Rhetorical Analysis of Fast-Growth Businesses’ Job Advertisements: Implications for Job Search

Abstract

This article presents findings from a rhetorical analysis of job advertisements posted by the fastest growing companies in the United States (Inc.5000 rankings). The analysis suggests that companies rely on standard rhetorical figures and share similar rhetorical visions of novelty that likely effect their organizational culture, paradoxically make them homogeneous, and potentially oversell positions that require prosaic job duties. Suggestions to authors of job advertisements include writing with fewer clichés and metaphors, since they tend to reify ageist stereotypes. Suggestions for job seekers include doing rhetorical analyses of advertisements and writing résumés so they comply with job advertisements’ creative rhetorical styles.

Keywords

job advertisement job search position announcement recruitment process rhetorical analysis fantasy theme analysis

Job advertisements are a useful resource for rhetoricians interested in understanding organizational culture vis-à-vis business communication. Rhetoric in strategic communication has been both theorized and empirically shown to be coconstitutive of organizational identification, material practices, and therefore organizational culture (Hartelius & Browning, 2008;Mouton, Just, & Gabrielsen, 2012). Studies within this area of organizational communication have highlighted that public-facing communications, such as job ads, are the products of ongoing discussions within a company (i.e., “this is the kind of culture weenvisionourselves to be”) and taken-for-granted organizational practices (i.e., “this is what we actually do, or need to do, to maintain operations”). Language used in these types of public documents reify and stabilize cultural–organizational practices (Marin, 2016;Moufahim, Reedy, & Humphreys, 2015).

Job announcements serve dual functions of advertising and recruiting talent, since ads are typically distributed broadly through job boards and posted directly on an organization’s website (therefore becoming a metastory of an overarching organizational narrative). Once cultural practices are described in these types of documents, they stabilize and reinforce internal stakeholders’ beliefs, practices, and values (Cheney, 1983;Mouton et al., 2012). In a sense, these documents signal to employees what their leaders value and highlight what practices they themselves think are important. External stakeholders read these artifacts and then determine whether an organization reflects their own values, seems legitimate, and, in the case of job ads, offers the kind of work environment and culture a job applicant prefers. These artifacts lead to organizations importing personnel or customers that further reinforce an organization’s culture (a source of homeostasis and homogeneity), potentially discouraging diversity. Institutional theorists have described the effects of this circular process asdiscursive pressure, which has significant implications for professions and organizations (Green, Babb, & Alpaslan, 2008). Therefore, a study of similar artifacts (e.g., job advertisements) used by organizations undertaking similar experiences (e.g., fast-growth firms), with similar challenges (e.g., rapidly recruiting talent), and within similar sectors or organizational niches can provide useful insights to both organizations (job providers) and professionals (job seekers).

Each yearInc.magazine releases a list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in the United States (seehttp://www.inc.com/inc5000). Most of these companies are startups. The top-ranked companies often have greater than 100,000% growth rates and the lowest ranked companies in 2014, 2015, and 2016 beat a 40% rate of growth on revenues over $4.2 million. This list is, therefore, a gold mine of job leads for job seekers. In addition to understanding management and cultural fads, analysis of these job advertisements can provide insight into the types of technical, emotional, and interpersonal skills students and clients (i.e., professionals) should learn in classrooms or career seminars.

On the other side of the recruiting table, fast-growth companies often compete for administrative, marketing, sales, and customer relations talent while offering lower salaries and fewer benefits than organizations that have been in existence longer (Ledford, 2014). They must do this while recruiting aggressively for top talent to keep pace with growth (Elving, Westhoff, Meeusen, & Schoonderbeek, 2013). Therefore, it is not surprising that their job advertisements lean heavily on edgy writing and rhetorical devices such as analogy, metaphor (often mixed), neologisms, superlatives, and hyperbole (just to name a few) as demonstrated (italics added) in these few outtakes from some of the position announcements we analyzed for this study:

We’re looking for people who share and believe in the vision ofsmarter consumptionof consumer electronics and want to beengulfedin agadget geekdom haven(BuyBackWorld, n.d.).

Welcome to Tahzoo, a place whereideas are put to workand shoes are optional. You arrive at 8:35 . . . yourTahzoo-Fuis strong, and you’re ready to make great things happen (Tahzoo, n.d.).

We’re looking for driven, innovative people who embrace our core values. You must bepathologically optimisticand anowner of results. You must be eager to improve and acreator of “WOW” moments. And finally, youmust not be an asshole(Hireology, n.d.).

More examples of these rhetorical figures are provided in our analysis section.

There is a robust body of literature within composition, business communication, and organizational communication on the role of rhetoric in business writing genres and organizational identity and culture (see, e.g.,Cheney & Christensen, 2004;Hartelius & Browning, 2008;Porter, 2009); however, there is no study to our knowledge that has looked at the representations of identity and culture vis-à-vis the rhetoric of job advertisements. There are a few recent studies of language in job advertisements (e.g.,Elving et al., 2013;Feldman, Bearden, & Hardesty, 2006;Hillebrandt, Rauschnabel, & Ivens, 2012). However, these studies primarily focus on the use of key words and the match between applicant résumés and job advertisements with implications focused on what it means for job seekers, not job advertisement writers. What is more, despite the importantorganizational implicationsnoted above and the usefulpedagogical outcomesnoted in this article, studies do not often look at job advertisements as a constitutive feature of the rhetorical situation. AsDing and Ding (2013)pointed out in theirBusiness Communication Quarterlyarticle on this topic, situating job ads in rhetorical situations (Bitzer, 1968) is necessary for the purpose of deconstructing the job ad for targeted résumé writing.

Using fantasy theme analysis (FTA; cf.Bormann, 1972;Foss, 2009), we examined 54 job postings from 30 of the fastest growing companies in the United States, sourced from the 2014, 2015, and 2016Inc.5000 lists. FTA, explained in detail below, goes beyond simple keyword or metaphor analysis by identifying the ways in which rhetors (including companies) envision themselves in the here-and-now, but also in the future. Given the fact that a goal of recruiting is to hire candidates who fit the culture and strategic vision of a company’s work spaces (Feldman et al., 2006), a fantasy theme approach—which draws onRobert Bales’s (1970)theory of symbolic convergence whereby messages are said to creatively structure a sharedrhetorical visionof past, present, and future events among audiences—is appropriate for this study. Job advertisements inherently use fantasy themes that offer a company’s rhetorical vision of theideal candidateand theirideal culturesince, as we noted above, they achieve advertising, public relations, and hiring goals (e.g., technical and cultural fitness).

To explain the relevance of this research, the appropriateness of using the FTA method, and the tangible and useful insights from this research, we first provide an explanation of recruiting as a rhetorical process. This contextualizes the usefulness of doing rhetorical analysis in business and professional communication research. Second, we explain FTA and the methodological procedures we used to conduct this study. Third, we list our key findings and discuss the implications of them for job seekers, organizations, and educators/consultants. We conclude with what we see are some practical implications of this research, limitations of this study, and ideas for future research.

Recruiting as a Rhetorical Situation

Job applicants understand, at least intuitively, that they must present arguments that demonstrate they are the best candidates for a position. They do this in both written and oral forms (e.g., résumés, cover letters, and interviews). Yet there are only a handful of articles in disciplinary journals on the topic of recruiting as a rhetorical process (e.g.,Ding & Ding, 2013;O’Rourke, 1995;Quible, 1995;Schullery, Ickes, & Schullery, 2009;Smart, 2004;Wright, Domagalski, & Collins, 2011). Across journals publishing articles in business and professional communication, there are few articles suggesting that the job advertisement itself is a rhetorical artifact or that applicants should engage in rhetorical-type analysis of job advertisements in order to respond to specific details in them (Ding & Ding, 2013;Foster, 1997;Kennan, Cole, Willard, Wilson, & Marion, 2006;Randazzo, 2012).

