Linguists wanted: job announcements in the academic and professional world

Job announcements (JAs) are initiating communicative acts meant to elicit responses from suitable job candidates. Previous studies have described JAs as promotional texts that attract job seekers by offering incentives, positively describing employers/vacancies, directly addressing applicants and prompting an immediate reaction from them. The goal of this paper is to examine whether JAs for linguistics positions conform to this pattern. 100 JAs posted on the Linguist list in 2011 were considered. The texts reproduce a template comprising an introductory section, a main section, and a concluding section. The analysis outlines the move structure of the main sections, called Job descriptions (about 27,000 words). The job descriptions realize three macro strategies in a preferred order, which include various component moves: 1) announcing the opening (referring to essential details on the position; outlining the position; directly appealing to the reader); 2) describing the opening (indicating the candidate’s requirements; indicating the future employee’s tasks; specifying work conditions; (promotionally) describing the employer; infrequently, contextualizing the recruitment campaign; once, contextualizing the disciplinary/professional field of the position); 3) giving instructions (illustrating the application procedure; mentioning policies of the application/review process; offering additional information). The most common moves mention requirements, tasks, instructions and policies rather than describing the employer or promising rewards. The texts are therefore focused on their directive, rather than representative or commissive, function. Overall, the moves identified – none of which is shared by all the texts – are similar in content and function to those described in previous studies, but most lack an explicit promotional orientation. Incentives to apply consist in the provision of factual information appealing to the addressees’ reason. The institutional role of the employers, their professional prestige, and their need to reach a profitable agreement from a powerful position may be responsible for the serious, transactional tone of these JAs.