract. The advertisement does not simply communicate that unsuccessful candidates will not be provided with justification of recruiters’ decision to reject their applications; they are made to believe that the employers will unfortunately be unable to offer such feedback. A similar politeness strategy is used in the following ad: (47)

If you do not receive a response to your application within 7 days then unfortunately you have been unsuccessful on this occasion. (JA151)

Also, the unsuitable applicants are referred to as having been unsuccessful on this occasion (and not simply having been rejected), a nice sounding euphemism aimed at mitigating the negative feeling of not being evaluated as sufficiently good for the position.

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33 JAs (14% of the corpus), rather than using the imperative (often accompanied with the word please) to encourage candidates’ action, make their invitations sound more courteous: (48) (49) (50) (51)

If you have the above required skills incl PC data entry experience, then we would love to hear from you. (JA103) The Trust would welcome applications from all qualified, enthusiastic, and experienced Doctors who … (JA21) Applications are also welcome from students completing a degree in … (JA122) Whether you are a qualified teacher, an industry professional with experience of training, a professional trainer with relevant qualifications or a Further Education Teacher, we would be delighted to hear from you: … (JA50)

Treated in this manner, candidates are likely to feel respected and, by implication, perceive the employers as respectful and polite.

6.3.4 Offering benefits/incentives The move/step analysis performed in section 4.2.2. revealed that BENEFITS (financial/rational and non-financial/emotional) are offered or promised in as many as 223 JAs, i.e. 95% of the corpus. It also demonstrated that promising incentives is often embedded in or entwined with other, seemingly neutral, sections of ads. This proves that employers recognise the salience of the benefit factor in recruitment advertising. Offering benefits (MOVE 4) is typically communicated in the Present Simple tense (usually using the verb to offer), or the Future Simple tense (signalling what candidates will receive and/or what employers will do for them). The verb to offer occurs (in this context) in 28% of the corpus, for instance:3 (52) (53) (54)

3

Company offers attendance related bonus and provides uniform. (JA159) We offer an attractive package, which includes a final pension salary scheme plus a generous holiday allowance. (JA232) The package offers a competitive basic salary, unlimited commission potential and a company car. (JA3)

Sometimes (although rather rarely) the acts of offering benefits in job advertisements are made more appealing through the use of the verb to guarantee (see e.g. àącka-Badura 2011). However, no such instance has been found in the corpus under study, where the verb to guarantee is used in a different meaning.

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8% of JAs make use of will to communicate what candidates/applicants/you will receive/enjoy/have an opportunity to achieve, whereas 6% employ the Future Simple tense to state what the employing organisation will give/offer/ensure/provide to future employees. Benefits are often promised indirectly, being implied in ‘questions’ pertaining to candidates presupposed expectations, as well as in exclamations encouraging decisions and actions (cf. 5.2.). It is worth noting that some ads ACCUMULATE long lists of benefits, reinforcing the impression of the job attractiveness and the employer’s generosity, as shown in the example below: (55)

Mott MacDonald offers a competitive package in terms of basic salary. In addition, we offer: profit share based on company performance, support to achieve your professional qualifications, contributory pension scheme, life assurance and personal accident cover, a flexible benefits scheme and 30-35 days leave (depending on service). (JA208)

It has already been indicated earlier in the study that the rule of reciprocal benefits is, together with positive self-presentation of the addresser, central to persuasive discourse (see 3.1.). The persuaders and persuadees seek to exchange what they have to offer for what the other wishes to receive. The fact alone that, as mentioned before, 95% of JAs in the corpus offer/promise incentives is sufficient testimony to the principle of RECIPROCITY, yet some addressers take care to highlight it more prominently: 24 JAs (10% of the corpus) make use of the expression in return to signal the act of promising rewards, for example: In return we offer a great salary, pension, travel (optional), benefits and the opportunity to create dramatic change for children. (JA14) (57) In return for your hard work and commitment you can expect to receive a competitive salary, an excellent commission scheme and some fantastic incentives. (JA89) (56)

The latter extract specifies what kind of ‘goods’, if contributed, will be appreciated and rewarded. Employers’ belief in the reciprocity principle is also expressed less overtly; the question What’s in it for you? is a good example of the addresser implying that it is only natural that candidates expect something valuable in exchange for their qualities and efforts. Clear allusions to the exchange of benefits appear in 5% of JAs in the corpus, reinforcing their persuasive effect, for instance: (58)

And as we progress and develop, we’ll make sure you do too. (JA145)

Persuasive Strategies Used in Recruitment Advertising (59)

(60)

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Mott MacDonald recognises that your continuing professional development is vital, so you can achieve your own ambitions and contribute to ours. (JA208) If you put a lot in, it’s only fair you should get a lot out. Help us continue to offer customers the best possible experience, and we’ll give you all the support, recognition and rewards you deserve. (JA94)

The above examples aptly illustrate that the employers aim to project themselves as recognising that the growth and profitability must be mutual, and the organisation will develop and succeed if it creates opportunities for the employees to develop and succeed as well. Finally, similarly to the function it performs in employers’ selfpresentation, the rhetorical figure of HYPERBOLE is also used to emphasise the degree to which the benefits offered by employers are attractive and impressive, as exemplified below: (61) (62) (63) (64)

(65)

… , a career at GL Noble Denton will give you all the opportunities that you crave. (JA39, bold print original) This is an exciting, challenging and ultimately rewarding position and will suit any candidate who has the desire and drive to succeed. (JA155) You’ll also enjoy levels of variety and challenge that can’t be found anywhere else … (JA199) Thames Water provides the essential service to 14 million customers, almost 25% of the UK population, making us the only choice for your future. (JA200) Additionally we have all the resources you would ever need to make money. (JA210)

The degree of exaggeration is easily noticeable in the above extracts; the recipients are not very likely to be unaware of the fact that the position will NOT give them all the opportunities that they crave, and all the resources they need; neither are they likely to believe it is the only choice, a job that can’t be found anywhere else, a job so perfect that it will suit any candidate who wants to succeed. Nonetheless, the persuasive (and brand building) potential of such utterances can hardly be overestimated.

6.3.5 Encouraging addressees to take action The tactics grouped under the heading ‘encouraging addressees to take action’ have been discussed, at least partially, earlier in the study. The structural analysis performed in sub-chapter 4.2. has demonstrated that all JAs in the corpus contain MOVE 5 whose communicative function is to invite applications and instruct candidates how to apply. The acts of

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inviting and instructing prevail over those of advising and appealing, the latter two being more typical of ‘mainstream’ advertising. The IMPERATIVE is the grammatical structure most commonly used to realise MOVE 5 (cf. 5.2), in the majority of JAs accompanied by the word please, or (less frequently) replaced by other POLITENESS STRATEGIES. Recruitment advertising is, nonetheless, not devoid of stronger, emotionally loaded appeals. As indicated in sub-chapter 4.2., 7% of JAs in the corpus contain STEP 5:4 (urging or using pressure tactics), whereas section 5.2. provided examples of how exclamatory sentences can be used to urge candidates to take action. Other instances of urging and appealing include the following: (66) (67) (68)

(79) (70)

Take this mouth-watering opportunity today. (JA31, bold print original) We’re recruiting throughout the year so no need to wait until September. Please click on apply … (JA82) For your opportunity to a fast track development in all commercial aspects of the European energy markets, please contact us now. (JA204)4 So if you want to take home more than just great pay then apply today! (JA209) This is a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the very best engineers in the South West, so please do not hesitate to apply ASAP. (JA217)

The above extracts not only encourage potential candidates to take action as indicated by the addressers, but urge the former to act now/today, and not to wait or hesitate to apply. This type of persuasion clearly resembles the pressure tactics commonly found in product or service advertising.

6.3.6 ‘Universal’ persuasive tactics As proposed in section 3.1.2, some persuasive tactics seem applicable to all of the five sets of strategies discussed in the present sub-chapter. Importantly, several of such ‘universal’ tactics have been found in all JAs in the corpus under investigation, including the very choice of the GENRE

4

The word now appears throughout the corpus on the APPLY NOW icon. Since it is most probably generated automatically by the website (together with the word APPLY), these instances have not been deemed as examples of pressure tactics.

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and MODE OF COMMUNICATION5, as well as text and paragraph design, foregrounding of certain segments of the text, and other facets of the visual representation of meaning (cf. 4.1.). The appropriate WORD CHOICE AND COMBINATION is another persuasive tool applied throughout the corpus, which has hopefully been demonstrated, at least partially, in earlier parts of the study; suffice it to say that almost all JAs in the sample make use of POSITIVE LEXIS (cf. 5.2). EMPHASIS, also present in virtually all texts, is achieved through a variety of means, ranging from lexical choices (e.g. words acting as intensifiers), through syntactic patterns (e.g. inversion and parallelisms), to emphatic type styles used in word processing, such as boldface and CAPITAL LETTERS, found in numerous examples provided so far in the study. The ‘universal’ persuasive strategies of EXPRESSING PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT OR DETACHMENT (for instance through the use of personal pronouns and subjectivity markers), as well as the use of RHETORICAL QUESTIONS, have also been addressed earlier. The present section focuses on three more tactics classified as ‘universal’, often co-occurring and largely overlapping with one another: slogans, metaphors (and metonymies), as well as expressing strong emotions, the latter strategy encompassing the majority of the devices discussed so far. SLOGANS, whose persuasive potential is well documented in the literature (e.g. Bralczyk 2004), constitute a ‘universal’ tactic that deserves particular attention. Not as common in job advertisements as they are in marketing ads, slogans (and slogan-like utterances) have been indentified in 21 JAs (9% of the corpus). Examples include the following: (71) (72) (73) (74) (75)

At RBS it’s what makes you, that makes us. (JA146) Royal Bank of Scotland Sky - Believe in Better (JA206, bold print original) BSkyB THINK GREAT CAREERS, THINK GFS (JA209, CAPITALS original) GFS HSBC The world’s local bank. (JA220, bold print original) HSBC WE ARE PRO. PROVEN. (JA221, CAPITALS original) Pro Business

The above extracts clearly resemble the discourse of product or service advertising; the communicators make use of ambiguity, rhythmic parallelisms, direct emotional appeal, and wordplay, the latter being particularly effective in capturing complex and subtle nuances of the 5

In case of job advertisements, written communication is generally more effective than the spoken form, as material is often presented in lengthy passages that applicants wish to read and analyse thoroughly.

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employers’ image. In extract (71), the verb make, very capacious and able to evoke numerous senses, is used skilfully to render the value of mutual benefits that both employers and employees can enjoy if working together towards common goals. Extract (72) exploits an emotional appeal containing an incomplete comparison, so that the recipient is encouraged to believe that whatever it is that Sky does or offers is better than anything else. The company name GFS is used in extract (73) as the solution or promise to those seeking great careers. The next extract wittily juxtaposes the worldwide scale of the bank’s operations with the local character of its day-to-day activities, probably implying that each customer, no matter where his/her local branch is based, may feel as if visiting a local ‘round the corner’ shop, where the shop assistant knows them and is willing to cater for their individual needs. Extract (75) constitutes an excellent example of wordplay; given that the name of the company is PRO BUSINESS (a firm of insurance consultants), the sentence WE ARE PRO may be interpreted literally as an act of PRO BUSINESS introducing themselves to potential applicants. However, pro is also commonly used denoting a professional, as well as referring to someone being pro (not against) a particular plan or belief. Additionally, PRO is the first syllable of the word that follows in the slogan: PROVEN. In the light of the whole text, the interpretation which suggests itself is that PRO BUSINESS is a professional company, supporting businesses in a variety of corporate insurance issues, their professionalism and efficiency being proven by their leading position and long lasting relationships with clients. Some job ads make use of more than just one slogan-like utterance. JA 142, announcing call centre opportunities at Barclay’s Bank, provides a good example: (76)

Find your calling. … Take one small step. Barclays. For those of you who love a bit of teamwork. (JA142, bold print original)

Again, the first slogan relies on the polysemy of the word calling (calling someone on the phone, and calling meaning a vocation); the persuasive effect of this utterance is reinforced by the fact that the whole ad ends with a rhetorical ‘mini-dialogue’: (77)

Found your calling? Then Apply now. (JA142)

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Thus the initial Find your calling and the final appeal quoted above create a rhetorical frame for the job offer. Further on, the idiom take one small step is used to imply a promise that, although being a call centre operator might not seem a serious career in the eyes of many job seekers, it is to be treated as the first small step towards more ambitious (and better rewarded) tasks, an interpretation which is confirmed later in the text. What follows is an indication of the ‘team’ nature of the job; the sentence For those of you who love a bit of teamwork is a friendly and encouraging one, all the more so that the word teamwork used in this context evokes images of fun and excitement. The tactic of exploiting METAPHOR and METONYMY is another ‘universal’ persuasive strategy found in the corpus of job advertisements. It has already been indicated and exemplified earlier in this chapter that employing organisations are often personified, the human-like qualities attributed to them enhancing the persuasive appeal of JAs (cf. 7.3.1.). Employers boast of having an elite portfolio of service based clientele (JA49), and operating at the heart of big cities or big events (JAs 83, 130, 150); if problems arise, they find themselves on the road to recovery, following a carefully designed recovery strategy (JA16). Current and potential employees, on the other hand, are metaphorically referred to as company’s most valuable asset (JA208). Suitable candidates are pictured as hungry; hungry for success or money (JAs 31, 45, 89, 183, 190), hungry to learn (JA45), or hungry to take their already successful career to the next level (JA190). They are also expected to stretch themselves through a variety of challenges (JA94), demonstrate an ability to look at the bigger picture (JA24), keep a watchful eye on the insurance market (JA34), provide every ounce of their operational expertise (JA16), shine in all aspects of their jobs (JA126), explore new frontiers (JA176), squeeze a lot of fun into one job (JA223). Bags of fun and adrenaline are promised to be found in the job advertised in JA 223.6 Examples of metonymy used in recruitment ads include the following: (78) (79) (80) (81)

We’re transforming our business so it’s ready for tomorrow. (JA22) …, we’re already one of the most respected names in our field. (JA82) This is a unique opportunity to lead a talented Enforcement Department … (JA88) We combine the best business and marketing minds of today … (JA206)

6 See àącka-Badura (2012a) for a discussion of the use of conceptual metaphor in job advertising.

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In the above extracts tomorrow is a metonymy for future, names stand for companies, department - for people working in the department, marketing minds - for marketing experts, and today is metonymically used meaning the present times. The entities replaced by the metonymies appear more tangible and perceptible, thus contributing to the expressive value of the texts. Although hardly separable from the above mentioned tactics, the EMOTIONAL/EXPRESSIVE dimension of JAs deserves a few final comments. As mentioned before, many of the persuasive strategies accounted for in the present chapter enhance the expressive power and emotional appeal of job advertisements. The following extracts may serve as further support for the argument that these features, although not as common in JAs as they are in marketing-type ads, do play a salient role in the corpus: (82) (83) (84) (85) (86)

We are proud of what we’ve achieved so far. (JA181) An employer you’ll be proud of. (JA94) One thing that hasn’t changed is our passion. We still love what we do. And we really love how we do it. (JA117) Our mission is simple: to look after what you love in life. We apply this philosophy to everything we do – including … (JA45) Everything we do, we do for our customers. (JA145)

Exemplified in extracts (82) and (83), 13 JAs (6% of the corpus) express the emotion of pride, both the pride that employers feel in themselves, and the pride that candidates are promised to feel if they become part of the organisation. Nearly the same percentage of JAs (5%) verbalise the feeling of love; they love what they do (84), and their mission is to look after what employees love in life (85). Extract (86) announces that everything the organisation does is done for their customers, a bold statement which, even if interpreted as an obvious exaggeration, may leave a positive trace in the minds of the target audience. At least two extracts illustrating the emotional/expressive impact of JAs deserve to be quoted at length: (87)

(88)

Analysing information. Spotting connections. Making decisions that really matter. MI5 Intelligence Officers do this every day. Dedicated men and women work to help safeguard the security of the nation. We investigate threats to national security including terrorism and espionage, protecting the UK’s infrastructure and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. You could join them. (JA132) We’re not the kind of company that’s happy to sit back and take it all for granted however, which is why we always treat every day like the first

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day. A day to bring in fresh ideas. A day to challenge convention. A day to make more good things happen for our customers. It’s that kind of spirit that will drive our success now, and keep us ahead of the competition in the future. And you could be part of it. It’s as simple as this: Work hard. Have fun. Make history. (JA62)

While (87) may resemble the language of a thriller trailer, extract (88), particularly if spoken aloud, could be taken for a fragment of a religious sermon. The rule of three (a popular presentation and oratory technique based on the belief that people tend to remember three things) is used several times, together with emotionally charged references to MI5 Intelligence Officers who help safeguard the security of the nation, employees who treat every day like the first day, or the spirit which will drive the organisation’s success. The way the tension and excitement is built in the above examples leaves no doubt as to their highly persuasive nature.

6.4 Concluding remarks Chapter 6 has sought to demonstrate that job advertising, although not synonymous with marketing-type advertising, may be classified as a ‘paradigm case’ of persuasion. Information plays a significant role in recruitment ads, yet it is subservient to the overarching persuasive function. This standpoint is corroborated by the fact that commonly applied marketing concepts, such as the four Ps, AIDA, DAGMAR, and the USP are broadly reflected in the corpus of job advertisements. Within the framework of Mulholland’s (1994) persuasive tactics, the positive self-presentation of employing organisations is realised mainly through accumulating (of data, facts, arguments), using comparison, descriptive phrases and seemingly neutral/objective statements which, in fact, often constitute the acts of boasting; employers are also presented as credible by means of statistical support, accuracy, and validation of data. The communicators resort to stereotypes, personification, hyperbole, and myths appealing to persuadees’ beliefs and value systems. A common ground/solidarity with the recipients is built by means of engaging in a casual ‘conversation’ and answering hypothetical questions that might be asked by applicants, directly addressing potential candidates, as well as, again, making use of myth and stereotype. The persuadees’ position and status are enhanced through the acts of praising and complimenting, and sometimes through the use of various politeness strategies. Benefits and incentives are promised primarily using the verb offer, as well as by announcing what candidates/applicants/you will receive/enjoy/have

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opportunity to achieve, or, less frequently, what the employing organisation will give/offer/ensure/provide to future employees. Some JAs emphasise the reciprocal character of benefits for both employers and employees. The degree to which the benefits are attractive and impressive is often expressed through hyperbole. Finally, the addresees are encouraged to take action (as intended by the persuaders) through the acts of inviting and instructing, most frequently realised by imperative structures. Politeness strategies, exclamations, and acts of urging the job seekers to apply, contribute to the overall persuasive effect. Some persuasive tactics are regarded as ‘universal’, i.e. applicable to all of the five sets of strategies summarised above. They include the appropriate choice of the genre and mode of communication, expressing personal involvement or detachment, using positive lexis, emphasis, rhetorical questions, metaphor and metonymy, as well as appealing to persuadees’ emotions, all broadly reflected in the corpus under study. Slogans and slogan-like utterances, although not as common as they are in marketing-type ads, clearly resemble the latter, making use of ambiguity, rhythmic parallelisms, direct emotional appeal, and wordplay, and thus confirming the persuasive (and brand building) nature of recruitment advertisements.