The fact that so few research articles exist on this topic is not surprising to us. If other researchers and practitioners share our attitude, the persuasive dimension of résumé writing and the job search seems obvious. However, research on business writing highlights that inexperienced writers, as many early career job seekers are, tend to work only at the lexical level and make surface changes to drafts (Sommers, 1980). This appears to be the case in employment documents as well; students tend to make minor revisions following instructor feedback on résumés (Ding & Ding, 2013). Thus, more research on job postings should be conducted to discern which rhetorical strategies should be taught to résumé writing consultants, students, and other job seekers. Additionally, since the prose of job advertisements can reflect and inform organizational culture, explaining the constitutive effects of common themes in job ads to human resource managers and other writers of job advertisement prose is also important. In short, studying the rhetorical and communicative aspects of the job advertisementas a rhetorical artifact responding to a rhetorical situationcan yield useful insights for communication, human resource, and training and development scholars.

Rhetorical Artifact

In rhetorical analysis, the objects of study are symbolic acts and artifacts (Foss, 2009). Foss describesactsas language and performances that are executed toward an intended audience andartifactsas the transcribed content of these acts. Artifacts include, but are not limited to speech texts, interviews, buildings, sculptures, recorded songs, essays, andjob advertisements.In rhetorically focused research, analysts often use the artifact as the basis of research because it is tangible and long-lasting, unlike acts which tend to be ephemeral. While a job ad posting is an artifact, it is important to note that it is only one artifact in the job search process (a series of acts). The job ad is an outcome of discussions related to an organization’s needs, problems, and strategic plans. Thus, the job ad arises from an exigency and then is sent to job seekers, who respond to this exigency.

Rhetorical Situation

Bitzer (1968)defined rhetorical situations as

a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence. (p. 6)

This definition explains why communication occurs. Organizations need employees (an exigency) and applicants need a job (also an exigency). A job advertisement is the rhetorical artifact thatcontextualizesthe exigency, therefore making it an important document for analysis. Of course, rhetorical artifacts can serve multiple purposes. Therefore,Cheney and Lair’s (2005)definition of rhetorical situation is useful: “‘Corporate’ or organized bodies addressing multiple audiences, including one another, through multiple means, and in an elusive search for stable identities, within an exploding/imploding universe of communication” (p. 62). This definition suggests two things that we assume about recruitment ads:

Since companiessearch for stable identities, how a company projects itself in a job post should reflect its messaging across multiple documents (allowing for some inference of findings).

Recruiters understand that the job advertisement can address multiple audiences simultaneously.

By considering the rhetorical situation as thecontextof job advertisements, we can expect that the job advertisement is crafted with even more focus on rhetorical potency when there is a perception that the applicant pool may be restricted or there is significant competition for talent. For example, a younger firm or startup may have cash flow problems that affect timely paychecks or long-term employment; regarding organizational culture, applicants who are currently employed may be insecure about leaving the devil they know for the devil they do not know. For more established firms, they may use the job advertisement to flex their rhetorical muscles as they try to recruit talent, as they cannot benefit fromargumentum ad novitatem(appeal to novelty). Of course, being seen as a novel company is largely an outcome of all rhetorical efforts during the hiring and selection process, but especially so in the initial job advertisement.

On both sides of the hiring equation, the job search process is to some degree about symbolic interaction. However, it is the hiring organization that incites the rhetorical situation by placing a job advertisement. It is therefore necessary to take an interpretive approach that allows us to better understand and analyze a job advertisement’s message. So far, as noted above, publications about résumés and cover letters do not focus on these artifacts as advertising or as a rhetorical situation—only a handful of studies focus on recruitment messages (Backhaus, 2004; see alsoDing & Ding, 2013). Our goal is to continue to fill this research gap by completing a rhetorical analysis of job advertisements using an interpretive method—FTA—that is fitting to our research questions.

Research Questions

Focusing on the job search as a rhetorical process, we generated the following research questions:

Research Question 1:What common rhetorical figures are used in job advertisements, and do organizations in each field share similar messaging logics?

Research Question 2:What identifiable fantasy themes emerge, and what rhetorical vision of their culture and job candidates do they project?

The first question is important because it should provide some understanding about the rhetorical situation by identifying commonneedsamong different companies and the taken-for-granted nature of job advertisement prose. Furthermore, this question can provide useful insights for teaching creative business writing, provide discussion points for the 360-degree approach to rhetoric in job hunting (Ding & Ding, 2013), and supply data for future studies. The second question is important because it gets at the fantasy themes and identifies the following related to rhetorical visions: (a)whoparticipates in enacting the visions, (b)whatpractices are needed to fulfill visions, and (c)wherevisions practically or figuratively occur (e.g., in the workplace, in the abstract future, or both).

Research questions in rhetorical analysis are not designed to beproven; rather, they are designed to guide research and to increase understanding of plausible interpretations of rhetors, audiences, situations, or messages (Foss, 2009). We determined that FTA would allow us to best answer the second question regarding the who, what, and where of visions shared by companies in similar fast-growth situations and sectors.

Method: Fantasy Theme Analysis

FTA was developed byErnest Bormann (1972), who used earlier discoveries in group interaction processes known as dramatizing and fantasizing (seeBales, 1970) to develop a theory known as symbolic convergence theory. Symbolic convergence theory, according toGarner, Sterk, and Adams (1998), is based on two major assumptions: (a) communication creates reality and (b) individuals’ interpretations of symbols create a sharedvisionamong participants. We define the second assumption as therhetorical situation. Bormann’s (1972,1982) use of the theory explains how symbols in messages (primarily texts) create a cohesive discourse through which participants and audiences can creatively structure a shared rhetorical vision of past, present, and future events. Arhetorical visionsustains members’ sense of community, impels people to action, and reifies a social reality filled with heroes, villains, emotions, and attitudes. The vision arises through the composite of variousfantasy themesthat are repeated and spread through discourse, influencing the way people think and act (Bormann, 1972,1982). From an institutional theory perspective, the vision can be said to become a myth that is repeated ceremonially and becomes the basis of rationality in organizations (Meyer & Rowan, 1977).

By looking at the various themes that organizations use in their job advertisements, we can therefore get a sense of the organization’s individual identity. Additionally, by looking at the shared themes of fast-growth organizations within similar organizational niches, we observe how various narrativesconvergeto create and maintain a professional field of shared practices and visions. A fantasy in the context of symbolic convergence theory refers to “the creative and imaginative interpretation of events” (Foss, 2009, p. 98). If people put themselves into the shared vision and engage in these practices, the visionsbecomereality. For example, companies narrating themselves as novel will be motivated to do unique things. This narrative may appeal to a particular type of candidate (driving homogeneity) or may oversell uniqueness of company culture, resulting in employees feeling misled (seeElving et al., 2013).

Procedurally, a researcher using FTA identifies fantasy themes by first charting content into three referential categories: character, action, and setting. According toFoss (2009),character themesare dramatic agents with motives,action themesmotivate actors and contextualize drama, andsetting themesdescribe where actions take place. Once statements are categorized, the researcher can then identify commonalities among statements within documents and between documents, identifying plausible rhetorical visions of the past, present, and future for a group, organization, or industry (Bormann, 1972).

As is commonly practiced protocol (seeFoss, 2009), our research questions aforementioned were informed by initial exploration of the topic and the method of criticism that we selected. An organization is likely to communicate in job advertisements what it has accomplished (past), what it is doing (present), and where it sees itself in the future. In addition, job ads focus on describing company culture and position requirements. To achieve the former, a company often provides some details about its mission and values (or provides a link to its website for this purpose). The references to mission, culture, and values use identification tactics like espousal of shared values (“We believe . . . ”), praise by outsiders (“We are ranked #X in theInc.5000”), and expression of concern for the individual (“We care for our employees . . . ”; seeCheney, 1983). These are fantasy themes, whichBormann (1972)described as a specific telling of an incident with a concrete plot and characters.

