Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews
Transcription
Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews
ARTICLE Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 411 Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews CAROLINE LIPOVSKY Discourse & Communication Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications. (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) www.sagepublications.com Vol 2(4): 411–432 10.1177/1750481308095938 U N IVERSITY OF SYDN EY, AUSTRALIA A B S T R A C T Success in job interviews depends largely on the interviewers’ favourable opinion of the candidates’ presentation, and how well candidates have managed to build solidarity with their interviewers. This article explores the ways in which candidates shape their talk to interact interpersonally with their interviewers, so as to construct affiliation and solidarity. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics Appraisal theory, in particular its system of Attitude, this article examines a set of authentic job interviews in French, or French and English. The interview analyses are complemented by the candidates’ comments on the impressions they had tried to convey and the interviewers’ comments about their impressions of the candidates. The analysis identifies two strategies whereby candidates may construct affiliation and solidarity with their interviewers: expressing their enthusiasm for and interest in their work and profession, and demonstrating their professional ability. It also highlights the damaging effect of expressing negative feelings and opinions. KEY WORDS: Appraisal theory, Attitude, evaluation, impression management, job interviews, solidarity, Systemic Functional Linguistics Introduction A body of early research on job interviews centred on issues of power, such as inequalities between interviewers and candidates, and asymmetry in the interaction (e.g. Akinnaso and Ajirotutu, 1982; Gumperz, 1992; Roberts and Sayers, 1987). These studies depict the interview as an interrogative encounter between someone who has the right or privilege to know and another in a less powerful position who is obliged to respond, rather defensively, to justify his/her action, to explain his/her problems, to give up him/herself for evaluation. (Akinnaso and Ajirotutu, 1982: 119–20) 412 Discourse & Communication 2(4) Interviewers are shown as ‘doing power’ by holding initiative and controlling the interaction and, most importantly, evaluating candidates (e.g. Akinnaso and Ajirotutu, 1982; Komter, 1991). Candidates are portrayed as powerless and unlikely to be allowed through the gate of the institution, particularly when ‘social inequality is ritually dramatized’ and ‘basic differences in class, ethnicity, access to power and knowledge, and culturally specific discourse conventions mediate the interaction between participants’ (Akinnaso and Ajirotutu, 1982: 120). Other studies presented interviews as relatively equal encounters and acknowledged the role of constructing solidarity in the outcome of interviews (e.g. Adelswärd, 1988; Erickson and Shultz, 1982; Kerekes, 2001; Lipovsky, 2005; Roberts and Sarangi, 1995). Erickson and Shultz’s (1982) study of counselling interviews first outlined the part played by establishing co-membership in successful interviews, and showed that the closer the participants in comembership, the less important barriers in communication are going to be. Adelswärd (1988) also found that successful candidates in job interviews spend more time discussing non-professional topics with their interviewers; however, she views co-membership talk simply as a means for achieving a relaxed interview climate, rather than an end in itself. Kerekes’s (2001, 2003, 2006) study of intercultural interviews highlighted how candidates whose background more closely resembles their interviewers’ are more likely to qualify for job placements, and that non-native speakers are as likely to be successful job candidates as are native speakers. She also illustrated how talking about private matters only marginally relevant to the job (such as having to care for children) has the effect of getting the interviewer more emotionally involved in the interaction and creating a sense of solidarity (2001). Most importantly, she showed how when candidates do not produce the answers that were expected of them, interviewers are more lenient with candidates who have established co-membership with them, highlighting the impact of setting up a relationship of solidarity on the outcome of the interview. In such interviews, the interaction is more equal, the content collaboratively constructed, and interviewees are not merely reacting to their interviewers’ actions, but can experience a sense of agency in their own success. In this way, the candidates’ verbal construction is both an instrument of action and an object for evaluation. In fact, the applicants do not only produce a text in the dialogue with the interviewers, they also construct a picture of themselves. The production of this picture is interactionally managed by the applicants and the interviewers alike. (Adelswärd, 1988: 1) Candidates are pro-active and influential, as their argumentative strategies determine the outcome of their interview. Expanding Adelswärd’s work, Scheuer (2001) showed that an egalitarian style (with both parties producing significant