Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2019

About Face: Reflexively Considering “Audience” in Hiring Situations

Chalice Randazzo Eastern Michigan University

Abstract

Using data from 88 students, 20 advisers, and 24 hirers about U.S. résumés, this article focuses on face of the company, the concept of employers' evaluating how well applicants might represent a company. The results of applying rhetorical listening’s identification–disidentification to “face” suggested two outcomes and their implications. First, primary audiences invoked secondary audiences to the point in which they conflated, suggesting that résumés should incorporate secondary audiences. Second, hirers sometimes violated their own beliefs about diversity hiring because of audiences they invoked, suggesting that because invoking audience can perpetuate inequitable hiring practices, hirers should be more nuanced about the audiences they choose.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2019-04-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651918816355
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Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism feminist rhetorics race and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Pandey (2025)
    Exploring Design Strategies for Student Career Portfolios
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Randazzo (2024)
    The Exclusionary Potential of “Professionalism” in Hiring Situations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Doan (2021)
    Teaching Workplace Genre Ecologies and Pedagogical Goals Through Résumés and Co…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  4. Russell (2020)
    Metaphor 2: Crossing: Retreading, Non-ing, and a TPC Rationale for Sub-discipli…
    College English

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