Data and Procedure

BecauseInc. provides a comprehensive and easily searchable list of fast-growth companies in the United States, we focused on these firms. We selected from this list the top 30 firms in the sectors of consumer products and services, business products and services, and advertising and marketing (seeTable 1). Using this list, we visited each company’s website and made notations of how the organization described itself on the “About” section (or similar web page). This information was used to identify any significant shifts in tone or message on the job advertisement, which we found on organizations’ “Employment,” “Careers,” or similar pages. We always sought positions that would fit early careerists, especially those with a background in communication or business (e.g., sales or social media writer). If these positions were not available, we selected the next most likely positions to which a communication studies or business major could aspire (e.g., human resource manager). In total, we analyzed 84 texts: the company profiles from the 30 fast-growth businesses and 54 of their job advertisements (some companies only had a single job ad for an entry-level position).

Table 1.

Top 20 Fast-Growth Firms (2014-2016Inc.5000 Listings).

2014 Rank^a	2015 Rank	2016 Rank	Company	Growth (%)^b	Revenue in millions ($)	Industry
1	—	—	Fuhu	158,957	195.6	CPS
—	—	1	Loot Crate	66,789	116.2	CPS
—	—	2	Paint Nite	36,555	55	CPS
3	122	—	Reliant Asset Management	55,460	15.7	BPS
—	—	6	Globalization Partners			BPS
12	12	—	Sainstore	14,087	19.2	BPS
26	143	505	Showroom Logic	8,449	13.4	A&M
27	500	—	WeVeel	8,240	9	CPS
30	26	—	HighPoint Global	7,639	95.8	BPS
34	402	2012	Centric Digital	6,898	18	BPS
41	1464	731	ReviMedia	5,817	6	A&M
—	50	45	ReVamp Electronics	5,261	8.1	BPS
60	1448	—	PhotoBin	5,003	6.3	CPS
61	—	—	PMG World	5,000	5.8	A&M
—	—	65	Dollar Shave Club	4,191	152.4	CPS
—	—	68	AppLovin	4,132	234.1	A&M
73	219	—	Main Street Hub	4,625	9.2	A&M
75	—	—	Ethology	4,219	8.8	A&M
—	—	76	Leafly	3,861	8.4	CPS
83	22	—	iCracked	4,033	7.3	CPS
84	799	2451	BuyBackWorld	4,011	4.1	CPS
—	—	84	InfoScout	3,602	3.7	BPS
85	1885	522	Tahzoo	3,946	5.7	A&M
88	459	518	TUNE	3,939	18.9	A&M
—	—	94	Hireology	3,386	3.6	BPS
120	1425	734	RevLocal	3,342	7.3	A&M
121	264	—	SeatGeek	3,039	12.2	CPS
148	156	303	Total Technology Solutions Group	2,608	3.1	BPS
150	—	—	Goal Zero	2,599	34.2	CPS

Note. CPS = consumer products and services; BPS = business products and services; A&M = advertising and marketing.

This is the ranking as it appears in the entire list. This study focuses on industries foremost suitable for communication graduates (e.g., marketing).^bGrowth and revenues listed are on first appearance in theInc.list. They are provided for illustration purposes to give a general sense of the size of the company and organizational change.

To answer Research Question 1 and to identify the repetition of words throughout the documents, artifacts were coded for uses of rhetorical figures used in business writing, drawing on classifications provided byFahnestock (2011). Examples, definitions, and frequency of commonly used figures are provided inTable 2. Company descriptions and job requirements from ads of companies in the listings were also stripped down to basic nouns and verbs and run through a word cloud generator (refer toFigures 1and2). This process helped us identify additional themes in our research that we might have otherwise missed. We then each coded the job advertisements using FTA procedure.

Table 2.

Examples of Commonly Used Rhetorical Figures in Job Ads.

Rhetorical figure	Definition	Example^a	Frequency^b
Hyperbole	Use of exaggeration in a statement	At Crowdtap,every team memberspends every day moving the business forward together, from engineering to business development. Welove what we do, and we like each othera lot.EveryCrowdtapper has an entrepreneurial attitude,a love forproblem solving and collaborating, andlotsofhustle[idiom]. Across the board, humility, positivity, a sense of humor and agenuine LOVEfor getting things done are some of the characteristics that make our teamgreat(Crowdtap, n.d.).	16.7
Metaphor	Figurative language that refers to one thing by mentioning another	We’reon a mission[idiom] to build a better bathroom. . . . We’re always growing and reinventing, and we rely onkiller talentto help us achieve our goal ofowning the bathroom. If you’re a team-playing innovator, you’ll fit right in. Asense of humor[idiom] helps, too. [Repetition of bathroom = Anaphora] (Dollar Shave Club [n.d.-a], “Associate Brand Manager”).	13.5
Superlative	Declaring something as the best in its category	Even with ourunbelievable level of growth[hyperbole], our client satisfaction ratings arethrough the roof[metaphor] across our entire client base, with outstanding references and referrals, and our reputation for client service isunparalleled in our industry(Globalization Partners, n.d.).	6.4
Analogy	A comparison between two words or objects, often as an argumentative warrant	You’re probably a recent graduate. You did well in school and have the academic record to prove it.You’re a sponge, you love to learn, and you are always looking for the nextplace to grow. . . . [Perks include] alaid-back, awesome workplacewith anendless supply[hyperbole] of snacks/coffee/beer, frequent team lunches, and team events (SeatGeek, n.d.).Our engineering hurdles sit at the intersection of technologies ranging from mobileandsocial media, computer visionandcrowdsourcing, to machine learningandbig data analytics [polysyndeton] tounderstand the “why behind the buy”[also half-rhyme]. We’re always lookingfor a few hackersto help us harness these technologies (InfoScout, n.d.).	5.9
Hendiatris	Repetition of three words (nouns) to express one idea	Our fast paced and results driven environment is balanced with a teamculture that is supportive, constructive, and friendly(RevLocal, n.d.).	3.2
Bathos	Failed attempts at sublimity; anticlimactic writing that abruptly shifts from grand style to common topic	Dollar Shave Club (DSC) is looking for an amazing Executive Assistant. You will be a key partner to our Chief Innovation Officer, providing order where there is chaos and coordinating key tasks that keep the team humming [metaphor]. Our ideal candidate has a passion for grooming products and wants more exposure to how they aredeveloped./Responsibilities: Planning and organizing, managing and sharing information, collaborating and problem solving[repetition ofands= polysyndeton] (Dollar Shave Club, [n.d.-b], “Executive Assistant”).	3.1
Anaphora	Repetition of the same word or words in a paragraph	Join a team thatlives a passion for adventure[metaphor]. Wepowerandempowerthe stories of people thatadventure[verbal noun], test their limits, and explore the outdoors with portablepowersystems that keep their devices charged. Put your sales experience to work with GOAL ZERO [Last sentence = bathos] (Goal Zero, n.d.).	2.3
Erotema (rhetorical question)/Anacoenosis	Question asked to make a point rather than elicit an answer/Question asked to reflect common interest	Hungry for a challenge that could shape history? When was the last time you had fun at work?The Leafly team shares a unified passion for ending prohibition and bringing cannabis into the mainstream of global culture, and we’re looking for candidates who share our enthusiasm for legalization and marijuana education (Leafly, n.d.). Have you ever wondered who eats Spam? Or how about whether or not those new flavors of Red Bull actually get more people to buy Red Bull versus just giving existing Red Bull drinkers more flavors to choose from? Wish you knew why people pay more for Calvin Klein shirts than Ralph Lauren? And has Best Buy really turned into Amazon’s showroom?(InfoScout, n.d.).	1.1

Bold and underlined text refer to the sample rhetorical figure listed in column 1. Items in bold indicate additional figures embedded in the example with the figure provided in brackets.^bFrequency is calculated by dividing the number of times a rhetorical figure is used in documents by the total number of documents analyzed, which was 84 (company descriptions [n= 30] + job ads [n= 54]). For example, there were a total of 1,134 metaphors identified, which is divided by 84 documents. So, frequency is 13.5. (Some decisions regarding classification were based on context and tone of documents, so not all readers may agree with our classifications.) Figures should not be read as statistically significant. They were used simply for descriptive and illustrative purposes and assisted in the overall inductive analysis.