CHAPTER SEVEN EMPLOYER VALUES AND THE EVP

While the previous chapters analysed the genre and register of recruitment advertising, as well as addressed the issues of persuasion and evaluation, chapter 7 places the language of values at the centre of attention. It seeks to investigate what types of values play a significant role in building and/or reinforcing strong employer brands, and how those values are realised linguistically in job advertisements. The chapter examines both the employer values as declared by the communicators, and the EVP (Employee Value Proposition), the latter specifying all the benefits offered to potential employees, providing the reasons why a candidate should decide to commit themselves to an organisation. The very concept of value is used in the analysis as defined in the studies of organisational values (see 3.3.). With regard to employer values, the structural analysis performed in chapter 4 demonstrated that 44% of JAs in the corpus communicate what the employing organisations value, believe in, care about, and what their missions, philosophies, visions are (STEP 2:4). Viewing evaluation as inherent to persuasion, chapter 6 examined some aspects of the evaluative structures found at the level of register, whereas chapter 6 investigated the presentation of corporate beliefs and values (communicated directly and implicitly) regarded as a persuasive strategy. Partially drawing on those findings, the present chapter foregrounds the very system of values reflected in the corpus, as well as the linguistic strategies employed by the addressers to communicate and/or invoke those values. The analysis of the EVP as projected in job advertisements seeks to identify both the rational/functional and emotional/psychological benefits promised to candidates; it also attempts to examine whether the findings are consistent with the organisational studies specifying what benefits are regarded as having the strongest impact on future employees’ decisions to join (and later stay with) a company or institution.

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7.1 Employer values As indicated in sub-chapter 3.3, scholars investigating organisational values propose that all organisations are value-based, rendering values an extremely important aspect of corporate image management (Hultman 2005; O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy 2003). The terminal organisational values “reflect corporate mission and vision”, whereas instrumental values act as “standards for attaining the ends”, encompassing such values as corporate health, personal/social competence, personal/social integrity (Hultman 2005:41).1 Largely overlapping with Hultman’s views, Frederick (1995) claims that the economising value constitutes the overarching business value, sustained by the core values of economising (measured by the level of financial success), growth and systemic integrity. The framework for the analysis of employer values and virtues as projected in online job advertisements is constructed on the basis of the standard components of a mission statement, one of the most powerful vehicles for communicating company values (cf. 3.3.)2 Taking into account the fact that recruitment advertisements constitute a category of texts considerably different from that of mission statements, both in terms of the core communicative purposes and content, Mamet’s (2005) classification has been modified in order to better reflect the patterns identified in the corpus under study: a) since employers’ business profile is usually presented by means of utterances which might plausibly be classified as acts of boasting, including frequent references to the company’s market/competitive position, the first category has been named ‘business profile and market position’; b) as the notions of corporate vision, strategy, philosophy, goals and selfconcept do not appear to be used in job advertisements as precisely and unambiguously as they are probably referred to in mission statements, the

1

The word integrity appears several times in this subchapter denoting two different concepts: in sections devoted to the economising values, integrity is used meaning “the state of being united as one complete thing”, whereas in sections describing ethical values, it denotes “the quality of being honest and strong about what you believe to be right" (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2003: 846).

2

The framework for the analysis performed in sub-chapters 8.1 and 8.3. draws on another study conducted by the author of this book, based on a smaller corpus of 100 recruitment advertisements including ‘branded’ and ‘non-branded’ JAs (àącka-Badura, 2012b).

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second and third components have been combined to form the category of ‘corporate vision, strategy and values’. Thus, the following classification into five categories of components will be used, each category investigating a different aspect of how employers’ image is created and reinforced: 1. business profile and market position 2. corporate vision, strategy and values 3. customers 4. employees 5. local community and other stakeholders Within this framework, the linguistic mechanisms used with a view to communicating employers’ values and positive attributes will be analysed, taking into account the lexical markers of values (evaluative lexemes), both direct (semantic/systemic/explicit) and indirect (connotative/textual/implicit), including metaphors and metonymies.3 As the analysis will demonstrate, the language of values used in the texts of online job advertisements plays rhetorical functions (aiming to persuade the candidates to apply), but also a cognitive function; it reflects the values that the communicators assume are present in the mentality of potential employees, triggering the construal of the mental model of an ideal employer.

7.1.1 Employers’ business profile and market position Not directly involving values, the present section focuses on employers’ positive attributes related to the advertising organisations’ profile and market position. Employers’ business profile is frequently described by the use of nouns referring to a particular type of activity, or noun phrases with a less specific head noun modified by structures specifying particular business areas, for example: charity (JA11), consultancy (JA13), freight forwarding company (JA235), management 3

As indicated in section 3.3.1, it is often difficult to establish the criteria for distinguishing the evaluative/non-evaluative lexis, as well as the explicit/implicit evaluation; thus the investigation of evaluative/non-evaluative and explicit/implicit nature of linguistic structures is inevitably based, at least to a certain degree, on the researcher’s intuition, and the concepts are viewed as being a matter of degree in the continuum of scales of intensity. Another salient aspect of evaluation, grammatical markers of value (especially the markers of comparison), were discussed in section 5.2.

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consultancy (JA70), producer of organic vegetable boxes (JA42), housing association (JA174) driving school (JA53), recruitment agency (JA210), manufacturer of turbochargers (JA11), farming organisation (JA114). The positive evaluation of those seemingly neutral phrases is frequently invoked by structures that follow or precede the head noun, as summarised in Table 7-1. Table 7-1. Neutral nouns referring to employers, with evaluative modification PRE-MODIFYING STRUCTURE > a FTSE 100 (JA12) > one of the UK most successful [food] (JA31) > well established (JA100) > a leading and well established telecoms (JA155) > a long established, nationwide business (JA109) > a highly reputable entrepreneurial market leading (JA219) > a market leading (JA3) > the world’s foremost [research and training] (JA5) > a forward thinking progressive organisation (JA190) > a well established (JA51) > a professional (JA 86) > a leading global executive search (JA191) > the global L'Oréal (JA4) > the world’s most international [tobacco] (JA18) > the freshest and most passionate restaurant (JA52)

‘NEUTRAL’ LEXEME COMPANY

BUSINESS

ORGANISATION

POST-MODIFYING STRUCTURE > offering an extensive range of … (JA3) > specialising in the highest level residential property (JA234)

> who can offer you substantial financial rewards (JA219)

> recognised as one of the strongest (JA20) > that provides the supply and maintenance (JA59)

FIRM

GROUP

> which is made up of relevant public sector organisations (JA227)

Employer Values and the EVP > respected and dynamic (JA11) > best [fundraising] (JA14) > the world’s leading (JA182) > a charitable housing (JA68) > multi-award-winning (JA13) > our fundraising and management (JA70) > a specialist recruitment (JA186) > young, innovative and ambitious (JA15) > a government (JA18) > a specialist recruitment (JA210) > the largest independent (JA42) > the largest (JA116) > the world’s largest (JA111)

> a good (JA225)

157

CHARITY

> with a unique approach (JA71) > dedicated to beating cancer (JA182)

ASSOCIATION

> whose purpose is to regenerate the Clapham Park Estate (JA75) > with an enviable client list (JA13) > specialising in the acquisition of highperforming talent (JA183)

CONSULTANCY

COUNCIL AGENCY

PRODUCER

MANUFACTURER

SCHOOL

> the world’s biggest (JA34) > a signature (JA125)

BUILDING SOCIETY RESTAURANT

> multi-channel (JA10) > one of the world’s leading online (JA63)

RETAILER(S)

> providing services to information technology (JA210) > of organic vegetable boxes (JA42) > of bespoke high volume laminated board (JA116) > of turbochargers for the medium heavy duty diesel engines market (JA111) > where students' achievement is outstanding (JA225)

> described by Giles Coren as 'The lunch of my life' (JA42) > for more formal dining (JA125)

158 > the sole UK (JA3) > Europe's leading (JA105)

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> nominated (JA3) > a world-leading (JA110) > the leading (JA168)

SUPPLIER

> no ordinary healthcare (JA28) > the UK’s largest (JA91) > the leading (JA104) > a long established and very successful (JA115)

PROVIDER

> a new business trading (JA19) > a small, but rapidly growing corporate (JA54) > one of the UK’s leading open-air (JA157)

ENTITY

> an international (JA130)

> a leading professional Membership (JA214) > a trusted and highly successful (JA128)

> of electronic, electrical and industrial components (JA105) > of motor components and emission control products (JA143) > to many national and international groups and hotel chains (JA3) > of navigational charts and publications (JA110) > provider of pro bono legal representation (JA91) > of enforcement services (JA104) > of independent education (JA115)

MUSEUM(S) UNIVERSITY

> committed to academic excellence with a focus on business and the professions (JA130)

BODY PUBLISHER

> leading building envelope (JA228)

CONTRACTOR

> one of the world's leading (JA224)

DEVELOPER(S)

> of critical contracts and law guidance for architects and other construction professionals (JA128)

> of social multi-player games (JA224)

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As Table 7-1 demonstrates, the nouns referring to employing organisations are rather neutral, with the exception of charity, a word that is likely to evoke favourable associations among recipients. The positive attributes of employers, expressed by nominal phrases composed of a neutral head noun and evaluative pre- or post-modifying structures, are communicated directly/explicitly. Taking into consideration the context of employee recruitment and job advertising, presumably understood by both the employers and potential employees, the vast majority of the above modifiers might be regarded as semantic/systemic markers of value. Their innate evaluative load is heavy enough to enable rather neutral terms (such as COMPANY, ORGANISATION, BUSINESS, FIRM, CONSULTANCY) to acquire positive meaning (e.g. well-established or successful COMPANY, leading or progressive ORGANISATION, highly reputable BUSINESS, professional FIRM, CONSULTANCY with an enviable client list). Expressions that might not be regarded as indicating positive qualities in a different (neutral) context, e.g. FTSE 100 company or multichannel retailer, will undoubtedly be correctly interpreted by job market participants as indicators of employers’ strong position and high status: the former refers to a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, and the latter denotes a large scale retail trade business. The analysis indicates that employers’ business profile and position are also expressed or signalled through metaphors and metonymies. As indicated in section 6.3.1, companies are often personified as leaders, an extremely positive notion in business context, a value appreciated to such an extent that it should to be defended: (1)

We are currently making some major improvements to defend our position as market leader in this area. (JA212)

A vivid metonymy frequently used with reference to employing organisations is the concept of brand, for instance: (2)

AEL is a well established brand supplying a wide range of companies including … (JA3)

The metonymy of BRAND for COMPANY suggests that the employer’s brand is powerful enough to speak for itself, and is thus supposed to guarantee a satisfying and prestigious job. Indicators of employers’ strong market position as conceptualised in online recruitment ads can be grouped into several categories, presented in Table 7-2 on the next pages.

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Table 7-2. Categories of positive attributes referring to employers’ market position CATEGORY OF ATTRIBUTES

SIZE/SCALE OF OPERATION in 66% of JAs

SIZE (e.g. large) in 14% of JAs

> Ours is a large business where … (JA95) > the largest European aftermarket manufacturer /distributor of (JA143)

GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE in 30% of JAs > national: 9% of JAs > international: 14% of JAs > global/worldwide: 13% of JAs4

> We have graduate opportunities available across the UK. (JA207) > British American Tobacco is the world's most international tobacco group. (JA18) > Operating globally, its experts perform innovative, quality controlled, impartial projects (JA5)

RANGE OF PRODUCTS and/or SERVICES in 17% of JAs

> offering an extensive range of high quality products (JA3) > providing a wide variety of IT services (JA147) > working on a wide range of vehicles and on a wide range of repairs /servicing (JA153) > Ashton Rose comprehensive portfolio of services includes (JA234)

(e.g. wide/broad/ extensive range of .../ portfolio of…)

SCALE/VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES in 20% of JAs

4

EXAMPLES

> Doncaster has great potential in terms of its scale, (JA16) > we operate on a very large scale (JA134)

Some JAs emphasise that the companies operate on a national and international scale, for example: We work locally, nationally and internationally … (JA29).

Employer Values and the EVP

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES in 10% of JAs

> MHA now has 5000 employees (JA11) > with over 4,000 employees across the UK (JA45)

CUSTOMER BASE in 21% of JAs (their number and/or market position)

> portfolio of UK based clientele (JA47) > we have an enviable list of client companies, several of them international household names (JA147)

leader/leading/top:

> the UK market leader in the provision of accredited vocational qualifications (JA29) > one of the world's leading developers of social multi-player games (JA224) > Formed through the combination of two top international law firms, (JA131)

in 28% of JAs

SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES in 14% of JAs STRONG/ LEADING POSITION

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largest/biggest/best/ most successful/ strongest

> one of the UK’s most successful food companies (JA31) > We’re the world’s biggest building society.(JA34) > one of the largest housing associations in the Midlands (JA69) > Best Charity to Work for (JA14)

in 41% of JAs COMPETITIVE EDGE in 4% of JAs

> In order to retain our competitive edge (JA29) > … drive our success now, and keep us ahead of the competition in the future. (JA62)

PART OF (other leading organisation/group) in 7% of JAs

> MHO is part of Metropolitan Housing Partnership (MHP). (JA184) > As an agency of the MoD and a world-leading supplier of navigational charts and publications, we are … (JA110)

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REPUTATION

in 17% of JAs

reputable/recognised/ renowned/high profile/respected/ highly regarded/ award winning

HISTORY in 16% of JAs

> Part of the Gondola Group, with a heritage spanning over 48 years (JA190) > AQA is the UK’s favourite exam board, with a proud history of … (JA212) > We've been established for over 140 years (JA10)

FINANCIAL STANDING in 11% of JAs

income/revenue/ turnover/budget /assets/investments /financial stability

UNIQUE in 8% of JAs

the only/sole/unique

LOCATION in 8% of JAs

> respected and dynamic charity (JA11) > a high profile company based in Central London. (JA188) > Providing the seamless telephone service we're renowned for (JA142) > one of the world’s leading museums, internationally recognised for its dual role as … (JA9) > Raven is an award winning social business investing in … (JA76)

> The Crown Estate manages £6 billion worth of property assets … (JA63) > With an income of over £500m the Trust employs… (JA138) > We've been …, have a turnover of exceeding £700 million, … (JA10) > Web Windows offers a unique collection of web marketing services (JA213) > Sentinel is the only locally run housing association in … (JA175) > No other driving school offers you … (JA53, bold print original) > We are also the sole UK distributors for .. (JA3) > located in the picturesque Hunter Valley region… making it an ideal place to live (JA59) > based in brand new, designer offices on the outskirts of Peterborough (JA213)

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DIFFERENT in 4% of JAs

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different/ > At LV= we do things differently sets us apart/ (JA45) stand out from the > no ordinary healthcare provider crowd/ (JA27) no ordinary/ > But what makes this opportunity so different? (JA114) the alternative to > We are the alternative to mass media campaigns (JA47) > with a quality of installation and after sales care that sets us apart from our competitors. (JA109)

Table 7-2 shows that the most valued attributes appear to be those related to the size and scale of company’s operations (found in 66% of JAs). Seemingly neutral structures rendering information about how big an organisation is, where it operates, and what range of activities it is involved in, are intended to evoke positive connotations: a large company, serving a huge number of customers, employing many people, operating across a large territory, will most probably be perceived as a wellestablished, reliable employer. The second most frequently found attribute is employers’ leading market position (claimed in 41% of JAs). Information about the company’s financial standing (its budget, revenue, sales volume), found in 11% of JAs in the corpus, as well as references to its long and proud history and rich heritage (16% of JAs), contribute to the image of a stable and sound organisation. Good reputation (17% of JAs), unique or ‘different’ character of company products and services (8% and 4% of JAs, respectively), its attractive location (8% of JAs), as well as being part of an even more powerful business entity, complete the picture of a strong and trustworthy employer. The attributes are expressed in three ways: semantically, by means of positively charged lexemes such as leader/leading, unique reputation, respected, renowned; connotatively, for instance by the use of the value-free lexeme different, which – in the job market context – evokes connotations of originality; also, through references to the awards that an organisation has won, implying its good reputation; grammatically (superlative adjectives: the biggest, the largest, the best, the most successful).

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7.1.2 Corporate vision, strategy, culture, and values The mere fact that apparently value-free words such as strategy or goals (and their synonyms) occur in the texts of online job ads indicates employers’ intention to present their activity as professional, well thoughtout, and carefully planned. Corporate strategy or tactics are communicated in 17% of the corpus, whereas goals, aims, objectives, targets, and plans are described (or mentioned without being clearly specified) in 29% of the corpus. Examples include the following:5 (3) (4) (5)

(6)

A key part of our recovery strategy is to … (JA16) Our goal is to continue to develop quality candidates through all facets of what we do for our clients. (JA47) We have ambitious growth targets in the power, oil & gas and nuclear sectors and are seeking a Head of Proposals who will significantly contribute to us achieving our aims. (JA8) … to ensure delivery of the Sales elements of the Admiralty corporate plan. (JA1)

Overall, references to corporate strategy, aims, and plans appear in 40% of the recruitment ads analysed, indicating the importance that employers attach to projecting their decisions and moves as having been thoroughly and expertly considered. The lexeme value, referring to the system of values declared by employers in online job advertisements, is used in 8% of the corpus, for instance:6 (7) (8)

a strategy that always reinforces the values of The Body Shop (JA4) we value diverse opinions and backgrounds … (JA136)

The analysis reveals frequent use of other structures, implicitly communicating the values that employers’ wish to be associated with. Creating an even stronger impression of professionalism and sophistication than that evoked by the notions of strategy, goals and plans discussed in 5

The lexemes plan and to plan have been taken into account only if they are used with reference to the company’s plans, and not e.g. employees’ responsibility for preparing business plans for clients. The same approach is used throughout the study, with regard to other lexemes whose evaluative load is heavily dependent on the context (e.g. to develop). 6 The word value appears in other contexts as well (e.g. value for money in JA28, or Value Manager in JA172).

