Negotiating one’s expertise through appraisal in CVs
Issue: Vol 8 No. 3 (2012)
Journal: Linguistics and the Human Sciences
Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics
DOI: 10.1558/lhs.v8i3.307
Abstract:
This study uses empirical data to explore the linguistic features that play a role in recruiters’ impressions of job applicants. In particular, it investigates the evaluative language used by job applicants in their CV description of their professional experiences and competences. Drawing on analysis of a set of CVs collected in France that uses systemic functional linguistics, and in particular APPRAISAL theory, this study highlights the ways in which applicants appraise their skills and competences and identifies the characteristics of successful applications. The analysis reveals how CVs function as contextual metaphors by presenting recruiters with surface level descriptions of applicants’ professional experience, while infusing these descriptions at another level with evaluative meanings that aim to validate applicants’ claims of professional competence and to persuade recruiters to align with those claims and grant a job interview. This study also establishes a useful link between appraisal analysis and impression management theory.
Author: Caroline Lipovsky
References :
Adelswärd, V. (1988) Styles of Success: On Impression Management as Collaborative Action in Job Interviews. Linköping: Linköping University.
ANPE (2003) Comment Réaliser un Bon C.V., Guide pour Agir. Noisy-le-Grand: Agence Nationale pour l’Emploi.
Barrier, N. (2004) Guide du CV et de la Recherche d’Emploi 2005. Paris: Editions Générales First.
Bednarek, M. (2008) ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ A corpus perpective on evaluation and emotion in contemporary American pop culture. In A. Mahboob and N. Knight (eds) Questioning Linguistics, 95–126. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Bednarek, M. (2009) Polyphony in Appraisal: Typological and topological perspectives. Linguistics and the Human Sciences 3 (2): 107–136.
Bolino, M. C., Kacmar K. M., Turnley W. H. and Gilstrap J. B. (2008) A multi-level review of impression management motives and behaviors. Journal of Management 43 (6): 1080–1109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206308324325
Bright, J. E. H., Earl J. and Adams A. (1997) ‘It’s too short!’: The impact on résumé screening decisions of age, experience, format and content. Paper read at the 2nd Biennial Conference of the Australian Industrial and Organisational Psychology Society, Melbourne: 95–101.
Bright, J. E. H., and Hutton S. (2000) The impact of competency statements on résumés for shortlisting decisons. International Journal of Selection and Assessment 8 (2): 41–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2389.00132
Coffin, C. and O’Halloran K. (2005) FINDING THE GLOBAL GROOVE: Theorising and analysing dynamic reader positioning using APPRAISAL, corpus, and a concordancer. Critical Discourse Studies 2 (2): 143–163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17405900500283607
Earl, J., Bright J. and Adams A. (1998) ‘In my opinion …’: What gets graduate résumés shortlisted? Australian Journal of Career Development 7 (1): 15–19.
Engelhard, J. M. (2007) Réussir son CV, Premier Emploi. Paris: L’Etudiant.
Gilmore, D. C. and Ferris G. R. (1989) The effects of applicant impression management tactics on interviewer judgments. Journal of Management 15 (4): 557–564. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014920638901500405
Halliday, M. A. K. (1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd edition). London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K., and Matthiessen C. M. I. M. (1999) Construing Experience through Meaning: A Language-based Approach to Cognition. London, New York: Continuum.
Hood, S. (2004) Appraising Research: Taking a Stance in Academic Writing. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Technology, Sydney.
Hood, S. (2010) Appraising Research: Evaluation in Academic Writing. Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230274662
Hood, S. and Martin J. R. (2007) Invoking attitude: The play of graduation in appraising discourse. In J. Webster, C. Matthiessen and R. Hasan (eds) Continuing Discourse on Language: A Functional Perspective, 739–764. London: Equinox.
Hutchinson, K. L., and Brefka D. S. (1997) Personnel administrators’ preferences for resume content: Ten years after. Business Communication Quarterly 60 (2): 67–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/108056999706000206
Kerekes, J. A. (2001) The Co-construction of a Successful Gatekeeping Encounter: Strategies of Linguistically Diverse Speakers, Unpublished PhD thesis. Stanford University.
Knight, N. K. (2010) Wrinkling complexity: Concepts of identity and affiliation in humour. In M. Bednarek and J. R. Martin (eds) New Discourse on Language: Functional Perspectives on Multimodality, Identity, and Affiliation, 35–58. London, New York: Continuum.
Knouse, S. B. (1994) Impressions of the resume: The effects of applicant education, experience, and impression management. Journal of Business and Psychology 9 (1): 33–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02230985
Knouse, S. B., Giacalone R. A. and Pollard H. (1988) Impression management in the resume and its cover letter. Journal of Business and Psychology 3 (2): 242–249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01014492
Lemke, J. L. (1998) Resources for attitudinal meaning: Evaluative orientations in text semantics. Functions of Language 5 (1): 33–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/fol.5.1.03lem
Lipovsky, C. (2008) Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews. Discourse & Communication 2 (4): 411–432. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1750481308095938
Lipovsky, C. (2010) Negotiating Solidarity: A Social-linguistic Approach to Job Interviews. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Lipovsky, C. (2011) It’s really a great presentation!’: Appraising candidates in job interviews. Linguistics and the Human Sciences 4 (2): 161–185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v4i2.161
Lipovsky, C. (forthcoming 2014) Constructing a professional identity through one’s CV. In D. N. Djenar, A. Mahboob and K. Cruickshank (eds) Language and Identity across Modes of Communication. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Martin, J. R. (2000) Beyond Exchange: APPRAISAL systems in English. In S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, 142–175. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martin, J. R. and Rose D. (2003) Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause. London New York: Continuum.
Martin, J. R. and Rose D. (2008) Genre Relations: Mapping Culture. London: Equinox.
Martin, J. R., and White P. R. R. (2005) The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Thoms, P., McMasters R., Roberts M. R. and Dombkowski D. A. (1999) Resume characteristics as predictors of an invitation to interview. Journal of Business and Psychology 13 (3): 339–356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022974232557
Tranchant, S. (2004) Un tiers des candidats pipotent leur CV. LEntreprise.com. Retrieved on 30 January 2012 from http://lentreprise.lexpress.fr/recrutement/un-tiers-des-candidats-pipotent-leur-cv_3295.html.
White, P. R. R. (2002) Appraisal: The language of evaluation and stance. In J. Verschueren, J. Oestman, J. Blommaert and C. Bulcaen (eds) The Handbook of Pragmatics, 1–26. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
White, P. R. R. (2005) Appraisal Website. Retrieved on 30 January 2012 from http://www.grammatics.com/appraisal.