Figure 1.

Word cloud of company descriptions.

Figure 2.

Word cloud of action verbs in job requirements.

To make sense of our work over time, we italicized the most relevant words; placed words we inferred from context into brackets; put into parentheses useful phrases that were in the sentence but not character, action, or setting themes; and made notes that we thought were worthwhile or added some substance or contextualization of our interpretations. To provide some insight into our reflexive thoughts, we left some notes in our tables for illustration purposes (seeTables 3 -6).

Table 3.

Analysis of Centric Digital’s Company Description.

Character	Action	Setting	Notes
Centric Digital [partner]	is	traditionalbusinesses [sector]	Action = being the leading pure play digitaltransformation[action] partner [character]
Global enterprises	have turned to(Centric Digital)	health care, finance, retail, and industrials
Centric Digital	to help revolutionize(business models, customer experiences and operations)	digital age	Global, digital sounds very forward thinking and exciting; disruptive technology
	founded	(in)2009
	fusesdigital ingenuity, management consulting rigor, and start-up creativity	now, (in)digital services
Centric Digital solutions	helpenterprises understand trends, benchmark digital capabilities	(in the) business world
Centric Digital	has successfully created(innovative business strategies, realigned corporate objectives, designed and delivered innovative experiences)	(in) digital world	sounds very contemporary, lots of corporate/digital-sounding buzzwords

Note.Global enterprises across health care, finance, retail, and industrials have turned to Centric Digital to help revolutionize their business models, customer experiences and operations to grow and compete in the digital age. Founded in 2009, Centric Digital fuses digital ingenuity, management consulting rigor, and start-up creativity to raise the bar in digital services. Centric Digital solutions help enterprises understand trends and benchmark their digital capabilities against best practices and competitors. Centric Digital has successfully created innovative business strategies, realigned roadmaps to corporate objectives and designed and delivered innovative and enterprise scale digital and mobile experiences.

Adapted fromCentric Digital (n.d.), the leading pure play digital transformation partner for traditional businesses.

Table 4.

Analysis of Tahzoo’s Job Requirements Section of Job Post.

Character	Action	Setting	Initial researcher notes
[Applicant]
Ideas	areput to work	Tahzoo	Not quite sure why “shoes are optional” is a great selling point—comes off as gimmicky to me
You	Arrive [with strong Tahzoo-Fu]		What is “Tahzoo-Fu?”
You	Park bike in a private space/use key fob to get in/take elevator to desk		Seems to imply prestige with “private” bike space, but plays into hipster/Millennial transport
You	Forgotto grab(breakfast/head to kitchen)	Kitchen
You	Run intoBrad (CEO)	[Implied; company location]	Here again with the bare feet. Why is this a big part of their org culture? Also,run intocan imply “fast and busy”
Brad	Shakes(your hand)/asks(about weekend)		Implies that CEO is personable and cares about you and what you do outside of work
You	Introduced to(new employees)		Mention of ping-pong implies a fun atmosphere, while new employees demonstrate how it is a growing company

Adapted fromTahzoo (n.d.).

Table 5.

Analysis of Fuhu’s Company Description.

Character	Action	Setting	Notes
Fuhu [for children]	Leading, seller, innovator	Children’s educational electronics market [implied]	Active = company; passive = client
Fuhu [for children]	Creator of nabi™ tablet	World’s [first tablet for kids]	Focus on innovation and new
Fuhu	Provides	Ecosystem of hardware
Fuhu	Immerse [kids]	Rich and engaging experiences	Construction of kids as passive here again (also setting is an abstract concept)
Nabi	Available	All major U.S. retailers
We	Currently seeking [Recruiting/HR Coordinator]	will be [future setting]	Again, constructs others as passive
Recruiting/HR Coordinator	Responsible for	day-to-day HR Ops

Adapted fromFuhu (n.d.).

Table 6.

Analysis of Fuhu’s Job Requirements.

Character	Action	Setting	Notes
[Applicant]	Experience [possesses]	Recruiting/HR function	Language of profession as institutional environment
	Effectively handle[projects simultaneously]		Intense “setting” implied
	Operate	in(a deadline intense environment)
	Proficiency [possesses]	in(MS Excel, Word, Outlook)	Generic technology
			Generally generic “stock language” for position. (Constructs HR as boring in contrast to tech development—implications on profession of HR?)

Adapted fromFuhu (n.d.).

Benefits of FTA Procedure in This Study

FTA forces analysts to look at a sentence in new ways. For instance,Tables 3and4demonstrate the way in which FTA encourages a second look at rhetoric in sentences. Many of the sentences arestock phrases, repeated across multiple documents in a taken-for-granted manner. By deconstructing the sentences, FTA identifies some of the ways in which rhetorsenvision—literallymakeorput invision of—what they do and how they are self-construed or identify themselves.

Take, for example, this sentence from Centric Digital’s (n.d.) job post (seeTable 3): “Centric Digital[character]is[action] the leading pure play digital transformation partner fortraditional businesses[setting].” As we analyzed the columns, we noted the following: “action =being(the leading[action] pure play digitaltransformation[action] partner [character]).” By placing words into this reordered manner, we reframed the way we looked at this statement. The statement says “this is what we do”; however, the statement also functions as whatCheney (1983), drawing on the work of Kenneth Burke, called identification throughantithesis.The action is definitive and authoritative (they do not, e.g.,seek to beorstrive to be). Centric Digitalis[being as action], period (This is the very type of writing that business writing manuals, such as theBusiness Writer’s Handbook, emphasize). Also, other organizations’ offices, the setting where they do their work, is defined as traditional. Thus, the company is positioned as the antithesis of tradition. Centric Digital exists, in classical rhetorical terms, aswarrant by opposition. It is the opposite of traditional; it is, therefore,untraditional, a sort of savior of “old businesses” (as later stated in the description, it wasfoundedin 2009). Note that the company also praises itself asleading[action] andfast-growing[action]; therefore, it findscommon ground[inferred setting] with many of the otherInc.5000 companies. This analysis shows that the company may be achieving in its writing what it intends, specifically by capturing in different ways who (Centric Digital) acts on whom (customers). By engaging in this form of analysis, as the above example shows, both positive and negative examples of persuasive writing can be extracted for use as examples in writing instruction (e.g., when passive voice may be persuasively effective).

Findings and Discussion

In the previous section, we explained how we conducted our FTA and began to highlight some of our concrete findings from the constellation of 30 companies’ job postings. While we will only provide excerpts from tables and select samples, we try to indicate the frequency with which we found similar statements or phrases. In what follows, we highlight some interesting takeaways from our rhetorical analysis of commonly used figures and word clouds. These sections highlight findings that answer Research Question 1. We then outline two rhetorical visions related to (a) the tension between boringness and creativity and (b) ideal (homogeneous) job candidates. These visions highlight findings that answer Research Question 2.

Rhetorical Figures in Job Ads (Research Question 1)

We sought to identify common rhetorical figures used in job advertisements across similar organizations’ job ads and career pages. The following is an example fromHireology (n.d.), a company that hires talent for other companies in fast-growth sectors.

Using our own technology, we built a team of thebest and brightest in the industry[superlative]. Our teammoves quicklyandcollaborates constantlyto accomplish goalsothers would think are unattainable[hyperboles]. We are problem solvers and challenge seekers. We areHireologists[neologism]. (Hireology; italics added)

The above example identifies three rhetorical figures used in a single paragraph in Hireology’s “About Us” section on its website.Table 2provides a list of common rhetorical figures used in other companies’ prose. These rhetorical figures are used throughout these documents with significant frequency. For example, superlative statements are used approximately 6.4 times and hyperbolic language is used approximately 16.7 times per document (N= 84 documents). These statements may, for example, foster an unreasonable expectation about company culture or position duties among job applicants, which is argued to be a predictor of job dissatisfaction (seeBackhaus, 2004). This type of language is alsobathos, which occurs when job ads shift from uses of grand style in the sections about company to prosaic job duties (which occurred in all but five documents). Bathos could lead underqualified candidates to apply, because the first section encourages readers to downplay job responsibilities and experience requirements.Figures 1and2capture the incongruence between the two sections.