amounts of talk, and the interviewers using less control with fewer questions asked) leads to success in getting the job. Adelswärd’s study of candidates’ argumentative strategies and how they contribute to establishing solidarity with the interviewers is useful, however her analysis is essentially quantitative, presenting counts of candidates’ selfassessments about their strengths and weaknesses, exemplified by interview Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 413 extracts. On the other hand, Kerekes (2001) stresses the importance, for candidates, of sharing positive attitudes that are valued by their interviewers. Again, her findings are quite valuable, as they illustrate candidates’ attempts at establishing solidarity. However, neither of these studies uses a systematic analytical tool for semantic analysis to investigate candidates’ abilities to construct affiliation and solidarity. Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL) theory views language as a semiotic system, that is a resource for creating meanings through making choices (e.g. lexico-grammatical or semantic) (Eggins, 1994; Halliday, 1994). Thus, speakers’/readers’ choices can be interpreted in view of the linguistic resources that were available to them, but were set aside (Eggins, 1994). An SFL analysis makes such choices explicit, and so may highlight how interviewers make inferences from the ways in which candidates express themselves, thus contributing to the construction of affiliation and solidarity. In this article, I draw on SFL Appraisal theory, in particular its system of Attitude (e.g. Martin, 2000), to investigate the construction of solidarity in authentic job interviews. An appreciation of candidates’ strategies for negotiating solidarity with their interviewers makes an important contribution towards understanding how candidates may be successful at their job interviews and be offered the position for which they are applying. Following a description of the theoretical framework and the database, the strategies used by candidates will be discussed and exemplified. Theoretical framework The Attitude system is derived from the Appraisal framework (for further description see Macken-Horarik and Martin, 2003; Martin, 2000; Martin and Rose, 2003; Martin and White, 2005; White, 2002). The Appraisal framework describes the resources used by speakers/writers to share their feelings about and evaluate things and people, to construct personae and to negotiate their social relationships (White, 2005). Appraisal theory has been applied to the analysis of a wide range of spoken and written texts (e.g. Eggins and Slade, 1997; Martin and Rose, 2003). The system of Attitude in particular deals with all types of evaluative assessments, both positive and negative. This might include how speakers/writers express their feelings (e.g. I love teaching), assess people’s behaviour (e.g. a competent teacher), or appraise the worth of things (e.g. an interesting class), hence the three categories of Affect, Judgement and Appreciation (Figure 1). FIGURE 1 . System of ATTITUDE 414 Discourse & Communication 2(4) Affect records positive and negative feelings, Judgements construe our evaluations of conscious participants (our attitudes to people’s behaviour and character), whereas Appreciations target things, either concrete or abstract (their ‘value’, their ‘composition’ and how we react to them). According to Martin (2000: 147), all three sub-systems encode feeling, and Judgement and Appreciation both derive from Affect: ‘Judgement institutionalizes feelings as proposals (about behaviour), whereas appreciation institutionalizes feelings as propositions (about things)’. This is represented in Figure 2. Each category of Attitude includes various subcategories, as Figure 3 illustrates. Feelings that involve reactions to a ‘realis’ stimulus (e.g. I like teaching) are also distinguished from intentions towards an ‘irrealis’ stimulus (e.g. I want to teach). This distinction is useful in the context of job interviews, where candidates may be questioned about their projects. Moreover, the system distinguishes between inscribed Attitudes that are made explicitly (e.g. a keen student), and invoked Attitudes that are implied (e.g. a student reading all the class material). In the latter example, the student’s dedication to her/his study is implied, rather than being stated plainly through explicit lexis, as in the former example. This shows how evaluations can be implied through ideational meanings relating one’s experience. In the Appraisal framework, implicit evaluations are identified as ‘tokens’. These evaluations allow a wider range of readings than inscribed attitudes, and the interpretation of invoked Judgements depends much on the reader’s/listener’s perspective (Martin, 2000). Lastly, Attitudes are gradable, so they can be amplified or downgraded (e.g. very/a bit difficult). Another kind of scaling involves sharpening or softening semantic categories that are a priori not scalable (e.g. a real/some kind of teacher). In the Appraisal system, this is referred to as Graduation (e.g. Hood, 2004; Hood and Martin, 2007; Martin and White, 2005). From the point of view of Appraisal theory, individuals express their feelings and beliefs to share their view of the world with their interlocutors rather than merely comment on it (Eggins and Slade, 