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the previous sub-section, employing organisations’ missions and visions are referred to in 17 JAs (7% of the sample), clearly resembling the discourse of corporate mission statements, as exemplified below: (9) (10) (11) (12)

… the successful applicant will play a key role in implementing the vision for the team … (JA212) Our vision is “To Deliver Excellent Housing Services” (JA232) HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) mission is to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid and … (JA134) Our mission is simple: to look after what you love in life. We apply this philosophy to everything we do - including the opportunities and benefits we offer our talented team to help us realise our big ambitions for the future (JA71)

Phrases such as [we are] committed to, passionate about, dedicated to, found on the belief in, might plausibly be rephrased as: what we value most is … or, perhaps more precisely, what we wish you to believe we value most is … . The extracts below provide a good illustration: (13) (14)

(16) (17)

Dedicated to building and sustaining a world class enterprise, that sets the standard on an international basis, … (JA2) Riverford is founded on a strong belief in the benefits and pleasures of fresh, seasonal organic food and … (JA42) (15) We are a forward thinking organisation, committed to providing the best support to vulnerable people … (JA189) We are committed to equal opportunities for all and encourage flexible working arrangements including job sharing. (JA21) We're passionate about customer service and community engagement (JA15)

The above quotes show that the values as declared by the communicators encompass building and sustaining a world class enterprise, provision of products that offer benefits and pleasures, the well-being and satisfaction of customers and employees, as well as community engagement. The VALUES identified in the corpus of job advertisements appear to fall into several categories: Success/results In the job market context, it would probably be difficult to find a lexeme whose axiological load is more positive than that associated with success. As mentioned earlier, success/profitability constitutes, alongside

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growth and systemic integrity, the core business value (Frederick, 1995). The phrase corporate success denotes one of the most obvious values associated with any business activity: the idea of prudent and efficient use of resources resulting in high profitability. References to employers’ success, as well as excellent results, performance, profitability and business efficiency have been identified in 26% of the corpus), for example: (18) (19) (20) (21) (22)

Due to our continued success Mind Candy is rapidly expanding and … (JA224) South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a dynamic, innovative and highly successful organisation with … (JA138) JM supplies 1 in 3 of all autocatalysts ever made; they posted excellent results for 2009/10. (JA12) … driving forward the Group's work on organisation development and business efficiency (JA30) Working in a performance driven call centre environment, we will need you to … (JA233)

The rather broad notion of success is hardly ever specified in the texts of online recruitment ads, nonetheless potential candidates, as well as other addressees, most probably conceptualise it in a way that is common to all job market participants: it encompasses good economic results already achieved, and excellent profitability prospects; yet it is also meant to invoke other values generally associated with ‘economic success’ such as high social esteem and satisfaction. Recruitment ads, while explicitly communicating promises of success to be achieved by future employees, simultaneously imply or presuppose that employers’ corporate success is a platform from which candidates’ personal career can be launched. Constant growth/development/improvement Beside ‘economising success’, growth is another of the original/core business values. As Frederick (1995: 43) maintains, “[a] belief in growth dominates the business mind. The mark of a successful business firm is said to be its ability to expand operations. The firm that cannot do so is threatened with extinction or, at best, stagnation and slow decline”.

The value of growth (development/increase/improvement) is communicated in a total of 121 JAs (51% of the corpus). The most frequently used concepts referring to this business value are growth or

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expansion and development or progress, invoked in 67 JAs (28% of the corpus) and 44 JAs (19% of the corpus), respectively. Less frequently occurring lexemes explicitly communicating the value of ‘development’, such as improvement (in 6% of JAs) or increase (in 3% of JAs), contribute to the picture of a growing business entity. Examples include the following: (23) (24) (25)

(26) (27)

We have ambitious growth targets in the power, oil & gas and nuclear sectors … (JA8) …, Phillips & Cohen Associates is concurrently one of the fastest growing firms in its market and … (JA233) … at a very interesting and exciting period in our development as we strive to fully utilise our asset base and develop our wider commercial activities. (JA133) JM are dedicated to continuous improvement to deliver sustainable competitive advantage and world class manufacturing (JA12) It’s a rapid rate of growth, and to meet the needs of our customers we need to expand our business accordingly. (JA62)

In 12% of the corpus growth and development happen through change, transformation or evolution. Always projected as positive, change is presented as a value in itself, something that has been achieved, or a goal that organisations aspire to reach, for instance: (28) (29)

As a core IT component within a dynamic, change focused organisation, … (JA105) This change strategy requires careful management in order that the strategic objectives are met, … (JA212)

It appears from the analysis that employers take great care to assure potential employees and other job market participants that their businesses are growing and thus offer opportunities for their employees’ professional and personal development. Innovation The value that seems to follow logically from the notions of constant growth and development is that of innovation. Innovative companies are always on the lookout for new ways of gaining the competitive advantage and thus offer more benefits to their customers, as well as better prospects to their employees. Instances of value-laden structures used in the corpus with a view to explicitly communicating or evoking positive connotations associated with the value of innovation include the following:

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Operating globally, its experts perform innovative, quality controlled, impartial projects for industry. (JA5) (…) we have to guide further innovation and build company learning (JA33) (…) design, engineering and state of the art manufacturing technology (JA32) … deliver world-class eCommerce solutions, for high profile clients, using a range of leading edge technologies and methodologies. (JA198) New products, new ideas, new approaches have brought dramatic growth for ../ has a strong emphasis on new technology (…) (JA31)

As can be seen from the above extracts, the value of innovation is communicated explicitly through the use of lexemes innovation and innovative; it is also invoked through reference to state of the art or leading edge technologies and methodologies, inherent in achieving innovation. The lexeme new, the most frequently occurring positive adjective in the sample (cf. 5.2), is often used to modify nouns related to innovation: new products, ideas, approaches (JA31), new systems (JA110), new solutions (JA33), new product upgrades (JA12), new technologies (JA82), new projects (JA203). It also co-constructs metaphors, such as exploring new frontiers (JA176) or a new generation of engines (JA111). The image of innovative organisations is additionally reinforced by the use of other positively charged phrases evoking associations with newness and modernity: fresh ideas (JA62), latest technologies (JA205), or pioneering research (JA182), to offer but a few examples. Overall, references to employers’ focus on innovative solutions have been found in 51 JAs (22% of the corpus), confirming the high status of innovation in the hierarchy of corporate values. Quality/Standards Commitment to high quality and standards in various aspects of corporate activity is one of the values most frequently referred to in the texts of corporate mission statements (e.g. Mamet 2005; Williams 2008). It also occupies a high position in the value system communicated (or implied) in the corpus of recruitment ads. The positively charged lexemes standard and quality, often preceded by superlative adjectives intensifying the evaluation, appear in 58 JAs (25% of the corpus), for instance: (35)

… to construct, install and commission power plant equipment worldwide to the highest standards of safety, environmental management and quality. (JA166)

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It'll be a question of getting the best quality and most innovative products presented to our customers, … (JA81)

The values of quality and standards are also invoked indirectly through the use of positively charged phrases referring to the high level of products and services, as shown in the following examples: (37)

(38)

This is an exceptional opportunity to develop your own list of clients, managing their accounts and ensuring that the high levels of service are continued. (JA147) … a leading property search and buying company specialising in the highest level residential property in London … (JA234)

Additionally, idiomatic structures evoking the positive associations with high quality include the notion of best practice, found in ten JAs in the corpus, for instance: (39)

We work locally, nationally and internationally to promote best practice in environmental health. (JA29)

Professionalism 46 of the recruitment ads analysed (20% of the corpus) directly communicate the message that the organisations advertising job vacancies pride themselves on a high level of professionalism, expertise, or specialisation. Examples include the following: (40) (41) (42)

Now we’re part of RNIB Group, combining our resources and expertise … (JA178) … a team focused upon growth achieved through sound judgement, personal integrity and specialist expertise. (JA5) We are recognised as one of the leading providers of professional services to the international insurance and reinsurance industry. (JA221)

Honesty, integrity, fairness The values of employers’ honesty, ethical standards, and fair treatment of business partners, customers, and employees, are expressed in 35 JAs (15% of the corpus), for instance: (43) (44)

… our reputation for being open, honest and trustworthy is benefiting our customers. (JA34) … a commitment to a fair deal for growers, customers and staff. (JA42)

170 (45) (46) (47) (48)

Chapter Seven Body Shop International plc is the original, natural and ethical beauty brand (JA4) Many of our clients have been loyal to us for in excess of 10 years because they appreciate our ethos of service and commitment. (JA147) Want to transform the performance of ethically-driven organisations worldwide? (JA70) … one of the fastest growing firms in its market and surpasses its competition in accessibility, professionalism, integrity and percentage of debt recovery. (JA233)

The positive evaluative load of the noun integrity, as well as such adjectives as open, honest, trustworthy, fair, ethical, ethically-driven, is embedded in the very semantics of these lexemes. The corpus also contains other structures which, although devoid of explicit evaluation pertaining to ethics and fairness, do evoke strong positive connotations, for example: (49)

Each individual is assessed on merit alone. (JA225)

Reading the above extract, the recipients will probably adopt a positive attitude toward the employing organisation; an employer who assesses each staff member on merit alone is very likely to be perceived as honest, fair and ethical.

7.1.3 Customers Commitment to meeting customers’ needs and satisfying (or exceeding) their expectations is declared in as many as 105 of the recruitment ads examined (45% of the corpus). Some employers attach particular importance to explicitly communicating that customers’ satisfaction and happiness are their top priority, for instance: (54) (55)

… we aim to be an outstanding and pioneering social business, with customers at the centre of everything that we do, … (JA76) Our customers tell us one of the most important things we do is to keep their homes well-repaired, and to us making our customers delighted with our work is at the heart of what we do. (JA98)

Similarly to corporate missions, visions, and values, the customeroriented approach is frequently declared or implied not only in employers’ self-presentation, but also in the job ad components whose primary function is to state candidate requirements. Examples include the following:

Employer Values and the EVP (56)

(57) (58)

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We are building our consultancy practice to meet the increasing demands of our clients for our consulting products and services and as a result we are seeking highly professional consultants to meet and exceed client expectations. (221) In this role, you will …, delighting customers by anticipating and understanding their every holiday desire (JA56) Be totally customer focused in your approach with a genuine enthusiasm for customer care (JA52)

If a company declares to be interested in employing only candidates who are totally customer focused, dedicated to meeting and exceeding client expectations, or delighting customers and understanding their every (…) desire, the value judgements concerning the employer themselves are simultaneously implied, contributing to the construal of the company’s positive image.

7.1.4 Employees The emphasis on the team and presenting existing employees as professional, talented, well integrated, working towards common goals, reflects the third of the core business values, i.e. systemic integrity. As indicated in sub-chapter 3.3, systemic integrity refers to the essential organisational integrity and identity of an organisation, its ‘unit wholeness’ implying collective and functionally cooperative behaviour (teamwork). It is symptomatic that the lexeme team is the fifth most frequently occurring noun in the corpus, present in 63% of JAs. It is used (always as a positive concept) in the majority of moves and steps, particularly in employers’ self-presentation, job descriptions, statements of requirements, and sections promising benefits. While the benefit factor will be discussed more thoroughly in the next sub-chapter, the present section focuses on the positive evaluation of existing employees whose qualities contribute to the favourable image of the employing organisation; it also investigates how employers project themselves as treating their staff fairly and respectfully. The extracts below come from adverts communicating that employees are regarded to be their companies’ most valuable asset, most vital component, the value that the company is built on: (59) (60)

We passionately believe that our people are far and away our most valuable asset. (JA208) But our most vital components are our people – we need people who … (JA105)

172 (61)

Chapter Seven At GL Noble Denton we recognise that our company is built on our people and their knowledge. (JA39)

The very fact that employees are referred to as our people (a structure used in 4% of the corpus) implies a strong bond between the employers and employees; it also reflects an atmosphere of familiarity and mutual appreciation. The latter is emphasised by references to employers feeling responsible to and looking after employees, supporting and rewarding them for their efforts, as exemplified below: (62) (63) (64)

This agency really knows how to look after the members of the team. (JA19) We totally believe in a good work life balance and our core hours reflect that … (JA186) At Capita we take our responsibilities to you seriously, our aim is to provide you with work in a variety of school setting and to ensure you are well supported and rewarded for your efforts, even it is sometimes just to say "thank you" for a job well done. (JA225)

Existing staff members are complimented in 63 of the job advertisements analysed (27% of the corpus), the positive evaluation being embedded most frequently in adjectival phrases pre-modifying, in the first instance, the value-free noun team (also employees and staff ), or (less frequently) in post-modifying structures praising the teams’ talents and attributes. Some of the evaluative expressions are presented in Table 7-3 on the next page. As Table 7-3 demonstrates, the positively charged expressions range from moderately positive adjectives (e.g. experienced, integrated, multidisciplinary, established) to highly positive, emotionally loaded structures such as great, exceptional, world-class, second to none, ‘rising star’, some of the most talented staff in the world. Other instances of positive evaluation of existing staff members, referred to (beside team/staff/employees) as workers, colleagues, nurses, consultants, engineers, include the following: highly trained mental health nurses and support workers (JA179), outstanding colleagues (JA70), our talented and widely experienced consultants (JA126), well respected, proven engineers (JA217), the best business and marketing minds of today (JA206), talented department (JA88). As can be seen from the above examples, the positive evaluation is achieved not only by using positively charged adjectives, but also through metaphor and metonymy (the best … minds of today, talented department) (cf. 6.3.6).

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Table 7-3. Examples of evaluative structures modifying the nouns team, employees, staff PRE-MODIFYING STRUCTURES > great (JA3) > talented (JA13) > integrated multidisciplinary (JA21) > successful (JA56) > fast paced (JA64) > high quality (JA104) > winning (JA107) > dedicated (JA132) > high performing (JA133) > established (JA140) > sociable multi-disciplinary (JA144) > experienced (JA144) > large and diverse (JA175) > world-class (JA176) > really nice (JA186) > committed and friendly (JA214) > highly supportive (JA120) > some of the most talented [in the world] (JA224) > exceptional (JA225) > very strong (JA225) > dynamic (JA233) > friendly, highly-motivated (JA236)

POST-MODIFYING STRUCTURES > (…) focused upon growth achieved through sound judgement, personal integrity and specialist expertise (JA5) > pushing towards common goals (JA49) > supporting a business at a key stage of growth TEAM/ (JA64) EMPLOYEES/ > [team] of committed staff (JA91) STAFF > identified as a ‘Rising Star’ within Cancer Research UK (JA182) > (…) really second to none (JA186) > (…) made up of practitioners and professionals with practical insurance expertise (JA221)

Closely related to (and often entwined with) the positive evaluation of existing team members is the praise of the working environment, as well as the atmosphere pervading in the employing organisations. Undoubtedly contributing to the latter’s positive image and, by implication, strong employer brand, the environment and atmosphere are usually presented in the texts of recruitment advertisements as benefits offered to candidates, and will therefore be discussed more thoroughly in the sub-chapter 7.2.

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7.1.5 Local community and other stakeholders Dissimilarly to mission statements, where references to companies’ commitment to the local community and other stakeholders are very frequent and explicit (see e.g. Mamet 2005), online job advertisements rarely contain this component. The word shareholders appears in only one JA in the corpus, and, remarkably, it is used to emphasise that the employing organisation’s commitment in NOT to shareholders: (65)

Our mutual status means we’re here to benefit customers, not shareholders. Our commitment to customers, not shareholders, has always been what sets us apart from our competitors. (JA94)

The above example illustrates that the company exploits every opportunity to underscore the importance of customers over investors, implying that much greater value is attached to the former. As regards the broader concept of stakeholders, only in 2 JAs are they referred to in such a way as to render them valuable.7 8 JAs (3% of the corpus) explicitly communicate the employing organisations’ commitment to their local communities, whereas helping or making a positive impact in society is directly referred to in merely 2 JAs.8 Commitment to the benefit or security of the nation is expressed in 3 of the job advertisements analysed. It is of note here that nearly all of the organisations explicitly projecting themselves as committed to the community, society, or nation (in a total of 5% of JAs) are either public services institutions, charities, or social businesses. A more varied group of companies communicate that they care about people and their needs, as shown in the following examples: (66) (67)

And your role will be to look after the best interests of millions of people across the UK, as part of … (JA88) Everything we do at Outward is about promoting the choice and independence of vulnerable people to have genuine control over their lives, … We are a forward thinking organisation, committed to providing the best support to vulnerable people (JA189)

7

In other JAs the word stakeholders is used in a rather neutral way, referring to groups of people and business entities that the candidates will influence or cooperate, liaise, and deal with.

8

The lexemes community and society are used in far more JAs in the corpus; however, only the instances mentioned above can plausibly be regarded as projecting the organisations’ commitment or responsibility to these stakeholders.