Drawing onFigure 1, we see that companies emphasize words likefast-paced, growing, goal-oriented, start-up culture, andenergeticto describe their company culture (blue highlights). Many of the job ads, of course, used rhetorical figures and mentioned perks likefun events, free food, andmascots(e.g., gorilla). Many companies engaged in self-referencing language to describe company culture, but some did this more than others (yellow highlights). Job duties always appear below company profiles or in a separate document.

Figure 2on job requirements frames a rather different work setting, withworkbeing the key word. This contrasting style of writing (bathos) could lead applicants to overlook their lack of fitness for a position and rationalize their deficiencies in experience when culture is emphasized and requirements are provided in prosaic, vague language, such as “proven track record of success,” “highly analytical and metrics-driven,” and “be able to work well under pressure.” These cliché statements, used to varying degrees in the ads we analyzed, lack the behavioral specificity and concreteness recruiters need to make good hiring decisions. What is more, since résumé writers are likely to use equally ambiguous statements in their résumés, and résumé scanning software uses the job ad to identify key words, such language could be rewarding generic résumés which are unhelpful to recruiters (Amare & Manning, 2009;Smart, 2004).

Business communication instructors can benefit from the above findings by asking students to think about the benefits and risks of this style of writing for organizations and job seekers. The samples inTable 2can be used by asking students to rewrite them in more concrete language (hyperbole is exaggeration and therefore less concrete). For colleagues teaching business communication specifically from the rhetorical tradition, the rhetorical figures inTable 2could be used to highlight classical rhetorical terms and their application in everyday writing. From the Hireology example above, “Using our own technology, we built a team . . . ” is a form ofhyperbaton(transposed word order). One wonders how the technology came before the team; if it did, then it undermines the team’s and technology’s importance. Although both are correct in syntax, the following statement is more logical and comprehensive (the dependent clause could refer to Hireology or its customers): “We built a great technology for our customers, which we now use to build teams that repeatedly get results.”

We recognize that the typical job seeker will not get entangled in this rhetorical web by reading the prose in our level of detail. We also recognize that this single job ad achieves what are likely Hireology’s persuasive goals: make its company culture sound exciting, advertise itself, and explain what kind of employee it seeks. Nevertheless, the average job seeker is going to read several job ads, especially for similar positions and within similar sectors. Thus, these statements can lose their efficacy—the companies and positions all start to sound alike.

Word Cloud Analysis: Self-Absorption Among Tech Companies (Research Question 1)

From our initial categorization of the fantasy themes of companies, which we also analyzed via a word cloud (seeFigure 1), we identified that several companies, particularly those engaged in technology-related businesses, use more autocommunication and self-absorbed discourse than others do (26 companies used self-absorbed language with TUNE, WeVeel, Main Street Hub, and Crowdtap mentioning themselves most).

Autocommunication is a type of self-referencing communication that all organizations engage in to some degree (Cheney & Lair, 2005). It is useful as a form of self-advocacy. Self-absorbed discourse, however, is a dysfunctional self-referencing that creates self-reinforcing loops whereby an organization begins to believe that living up to its own internal image is most important—even more important than customer needs. The focus on creating open work spaces with fun amenities, as many tech companies do, is perhaps good for recruiting talent. But when the preoccupation is on fun spaces rather than work, productivity goals can be undermined (Zelenski, Murphy, & Jenkins, 2008). Constitutive perspectives on organization, which see organizations as effects of communication (McPhee & Zaug, 2000), would suggest that claims about providing amenities would reinforce the need to provide them—often at great financial cost.

Most company profiles we analyzed (26 of the 30) put significant effort into narrating a fun company by using autocommunicative phrases like “We’re [actor] creating [action] Gadget Geekdom Havens [setting]” (BuyBackWorld, n.d.) and “Our team [character] lives [action] a passion for adventure [setting]” (Goal Zero, n.d.). We cannot show causation, or even say that the self-referencing we identified is dysfunctional, since this would require surveying current employees and matching their responses with the job ad narratives. But we can highlight an issue that can be addressed, since it deals with pragmatics of writing and is obvious from the job ads. Autocommunication was used by companies to make themselves sound novel or revolutionary. The by-product of this writing, unfortunately, was buzzwords, jargon phrases, and aggrandizing mission statements: “Our mission is to create ‘A Whole New World of Creativity’ by introducing surprising new ways to create, share and experience color and design” (WeVeel, n.d.). While not necessarily problematic, we would like to point out that this writing becomes cliché, is convoluted, and is confusing. In the WeVeel example just provided, a variation of the word “create” is used three times. Although this rhetorical concept—traductio(repetition of the same word in a sentence or thought)—can be effective, it seems misguided in this sentence;inspireseems more fitting in the first instance.

Autocommunication is also interestingly achieved by placing the job applicant directly into the fantasy theme by using the second person “you” or third person “the job applicant.” Again, this can make for interesting, but awkward, writing and may come across as deceptive. The most notable example of these is Tahzoo’s job description (seeTable 4), which focuses mostly on narrating the company’s culture over job duties:

We are trailblazers and dreamers. We don’t follow a book. We write the book for others to follow. We want people who aren’t just looking for a job but who are searching for the next great challenge and to join the 85th Fastest Growing Company in America, perInc.500. . . . / On the way toyour[activecharacter] work space [setting],yourun [action] into Brad (the CEO) [passivecharacter] who, in his bare feet, shakesyourhand and asksyouaboutyourweekend. Onyourway past the ping pong table, you get introduced to one of the new employees—gee, this company is growing so fast! . . . (Tahzoo, n.d.; emphasis added)

As demonstrated inTable 4, there are some peculiarities about this narrative, especially considering other interesting statements in the advertisement, like one we provided earlier: “Welcome to Tahzoo, a place where ideas [character] are put to work and shoes are optional. You arrive at 8:35 . . . yourTahzoo-Fuis strong, and you’re ready to make great things happen.” From an everyday business point of view, the time is not as flexible as it is presented (seems like a 9-to-5 job). While the barefooted Brad may tolerate his employees being 5 minutes late, would he be okay with them working from noon until 8 pm? Either the writer is in error, the writer is unaware of the ambiguousness of the writing, or Tahzoo is deliberately being deceptive about its flexible culture. In this case, “arrive any time you want” would be less ambiguous. Interestingly, the character theme in this part of the sentence isideas, not a body (seeTable 4), and contrasts with setting themes (your work space, which could be a cubicle). Telecommuting or automation may be tomorrow’s reality (job seekers beware). What is more, the use of the constructionrun into[action] implies that the person is moving fast. If work time is flexible, perhaps the speed of business is not. This rhetorical analysis highlights that both writers and readers of job ads need to be more rigorous.

The shift between the “about us” section and the job duties section creates an interesting juxtaposition: Job ads tend to abruptly shift from “about us” narratives to job requirements and application expectations (as noted earlier, this abrupt shift is bathos). A word cloud of action verbs used to describe job qualifications and duties ironically paints a very typical workplace: Workers are expected to work, manage, develop, ensure, provide, drive, create, and so on (seeFigure 2). Whatever the intention of the writers (rhetoricians are more interested in effects), our examples highlight the importance of being consistent in tone. Creative prose should not overshadow organizational needs.

