Mini Investigation - Job Descriptions & Building the Consumer

Hypothesis – Each of the job adverts will build the consumer differently in order to attract the ideal, highest calibre of candidate

Methodology – Using a UK job site website, I searched jobs in ‘London’ and ordered them in salary order, selecting every tenth.

Analysis – Accountant/Auditor position: frequent jargon, very little emotive language, primarily used declaratives & epistemic (will be …), negotiable salary (shift of power – equal opportunities for the less experienced as they can use a reduced salary as a bargaining chip)

Primary Teacher – small amount of jargon (half that of the Accounting ad), more emotive language, sell the school (more persuasive), - at the bottom they describe the process of replying to applicants emphasising competitiveness

British Red Cross – no jargon, rhetorical questions, emotive, exclamatory, personal to own gain, sapir wharf, 

Conclusion -

Evaluation -

 

Mini Investigation

Using Fairclough’s theory of ‘building the consumer’ I have focused my investigation on the use of such methods within job adverts. My hypothesis is that each of the job adverts will build the consumer differently in order to attract the ideal and highest calibre of candidate, I feel this will be emphasised more in those adverts promoting higher paid jobs (professional jobs).

My methodology consisted of selecting job adverts on a certain site for a certain location, to increase the confidence level of my data by improving the comparability (by reducing the variables). I selected three adverts from ‘the job site’ for North London; I then narrowed the search to list them in wage order. From there I selected every tenth; in doing so I selected a job advert for voluntary work with the British Red Cross (£0 salary), an Account/Auditor role (an unspecified salary, listed as negotiable based upon experience and qualification) and finally a Primary School Teacher (£25,000 - £35,000). Research has shown the Account’s salary to vary between £70,000 and £95,000. Providing me with a suitable range of salaried job adverts to base my investigation upon.

I investigated a range of methods that ‘build the consumer’ to establish the extent of use within the adverts and if this was proportionate to the salary. Jargon, for example, creates the illusion of knowledge and indicates a desire for the candidate to acquire knowledge and connotes the acquisition of skill. The Accounting advert uses the most jargon (ten different phrases), the teaching post only uses five notable jargon phrases and the voluntary Red Cross advert appears to not use any. The Red Cross wishes to appeal to a wide audience; colloquial terms are more accessible to a wide audience than jargon which requires experience and knowledge to understand, in this way, the Accounting and Teaching adverts use these terms to access particular audiences of potential candidates. The use of jargon, in this example, is proportionate to the salary (positive correlation, almost exactly proportionate). The Teaching advert uses a high frequency of adjectives to describe the ideal candidate; enthusiastic, flexible, proactive, passionate, inspirational …ect, to the ideal candidate these adjectives will describe the teacher they aspire to be (building the consumer). In this way the teaching advert strongly builds the consumer, including building up the school and its culture to suit the ideal candidate; outstanding, dedicated, happy, safe …ect. The Accounting advert speaks more of physical requirements in oppose to qualities, due to the nature of the job; technical knowledge, experienced, keen interest, aptitude for IT …ect. This builds the consumer in a more demanding manner, using epistemic language to explain their needs in oppose their desires from a candidate. The audience should wish to acquire all these skills, connoting determination and aspiration within their field of work. The Red Cross using a different method; the Red Cross uses persuasive devices to appeal to its audience, including rhetorical questions (hoping for the audience to rhetorically respond in favour of the question – building the consumer) and focuses its advert on the ‘worker’ in oppose to the ‘business’, unlike the other adverts, it explains the benefits to the volunteer, even listing them. Throughout, it uses colloquial language connoting informality and a friendly culture, unlike the accounting jargon and low frequency lexis which connote professional business and high standards (and quality).

In conclusion, my hypothesis appears to have been disproven as the Red Cross build the consumer the most, followed by the Teaching advert whereas, the high paid, Accountancy advert uses less imagery and less persuasion instead demanding certain skills. In retrospect the context reflects this; a lower paid job may need to persuade its audience more whereas a highly paid job relies on the salary as means of persuasion, building the consumer is a persuasive method.

When evaluating my investigation I appreciate a need for a large and wider pool of data to increase the reliability of my data. I also feel I need to select a broader topic so as to have certain points to evaluate my hypothesis with, as I was limited within this investigation.