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With a focus on partnership working, your innovative policies and strategies will help overcome barriers to learning for children and young people, particularly those that are underachieving and the most vulnerable. (JA181)

It should, again, be emphasised that the majority of the 23 JAs (10% of the corpus) projecting the employing organisations as committed to (vulnerable) people/children advertise jobs related to healthcare, education or social services. Such ads cannot plausibly be interpreted as expressing their focus on social causes (valued higher than the interests and well-being of customers and employees). By means of example, if the ‘Save the Children’ charity declares to have (69)

set out an exciting ten year ambition to inspire dramatic change for children (JA23),

then children are the most obvious beneficiaries of the organisation’s main activity, their status being comparable to that of broadly understood ‘clients’. On the other hand, the structural analysis revealed that 18% of JAs in the corpus contain an Equal Employment Opportunity statement (cf. 4.2.2). Although discriminative employment practices are forbidden by law, and the absence of the Equal Employment Opportunity clause in the majority of JAs does not mean that employers do not respect employment legislation, yet inclusion of the EEO statement might be regarded as emphasising employers’ sensitivity to social issues. Such an interpretation seems justified particularly for the very few JAs highlighting the EEO clause and adding some emotional weight to what otherwise is a ‘dry’ legal statement. Three examples of the EEO statement are provided below: (70) (71)

(72)

Nomensa is a socially inclusive, equal opportunities employer. (JA140) We value and promote diversity and are committed to equality of opportunity for all and appointments made on . We believe that the best Boards are those that reflect the communities they serve. We particularly want to hear from women and people from black and minority ethnic communities who are able to make a real contribution to our Trust. (JA90) We are an equal opportunities employer and seek to employ a workforce which reflects the diverse community at large. (JA220, bold print original)

Extract (71) is visibly different from (70); the former is an instance of rather impersonal and detached ‘legalese’, whereas the latter clearly constitutes a statement of values held by the organisation. The first person personal pronoun we, together with emotionally charged verbs and verb

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phrases (value, believe, particularly want to hear from) create an impression of the employer being genuinely sensitive about nondiscrimination issues. The EEO clause quoted in extract (72) is highlighted with bold font and placed directly before the final slogan-type expression in JA 220, rendering it more conspicuous than other parts of the ad, and thus implying that the employer attaches particular importance to providing equal opportunities to all groups of potential candidates. Overall, given that the status of Equal Employment Opportunity clauses as signals of companies’ involvement in social issues seems ambiguous, and taking into account that the organisations that declare to care about vulnerable people/children are mostly charities, schools, and public or social services institutions, the number of JAs including references to the society, local community and other stakeholders appears rather insignificant. This finding may probably be attributed to the core communicative functions and the intended recipients of recruitment ads: as opposed to an extremely wide spectrum of potential addressees of mission statements, the readers of job postings are not very likely to comprise the shareholders; moreover, job market participants seem interested in the employers’ attitude to customers and employees rather than the whole community and society at large.

7.1.6 Employer values – summary of results Table 7-4 on the next page summarises the employer values projected in the corpus and their distribution. As can be seen from the above summary, the highest percentage of ads (51%) invoke the core business value of growth and development, confirming the high position of this value indicated in organisational studies. The value of customer care is projected in 45% of JAs, communicating that customers’ satisfaction and happiness are employers’ top priority. Success, another core business value, is stated explicitly in a lower percentage of JAs (26%), yet employers’ self presentation (boasting about high market position and large scale of operations) may be viewed as implicitly invoking the notion of success. The third core business value of systemic integrity, indicating that employers appreciate and care about their existing employees, is reflected in at least 27% of JAs, or 37% if presenting friendly and supportive working environment as a benefit to potential employees is viewed as a signal of employers attaching value to their people. Yet, this value is also implied in a large number of JAs promising other benefits to potential employees, thus confirming the high position of systemic integrity in the corporate hierarchy of values

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Table 7-4. Employer values: summary VALUE GROWTH/DEVELOPMENT/IMPROVEMENT

% of JAs 51%

(incl. CHANGE)

CUSTOMERS STRATEGY/GOALS/AIMS/OBJECTIVES/TARGETS

45% 40%

EMPLOYEES

27% (37%)*

SUCCESS QUALITY/STANDARDS INNOVATION PROFESSIONALISM/EXPERTISE HONESTY/INTEGRITY/FAIRNESS COMMUNITY/SOCIETY/OTHER STAKEHOLDERS

26% 25% 22% 20% 15% 15%**

*Only existing employees have been taken into account in the present section. The benefits promised to potential employees will be discussed later in this chapter. If, however, presenting friendly and supportive working environment as a benefit to potential employees is viewed as a signal of employers attaching value to their people, the result is significantly higher. **As mentioned earlier, the majority of organisations declaring that they care about e.g. vulnerable people or children are charities whose core activity is centred around those underprivileged, thus the result should be treated with caution. The inclusion of the Equal Employment Opportunity clause has not been taken into account in the summary.

communicated in job advertisements (see the next sub-chapter). The value that is projected in an impressive 40% of JAs is that of strategic thinking, indicating that employers take great care to present their activities as thoroughly and expertly planned. Other employer values declared (either directly or implicitly) in the corpus include, in a decreasing order of frequency, quality and standards, innovation, professionalism and expertise, honesty, integrity, and fairness, community, society, and other stakeholders.

7.2 The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) Before the employee benefits and rewards communicated in the corpus are discussed in the present sub-chapter, it is worth noting that the very vacancy is referred to in such a way as to project it as valuable,

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irrespective of the rewards involved. Although the word job is one of the most frequently occurring lexemes in the corpus, with as many as 356 occurrences in 83% of JAs, it is used mostly in MOVE 0 (job ID, job overview, job type, job function), and MOVE 5 (Details of the job are available… , Apply for the job button or link). When used in other moves, it commonly appears as part of neutral noun phrases such as job details (heading), job description, job application, job sharing, job satisfaction, job profile, job centre, on-the-job performance, on-the-job experience, to get the job done. Remarkably, only in 15 JAs (6% of the corpus) is the lexeme job used in other contexts, denoting the vacancy that the advertisements announce. Even more importantly, only 4 of those JAs attach positive evaluation to the word (big job in JA17, the right job in JA 48, the job for you? in JA85, and rewarding nature of the job in JA 216). Otherwise the word job appears in an entirely neutral environment. Moreover, 3 JAs (JA 41, JA49, JA60) imply that what the organisations offer is not a (regular) job, but something more. Other value-free lexemes: position (172 occurrences in 45% of JAs) and role (241 occurrences in 56% of JAs), are rarely evaluated in positive terms; positively charged adjectives pre-modify the word position in only 9 JAs (e.g. high profile position in JA12, busy, varied, interesting position in JA26, ultimately rewarding position in JA155). The lexeme role is positively evaluated in more JAs, for instance: key role (JA2), exciting and challenging role (JA30), high-profile role (JA38). It is, however, the lexeme opportunity that performs the most significant persuasive and evaluative role. With 223 occurrences in 59% of the corpus, it functions in 32% of the texts as a metaphor for the vacancy, not only evoking very positive connotations itself, but also accompanied with other positively charged structures in the vast majority of such instances. The lexemes chance and career, also favourably associated in the job search context, are used less frequently. The connotations evoked by these directly evaluative lexemes are reinforced by the use of positively charged pre- and post-modifying structures, whose axiological load is motivated mostly in two ways: semantically: (extremely) exciting (JA28) / fantastic (J33) / fabulous (JA124) /superb (JA109) /unique (JA134) /exceptional (JA61) /excellent (JA2), genuine (JA205), terrific (JA59), ideal (JA225) OPPORTUNITY OPPORTUNITY like no other (JA27) OPPORTUNITY that few can match (JA65) great CHANCE (JA4)

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challenging and rewarding (JA18) / exciting (JA52) CAREER pragmatically (contextually) OPPORTUNITY to join a market leading organisation at a key point of growth (JA2) / to help make a difference (JA71) / to lead a talented Enforcement Department (JA88) / to take on a pivotal role (JA182). Besides the vacancy being projected as constituting a reward in itself, the broadly understood benefits (both tangible and intangible) play a significant role in attracting valuable candidates, contributing to the overall persuasive appeal of job advertisements. Drawing on Barrow and Mosley (2005), as well as Adamczyk and Kubasiak (2009), the EVP is viewed as covering three broad categories: rational/functional benefits, emotional/psychological benefits, and the employer’s image (higher order benefits and brand values). The latter category has been discussed thoroughly in the present and previous analytical chapters. The analysis performed in chapter 4 showed that all JAs in the corpus contain some kind of employer presentation (MOVE 2), while 80% of JAs announce employers’ achievements (STEP 2:3). Sub-chapter 7.2. demonstrated what values are declared as important for employers, and chapters 5 and 6 showed what persuasive and evaluative strategies are used in job advertisements to project a positive image of the employing organisations. Whether regarding the very mention of a company’s name as contributing to employer’s positive image, or making a very modest assumption that positive self presentation of employer is communicated in at least 80% of JAs (i.e. those containing STEP 2:3), it must be concluded that the vast majority of JAs in the corpus (if not all) reflect the third category of the EVP. The present sub-chapter thus focuses on the two remaining categories, covering a wide variety of benefits communicated in MOVE 4. MOVE 4 (offering benefits) appears in 233 (95%) of JAs in the corpus, a remarkably high percentage if compared with other corpora of job advertisements where ‘branded’ ads are mixed with ‘no-name’ ones (cf. 4.2.2). Employers seem to increasingly realise that only a reasonably fair exchange of benefits can lead to a fruitful cooperation between management and staff. The “what’s in it for me’ factor”, to use Belin and Wang’s (2010:30) phrasing, is a salient component of employer branding, construing the Employee Value Proposition, as well as the overall image of an employing organisation. As indicated in section 6.3.4, the fact alone that 95% of JAs in the corpus offer or promise incentives is sufficient testimony to the principle of reciprocity being recognised by employers. Nonetheless, 43 JAs (18% of the corpus) take care to highlight it more

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prominently; they wish to project an image of organisations where it is only natural that employees should get something valuable in return for their efforts and commitment, so that the growth and profitability are mutual (see the discussion in 6.3.4). Drawing on the classification described in section 1.4.2, as well as the results obtained from the structural analysis performed in sub-chapter 4.2, the benefits offered are examined within the following framework: rational/functional benefits (remuneration, extra benefits, job safety and security, development and promotion opportunities, possibility of maintaining the work-life balance); emotional/psychological benefits (work environment and atmosphere, satisfaction and self-fulfilment, success and achievement, levels of responsibility and autonomy, the prestige and pride associated with the position, challenge, interesting and exciting job, pleasure and fun, being respected, appreciated and treated in a fair way). The findings are presented in Table 7-5 below. Table 7-5. Employee benefits promised in JAs BENEFITS

REMUNERATION 85%

RATIONAL/ FUNCTIONAL 92%

EXTRA BENEFITS 41%

% of JAs amount/range of salary specified salary described as attractive / competitive/great etc. salary depending on experience and qualifications bonus/commission training/professional guidance pension scheme company car/car allowance holiday entitlement/paid leave on-site restaurant/subsidised meals health insurance/healthcare programme life assurance

67% 28%

15%

16% 17% 15% 5% 12% 3% 6% 3%

Employer Values and the EVP

DEVELOPMENT/ PROMOTION 32%

EMOTIONAL/ PSYCHOLOGICAL 77%

sports/leisure facilities/gym membership travel opportunities/incentive trips professional development/career advancement learning/gaining experience personal growth

181 6% 3% 24%

15% 4%

JOB SECURITY/LONG-TERM CAREER*

14%

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

3%

OTHER RATIONAL/FUNCTIONAL **

13%

IMPORTANCE/INFLUENCE/IMPACT

36%

INTERESTING/EXCITING/STIMULATING JOB

33%

CHALLENGE WORK ENVIRONMENT/ATMOSPHERE*** RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTONOMY SUCCESS/ACHIEVEMENT

31% 22% 17% 14%

RESPECT/RECOGNITION/FAIR TREATMENT SATISFACTION/SELF-FULFILLMENT

11% 10%

PRESTIGE/PRIDE****

7%

FUN/PLEASURE

6%

* 52% of JAs in the corpus state (mostly in MOVE 0) that the position is (or may be) permanent. If this characteristic is regarded as indicating a long-term career and secure future, the result will be higher. ** Total percentage of JAs containing rational/functional benefits which appear in less than 3% of advertisements in the corpus. *** The result is higher (37%) assuming that praising or complimenting the quality, professionalism, expertise etc. of existing employees implies that potential employees may benefit from contact with such people (see 7.1.4 and 7.1.6) **** This category contains only instances of JAs which promise that potential employees will be proud of working in such prestigious organisations. However, the values of pride and prestige may also be invoked by any aspect of employers’ positive self-presentation, and thus are, in fact, implied far more frequently.

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7.2.1 Rational/functional benefits Table 7-5 demonstrates that the rational/functional benefits are promised (overtly or implicitly) in 92% of JAs in the corpus. The benefit of REMUNERATION is communicated in 85% of JAs, of which 67% specify the exact amount or range of salary, whereas 15% announce that remuneration is dependent on or commensurate with experience and qualifications. Such a statement may be regarded as an indication of employers wishing to fairly reward those most worthy, yet the majority of applicants are more likely to infer that employers simply prefer not to reveal the amount of pay. The group of 28% JAs which do not specify the salary, but refer to it as attractive, is the most interesting from the linguistic point of view. As in other components of job ads, extremely positive evaluative lexemes modify the neutral words salary, remuneration, and pay. 16% of JAs describe the latter as competitive (including very and highly competitive); attractive salary or salary to attract the best appears in 7 JAs (3%), excellent salary in 5 JAs (2%), and good or great salary in 3 JAs (1%). Less conventional structures include (negotiable) six figure salary in 2 JAs (1%), and in JA58 the line specifying the range of salary (in MOVE 0) ends with three exclamation marks, implying that the remuneration should be viewed as unusually attractive. Among EXTRA BENEFITS (found in 41% of JAs), the financial incentives (bonus, commission, bonus scheme, bonus potential) are promised in 16% of the corpus, an almost identical result as that achieved by the most frequently mentioned extra benefit, i.e. training (17%). The former are positively evaluated (in 6% of JAs) with value laden adjectives or participles such as unlimited, uncapped, excellent, exceptional, lucrative, outstanding. Training, if evaluated, is described as bespoke, substantial, comprehensive, or a wealth of training (JA200). Other extra benefits include, in a decreasing order of frequency, pension scheme (15% of JAs), holiday entitlement or paid leave (12%), health insurance or healthcare programme (6%), sports and leisure facilities or gym membership (6%), company car or car allowance (3%), on-site restaurant or subsidised meals (3%), and travel opportunities or incentive trips (3%). Apart from the financial benefits and training, other extra benefits are rarely evaluated; if they are, the most often used value-laden lexeme is the adjective generous (occurring in 6% of JAs), for example: a very generous pension scheme (JA1), or generous holiday entitlement (JA44). The category of DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OPPORTUNITIES comprises the third largest group of the rational/functional benefits, promised in 32% of JAs in the corpus. Development usually

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refers to professional development or progress and career advancement (in 24% of JAs), less frequently to development through learning and gaining or broadening knowledge and experience (in 15% of JAs). Only 4% of JAs in this group promise opportunities for personal development and growth, overlapping to a large degree with the emotional/psychological benefits. As mentioned before, a total of 52% of JAs announce (mostly in MOVE 0) that the position is (or may be ) PERMANENT, yet a considerably lower 14% invoke the image of a SECURE FUTURE awaiting those who decide to join the organisations. Interestingly, only one advertisement explicitly promises this benefit: (73)

AEL is a successful, privately owned, financially stable company offering a great secure future. (JA3)

Other JAs invoke the image of job security through references to longterm relationships, and a future career with an organisation, as shown in the examples below: (74) (75) (76)

Our aim is to find a candidate who is looking for a long term career with us. (JA185) … our belief in building long lasting relationships with our clients and our candidates. (JA186) Ours is a large business where your future career path is what you make it and, for the right candidate, we can offer a wide range of future opportunities across our Group. (JA95)

The very fact that the communicators choose to use the word career rather than job, position, or role, is likely to be interpreted as implying employers’ interest in forming durable relationships with prospective employees. The adjectival phrases long term (74) and long lasting (75), together with the verb build (invoking a long-term, continuous process) further reinforce this image. The phrase your future career path, as well as a wide range of future opportunities (76), are very likely to evoke connotations of a stable and secure future with the employing organisation. The least frequently promised rational/functional benefit, identified in only 3% of JAs in the corpus, is the prospect of working for an organisation which allows their employees to find and/or maintain the BALANCE BETWEEN THEIR WORK RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRIVATE LIVES. The benefit is either implied, or communicated explicitly with the lexeme balance, pre-modified with the adjective good or perfect, for instance:

184 (77)

(78)

Chapter Seven …, we value diverse opinions and backgrounds and create an environment that combines your commitments outside of work with your career potential. (JA136) The package includes … and other policies to enable a good work/life balance, including beneficial childcare arrangements. (JA216)

A total of 13% of JAs contain other rational/functional benefits, each of them present in less than 3% of the corpus, including the following: childcare vouchers, staff discounts, share-purchase scheme, season loan ticket, family friendly policies, profit sharing, uniforms. A housing allowance/supplement, free car parking, and a mobile phone or fully expensed phone are promised in 1% of JAs each, and single instances of JAs offer a wine club, tax efficiency scheme, opportunity to work from home, a laptop, free pupils (a driving school in JA 53).