Prosaic Tensions: Rhetorical Vision of Creativity (Research Question 2)

One of the strongest themes running through each of the company descriptions is a desire to sound fun and creative. However, this rubs up against the need to provide specific and practical job requirements to meet real objectives and legal obligations in the job duties section. While 25 companies tried to cast themselves as the heroes against the villain of mundanity or boring business, by saying something like the following, they ultimately are pulled back into the realm of everydayness:

Fuhu Inc. is the leading designer, seller and innovator of ‘thoughtful’ consumer products and services for children. Creator of the nabi™ tablet, the world’s first tablet made just for kids, Fuhu provides an ecosystem of hardware, software services, and accessories to immerse kids in rich and engaging experiences. nabi™ is available in all major U.S. retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, and Target. We are currently seeking a Recruiting/Human Resources Coordinator who will be responsible for the administrative support of day-to-day Recruiting and Human Resources operations. (Fuhu, n.d.)

Note that this artifact indicates that Fuhu isleading, thoughtful, andworld’s first, and theyimmersetheir customers inengagingexperiences (seeTable 5for analysis). This advertisement rather abruptly shifts to something less exciting—”administrative support of day-to-day . . . [HR] operations.” In terms of business writing, the ad is missing the point vis-à-vis bathos, and it is not sticking to its specific purpose. After building up its brand, the writing abruptly shifts to business matters: “[Oh, and by the way,] we are currently seeking . . . ” The rhetorical effect is that the world the ad creates for customers is “thoughtful,” whereas the one it creates for employees is prosaic, mundane, and legalistic; the repetition of words like “ecosystem,” “immerse,” and “rich and engaging” described what kind of company Fuhu creates for its business customers, but the prose never suggests Fuhu creates a similar workplace for itself. Perhaps it does, but this is not clear from the writing.

Like most ads, Fuhu’s narrative shifts in tone in the list of job requirements (seeTable 6), where the candidate must handle projects simultaneously, operate in a deadline-intensive environment, and show proficiency in generic business technology (Excel, Word, and Outlook). Perhaps this is why the author of the job post put “thoughtful” in ironic quotation marks? In any case, the world—or ecosystem [setting] in its own language—Fuhu rhetorically created in the job ad quickly rubbed up against reality. Fuhu unfortunately went from meteoric growth (158,957%) with revenues of $195.6 million in 2014 to bankrupt in 2015 (Blakely, 2015).

We are not arguing that these statements prove the workplace is lacking fun or stimulation or that an employee is being passive aggressive in the manner he or she wrote the job advertisement (e.g., the “thoughtful” scare quotes). More plausible is that the author just abused quotation mark rules and that Fuhu can be fun as it engages in its everyday business practices. From a practical point of view, though, writers of job ads could consider maintaining the tone of playfulness throughout job ads (including in job requirement sections), could focus less on writing creatively (because it often results in affectation) and more on writing technical needs with formal business writing (using conciseness and clarity as guiding principles), or could, perhaps with a little more rhetorical savviness, point out to readers that they are in on the contradiction.

SeatGeek’s job ad exemplifies the latter point well: “You pay extraordinary attention to detail but don’t miss the forest for the trees.”SeatGeek (n.d.)strives for “alaid-back, awesome workplace” but needs hard workers: “Time management is one of your strong suits and being idle is not, so you’ve probably also been involved in interesting clubs, teams, or side projects that you can speak passionately about” (this tips off applicants what to include in their résumés). If a company cannot write in the nuanced manner demonstrated by SeatGeek, perhaps it could just add a few persuasive stock phrases that point out reality, something like the following:While we strive to create a fun culture, we of course have a business to run. So we need to hire someone who can create spreadsheets using common software.Simple, creative, pointed. Each of these strategies obviously comes with its own benefits and risks; thus, effects of this style of writing could be tested in future research.

Ideal Job Candidates: Rhetorical Vision of Homogeneous, Youthful Candidates (Research Question 2)

Another theme implicitly running through the job ads—and perhaps one of the most disconcerting to us—were themes that could perpetuate visions of homogeneity and youth, as demonstrated in the following samples taken from TUNE’s (n.d.) job ad:

We’re [character] seeking [action] team players and Jacks and Jills of all trades [character] who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves [action], tackle new challenges [action] and have fun doing it! [action]

At TUNE [setting], we’re [character] looking for [action] problem solvers and overachievers [characters]. We [character] want [action] to work with [setting, implied] the restless and the passionate [characters]. A zest for life is a prerequisite and a love of technology is a bonus.

The above examples and the example used inTable 4are rather typical claims about the types of candidates that companies say they want (24 companies used similar writing). In other words, “energetic and passionate individuals who excel in an entrepreneur [sic] setting” (BuyBackWorld, n.d.). Most of the advertisements point to being open to anyone based on race, gender, and sexuality (usually in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC] stock paragraph); however, the tone, narrative, and claims made in the ads potentially sustain a vision of a youthful, classist, and ethnically biased organization—in short, homogeneous cultures.

Technology companies and startups have received significant criticism in the past few years for excluding people of color and women (Ungerleider, 2013). In the job posts we analyzed, the tone and word choice constructed themes that would likely be most appealing to younger applicants. If these themes are sustained, the vision of youthful candidates will become reality—even though a more seasoned marketer might have a “through [sic] understanding of different facets of social media marketing” (iCracked, n.d.). They may also have more experience catching typos and therefore fit thethorough understandingpart of the job. Given the type of setting iCracked envisions, it may exclude some candidates, older or younger, who feel they would not fit a culture where “there are plenty of perks (snacks, dog-friendly office, insane parties)” because they, due to other obligations or religious preferences, may prefer excellent health care (never mentioned) over snacks and booze. While most people would like to have fun parties at work,insane[action] ones imply, at least to us, alcohol and after-hours gatherings. If the company merely has chips and guacamole parties, they should reconsider their word choices, especially since the wordinsanecan be used derogatively. In any case, the wording is not professional and may create unrealistic expectations about workplace culture (which is commonly discussed in business communication textbooks or classes).

We are not trying to be ageist, ethnocentric, or gendered in our own interpretations of these job ads. Without more research, perhaps of an experimental kind, it is hard to say whether the above interpretations would have a bearing on actual applications, applicants’ perceived expectations, or workplace cultures. Nevertheless, rhetorical theory has demonstrated that word choice influences audience practices and reality (Charland, 1987;Leff, 1997). It is for this reason that this vision is the most problematic. The use of a common idiomatic expression like “Jacks and Jills of all trades” is not necessarily problematic (it is gender inclusive), but it does make us wonder what might happen if it were changed to Josés and Jalilahs of all trades.

What is more, the repetition of “high energy,” “recent graduate,” “fun,” “creative,” and so on may reify these as being characteristics solely of younger applicants, which could instill ageism in the hiring process, especially in the fast-growth company space. While some of the companies had more obvious ageist rhetoric—“Even though you might not have much postgrad work experience under your belt, you probably held ambitious, challenging internships during (or after) school—perhaps at other tech startups” (SeatGeek, n.d.)—most of the -isms ofaction themewords were very subtle (note the italicized action themes):

The functions of this position are usuallyperformed sitting, but will require some amount of timestandingandwalkingto/from our other sites. Some amount ofstooping, bending, crouching, lifting, walking, carryingandother movementsmay be required. Must be able tolift upto 30 lbs. Must be able tosee, hearandspeak adequatelytoperformthe functions of this position. (TUNE, n.d.)

Perhaps TUNE is being consistent in creative style by narrating the EEOC stock comments with something more personal. But without any indication it is willing to offer reasonable accommodation (it did not), it makes the statement more exclusionary than ordinary EEOC language permits. Given the job title, job type, job description, and job duties, it was hard for us to understand whatseeing, hearing, and speaking adequatelywould entail. We also could not identify any reason why an applicant would be unable toroll to/fromother sites and why tasks could not be performed by someone who is hearing impaired.