7.2.2 Emotional/psychological benefits Table 7-5 also shows that emotional/psychological benefits are promised somewhat less frequently than the rational/functional ones; while the latter have been found in 92% of the advertisements (see above), the former appear in a total of 77% of JAs in the corpus. The analysis demonstrates that the opportunities to INFLUENCE or have IMPACT and play an IMPORTANT, PIVOTAL, CENTRAL, KEY ROLE in the employing organisation occupy the highest position in the hierarchy of the emotional benefits communicated by the addressers. Promised in 36% of JAs, they refer to influencing not only the company’s actions and performance, but also contributing to some higher (social) causes. The following extracts exemplify how this benefit is communicated: (79) (80)

(81)

(82)

(83)

If you feel you possess the qualities outlined in this advert and would like to shape the future of our Camden schools, then we … (JA120) The Marketing Manager will work with the Co Directors to make a significant contribution to the growth of this unique and dynamic organisation. (JA148) The Official Solicitor is an independent statutory office holder. His work is challenging, varied, sensitive, of great importance to his clients … (JA194) …, the successful applicant will play a key role in implementing the vision for the team and in positively engaging senior stakeholders across the organisation. (JA212) Make decisions that will have a positive impact on thousands of projects and millions of people. (JA128)

Employer Values and the EVP (84)

(85) (86)

(87)

185

Being involved in the early stages of the department’s development, your influence will have lasting effects on service definition and improvement of IT for the MPS. (JA211) Do you want to put your mark on a leading financial services organisation? (JA94) This offers an exceptional opportunity to utilise your talents to make a positive difference to the lives of people in your community, influencing and shaping the NHS for the 21st century. (JA90) You’ll be supporting our work to save lives and prevent pollution. (JA216)

As can be seen from the above extracts, not only are potential applicants promised opportunities to shape the future, make a significant contribution, have a positive impact and influence that will have lasting effects, put their mark, play a key role, and perform work that is of great importance, but also prevent pollution, make a positive difference to people’s lives, even save lives. Candidates’ position and status is enhanced through such statements, a powerful strategy reinforcing the persuasive appeal of the message. The second most frequently communicated emotional/psychological benefit is related to the very nature of the jobs advertised. The latter are projected as INTERESTING, EXCITING, or STIMULATING in 33% of JAs in the corpus, either explicitly evaluating the position with the above mentioned positive adjectives (as well as others such as vibrant, dynamic, fast paced, lively, varied, busy, stimulating), but also through less direct references to interest and excitement. Examples include the following: (88) (89) (90) (91) (92) (93) (94) (95)

In this exciting new role you’ll be working with … (JA170) Requirements of this busy, varied and interesting position include … JA26) Participating in a wide variety of clinical services including … (JA20) …; you will have the opportunity to grow your experience and progress your career within our dynamic business. (JA205) Here every day is different. (JA88) Working for a water company is far from dull but don’t just take our word for it, see and hear … (JA200) It also means that no two clients are the same and that your days are always fresh and interesting. (JA213) …, there really is something for everyone. Especially if you want every day to be filled to the brim with excitement, adrenaline and, of course, bags of fun. (JA223)

The above extracts illustrate that, beside value laden adjectives creating the image of an interesting and exciting job, the latter is invoked in

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promises of participating in a variety of services, and performing a role which is far from dull. Contributing to this image are also metaphors of days at work that are always fresh and interesting, filled to the brim with excitement and adrenaline. Related to and partially overlapping with interest and excitement is the benefit of challenge, promised in 31% of the ads investigated. The value of a CHALLENGING JOB is communicated explicitly, mostly through the use of the noun challenge, or the adjective challenging pre-modifying nouns denoting the position advertised and the responsibilities involved. Less frequent, the lexeme demanding is also employed in this context. It is worth noting that the image of a challenging and demanding job, which may, at least potentially, be interpreted in slightly negative terms, is mitigated by other unequivocally positive aspects of the job, for instance (cf. 5.2): (96) (97)

This long-term appointment is wide-ranging and demanding but offers considerable job satisfaction. (JA26) The challenges are considerable, but so is our commitment. (JA27)

Positively described WORK ENVIRONMENT AND ATMOSPHERE, suggested as benefits to potential candidates in 22% of JAs, occupy the fourth position on the list of emotional/psychological rewards. They are explicitly evaluated with (often intensified) positive adjectives such as (highly) supportive, (extremely) positive, (really) nice, great, excellent, (one of the most) exciting, friendly, inspiring, luxurious, stimulating, rewarding, lively. The image of good atmosphere and friendly work environment is also invoked by references to friendly colleagues, as well as the help and support that future employees will be given by their superiors and co-workers, as exemplified below: (98) (99) (100) (101)

… and of course your colleagues will be there to welcome you and ensure you feel part of the team. (JA39) Salmon provides an excellent environment to help you fast track your career, build on your strengths, and take the right path for you. (JA198) On top of this our graduate development team provides support to help you achieve … (JA208) … therefore you will be provided with comprehensive training and will be supported every step of the way to develop a career with us. (JA189)

Moreover, two JAs describe the environment and atmosphere as fun, and JA 195 boasts of the award that the organisation has achieved for their working environment:

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… and we are proud to be awarded with an Accreditation from Best Companies for our working environment. (JA195)

The benefit of RESPONSIBILITY and AUTONOMY is communicated in 17% of JAs, mostly expressed through phrases referring to existing and future employees’ freedom, independence, autonomy, control, empowerment, (full/real) responsibility for and ownership of projects.9 Examples are provided below: (103) (104)

(105) (106) (107) (108)

…, and you’ll have what it takes to take control of an analytically led finance role on an international scale. (JA62) …, you’ll be empowered to manage your own development and expected to make full use of the incredible networking opportunities that come your way. (JA83) That’s why we give our people the freedom to be as creative and innovative as possible … (JA117) As an Internal Agency Support Worker Level 1 you will work independently or within a team to support our clients … (JA189) We offer the chance to work …, taking on real responsibility and gaining valuable experience along the way. (207) You’ll have the autonomy to work on your projects – without being micro-managed.

Although the image of a successful organisation invoked in employers’ positive self-presentation may be sufficient to instill hope of success to be achieved by individual employees (see 7.1), yet 14% of JAs in the corpus not only boast of, but also promise success and achievements. Direct/explicit promises include the following: (109)

(110) (111) (112)

9

IF YOU ARE EAGER TO EMBARK ON A PROVEN PATH OF SUCCESS AND …, WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! (JA60, CAPITALS original) …, this is your opportunity to forge a successful career in IT with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). (JA211) This high-profile role will see you achieve all of this and more. (JA38) …, we’ll give you the best training in the business and every opportunity to build a long and satisfying career, where there is no limit to what you can achieve or earn. (JA209)

It should once again be emphasised that the results reflect the meaning of these notions interpreted in the context; thus phrases such as responsibilities include …, where the word responsibilities denotes duties, have not been taken into account.

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JA 31 opens with a rhetorical question, containing the very powerful metaphor of hunger representing the desire for success: (113)

Hungry For Success? (JA31)

The whole remainder of the advertisement may thus be interpreted as a promise that working for the organisation will satisfy candidates’ hunger for success. The benefits of success and achievements are also promised less directly, through presenting the drive for success as one of the job requirements, for instance: (114) (115)

(116)

No experience is necessary, just the passion to succeed. (JA53) You will feel comfortable working under pressure and have a passion for results and genuine desire to achieve, both personally and as part of a successful team. (JA56) Your career background is not as important as your desire to succeed. (JA233)

Understandably, what the employing organisations care most about is that employees achieve the goals set by the management for the benefit of the companies; yet, stating that the candidates are expected to have the passion and desire to achieve and succeed, the ads imply that the organisations will enable the achievements, as the overall corporate success is inseparable from employees’ individual accomplishments. Closely related to the notions of success and achievement are the benefits of SATISFACTION and SELF-FULFILLMENT, promised in 10% of JAs in the corpus, as exemplified below: (117) (118) (119)

(120) (121)

Join the GFS sales team and you'll get the best of both worlds: great pay and fantastic job satisfaction. (JA209) Creative Personnel are an organisation where you can fulfill your personal and career aspirations, … (JA210) Our Fast Track Leadership Programme takes high achievers with a proven track record of significant business success and helps them to meet their full potential. (JA83) Besides the rewarding nature of the job itself, the benefits that come with it are excellent. (JA216) Fulfill your ambitions and potential with a global industry leader.

The above extracts demonstrate that satisfaction and self-fulfillment are mostly promised explicitly through the lexemes denoting the benefits (satisfaction, fulfillment of aspirations and ambitions), describing the job

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or career as rewarding (in 6% of JAs), or referring to opportunities for candidates to meet their full potential. An only slightly higher percentage of JAs (11%) promise the benefits of RESPECT, RECOGNITION, and FAIR TREATMENT, mostly communicated explicitly through the use of the lexemes respect, recognise, recognition, value, fair, honest, open, but also less directly through references to criteria for promotion/bonuses, implying that the latter are based solely on performance and merit. Examples include the following: (122)

(123) (124) (125) (126) (127)

We are committed to learning and development and provide a flexible, supportive working environment where everyone is valued for their contribution. (JA92) Recognising and rewarding our people is our side of the bargain. (JA85) This means that all applicants and employees are treated fairly, … (JA194) We’ll provide a fantastic working environment – one built on teamwork, fun and mutual respect. (JA215) We aim to be open and honest with you through all aspects of our recruitment and selection process and trust that you will be too. (JA233) Promotion based on achievements. (JA210)

7% of JAs in the corpus directly communicate the benefits of PRIDE and PRESTIGE associated with the employing organisations and the positions advertised, for instance: (128) (129) (130)

…, we work hard and give people the opportunity to develop themselves and be part of something they can be proud of. (JA42) We offer the chance to work on information technology related projects for a range of prestigious clients across a variety of sectors, … (JA207) An employer you’ll be proud of. (JA94, bold print original)

However, as mentioned earlier, this category contains only instances of JAs which promise that potential employees will be proud of working in such prestigious organisations. Importantly, the values of pride and prestige may be invoked by any aspect of employers’ positive selfpresentation, justifying the conclusion that they are, in fact, communicated far more frequently. Finally, the values of FUN and PLEASURE, identified in 6% of JAs, complete the list of the emotional/psychological benefits: (131)

It’s a really nice team, everyone works hard but we have a lot of fun too. (JA186)

190 (132) (133)

Chapter Seven Work hard. Have fun. Make history. (JA62) Friendly, fun & outgoing to fit in with our sociable multi-disciplinary team. (JA144)

As can be seen from the above extracts, the communicators not only boast of a fun atmosphere, implying that candidates will enjoy working for the organisations, but also look for fun, outgoing people to fit in their sociable (and supposedly also fun, outgoing) teams.

7.2.3 Core employee benefits - discussion The high presence of the remuneration factor (found in 85% of JAs in the corpus) confirms the observations made by organisational scholars who indicate that being explicit about the salary is well perceived by potential applicants (cf. 1.2.1) On the other hand, researchers suggest that the value of financial compensation viewed as the predominant factor influencing job search decisions tends to be overestimated. The analysis of the negative motivators also demonstrates that advancement opportunities, happiness with management, and recognition, are found to be perceived as more important than the financial rewards (ibid.). The analysis of the employee benefits promised in the corpus of recruitment advertisements does not confirm such a high position of the above mentioned values, at least not in the eyes of job ad writers. Advancement opportunities are promised in 32% of the advertisements investigated, and recognition/ respect/fair treatment in only 11% of JAs in the corpus. The benefit of happiness with management can probably be viewed as encompassing the following values analysed in the previous sections: importance/influence/ impact, and responsibility/autonomy. Assuming such a broad perspective, these values combined appear in approximately 45% of the corpus, far below the result achieved for financial rewards. Good atmosphere and working environment, another core value determining students’ decisions to apply for job positions, as reported by Dobrowolska (2009), is also reflected in a significantly lower percentage of JAs than the remuneration factor (22% or 37% of JAs - see above). Following (beside good working environment) development/advancement opportunities and adequate remuneration, the possibility of maintaining the work-life balance, as well as continuing education/training opportunities, are indicated in the above mentioned study as number 4 and number 5 key factors, respectively. While the latter is reflected in a significant percentage of JAs (17% promise continuous training and guidance, and 15% offer opportunities to learn and gain experience), the

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work-life balance is presented as one of job benefits in merely 3% of the corpus. It must however be noted that the findings obtained in the present study are very consistent with the observations made by organisational scholars pertaining to the salience of employers’ position or reputation and their influence on applicants’ decisions. It has been demonstrated in this and the previous chapters that a vast majority of JAs present (directly or implicitly) the employing organisations as powerful and reputable companies, thus corroborating the salience of employers’ positive image which, irrespective of other benefits, may be an extremely strong persuader. The very fact that a company is a stable, profitable, and influential entity is often perceived as a sufficient signal or promise of attractive job attributes and potential benefits. Overall, the above analysis seems to indicate that job ad writers only partially realise (and choose to act upon) the findings offered by organisational scholars with regard to the EVP components that have the strongest influence on candidates’ decisions to apply. However, given the limited size of the corpus, such a conclusion would probably be too farfetched; numerous factors may contribute to the communicators’ decisions pertaining to job ad content, space constraints being only one of them. This interesting issue nonetheless requires (and deserves) further investigation.

7.3 Concluding remarks The analysis conducted in this chapter has shown that job advertisements reflect various aspects of the value systems declared by employing organisations, contributing to the creation and reinforcement of strong employer brands; they also present a wide variety of attributes, commonly seen as valuable in the eyes of job market participants. The most valued qualities appear to be those related to the size and scale of company’s operations, and its leading position. Other attributes include employers’ good reputation, financial standing, long and proud history and rich heritage, leading market position, unique or ‘different’ character of products and services, attractive location as well as being part of a more powerful business entity. With regard to employer values, the three core business values as indicated in organisational studies, i.e. growth, success, and systemic integrity are widely represented in the corpus. High results have also been achieved for the values of customer care and strategic thinking. Other employer values projected in the JAs include quality/standards, innovation,

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professionalism/expertise, honesty/integrity/fairness, community/society/ other stakeholders. The Employee Value Proposition, encompassing all the reasons why potential candidates should apply for a position advertised, combines both rational/functional and emotional/psychological benefits. The former are manifested in 92% of JAs, whereas the latter appear in a lower percentage (77%) of the sample. Among the rational rewards, the highest percentage of JAs specify or make reference to remuneration, confirming the observation offered by organisational scholars that being explicit about the salary is well perceived by potential applicants. The results obtained are also consistent with the HR studies suggesting that employers’ position and reputation may have a very strong impact on candidates’ decision to apply. On the other hand, the benefits of advancement and professional development are promised in a significantly lower number of JAs, whereas the work-life balance, occupying a very high position in the hierarchy of employee values reported in HR research, appears in merely 3% of JAs in the corpus. The emotional/psychological benefits (recognition, respect, importance, influence, impact, responsibility, autonomy, good atmosphere, good working environment), although clearly reflected in the corpus, are not communicated as frequently as the findings in HR studies investigating employee priorities would suggest. Certain inconsistency between the key employee values as proposed by organisational scholars and those reflected in the linguistic analysis of job advertisements may be due to a variety of factors and thus requires further analysis. A vast proportion of the employer and employee values manifested in the corpus are expressed through positively charged lexical structures whose evaluative load is embedded in their very semantics. Their positive appeal is further reinforced by positive value-laden adjectives and adverbs. The corpus also contains a variety of other structures which, although devoid of explicit evaluation, evoke strong positive connotations, contributing to the favourable image of employing organisations and thus performing an employer branding function. Employers’ values are also projected through linguistic metaphor and metonymy.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS A MODEL EMPLOYER BRANDING ADVERTISEMENT

The book attempted to investigate job advertising as an instrument of employer branding. The latter term denotes creating the image of an organisation as an employer of choice, ideally perceived as such by both existing and potential employees, and contributing to the overall image building strategy of an organisation. A salient component of employer branding is the EVP (Employee Value Proposition), encompassing an entire set of persuading factors intended to summarise all the ‘returns’ offered to employees (or candidates) in exchange for their efforts and commitment. The goal of the study was thus to investigate how the creation of employer brands and communication of the EVP are realised linguistically in the corpus of online job advertisements. Given that research on recruitment ads still remains a rather unexplored territory, both within the domain of linguistic studies and the field of Human Resource Management, the work also sought to fill the above mentioned research gap and cast more light on the interesting and socially significant genre of job advertising. The analysis demonstrated that the discourse of recruitment advertising is strongly related to other promotional genres, and increasingly resembles multi-modal marketing-type ads. Nonetheless, job ads do constitute a distinct business genre, a member of the system (or sequence) of genres applied in the job search context. The move/step analysis further indicated that the rhetorical structure of online JAs largely concurs with the recommended content of recruitment advertisements as proposed by HR scholars and practitioners, with some differences that may plausibly be attributed to the medium of communication, as well as the fact that the corpus contains only ‘branded’ ads. The move structure found in the JAs analysed corroborated the initial hypothesis that job advertisements contribute to the projection and reinforcement of employer brands. The following MOVES appear obligatory in ‘branded’ employment ads: announcing availability of the

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position (MOVE 1), presenting the organisation (MOVE 2), specifying responsibilities and requirements involved (MOVE 3), and inviting applications/instructing candidates how to apply (MOVE 5), with MOVE 4 (offering benefits) present in an impressive 95% of JAs in the corpus. MOVES 2 and 4 in particular contribute to the positive image of both the vacancy advertised and the employing organisation, and thus perform a salient employer branding function. The brand building potential of the rhetorical structure of JAs was confirmed at the level of STEPS, with very high frequencies obtained for steps announcing the organisations’ achievements (STEP 2:3), promising benefits other than the salary (STEP 4:4), and communicating corporate values (STEP 2:4). Importantly, the above mentioned steps demonstrate a very high tendency to be embedded in or entwined with other, seemingly neutral/informative steps, confirming the great care that employers take to exploit every opportunity to present themselves in the best possible light. The register of recruitment ads clearly harmonises with the core communicative functions of the genre, contributing at the same time to the secondary employer branding function of job advertisements. Extremely positive, structured mostly in the active voice, oriented towards the present and future, recruitment ads seem to leave no doubt as to their persuasive/promotional character. The lexico-grammatical choices that appear to be the strongest carriers of persuasion include the following: comparisons, signals of evaluation, strong quantifiers, personal pronouns (you, we), the imperative, rhetorical questions and exclamations, certain syntactic choices, such as verbless and elliptical expressions, parallelisms, and conditional structures. It is, however, the positively charged lexis, mostly business related and evoking associations with progress, action, and success, that seems to be the most distinctive carrier of the employer branding force embedded in job advertisements. The positive image of employers is created in recruitment ads through a number of persuasive strategies, confirming that job advertising may justifiably be classified as a ‘paradigm case’ of persuasion. Information playing a significant role in recruitment ads, it is nonetheless subservient to the overarching persuasive/promotional function. Beside the marketing concepts of the 4 Ps, AIDA, DAGMAR, and the USP, broadly reflected in the corpus under study, the analysis revealed a wealth of linguistic strategies of persuasion, grouped under six categories: positive self-presentation of employing organisations (realised through comparisons, descriptive phrases, acts of boasting often camouflaged as seemingly neutral statements, statistical information, accuracy, validation

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of data, stereotypes, personification, hyperbole, appeals to myths and values); building a common ground with the recipients (primarily by engaging in a ‘casual conversation’ with the addressees and ‘answering’ their hypothetical questions, directly addressing potential candidates, exploiting common myths and stereotypes); enhancing candidates’ position and status (acts of praising, complimenting, using politeness strategies); offering benefits, mostly through (often exaggerated) promises; encouraging candidates to apply (acts of inviting, instructing, imperative structures, exclamations, politeness strategies); ‘universal’ persuasive tactics (positive lexis, emphasis, rhetorical questions, slogans, metaphors and metonymies, emotional appeals). Given that employer branding is deeply rooted in the values emanating from an organisation, communicating or implying the system of attributes and values as declared by the employing organisations is a powerful employer branding strategy, widely reflected in the corpus. The most valued attributes seem to be those related to the size and scale of a company’s operations as well as its leading position, with qualities such as good reputation, financial standing, history, heritage, attractive location and uniqueness found less frequently in the sample under study. Among employer values, those identified most often in JAs are the three core business values: growth, success, and systemic integrity, with high results also achieved for the values of customer care and strategic thinking. Other employer values communicated or invoked in the corpus include quality and standards, innovation, professionalism and expertise, honesty, integrity, and fairness, community, society, and other stakeholders. The Employee Value Proposition encompasses rational/functional rewards, promised or implied in over 90% of JAs, and emotional/psychological benefits, found in approximately three quarters of the sample. The results only partially confirm the findings pertaining to the key employee values as proposed by organisational scholars; the discrepancies may be attributed to a variety of factors and thus require further research. The employer and employee values are expressed mostly through positively charged lexical structures whose evaluative load is embedded in their very semantics. The values are also invoked by a variety of implicit evaluative forms, as well as through the use of metaphor and metonymy.

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Proposed on the next page is a model employer branding advertisement, intended to function as a final summary of the research results (rather than a recommended model), encapsulating the most salient aspects of the analysis performed in the present study. The proposal is confined to the verbal/textual representation of meaning, the only aspect of visual expression being the emphatic use of larger print, capital letters, bold face and italics. Other forms of communication are not represented in the model. In keeping with the view of genre as a prototypical member of a family of texts sharing common features, the advertisement presented in Figure 8-1 may be viewed as realising, to use Swales’s terminology, “all high probability expectations” (1990: 58) that the broadly understood network of producers and consumers of job advertising discourse are likely to have with regard to employer branding ads.1 Structure The model ad contains all the moves found obligatory in the structural analysis of the corpus, as well as all the most frequently occurring steps (cf. chapter 5). MOVE 1 (announcing availability of the position) is realised through STEP 1:1 (announcing job title: Employer Brand Assistant), and STEP 1:2 (announcing job opportunity: EM-BRAND Ltd. offers a unique opportunity for…). MOVE 2 (presenting the organisation) is directly communicated in the section beginning with the heading About us, as well as through the company’s name EM-BRAND, the latter realising STEP 2:1. STEP 2:2 (specifying type of activity) encompasses information related to the type and size of the organisation (consultancy, one of the largest in Poland), scope of activities (specialising in the provision of professional advice and assistance to small and medium-size enterprises seeking to build and reinforce strong employer brands), references to clients and expansion plans. The ad also contains STEP 2:5 (link to the company website) and 2:6 (the EEO statement). Central to the projection of employer brand, STEPS 2:3 (announcing achievements) and 2:4 (communicating organisation’s values/mission/vision) are realised as separate steps (e.g. supportive and rewarding work environment, dedicated to …, the number one priority…, we take our responsibility to the staff very seriously), but also embedded in or entwined with other, seemingly neutral steps, for instance:

1 The employing organisation and all the details communicated in the ad are entirely fictional, created by the author for the purposes of this book.

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EMPLOYER BRAND ASSISTANT Reference: 000001 Employer: EM- BRAND Ltd. Industry: HR Consultancy, PR Consultancy Posted: 1 Oct 2013 Location: Katowice Position type: Permanent Salary: PLN 9,000 /month plus excellent benefits EM-BRAND. Where employer brands are born. Are you looking to start an exciting and challenging career in HR and/or PR ? Don’t waste your talent! Come and join us! EM-BRAND Ltd. offers a unique opportunity for an ambitious, success-driven HR and/or PR professional to assist our Employer Brand Senior Consultant in reinforcing our position as one of the leaders in the HR and PR consultancy market. About us We are a reputable, fast-paced and forward-looking consultancy, one of the largest in Poland, specialising in the provision of professional advice and assistance to small and medium-size enterprises seeking to build strong employer brands. Proud of what we have achieved so far, with hundreds of satisfied clients in southern Poland, we are still aiming higher: we have embarked on an ambitious plan to further develop and expand our presence in other regions of the country. Dedicated to offering the highest level of service to our clients, we recognise that our success depends on our people, their expertise, enthusiasm and commitment, therefore creating a supportive and rewarding work environment for our team is the number one priority for EM-BRAND! About the role In this newly created, challenging and varied role, you will find yourself at the forefront of our consulting activities. Working as part of our talented and highly professional consultancy team, you will be expected to liaise with the HR and PR managers of our client companies, and help them develop both internal and external employer branding strategies. You will assist the Employer Brand Senior Consultant in preparing tailor-made employer branding solutions to meet the specific needs of our key accounts operating in various sectors. About you The role will draw upon your experience in the area of Human Resources and/or Public Relations, ideally with some exposure to employer branding activities. Educated to a degree level, we expect you to be ambitious, self motivated, creative and well organised, with strong team ethics and commitment to service excellence. If you have the above qualities plus excellent communication skills, we look forward to receiving your application as soon as possible. About your rewards In return for your expertise, hard work and dedication, we offer an attractive salary, generous performance related bonus, personalised health care and insurance programme, as well as plenty of other benefits, including the opportunity to work in one of the most stimulating and friendly team environments you could imagine. We take our responsibility to the staff very seriously, encouraging and supporting their development, and providing them with regular training and on-going professional advice. If you are interested in launching your career with us, please click on the APPLY icon to upload your CV. For more information visit our website www.embrand.com.pl EM-BRAND We build an inclusive culture for all diversity groups.

Figure 8-1. A model employer branding advertisement

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Educated to a degree level, we expect you to be ambitious, self motivated, creative and well organised, with strong team ethics and commitment to service excellence. If you have the above qualities …

Realising MOVE 3 (specifying responsibilities and requirements, signalled by the headings About the role and About you), the above extract implies that the organisation itself is driven by strong team ethics and commitment to service excellence. Similarly, boasting about the company’s leading position is embedded in MOVE 1: EM-BRAND Ltd. offers a unique opportunity for an ambitious, successdriven HR and/or PR professional to assist our Employer Brand Senior Consultant in reinforcing our position as one of the leaders in …

Also performing a key employer branding function, MOVE 4 (offering benefits) is again communicated directly in particular steps (the amount of salary, excellent benefits), but also entwined with other steps, as shown in the following extracts: > >

>

EM-BRAND Ltd. offers a unique opportunity … In this newly created, challenging and varied role, you will find yourself at the forefront of our consulting activities. If you are interested in launching your career with us, please click …

The promises embedded in MOVES 1, 3, and 5 exemplified above are those of the job being challenging, varied, a unique opportunity, and a platform for a (presumably long-term) career with the organisation. The extracts aptly illustrate the tendency on the part of job ad writers to exploit every opportunity to present the employers in the positive light and thus contribute to the creation of employer brands. The model advertisement also contains MOVE 0 (overview of the job) and MOVE 5 (inviting applications). Lexico-grammar The register of the model employment ad confirms its employer branding potential, exploiting the majority of the lexico-grammatical structures most frequently used in the corpus. The grammatical choices contributing to the creation of the organisation’s positive image include, among others, comparative forms (e.g. one of the largest in Poland), strong quantifiers (hundreds of satisfied clients), the personal pronouns you and we building the atmosphere of familiarity, imperatives and

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exclamations (e.g. Come and join us!), rhetorical questions (Are you looking to start … ?), conditional structures (If you are interested in launching …), and parallelisms (About us, About the role, About you, About your rewards); the ad is oriented towards the future and present, and structured mostly in the active voice. The lexis of the model advertisement is clearly positive, with positively charged adjectives (e.g. exciting, challenging, unique) and adverbs (highly, newly), as well as nouns and verbs denoting or associated with success, enthusiasm, commitment, development. The value-laden lexical items, together with the comparative forms mentioned earlier, constitute salient evaluative signals, frequent in the corpus of ‘branded’ ads. Linguistic tools of persuasion Most of the persuasive strategies of projecting the employer’s positive self-presentation have been discussed above (e.g. boasting camouflaged as ‘neutral’ statements or descriptions, positive modifiers, comparisons). The employing organisation is also personified as one of the leaders. A common ground/solidarity with the recipients is built through the use of the pronouns you and we, direct address (Don’t waste your talent!, Come and join us!), engaging in a ‘dialogue’ with potential applicants, exploiting the ‘myth’ of togetherness (join us, liaise, help, assist). The persuadee’s position/status is enhanced by the exclamation Don’t waste your talent!, where the communicator presupposes that potential applicants are indeed talented individuals, implying at the same time that the talent will be appreciated by the employing organisation. Politeness strategies (please, we look forward to receiving your application …) contribute to the enhancement of potential candidates’ status. A powerful persuasive strategy is that of offering benefits and incentives; the ad emphasises the reciprocity factor (In return for your expertise, …), again adding to the applicants’ self-esteem, and accumulating the rewards promised (e.g. an attractive salary, generous performance related bonus, personalised health care and insurance programme, regular training). The degree to which the benefits offered are attractive and impressive is emphasised by the use of hyperbole (plenty of other benefits, one of the most stimulating and friendly team environments you could imagine). Finally, the persuasive strategy of encouraging addressees to take action is realised through imperatives and exclamations, as well as the acts of inviting and instructing, reinforced by the tactic of urging responses (as soon as possible).

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As regards the ‘universal’ persuasive tactics, the model ad contains a slogan (EM-BRAND. Where employer brands are born), visually highlighted by a larger, italicised font; it also makes use of metaphor (brands are born). The universal tactic of expressing strong emotions is realised primarily through emotional appeals (Don’t waste your talent!, Come and join us!), as well as invoking the feeling of pride (Proud of what we have achieved …). Employer values and the EVP Employer brand is also built in the model advertisement through communication of or references to the employing organisation’s system of values, encompassing certain attributes deemed as valuable in business context. The neutral noun CONSULTANCY, denoting the company’s type of activity, is positively evaluated through pre- and post modifying structures highlighting some of the organisation’s qualities: a reputable, fast-paced and forward-looking CONSULTANCY, one of the largest in Poland,…

Apart from the attributes related to the company’s reputation, size and geographical coverage quoted above, other qualities include an impressive customer base (hundreds of satisfied customers), variety of activities (operating in various sectors), leading position (one of the leaders), and uniqueness (unique opportunity). The core business values of growth and success are expressed directly though the use of such positively charged lexical structures as develop, expand, success. The third core value of systemic integrity is projected (directly or implicitly) through the emphasis on the team and presenting existing employees as professional, talented, well integrated, working towards common goals (e.g. our success depends on our people, supportive work environment, talented and highly professional consultancy team). Other values include customer care (e.g. hundreds of satisfied clients, the highest level of service, to meet the specific needs of our key accounts), quality (service excellence), strategic thinking (an ambitious plan, employer branding strategies), professionalism and expertise (professional advice, your expertise), ethics (team ethics). The Employee Value Proposition, either communicated explicitly or implied, encompasses rational/functional rewards (attractive salary, generous performance related bonus, personalised health care and insurance programme, training and staff development, allusions to long term career prospects), and emotional/psychological benefits including

A Model Employer Branding Advertisement

201

challenge, variety, excitement, importance, friendly work environment, support, respect and recognition. The model employer branding ad proposed and briefly analysed in the concluding chapter of this book hopefully encapsulates the most salient features of those job advertisements that, apart from realising the primary function of attracting the most valuable candidates, also contribute to the creation of employer brands. Given the wealth and complexity of employer branding strategies identified in the corpus, as well as – not infrequently - their implicit rather than explicit nature, the model should not be treated as prescriptive, but rather as a possible point of reference for discourse analysts and HR scholars or practitioners investigating (or making use of) recruitment ads as instruments of employer branding.

APPENDIX ONE JA

JOB TITLE

JA1

Account Manager

ADMIRALTY

JA2

Operations Manager Business Development Manager Category Development & Innovation Director Ferrous Metallurgists

JA6 JA7

JA3

JA4

JA5

JA8 JA9 JA10

JA11 JA12 JA13 JA14

JA15

JA16

JA17 JA18

JA19

JA20 JA21 JA22 JA23 JA24

INTERNET SOURCE http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

ACCESSED (DATE) 15 July, 2010

CUMMINS POWER GENERATION A & E LEISURE LIMITED

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

03 June, 2011

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

THE BODY SHOP INTERNATIONAL PLC

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

TWI

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

Field Sales Consultants

KEYSTAGE

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

Head of Partner Solutions Head of Proposals

ADMIRALTY

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

15 July, 2010

COSTAIN

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

Image Sales Executive Commercial and Marketing Development Manager Media and Copy Writer Plant General Manager Account director

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

JD WILLIAMS

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

15 Oct, 2010

MHA

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

JOHNSON MATTHEY PLC

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

THE WORKS RECRUITMENT

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

Account Executive - Corporate Partnerships Communications Managers

SAVE THE CHILDREN UK

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE COUNCIL

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

15 July, 2010

Director of Finance and Corporate Services Chief Executive

DONCASTER METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

14 Oct, 2010

ANGUS COUNCIL

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

14 Oct, 2010

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

14 Oct, 2010

ROYAL ARTILLERY CENTRE FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT HEALTHJOBSUK

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

14 Oct, 2010

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

14 Oct, 2010

HEALTHJOBSUK

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

14 Oct, 2010

O2

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS LTD PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

Senior Investigations Manager Innovation Development Manager Highly Specialist Surgery Pharmacist Trust Breast Physician - 6 PAs Account Manager – Public Sector Advertising Product Manager Business Development Manager

EMPLOYER

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding JA25 JA26

Business Investments Director CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR

JA27

Chief Executive Officer

JA28

Chair

JA29

Director of Finance

JA30

Head of HR

JA31

Head of Marketing

JA32

Head of Operations

JA33

Marketing Science Executive (Data Analyst) Product Manager – General Insurance Programme Director

JA34 JA35

203

UNATRAC

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CHICHESTER LONDON BOROUGH OF HOUNSLOW BROMLEY HEALTHCARE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH GENESIS HOUSING GROUP WILTSHIRE FARM FOODS SWITCHGEAR & INSTRUMENTATION LTD MILLWARD BROWN GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

15 Oct, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

NATIONWIDE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

01 Aug, 2010

OFGEM

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

THE CREDIT PROTECTION ASSOCIATION PLC DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS (DWP) O2

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

15 July, 2010

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

12 Aug, 2010

JA36

Regional Sales Managers

JA37

Risk Managers

JA38

Sales Manager

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

JA39

Software Solutions Engineers – Electrical or Software Engineering Bar Tender

GL NOBLE DENTON

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

31 Aug, 2010

NORTH BOVEY

www.jobsite.co.uk

31 Aug, 2010

Entry Level Marketing Rep Front of House Staff

MIDLANDS CONSULTING CENTRE RIVERFORD

www.jobsite.co.uk

01 Aug, 2010

www.jobsite.co.uk

31 Aug, 2010

CCL CLIENT SOLUTIONS

www.jobsite.co.uk

01 Aug, 2010

JA44

(Hospitality Experience Wanted at Marketing Company) Typesetter/Artworker

SMYTHSON

www.jobsite.co.uk

31 Aug, 2010

JA45

Marketing Assistant

LV=

www.jobsite.co.uk

01 Aug, 2010

JA46

Marketing Assistant

EBM-PAPST UK

www.jobsite.co.uk

01 Aug, 2010

JA47

SUMMER OPENINGS: Marketing/ Sales/ Customer Service Teaching Assistant

FAST TRACK ACQUISITIONS

www.jobsite.co.uk

01 Aug, 2010

PRESTON SCHOOL

www.jobsite.co.uk

31 Aug, 2010

Trainee Sales/ Junior Sales Trainer/Technician Painting & Decorating Audio Typist

www.jobsite.co.uk

31 Aug, 2010

www.totaljobs.com

31 Aug, 2010

www.totaljobs.com

08 Sep, 2010

www.totaljobs.com

31 Aug, 2010

www.totaljobs.com

12 Aug, 2010

JA40 JA41 JA42 JA43

JA48 JA49

JA53

Bar Floor Cocktail Waiter/Waitress Driving Instructor

FAST TRACK ACQUISITIONS HMP & YOI CHELMSFORD DENT ABRAMS SOLICITORS THE INDIVIDUAL RESTAURANT COMPANY BSM DRIVING SCHOOL

JA54

Family Solicitor

FASTTRACK DIVORCE

www.totaljobs.com

08 Sep, 2010

JA55

Farm Butcher

AGRARIAN RENAISSANCE

www.totaljobs.com

31 Aug, 2010

JA50 JA51 JA52

Appendix One

204 JA56 JA57

First Choice Travel Advisor Fishing Vessel Skipper

TUI TRAVEL PLC

www.totaljobs.com

08 Sep, 2010

SIMPLY SEAFOOD

www.totaljobs.com

08 Sep, 2010

FORTUNE INTERNATIONAL REALTY GLOBE 24-7

www.totaljobs.com

08 Sep, 2010

www.totaljobs.com

4 April, 2011

JA60

Flexible part-time job with good earning potential Heavy Duty Automotive Electrician/Electrical Fitter Waiters & Bartenders

JMS

www.totaljobs.com

4 April, 2011

JA61

Reporting Analyst

HONDA UK

www.totaljobs.com

4 April, 2011

JA62

Site Controller

AMAZON

www.totaljobs.com

4 April, 2011

JA63

Development Manager

THE CROWN ESTATE

www.totaljobs.com

26 May, 2011

JA64

HR Generalist

www.totaljobs.com

26 may, 2011

JA65

Area Business Manager

CUMMINS CORPORATE RECRUITMENT ORANGE

www.totaljobs.com

26 May, 2011

JA66

Project Support/Project Administrator Lecturer in Globalisation and Development Project Worker

DAMIA GROUP LTD

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

4 April, 2011

METROPOLITAN HOUSING TRUST METROPOLITAN HOUSING PARTNERSHIP

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

4 April, 2011

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

4 April, 2011

JA58

JA59

JA67

JA68 JA69

Technical Administrator

JA70

Business Analyst

MANAGEMENT CENTRE

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

JA71

NATURE CONSERVATION WORK Legal Intern

THE WILDLIFE FOR ALL TRUST

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

FAIR TRIALS INTERNATIONAL WITHHELD

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

SHAKESPEARES GLOBE

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

METROPOLITAN HOUSING PARTNERSHIP

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

Performance, Data & Research Officer Front Line Services Supervisor

RAVEN HOUSING TRUST

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

BROXBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

GP Medical Education and Private Practice Marketing Co-ordinator Topical Content Manager GRADUATE ENGINEERS (Mechanical and Electrical) Head of Catering