From this example, we want to highlight two observations. First, a paradox is created when the workplace culture envisioned in creative writing rubs up against the bona fide occupational qualifications for a job. The paradox intensifies when diversity and inclusion and other EEOC stock phrases are added to job ads. Second, companies are likely unaware of the ways in which their word choices are creating a rhetorical situation ripe for excluding older, disabled, and diverse candidates from the rhetorical situation (applying and being hired). We believe authors, in most cases, are simply following standard fantasy themes within the fast-growth sector. Our point, though, is that these fantasy themes create a homogeneous vision because of the type ofcharactersandactionsembedded within job ad rhetoric, which comprise taken-for-granted themes. Themes create rhetorical visions. Rhetorical visions constitute reality (Bormann, 1972;Cheney, 1983). Based on the examples we provided and the criticism in popular media about the lack of diversity in most startups, it is not an implausible stretch to say that this languagereflectsthe culture of startups. As rhetoricians, we would also say it ultimatelyconstitutesthis culture too, so this is an important topic we hope to explore in future studies. For teaching purposes, we recommend the following reference:“Writing an Effective Job Advertisement” (2012).

Conclusion

This article provided insights into the job advertisements that were obtained from an FTA of 30 of the fastest growing U.S. companies in the sectors of consumer products and services, business products and services, and advertising and marketing (identified by the magazineInc.) TheInc.5000 list is a useful source of potential job leads for early careerists and provides valuable insights for business and professional communication teaching and instruction. Although there are limitations of the FTA method, foremost that it cannot identify actual effects of rhetoric (only plausible ones), we suggested ways in which this study can inform future studies. A strength of FTA, as noted, is that it identifies hidden themes embedded in writing that likely effect actual practice, because themes in writing create shared visions in practice. The themes and visions we identified have implications for companies, business communication instructors, and job seekers to consider.

Implications for Companies

Fast-growth companies need to consider the wider implications of the job advertisement as a rhetorical artifact embedded in a rhetorical situation and as a writing genre that reflects and constructs rhetorical fantasy that becomes reality. Thus, they need to be careful about how they self-reference so they do not create unrealistic expectations about their culture. They should also be careful about how their creative writing potentially reifies discriminatory practices embedded in their job advertisement prose.

Many of the companies, as we noted 25 of 30, rhetorically set high expectations of how fun it is to work for them by overusing hyperbole and superlatives. However, our findings show that they are still asking for common workplace tasks likework, manage, andcreate. Normative pressure may compel companies to sustain a rhetorical vision of hipness because a cultural fantasy theme today is thehipster. AsMichael (2015)noted being seen ashipis nowadays considered an important driver of success in creative fields, such as fashion, music, and entrepreneurship. But we might point out to these companies that there is a growing trend toward “hipster hate” in the digital age and where prosaic mundanity may be what is hip (Hill, 2014). What is more, the rhetoric that seeks to construe a need forhipstercandidates to work inmagical geekdom havenswill likely not match the realities of fast-growth companies that, by the very nature of their growth, must have very high demands for worker productivity. Of course, determining whether job seekers are actually turned on or off by these messages is a fruitful topic for future research.

In answering our two research questions, we highlighted the rather mundane ways companies envision themselves, who participates in enacting the visions, what practices are needed to fulfill this vision, and where this vision takes place or will lead them. The rhetorical figures used to sustain these visions are hyperbolic and cliché; thus, a particular company’s uniqueness melts away—it is as typical as any other company when it comes to work demands. Companies need to be more attentive to their persuasive goals and the writing genre of job ads. The challenge for companies is, of course, saying what applicants want to hear but not overpromising in such a way that hiring violates applicants’ expectations (seeBackhaus, 2004;Hillebrandt et al., 2012).

Companies could simply describe what employees do in plain language (rhetorically calledparataxis), which would eliminate exertion of time and energy on producing gimmicky language that deflects from job duties. We cannot say exactly what that language ought to be; however, future research can explore this topic. At the very least, instructors and business communication trainers can have meaningful conversations with students and human resource personnel about strategies for writing job advertisements that account for the potential limitations and possibilities of this genre.

Implications for Instructors

We have pointed out several implications for instruction throughout this article. The primary benefit of using the job advertisement for business communication instruction is that it is a living document that seeks to achieve advertising and recruitment goals simultaneously. It is a document that demonstrates creative and technical writing. It is a document that students will eventually spend time with when they engage in a job search. AsTable 2shows, it is a document that provides interesting statements for teaching rhetoric or basic writing techniques.

Statements can be extracted from job advertisements to teach concepts like conciseness and clarity. For example, job advertisements should be void of vague terms like “high energy,” since these terms can, as we explained, reify ageist stereotypes. Direct writing, a technique of writing emphasized in business communication textbooks, can be reinforced with assignments looking at the job advertisement. For example, “high energy” could mean “being able to walk the equivalent of six miles a day while crisscrossing the warehouse floor,” or “willing to earn a salary by working 60 hours a week,” or “talks a lot and really fast.” Specific, direct language is more helpful than vague colloquialisms. Direct language would likely produce better recruiting results (fewer candidates apply), may lower discrimination, and could lead to less turnover (arguably, an expectation violation will be mitigated).

We encourage business communication instructors to spend time discussing the job advertisement more thoroughly. We should discuss matters related to creative writing (if everyone is writing to look unique, is the writing really creative?), how word choices do or do not reflect diversity or obscure diversity initiatives, and how creative writing can quickly run afoul of equal employment and age discrimination laws.

Implications for Job Seekers

Since entrepreneurial companies are unlikely to move away from the rhetorical style identified in this study any time soon, a benefit of having identified some of the common rhetorical figures and fantasy themes is that they can be used by writers seeking to write a creative but generic résumé when applying to fast-growth companies. This is because these are likely to better pass automated scanners. In addition,Ding and Ding (2013)noted that an important step in the 360-degree rhetorical approach to the job search is to deconstruct job ads and use findings to construct a targeted résumé and cover letter. Our study demonstrates three ways to do this analysis: (a) focus on figures of speech, (b) focus on fantasy themes, and (c) focus on key words through a word cloud.

We encourage readers to spend more time with their students discussing the job advertisement, teaching them to rhetorically analyze it for the purpose of writing persuasive résumés. We also encourage recruiters to think about the limits of language and apply good business writing concepts by using phrasing that is less cliché, does not construct an unrealistic fantasy (and create expectancy violation), or violate EEOC laws. For those in charge of writing job advertisements, we suggest that they either tone down their rhetoric or amp it up. If they tone it down, they will be in the minority and be on safer EEOC grounds. If they amp it up, they will be consistent with the rhetorical vision and prose demonstrated in job advertisements produced by the fastest growing firms in the United States. This may be the safer strategy if trying to recruit talent that envisions themselves working ina gadget geekdom haven(BuyBackWorld), with strongTahzoo-Fu(Tahzoo), and therefore able toescape cubicle hell(Sainstore).

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers and panel respondents for their useful feedback and suggestions.

Authors’ Note

This article was selected as a top Training and Development Division paper for the 2016 National Communication Association Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biographies

Craig L. Engstromis an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

James T. Petreis an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth A. Petreis an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

References

Amare

Manning

(2009).Writing for the robot: How employer search tools have influenced resume rhetoric and ethics.Business Communication Quarterly,72,35-60.

Backhaus

K. B.

(2004).An exploration of corporate recruitment descriptions onMonster.com .International Journal of Business Communication,41,115-136.

Bales

R. F.

(1970).Personality and interpersonal behavior.New York, NY:Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Bitzer

L. F.

(1968).The rhetorical situation.Philosophy and Rhetoric,1,1-14.

Blakely

(2015,December 7).Fuhu bankruptcy shows the perils of meteoric growth.Inc. Retrieved fromhttp://www.inc.com/lindsay-blakely/fuhu-bankruptcy-filing-mattel-deal.html

Bormann

E. G.

(1972).Fantasy and rhetorical vision: The rhetorical criticism of social reality.Quarterly Journal of Speech,58,396-407.

Bormann

E. G.

(1982).A fantasy theme analysis of the television coverage of the hostage release and the Reagan inaugural.Quarterly Journal of Speech,68,133-145.