RAMSAY HEALTH CARE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

29 March, 2011

TELEFONICA O2

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

29 March, 2011

ELECTROIMPACT

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

29 March, 2011

BRITISH AIRWAYS

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

29 March, 2011

Graduate Opportunities in Sales and Recruitment Fast Track Leadership Programme London Business Consultant

LOGICA

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

BT

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

GROUPON

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

JA72 JA73 JA74 JA75

JA76 JA77

JA78

JA79 JA80

JA81 JA82

JA83 JA84

In House Marketing Person Senior Press and PR Officer Business Support Officer

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding JA85 JA86 JA87 JA88 JA89

JA90 JA91

Key Account Manager

JA94

Financial Performance Graduate Programme Graduate Analyst

JA97

Voice Telecommunication System Administrator Agronomy Assistant

JA98

Plumber

JA99

Utility Arrears Recovery Agents Automotive / Bodyshop / Panel Beater / Painter Home cr

JA100 JA101

JA102

PWC

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

26 May, 2011

BET365

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

ICO

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

RED COMMERCE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

LONDON BOROUGH OF HILLINGDON THE FREE REPRESENTATION UNIT SKILLS FOR JUSTICE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

Head of Enforcement Head Experienced and Trainee Recruitment Consultants NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Chief Executive Officer

Managing Director

JA96

26 May, 2011

HAY GROUP

JA93

JA95

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

Management Consultant Assurance Managers and Supervisors Graduate Opportunities

JA92

205

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

THE SHARED SERVICES PARTNERSHIP LTD NATIONWIDE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP HSBC MERCHANT SERVICES

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

30 May, 2011

www.jobsite.co.uk

6 April, 2011

ALLIANCE ONE INTERNATIONAL SERVICES LTD WALSALL HOUSING GROUP PDP MANAGEMENT SERVICES DENIS WELCH MOTORSPORT BROOK STREET BUREAU - HAMMERSMITH HOMECARE LINDE HEAVY TRUCK DIVISION SKW LTD

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

11 May, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

THE MARSTON GROUP LTD RS COMPONENTS

www.totaljobs.com

16 April, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

26 May, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

26 May, 2011

JA106

Supplier Development Quality Manager Warehouse Operator/ Driver Enforcement Agents/Bailiffs Integration Solutions Architect Event Coordinator

JA107

Chef - Chef de Partie

HAREWOOD HOSPITALITY EVENTS LLP BSB GROUP

www.totaljobs.com

30 May, 2011

JA108

Qualified Accountants

AIMS

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA109

FIELD SALES

ALERTSYSTEMS

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA110

Technical Lead Systems Support

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA111

Product Engineers – Product Development/Advanced Engineering Senior Controls Engineer Brand Proposition Manager Senior Account Executive Bursar & Clerk to the Governors

UKHO - UNITED KINGDOM HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE CUMMINS TURBO TECHNOLOGIES

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

SIEMENS

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

ADMIRALTY

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

15 July, 2010

NFU MUTUAL

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

COVENTRY SCHOOL FOUNDATION

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA103 JA104 JA105

JA112 JA113 JA114 JA115

Appendix One

206 JA116

Head of Quality

API LAMINATES

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA117

Area Operations Manager Engineering Opportunities Lake District Outdoor Programme Coordinator Head of Primary School Improvement Senior Analyst

MARS

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

E2V

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

NATIONAL TRUST

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA118 JA119

JA120 JA121

JA122 JA123

Communications Officer POLICY ADVISOR

CAMDEN COUNCIL SCHOOLS AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE DEVELOPMENT BOARD BROXBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL SANCTUARY HOUSING

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

PART TIME RECEPTIONIST HOTEL GENERAL MANAGER Retail Supply Chain Management Consultant Judicial Assistants

COVENT GARDEN BUREAU UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

IBM

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

RIBA ENTERPRISES

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA131

Head Of Contracts And Law Assistant Head of Storage Business Stream Lecturers on the Bar Professional Training Course and the Legal Practice Course Trainee Solicitors

HOGAN LOVELLS

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

3 June, 2011

JA132

Intelligence Officers

MI5

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

JA133

Independent Board Member Director Debt Management & Banking CHIEF EXECUTIVE

HALTON HOUSING TRUST HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

THE WHITE ENSIGN ASSOCIATION KPMG

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

SPEAKERS FOR BUSINESS SOUTH TEES HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST PWC

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

6 June, 2011

NOMENSA

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

GO-AHEAD LONDON

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

BARCLAYS

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

KLARIUS GROUP

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

NOMENSA

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

CHURCHILL

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

JA124 JA125 JA126

JA127 JA128 JA129

JA130

JA134

JA135 JA136

JA137

Financial Management Consultants – Managers and Senior Managers Account Executive

JA138

Finance Director

JA139

Marketing Assistant / Team Secretary Business Development Director TEST CENTRE MANAGER CALL CENTRE OPPORTUNITIES Group Purchasing Director Graduate User Experience (UX) Consultant Inbound Sales Consultant

JA140 JA141 JA142 JA143 JA144

JA145

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding JA146 JA147 JA148

Telephone Service Officer Business Development Managers - IT Services Marketing Manager

207

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PACIFIC COMPUTERS

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

CENTRE FOR LITERACY IN PRIMARY EDUCATION THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS LONDON GREEN MARKETING

www.jobsite.co.uk

3 June, 2011

www.jobsite.co.uk

6 June, 2011

www.jobsite.co.uk

6 June, 2011

JA149

Data Entry Clerk, Finance

JA150

JA151

Multiple Retail Opportunities Graduates Welcome Senior Events Manager

RICHMOND HILL HOTEL

www.totaljobs.com

3 June, 2011

JA152

Operation Co-ordinator

DOVE SPA

www.totaljobs.com

3 June, 2011

JA153

Vehicle Technician Mechanic 7.5 ton and 18 ton multi drop drivers needed Systems Administrator

K2 CARRIAGES LTD

www.totaljobs.com

3 June, 2011

ELB PARTNERS LTD

www.totaljobs.com

3 June, 2011

DATAPRO SERVICES LTD. SENSE

www.totaljobs.com

3 June, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

3 June, 2011

BLACK COUNTRY LIVING MUSEUM THE REGISTER OF EXERCISE PROFESSIONALS HOME AND RETAIL DELIVERIES LTD. STREAMLINE SHIPPING AGENCIES LTD EMM CORP

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

BP UK LOGISTICS

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

UCP ZELLER

www.totaljobs.com

6 June, 2011

FRENSHAM HEIGHTS

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

ICHEME

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

SHANAHAN ENGINEERING

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

GCO INTERNATIONAL

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

NEOPOST

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

PROMAT

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

UKTI

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA171

Marine Segment Business Manager UK Trade and Investment Financial Services Adviser Technical Managers

ENGLISH HERITAGE

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA172

Value Manager

SAINSBURY'S

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA173

Match Day Assistant

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA174

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA175

Head of Direct Maintenance Service Commercial Manager

COLCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB SENTINEL HOUSING SSE

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA176

Upstream Professionals

BP

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA177

Senior Family Outreach Worker

BRIGSHAW HIGH SCHOOL AND LANGUAGE COLLEGE

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA154 JA155 JA156 JA157 JA158

JA159 JA160 JA161 JA162 JA163 JA164 JA165 JA166

JA167 JA168 JA169 JA170

Female Support Workers Hire & Hospitality Sales Assistant REPS Member Services Officer Class 2 Furniture Delivery Driver Clerical Assistant MATERIALS CONTROLLER Oil Terminal Supervisor TOOLROOM FITTER MACHINIST SCHOOL FINANCE MANAGER Membership development manager Career opportunities with Shanahan Engineering Content Writer/Product Administrator Operations Director UK

Appendix One

208

ACTION FOR BLIND PEOPLE TURNING POINT

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA179

P/T Employment Coordinator Mental Health Nurses

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA180

B2B Sales Consultants

HIFX

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA181

Strategic Lead: Learning & Achievement Major Giving Manager

COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

CANCER RESEARCH UK

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

MONTASH ASSOCIATES

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

METROPOLITAN HOUSING PARTNERSHIP NHG TIMBER LTD

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA185

ENTRY LEVEL TRAINEE RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT Commercial and Garages Coordinator Trainee Trader

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA186

Recruitment Officer

FLOW CARITAS

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

12 Jan, 2012

JA187

ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

OFFICE CONCIERGE

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

OUTWARD

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

JA190

Marketing and PR Director (maternity cover) Corporate Receptionist with PA & Admin Challenging Role Internal Agency Support Worker Level 1 and Level 2 Regional Director

PIZZA EXPRESS

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

JA191

Project Manager

PERRETT LAVER

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

JA192

SME Propositions

NPOWER

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

JA193

Borough Solicitor

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

JA194

Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts Country Specialists Sales Head of PA

WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL GOVERNMENT LEGAL SERVICE AUDLEY TRAVEL

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

NORTHCOTE LODGE SCHOOL BROADSTONE PENSIONS & INVESTMENTS LTD SALMON LTD

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

THAMES WATER

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

20 April, 2012

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

GRAINGER PLC

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

ECLIPSE ENERGY

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

HASTINGS DIRECT

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

BSKYB

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

ERNST & YOUNG

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

MOTT MACDONALD

http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk/

13 Jan, 2012

GFS

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

JA178

JA182 JA183

JA184

JA188

JA189

JA195 JA196 JA197 JA198 JA199 JA200

JA201 JA202 JA203 JA204 JA205

JA206 JA207 JA208 JA209

Actuarial Analyst (Graduate Trainee) Junior Java Developer Defence Commercial Graduate Programme Graduate Opportunities (Operations & Asset Management) Lawyer Senior Business Development manager Graduate (Residential) Surveyor Graduate Trainee Application Developer C#.Net, SharePoint, SQL Server Graduate Insight Analyst IT Risk & Assurance Graduate Development Programme Salespeople / Sales Executives

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding JA210

JA213

Recruitment Consultants (all levels including Trainees) IT Service Desk Analyst Manager – Quality & Compliance (Ref:2367) Graduate Sales Trainees

JA214

Examinations manager

JA215

Customer Advisor (Home Insurance) Ref: MAN2002 ICT Test Environment Lead Java engineers

JA211 JA212

JA216 JA217 JA218 JA219 JA220 JA221

JA222 JA223

JA224 JA225 JA226 JA227

JA228 JA229 JA230 JA231

JA232 JA233 JA234 JA235 JA236

209

CREATIVE PERSONNEL

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE AQA

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

WEB WINDOWS

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

THE BRITISH OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE SOCIETY (BOHS) THE CO-OPERATIVE GROUP

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

19 Jan, 2012

THE MARITIME AND COASTGUARD AGENCY PURPLE SECURE SYSTEMS DOUGLAS MACMILLAN HOSPICE SOLAR

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

Customer Service and Sales Representative Insurance Consultants with Change, Project and Process management experience Project Manager

HSBC

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

PRO INSURANCE SOLUTIONS LTD.

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

RX SYSTEMS

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

Customer Service Hosts (Full & part-time | Short & long-term) Software Engineers

ALTON TOWERS RESORT

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

MIND CANDY

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

QTS or NQT Music Teacher Customer Services Administrator Aberdeenshire European Fisheries Fund Co-ordinator Glazier, Cladders and Roofers Bench Joiners

CAPITA EDUCATION RESOURCING COBBINS NURSERY

www.jobsite.co.uk

9 May, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

FISHERIES LOCAL ACTION GROUP

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

FLYNN CANADA LTD.

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

WESTBURY WINDOWS & JOINERY LIMITED TECHNICAL DEMOLITION SERVICES BETTAMIX GROUP

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

NEWARK AND SHERWOOD HOMES PHILLIPS & COHEN ASSOCIATES UK LTD ASHTON ROSE LTD.

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

CONDOR LOGISTICS

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

ENGLISH PROVENDER CO.

www.jobsite.co.uk

19 Jan, 2012

Medical Secretary/Administrator Field Sales Consultants

Asbestos Operations Manager B2B / B2C Telesales Staff / General Secretarial Duties Customer Service Advisor Telephone Collections Specialist (Sensitive) Transport Manager Customer Service Officer Warehouse Operatives

APPENDIX TWO

TEXT STATISTICS

THE CORPUS

74949 words

PARAGRAPHS: SENTENCES: SENTENCES PER PARAGRAPH: WORDS PER SENTENCE: CHARACTERS PER WORD: PASSIVE SENTENCES: FLESCH READING EASE: FLESCH-KINKEID GRADE LEVEL:

4398 2754 2.4 20.7 5.3 7% 33.3 13.6

AVERAGE NUMBER OF WORDS PER JA: The shortest ad (JA73) The longest ad (JA 24)

318 words 63 words 901 words

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INDEX

A accumulating 63, 134, 151, 199 addressee 21, 43, 50, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 75, 81, 98, 99, 109, 110, 120, 123, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 145, 176, 195, 199 addresser 43, 50, 59, 61, 66, 67, 69, 75, 81, 88, 89, 109, 110, 120, 126, 127, 132, 135, 136, 140, 141, 144, 146, 153, 184 advertising 4, 5, 10-17, 20, 22, 59, 63, 65, 76, 77, 118, 123, 127, 132, 140, 146, 147 advertising techniques 14 commercial advertising/advertisements 10, 15, 22, 28, 55, 85, 112, 121 corporate advertising 11 mainstream advertising/advertisements 10, 14, 15, 119, 124, 127, 130, 146 marketing-type advertising/advertisements 12, 13, 14, 15, 111, 121, 123, 131, 150, 151, 152, 193 AIDA 12, 28, 29, 62, 129, 130-132, 133, 151, 194 audience 11, 12, 14, 45, 57, 58, 79, 88, 131, 150 argumentation 59 axiological approach 74 axiological linguistics 72, 74 axiologically-oriented studies/investigations 73, 74

B benefits 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 60, 61, 62, 64, 81, 83, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 111, 116, 120, 121, 122, 127, 132, 133, 134, 143-145, 148, 152, 153, 155, 165, 167, 171, 173, 176, 177191, 192, 194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 201 benefit factor 100, 107, 143, 171 core employee benefits 190 emotional/psychological benefits 153, 179, 180, 183, 184-190, 192, 195, 200 extra benefits 24, 26, 180, 182 rational/functional benefits 153, 179, 180, 181, 182-184, 192, 195, 200 reciprocal benefits 60, 61, 144 boasting 63, 66, 67, 96, 102, 104, 107, 130, 135, 136, 137, 151, 154, 176, 194, 198, 199 brand 18, 19, 20, 24, 43, 77, 137, 138, 159, 162, 170, 179, 198, 200 brand building function 106, 135 brand building potential 82, 194 consumer brand 17, 19 corporate brand 22, 24, 27 employer brand 1, 17-24, 28, 29, 78, 80, 82, 88, 105, 106, 108, 110, 111, 132, 154, 173, 191, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201

Index

230 employer branding 1, 15, 1724, 25, 26, 27, 29, 55, 56, 82, 98, 99, 103, 105, 107, 123, 124, 126, 129, 135, 179, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201 employer branding strategy 23, 26, 195 job branding 1, 25-26 C cognitive-semantic approach 80 communicative event 30, 32, 37, 38, 39, 54, 55, 88 communicative purpose 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 55, 88, 92, 109, 127, 128, 154 communicator 41, 57, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 105, 113, 120, 126, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 147, 151, 153, 155, 165, 183, 190, 191, 199 comparison 49, 63, 70, 117-118, 124, 134, 135, 139, 148, 151, 194, 199 complimenting 64, 151, 181, 195 content 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 24, 38, 40, 46, 47, 49, 66, 76, 78, 83, 86, 89, 100, 106, 110, 154, 181, 193 context 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 48, 49, 50, 52, 55, 56, 58, 67, 68, 71, 72, 76, 83, 89, 92, 103, 112, 113, 126, 127, 135, 138, 143, 149, 159, 163, 165, 178, 179, 186, 193, 200 contextual factors 49, 50, 108 corpus of job/recruitment advertisements 28, 92, 126, 134, 139, 149, 152, 165, 168, 190 cover letter 90, 01 credibility 8, 60, 61, 62, 88, 93, 97, 106, 133, 136

CV 90, 91, 95, 96, 118, 119, 122, 142, 197 D DAGMAR 12-13, 28, 62, 129, 130132, 133, 151 descriptive phrases 63, 134, 151, 194 design 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15, 53, 65, 85, 131, 147 direct address 64, 140, 199 discourse 26-36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 49, 51, 53, 54, 59, 62, 70, 71, 82, 84, 89, 91, 92, 105, 109, 169 advertising discourse 53, 59, 62, 65, 77, 80, 117 business discourse 35-36, 40, 54, 82, 114, 124 discourse community 38, 3941, 44, 55, 89 discourse network 39-41, 44, 89 discourse of job advertising 54, 80, 81, 102, 109 discourse of (product or service/mainstream) advertising 119, 121, 123, 147 discourse of recruitment advertising/ads 56, 82, 132, 134, 193 institutional discourse 35, 53, 82 order of discourse 30 organisational discourse 29, 3536, 38, 53, 54, 82 persuasive discourse 58, 62, 81, 111, 129, 144 professional discourse 35, 64, 82 promotional discourse 42, 43, 56, 62, 77, 111 workplace discourse 35-36, 54 discourse analysis 29, 31-35, 46, 48, 52, 53, 54, 56, 76 genre-based approach 35

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding genre-based view of discourse 36 discourse studies 29, 32-34, 36, 46, 53 multimodal discourse analysis 29 E embedded steps 84, 96, 101-104, 107, 194, 196, 198 economising 79, 154, 166 emotional appeal 62, 122, 147, 148, 150, 152, 195, 200 emotional impact 121, 127 employer of choice 19, 25, 27, 193 employer values 153, 154-177, 192, 195, 200 (employer’s) attributes 9, 19, 66, 155-163, 172, 191, 195, 200 business profile 79, 154, 155, 159 customers 17, 19, 20, 21, 27, 76, 77, 95, 96, 116, 119, 155, 163, 165, 167, 169, 170-171, 174, 175, 176, 177, 200 development 166-167, 176, 177 employees 17-21, 23, 27, 79, 141, 145, 149, 150, 151, 152, 155, 162, 165, 166, 167, 169, 171-173, 175, 176, 177, 180, 183, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 200 employer’s achievements 101, 103, 104, 135 fairness/fair treatment 169-171, 177, 179, 180, 192, 195 financial standing 162, 163, 191, 195 goals 141, 148, 154, 164, 171, 173, 177, 200 growth 23, 25, 26, 79, 104, 115, 145, 154, 166-167, 168, 169, 173, 176, 177, 179, 180, 183, 184, 192, 195, 200