BuyBackWorld. (n.d.).Careers. Retrieved fromhttp://www.buybackworld.com/Careers

Centric Digital. (n.d.).Product manager. Retrieved fromhttps://centricdigital.com/careers/#op-50310-product-manager

10.

Charland

(1987).Constitutive rhetoric: The case of the peuple québécois [people of Québec].Quarterly Journal of Speech,73,133-150.

11.

Cheney

(1983).The rhetoric of identification and the study of organizational communication.Quarterly Journal of Speech,69,143-158.

12.

Cheney

Christensen

L. T.

(2004).Organizational identity: Linkages between internal and external communication. In Jablin

F. M.

Putnam

L. L.

(Eds.),The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods(pp.231-269).Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

13.

Cheney

Lair

D. J.

(2005).Theorizing about rhetoric and organizations: Classical, interpretive, and critical aspects. In May

Mumby

D. K.

(Eds.),Engaging organizational communication theory and research: Multiple perspectives(pp.55-84).Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

14.

Crowdtap. (n.d.).Work at Crowdtap. Retrieved fromhttps://angel.co/crowdtap/jobs

15.

Ding

(2013).360-Degree rhetorical analysis of job hunting: A four-part, multimodal project.Business Communication Quarterly,76,239-248.

16.

Dollar Shave Club. (n.d.-a).Associate brand manager. Retrieved fromhttp://jobs.jobvite.com/dollarshaveclub/job/opF43fwV/apply

17.

Dollar Shave Club. (n.d.-b).Executive assistant. Retrieved fromhttp://jobs.jobvite.com/dollarshaveclub/job/oST23fwA

18.

Elving

W. J. L.

Westhoff

J. J. C.

Meeusen

Schoonderbeek

J.-W.

(2013).The war for talent? The relevance of employer branding in job advertisements for becoming an employer of choice.Journal of Brand Management,20,355-373.

19.

Fahnestock

(2011).Rhetorical style: The uses of language in persuasion.New York, NY:Oxford University Press.

20.

Feldman

D. C.

Bearden

W. O.

Hardesty

D. M.

(2006).Varying the content of job advertisements: The effects of message specificity.Journal of Advertising,35(1),123-141.

21.

Foss

S. K.

(2009).Rhetorical criticism: Exploration and practice(4th ed.).Long Grove, IL:Waveland Press.

22.

Foster

(1997).A visual heuristic for promoting a rhetorically based job search.Business Communication Quarterly,60(1),163-165.

23.

Fuhu. (n.d.).HR/Recruiting coordinator. Retrieved fromhttp://fuhu.mytribehr.com/careers/view/407

24.

Garner

Sterk

H. M.

Adams

(1998).Narrative analysis of sexual etiquette in teenage magazines.Journal of Communication,48(4),59-78.

25.

Globalization Partners. (n.d.).Join the team. Retrieved fromhttp://www.globalization-partners.com/careers/

26.

GOAL ZERO. (n.d.).Key account manager. Retrieved fromhttps://career4.successfactors.com/career?company=C0004920031P&site=VjItSE43VDBudHJlU3UwSGpKcUVacWFRQT09

27.

Green

S. E.

Babb

Alpaslan

C. M.

(2008).Institutional field dynamics and the competition between institutional logics: The role of rhetoric in the evolving control of the modern corporation.Management Communication Quarterly,22,40-73.

28.

Hartelius

E. J.

Browning

L. D.

(2008).The application of rhetorical theory in managerial research: A literature review.Management Communication Quarterly,22,13-39.

29.

Hill

(2014).The hipster rebranded: Countercultural aesthetics in an age of “hipster hate.” M/C Journal,17(6).

30.

Hillebrandt

Rauschnabel

P. A.

Ivens

B. S.

(2012).Are you saying what I want to hear? A consistency test between what potential employees want and what companies offer.AMA Winter Educators’ Conference Proceedings,23,43-51.

31.

Hireology. (n.d.).Careers. Retrieved fromhttp://www.hireology.com/careers

32.

iCracked. (n.d.).Social media marketing associate. Retrieved fromhttps://www.icracked.com/careers#openings

33.

InfoScout. (n.d.).Company. Retrieved fromhttp://infoscout.co/company

34.

Kennan

M. A.

Cole

Willard

Wilson

Marion

(2006).Changing workplace demands: What job ads tell us.Aslib Journal of Information Management,58,179-196.

35.

Leafly. (n.d.).Help make history. Retrieved fromhttps://www.leafly.com/company/jobs

36.

Ledford

G. E.

Jr. (2014).The changing landscape of employee rewards: Observations and prescriptions.Organizational Dynamics,43,168-179.

37.

Leff

M. C.

(1997).Hermeneutical rhetoric. In Jost

Hyde

M. J.

(Eds.),Rhetoric and hermeneutics in our time: A reader(pp.196-214).New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.

38.

Marin

(2016).Organizational rhetoric: The construction of a persuasive discourse.Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies,8(14),92-96.

39.

McPhee

R. D.

Zaug

(2000).The communicative constitution of organizations: A framework for explanation.Electronic Journal of Communication,10(1/2). Retrieved fromhttp://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/010/1/01017.html

40.

Meyer

J. W.

Rowan

(1977).Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony.American Journal of Sociology,83,340-363.

41.

Michael

(2015).It’s really not hip to be a hipster: Negotiating trends and authenticity in the cultural field.Journal of Consumer Culture,15,163-182.

42.

Moufahim

Reedy

Humphreys

(2015).The Vlaams Belang: The rhetoric of organizational identity.Organization Studies,36,91-111.

43.

Mouton

Just

S. N.

Gabrielsen

(2012).Creating organizational cultures: Re-conceptualizing the relations between rhetorical strategies and material practices.Journal of Organizational Change Management,25,315-331.

44.

O’Rourke

J. S.

(1995).The ethics of resumes and recommendations: When do filler and fluff become deception and lies? Business Communication Quarterly,58(1),54-56.

45.

Porter

J. E.

(2009).Recovering delivery for digital rhetoric and human-computer interaction.Computers & Composition,26,207-224.

46.

Quible

Z. K.

(1995).Electronic resumes: Their time is coming.Business Communication Quarterly,58(3),5-9.

47.

Randazzo

(2012).Positioning résumés and cover letters as reflective-reflexive process.Business Communication Quarterly,75,377-391.

48.

RevLocal. (n.d.).Local careers. Retrieved fromhttp://www.revlocal.com/careers/

49.

Schullery

N. M.

Ickes

Schullery

S. E.

(2009).Employer preferences for résumés and cover letters.Business Communication Quarterly,72,163-176.

50.

SeatGeek. (n.d.).Marketing coordinator. Retrieved fromhttps://boards.greenhouse.io/seatgeek/jobs/56634#before-you-apply

51.

Smart

K. L.

(2004).Articulating skills in the job search.Business Communication Quarterly,67,198-205.

52.

Sommers

(1980).Revision strategies of student writers and experienced adult writers.College Composition and Communication,31,378-388.

53.

Tahzoo. (n.d.).JoinUs. Retrieved fromhttp://www.tahzoo.com/#/joinus

54.

TUNE. (n.d.).Executive assistant. Retrieved fromhttps://careerstune.icims.com/jobs/1198/executiveassistant/job

55.

Ungerleider

(2013,July 18).Startup culture’s lack of diversity stifles innovation. Retrieved fromhttp://www.fastcompany.com/3014434/startup-cultures-lack-of-diversity-stifles-innovation

56.

WeVeel. (n.d.).Careers. Retrieved fromhttp://weveel.com/careers/

57.

Wright

E. W.

Domagalski

T. A.

Collins

(2011).Improving employee selection with a revised resume format.Business Communication Quarterly,74,272-286.

58.

Writing an effective job advertisement. (2012,May 24). Retrieved fromhttp://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/office-hr/hiring-workers/writing-an-effective-job-ad.aspx

59.

Zelenski

J. M.

Murphy

S. A.

Jenkins

D. A.

(2008).The happy-productive worker thesis revisited.Journal of Happiness Studies,9,521-537.