231

history 61, 137, 138, 162, 163, 191, 195 honesty 169-170, 177, 192, 195 improvement 115, 159, 167168, 177, 185 innovation 17, 167-168, 177, 192, 195 integrity 76, 79, 154, 166, 169170, 171, 173, 176, 177, 179, 192, 195, 200 leading position 96, 102, 148, 161, 191, 195, 198, 200 local community 79, 155, 174176, 177 location 25, 94, 162, 163, 191, 195, 197 market position 154, 155, 159, 160, 161, 163, 176, 191 nation 150, 151, 174 plans 119, 141, 164, 196 professionalism 124, 148, 164, 169, 170, 177, 181, 192, 195, 200 quality 18, 20, 26, 104, 105, 111, 118, 160, 163, 164, 168-169, 173, 177, 181, 192, 195, 200 reputation 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27, 138, 162, 163, 169, 191, 192, 195, 200 scale of operation(s) 135, 160, 176 shareholders 174, 176 size 3, 17, 25, 160, 163, 191, 195, 196, 197, 200 society 136, 157, 161, 174, 176, 177, 192, 195 stakeholders 79, 111, 155, 174, 176, 177, 184, 192, 195 standards 16, 78, 79, 105, 116, 138, 154, 168-169, 177, 192, 195 strategy 3, 9, 17, 19, 26, 80, 137, 149, 154, 155, 164, 167, 177, 193,

232 (employer’s) success 2, 27, 78, 79, 101, 102, 104, 107, 115, 130, 135, 136, 140, 142, 151, 154, 161, 165-166, 176, 177, 188, 192, 194, 195, 197, 199, 200 team 102, 111, 113, 114, 115, 125, 139, 141, 149, 165, 169, 171-173, 184, 186, 187, 188, 190, 197, 198, 199, 200 uniqueness/unique 13, 23, 27, 61, 133, 141, 142, 149, 157, 162, 163, 178, 184, 191, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200 vision 26, 78, 79, 93, 99, 103, 104, 105, 107, 154, 155, 164-165, 184, 196 entwined steps 96, 101-104, 105, 135, 188, 194, 196, ESP (English for Specific Purposes) 48 ethos 60, 170 evaluation 1, 28, 56, 63, 765-72, 74, 80, 81, 82, 124, 129, 136, 153, 156, 168, 171, 172, 173, 178, 194 adverbial intensifier 124, 128, 139 adverbial stance markers 70 affect 68 appraisal 68 engagement 68 evaluative signals 70, 81, 124126, 128, 199 evaluative speech acts 76 explicit evaluation 71, 170, 192 graduation 68 implicit evaluation 71, 81, 195 judgement 68, 69, 73 language of evaluation means of evaluation 66, 136 evaluative load 72, 75, 112, 120, 159, 170, 192, 195 stance 50, 68, 69, 70, 125, 126

Index subjectivity 68, 69, 70, 72, 81, 124, 125, 126, 128, 147 EVP (Employee Value Proposition) 1, 13, 23-24, 26, 27, 28, 81, 98, 105, 133, 153, 177-179, 191, 192, 193, 195, 200 achievement 157, 180, 181, 187, 188, 189 atmosphere 24, 25, 119, 121, 140, 141, 172, 173, 180, 181, 186, 187, 190, 192, 199 autonomy 24, 180, 181, 187, 190, 192 career 25, 26, 86, 120, 140, 145, 147, 148, 149, 166, 178, 179, 181, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 197, 198, 201 challenge 104, 111, 113, 145, 149, 180, 181, 186, 201 chance 110, 140, 178, 187, 188, 189 commission 94, 96, 122, 143, 144, 168, 180, 182 development 24, 25, 26, 94, 115, 145, 146, 180, 181, 182, 183, 187, 189, 190, 192, 197, 199, 201 fair treatment 169, 181, 189, 190 fun 113, 141, 149, 151, 180, 181, 185, 187, 189, 190 impact 104, 181, 184, 185, 190, 192 importance 181, 184, 185, 190, 192, 201 incentives 27, 60, 62, 64, 77, 81, 103, 112, 134, 143-145, 151, 179, 181, 182, 199 job security 26, 181, 183 pleasure 165, 180, 181, 190 prestige 24, 180, 181, 189 pride 104, 150, 180, 181, 189, 200 promotion 24, 180, 181, 182, 189

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding remuneration 9, 24, 25, 28, 100, 107, 180, 182, 190, 192 salary 9, 25, 26, 83, 91, 93, 94, 96, 98, 100, 103, 104, 105, 107, 115, 121, 143, 144, 180, 182, 189, 192, 194, 197, 198, 199, 200 recognition 17, 23, 25, 140, 145, 181, 189, 190, 192, 201 respect 21, 23, 141, 142, 181, 189, 190, 192, 201 responsibility 24, 180, 181, 187, 190, 192 satisfaction 21, 23, 14, 165, 166, 178, 180, 181, 186, 188, 189 self-fulfillment 181, 188, 189 (employee’s) success 130, 136, 149, 166, 180, 181, 187, 188, 198, 199 training 6, 7, 21, 25, 115, 180, 182, 186, 188, 190, 191, 197, 199, 201 work/working environment 21, 24, 26, 141, 173, 176, 177, 180, 181, 186, 187, 189, 190, 192, 196, 197, 200, 201 work-life balance 21, 24, 25, 180, 181, 183, 190, 191, 192, G genre 7, 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36-41, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 65, 82, 88, 89, 90, 91, 105, 106, 124, 126, 194, 196 adapted genres 52 business genre(s) 45, 193 colonisation (of genres) 42 commodification (of genres) 42 conventional genres 51 emergent genres 51 extant genres 51 genre choice 64, 65, 146, 152 genre colony 29, 41-42 genre hybridisation 58

233

genre network 44 genre nomenclature 89 genre of job/recruitment advertising 42, 88-91, 108, 128, 153, 193 genre repertoire 41 genre set(s) 41-42, 52 genre system(s)/system of genres 41-42, 89, 106, 193 hybrid genres 42 job search genre system 82, 88, 90, 91 marketisation (of genres) 42 new genres 52 novel cybergenres 51, 55 promotional genres 29, 42-44, 55, 59, 88, 119, 127, 128, 130, 193 promotionalisation (of genres) 42, 58 public genres 54 replicated genres 51 reproduced genres 52 spontaneous genres 52 sub-genre 41 sequence (of genres) 82, 88, 89, 90, 91, 106, 193 variant genres 51 web/web-mediated genres 52, 55 genre analysis 1, 28, 44-46, 48, 52, 82 genre-based analysis 40, 46, 82 linking mode 52 move-step analysis/approach 6, 44- 45, 55 navigating mode 52 reading mode 52, 55 grammar 32, 116-124 adjectives 70, 111-114, 118, 125, 163, 168, 170, 178, 182, 184, 185, 186 adverbs 70, 113-114, 118, 124, 125, 199 active voice 124, 126, 194, 199

Index

234 comparative forms/structures 111, 116, 117-118, 124, 126, 128 conditionals/conditional structures 111, 116, 117, 118, 124, 126, 128 ellipsis/elliptical structures 124, 194 exclamations/exclamatory structures 65, 111, 116, 120, 121-123, 144, 146, 147, 152, 182, 194, 195, 199 grammatical number 116-117 imperative 111, 116, 119-120, 127, 139, 140, 143, 146, 152, 194, 195, 199 interrogative forms/structures 120-121, 139 nominalisation 124 nouns 30, 70, 84, 114-115, 125, 126, 155, 156, 159, 170, 171, 172, 173, 178, 186, 199, 200 parallelism 124, 147, 152, 194, 199 personal pronouns 111, 116, 118-119, 127, 139, 140, 147, 175, 194, 198 superlative forms/adjectives 111, 116, 118, 127, 139, 140, 147, 175, 194, 198 syntactic patterns/choices 76, 111, 116, 123, 127, 147, 194 tenses 111, 116, 127, 143, 144 verbless structures 124, 194 verbs 67, 68, 70, 80, 84, 113, 114, 115, 125, 126, 143, 148, 151, 175, 183, 100 H hedging 68 hyperbole 139, 145, 151, 152, 195, 199 hypertext 52, 53 hypertextuality 53 hypertextual links 51, 55

HRM (Human Resource Management) 1, 2, 5, 10, 26, 27, 28, 109, 193 humour 14, 65 I identity 9, 18, 23, 79, 83, 171 image 3, 5, 8, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 56, 60, 61, 76, 77, 78, 83, 88, 98, 99, 102, 106, 107, 113, 118, 120, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 133, 135, 138, 139, 141, 148, 154, 155, 163, 168, 171, 173, 179, 180, 183, 186, 187, 191, 192, 193, 194, 198 impartiality 63 Internet 1, 4, 6, 12, 15, 16, 27, 29, 51, 52, 55, 84, 100, 110, 131 intertextuality 51 intertextual relations 90 J job 1, 4, 8, 9, 10-14, 16, 24, 25, 59, 82-86, 88, 89, 91, 93, 96, 100, 109, 113, 115, 119, 121, 123, 128, 130, 133, 138, 140, 142, 145, 149, 159, 165, 172, 175, 176, 178, 180, 181, 183, 185, 186, 188, 189, 191, 198 job announcement 1, 4, 14, 84, 92 job application 44, 178 job board 4, 16 job centre 12, 178 job description 6, 7, 28, 90, 91, 103, 105, 122, 171, 178 job fairs 4, 22 job identification 6, 7, 8, 92, 98, 101, 106 job interview 90, 91 job offer 90, 91, 131, 149 job opportunity 6, 7, 8, 92, 96, 100, 104, 131, 196 job overview 7, 92, 96, 101, 178, 198

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding job position 13, 88, 89, 123, 131, 132, 190 job profile 3, 178 job requirements 6, 98, 102, 113, 129, 188 job seekers 4, 10, 16, 85, 88, 130, 149, 152 job summary 84, 92, 96, 98, 101, 106 job title 6, 7, 8. 28, 92, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101, 103, 106, 131, 132, 196 job advertisement/ad 1, 4-8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 36, 41, 42, 44, 52, 56, 75, 81, 82-103, 106, 107, 109, 110, 115, 119, 120, 122, 122-131, 134135, 138, 141, 147-152, 154, 155, 164, 165, 170, 172, 174, 177, 179, 182, 190-194, 199, 201 branded ads 98, 101, 106, 131, 154, 179, 193, 199 classified ads 83, 84, 91, 92, 106 customised ads 85, 97, 98, 106 ‘no-name’ ads 98, 179 job advertising 1, 4-17, 26, 27, 28, 29, 35, 36, 54, 55, 64, 80, 81, 82, 88, 102, 103, 106, 108, 109, 110, 114, 116, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, 130, 139, 151, 159, 193, 194, 196 job ad corpus 1 job market 5, 109, 110, 163, 165, 191 job market participants 3, 10, 21, 28, 86, 88, 89, 106, 109, 138, 159, 166, 167, 176 job search context 89, 178, 193 job search situation 123 L language of success 115 layout features 6, 7, 85, 86, 131

235

lexico-grammar 33, 108, 110-124, 198-199 lexico-grammatical choices 126, 127, 194 lexico-grammatical features 38, 47, 48, 55, 56, 108 lexico-grammatical patterns 29, 46 lexico-grammatical structures 115, 198 lexis 71, 115, 199 business lexis 114 positive lexis 147, 152, 195 positively charged/positive adjectives 111, 112, 126, 161, 168, 172, 178, 185, 186, 199 positive/positively-charged adverbs 112, 113, 114, 126, 199 positively-charged lexis 110, 111-116, 126, 134, 194 professional lexis 36, 83 specialised lexis 38, 89 linguistic axiology 76 linguistic features 49, 50, 89 logo 7, 84, 85, 86, 93, 97, 99, 106, 131 logos 60 M marketing 1, 10-15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 27, 28, 43, 59, 62, 76, 77, 80, 93, 125, 129, 130, 133, 140, 149, 150, 151, 162, 172, 184, 194 ambient marketing 22 buzz marketing 22 employment marketing 10, 15 mainstream marketing 11 marketing mix 111-12, 28 personnel marketing 10 medium of communication 100, 110, 193 metaphor 11, 30, 60, 65, 76, 147, 149-150, 152, 155, 159, 168,

236 172, 178, 186, 188, 192, 195, 200 metonymy 65, 75, 149-150, 152, 155, 159, 172, 192, 195 mission 26, 78, 93, 99, 103, 104, 105, 107, 150, 153, 154, 165, 170, 196 mission statement 79, 115, 154, 165, 168, 174, 176 model employer branding ad 193, 196, 197, 201 multimodality 51, 52, 53 myth 63, 64, 138, 141, 151, 195, 199 O online job advertisements/ads 17, 52, 55, 86, 87, 106, 154, 155, 164, 174, 193 P pathos 60 personification 64, 139, 151, 195 persuasion 1, 28, 56-60, 62, 63, 6567, 74, 80, 81, 82, 108, 129-130, 133, 134, 146, 151, 153, 194, 199 language of persuasion 1, 28 linguistic means of persuasion 108, 129 linguistic tools of persuasion 28, 62-65, 81, 129, 133-151, 199-200 paradigm case(s) of persuasion 57, 58, 81, 129, 130, 151, 194 persuading factors 24, 27, 193 persuasive appeal 14, 60, 123, 124, 125, 127, 128, 149, 179, 185 persuasive text 66, 75 persuasive strategies 59-62, 63-65, 66, 81, 129, 133, 139, 141, 147, 149, 150, 153, 194, 199

Index building a common ground 62, 64, 81, 127, 132, 133, 139141, 195 encouraging action/encouraging addressees to take action 64, 132, 145-146, 199 enhancing persuadees’ status 61, 62, 64, 81, 132, 134, 141-143, 151, 185, 195, 199 offering benefits 8, 61, 62, 64, 81, 93, 98, 100, 101, 106, 122, 133, 134, 143-145, 179, 194, 195, 198, 199 positive self-presentation 61, 62, 63-64, 81, 102, 132, 133, 134-139, 144, 151, 181, 187, 189, 194, 199 pressure tactics 93, 123, 146 ‘universal’ persuasive tactics/strategies 146-151, 152, 195, 200 politeness strategies 64, 113, 142143, 146, 151, 152, 195, 199 PR/public relations 1, 19, 20, 22, 27, 197, 198 praising/praise 17, 64, 76, 151, 172, 181, 195 promising benefits 96, 100, 103, 104, 105, 107, 171, 194 promotional strategies 59-62 R reciprocity 37, 144, 179, 199 recruitment 1-5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 22, 83, 109, 111, 130 e-recruitment 4, 15-16, 27 Internet recruitment 16 recruitment advertising 1, 3, 417, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 40, 46, 51, 52, 55, 82, 85, 88, 105, 106, 108, 112, 113, 114, 124, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134, 135, 139, 143, 146, 153, 193 recruitment agency 9, 12, 109, 156, 157

Recruitment Advertising as an Instrument of Employer Branding recruitment and selection 6, 189 recruitment marketing 10, 15 recruitment medium 1, 16, 27 recruitment message 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 22, 100, 123 recruitment method 1, 3, 4, 26, 27 recruitment policy 3 recruitment process 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, 20, 26, 28, 41, 128, 131, 189 recruitment strategy 3, 9 recruitment website 23, 84, 85 register 28, 29, 33, 35, 46-50, 55, 56, 108, 126, 153, 198 business register 115 register features/features of register 48, 50 register of job/recruitment advertising 29, 108, 114, 115, 124, 126, 153, 194 register analysis 1, 28, 29, 46, 4850, 108, 115 rewards 23, 24, 26, 60, 91, 115, 122, 133, 144, 145, 156, 177, 178, 179, 186, 190, 192, 195, 197, 199, 200 Total Rewards Framework 23 rhetorical analysis 92, 108 rhetorical device 64, 139 rhetorical organisation 47, 48 rhetorical question 65, 120, 121, 127, 147, 152, 188, 194, 195, 199 rhetorical situation 38, 88 rhetorical strategy 39, 45, 55 rhetorical structure 82, 91-105, 106, 107, 135, 193, 194 distribution of moves 97-98 distribution of steps 98-99 rhetorical move 28, 45 S self-praise 63, 137 SFL/ systemic functional linguistics 44, 49, 50, 55, 109

237

situational characteristics 50, 55, 108, 109-110 field 49, 50, 55, 109 mode 49, 50, 55, 110 mode of communication 64, 147, 152 tenor 49, 50, 55, 66, 68, 109 slogan 65, 124, 131, 147-148, 152, 176, 195, 200 statistical support 63, 136, 151 stereotype 64, 75, 138, 141, 151, 195 structural-residual approach 81 style 38, 45, 46-48, 69, 140, 147 U USP (Unique Selling Proposition) 13, 23, 27, 62, 130, 133, 151, 194 V vacancy 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 28, 84, 85, 88, 89, 92, 94, 96, 106, 110, 112, 129, 130, 132, 169, 177, 178, 179, 194 value 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 39, 42, 56, 61, 62, 64, 65-70, 72-79, 80, 81, 82, 100, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 116, 118, 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 133, 136, 138, 141, 148, 150, 153-155, 159, 164-169, 170, 171, 174, 175, 176-181, 182, 186, 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 200 language of values 56, 65, 7276, 80, 82, 153, 155 business values 78-79, 154, 166, 168, 171, 176, 192, 195, 200 corporate values 78, 79, 168, 194

238 instrumental values 74, 75, 78, 154 negative values 74, 75 organisational values 24, 56, 77-79, 81, 153, 154 positive values 68, 75 terminal values 74, 75, 78 ultimate values 75 valuation 66, 67, 72, 74, 75, 76, 80 value appeals 61, 76-77, 80

Index value judgements 64, 74, 75, 138, 171 value-laden adjectives 181, 182, 186, 192 value-laden adverbs 192 W web-mediated communication 5053