1997; Martin, 2000; Martin and Rose, 2003; Martin and White, 2005). This is why ‘all appraisal involves the negotiation of solidarity – you can hardly say how you feel without inviting empathy’ FIGURE 2 . Judgement and Appreciation as institutionalized Affect (after Martin, 2000) Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 415 AFFECT (expressing feelings) (Un)happiness Is the person happy? Misery/Antipathy (In)security Is the person secure? Disquiet/Surprise (Dis)satisfaction Is the person satisfied? Ennui/Displeasure Cheer/Affection Confidence/Trust Interest/Admiration Normality Is the person’s behaviour un/usual? Social esteem Capacity Is the person capable? Tenacity Is the person dependable? JUDGEMENT (evaluating behaviour) Veracity Is the person honest? Social sanction Propriety Is the person beyond reproach? Reaction Impact Did it grab me? Quality Did I like it? APPRECIATION (evaluating texts, processes, and natural phenomena) Balance Did it hang together? Composition Complexity Was it hard to follow? Valuation Was it worthwhile? FIGURE 3 . Subcategories of Attitude (adapted from Martin, 2000) (Martin, 2000: 170). This is because ‘reports of one’s own emotional reactions are highly personalizing. They invite the addressee to respond on a personal level, to empathize, sympathize or at least to see the emotion as warranted or understandable’ (Martin and White, 2005: 6). Thus, attitudinal evaluations seem to play a key role in constructing relations of affiliation and fostering solidarity between interactants. On the other hand, individuals run the risk of alienating 416 Discourse & Communication 2(4) others in the evaluating process, as appraisal resources hold both a ‘bonding and schismatic power [. . .] just as it is impossible to include without also excluding, so it is impossible to appraise without running the gauntlet of empathy and alienation’ (Martin, 2000: 166). This article uses the system of Attitude to investigate how candidates share their feelings and beliefs about themselves and their work with their interviewers to construct affiliation and solidarity. Data description The data consist of three authentic job interviews that took place in Sydney, Australia.1 Three candidates (native speakers of English) were applying for a job at a host university in France. The position involved teaching English as a foreign language and doing postgraduate research. These candidates were interviewed by two interviewers (a native speaker of English and a native speaker of French). Two interviews were held in English and French; one interview was entirely in French. The total duration of the interviews is 43 minutes (Table 1).2 Craig and Clothilde were competing for the same post, and Craig and Carrie were offered the position at stake. Because all the candidates had a high level of expertise, these interviews are quite different from some of those examined in other studies (e.g. Akinnaso and Ajirotutu, 1982; Gumperz, 1992). Furthermore, the candidates were interviewed by professionals working in the same field. This means that they were more likely to hold similar values on their profession, thus creating opportunities for establishing affiliation and solidarity (see Bardovi-Harlig and Hartford, 1993). The interviews were audio- and video-taped. Separate follow-up interviews of the candidates and the interviewers were then conducted (total duration: 6 hours and 54 minutes),3 where the interviewers or candidates watched the video of their interview and talked it through, following a metapragmatic assessment method (see Kasper and Dahl, 1991: 232). The candidates commented on the impression they were trying to make on their interviewers, whereas the interviewers made comments on their actual impressions of the candidates. These post-interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed. A research on the popular literature on job interviews was concurrently carried out. The purpose was to check any features that could have influenced the candidates’ performance or their interviewers’ expectations, and compare their actual behaviour with what is recommended in the popular literature. The interviews were coded, counting occurrences of Attitude (Affect, Judgement and Appreciation) and Graduation. The coding of the data reflected as closely as possible the point of view of the participants. It was based on lexical items (e.g. ‘I’m nervous’) rather than para-verbal or non-verbal communication, because of the difficulty that these might have entailed. Therefore, laughter and other para-verbal features were not included. It is acknowledged, though, that mutual laughter is a sign of rapport and consensus (e.g. Adelswärd, 1989; Kerekes, 2006). The analysis also relied on the emotions that the candidates said they were feeling, rather than what they may actually have felt. This may have implications for the validity of the study. Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 417 TA B L E 1 . Interview context and participants Candidatesa Craig Clothilde Carrie Position at stake Teach English + research English Inès Ingrid French (Inès) English (Ingrid) English and French 10 min Teach English + research English Inès Ingrid French (Inès) English (Ingrid) English and French 13 min Teach English + research English Inès Irene French (Inès) English (Irene) French 36 min 41 min 56 min 75 min 81 min 125 min Candidates’ native language Interviewers Interviewers’ native language Language of the interview Length of interviews Length of candidates’ follow-up interviews Length of interviewers’ follow-up interviews 20 min a The participants’ names have been changed in order to protect their identity. In the same manner, names of institutions, courses and subjects have been amended throughout the article. The next section examines how the candidates’ attitudinal meanings contributed to constructing solidarity with their interviewers. Establishing solidarity The three interviews yielded 106 instances of Attitude: 52 expressions of Affect (28 realis and 24 irrealis), 19 Judgements and 35 Appreciations. All the Appreciations and most expressions of Affect (96.5%) were inscribed, whereas Judgements were largely invoked (79%). The candidates’ attempts to appear positive in their interviews resulted in a corpus containing 26 expressions of positive feelings, versus only two instances of negative feelings. Likewise, the candidates judged their abilities positively: only two Judgements out of 19 were negative. Finally, the candidates tended to evaluate things positively with 22 positive Appreciations versus 13 negative. This is in line with popular literature which recommends that candidates be positive when interviewed, since this is taken as an indication of how they will behave, once employed (e.g. Bright, 2001; DEET, 1994; Stevens, 1991). According to Greg Riley, a recruiter in Sydney (cited in Taylor, 2004), ‘organizations want positive people’, ‘no one wants a wet blanket’. A comparison across the interviews (Figure 4) shows that Clothilde expressed Attitudes more than any other candidate – 2.5 times more than Craig (the lowest user). Clothilde and Carrie also talked about their projects more often than Craig; Clothilde made Judgements four times as often as Craig and Carrie, and Discourse & Communication 2(4) 20 No. of occurrences 418 15 10 5 0 Craig Realis Affect FIGURE Carrie Irrealis Affect Clothilde Judgement Appreciation 4 . Comparative attitudinal use across the interviews appreciated things and performances about twice as much. Within the interviews, Craig used different kinds of attitudinal meanings more or less equally, whereas the other candidates showed disparities in their use of appraisal, with Carrie making few Judgements and Clothilde volunteering numerous Appreciations. Another peculiarity of Clothilde’s performance is that she uttered 16 of the 17 negative Attitudes that were expressed in all three interviews. This means that nearly one in three feelings/opinions that she expressed in the course of her interview was negative. Clothilde is also the candidate who expressed the most invoked Attitudes (21.5% of all Attitudes expressed versus 12% for Carrie and 5% for Craig) – a consequence of her uttering the most Judgements. The interviewers’ post-interview comments highlighted two areas in which candidates’ evaluations played a key role in building rapport and solidarity: 1) enthusiasm for and interest in their work, and 2) statements of professional capability. In the next section, I present detailed analyses of each strategy, coupled with candidates’ and interviewers’ post-interview comments.4 ENTHUSIASM FOR AND INTEREST IN ONE ’ S WORK The candidates mostly expressed their feelings towards their profession and the position at stake in terms of Happiness (Cheer and Affection) and Interest (see Figure 5). All three candidates expressed interest in the position they were applying for, activities they wanted to pursue while in France and particular areas of research. Carrie also mentioned interests she had that could be useful for teaching conversation classes.5 This is also the only feeling that Craig (the only male applicant) expressed. Clothilde and Carrie also highlighted their passion and enthusiasm for teaching.6 Note that Clothilde is the only candidate who expressed negative feelings in the course of her interview. Notably, she mentioned that she was nervous, which was damaging in terms of impression as her interviewers interpreted her lack of confidence during her interview as a lack of confidence in her skills.7 FIGURE t nu Di i sp le as ur e In te re A dm st ira tio n En us Tr ce id en nf rp Co ui et Su n sq io ct f fe Di r ee ris e Carrie Clothilde A A nt ip ise M at hy Craig Ch 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ry No. of occurrences Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 419 5 . Distribution of candidates’ Appraisal across the range of feelings Both Carrie and Clothilde highlighted their passion for teaching, for example: (1) Carrie: enseigner est une de une de mes passions [+AFFECT: happiness: affection]8 dans ma vie9 teaching is one of one of my passions in life (2) Carrie: j’aime [+AFFECT: happiness: affection] cet échange entre les élèves et l’enseignant I like the exchange between teacher and student (3) Clothilde: I’m really enthused [+AFFECT: happiness: cheer] about this teaching Carrie’s comments made a positive impression on her interviewers, as shown in Irene’s post-interview comments: (4) Irene: Quelqu’un qui aimait bien son travail, qui voulait vraiment partir en France, qui était très enthousiaste à l’idée de faire ça, qui aimait bien l’enseignement donc c’est l’image de quelqu’un qui était passionné [. . .] par l’enseignement, qui aimait enseigner [. . .] et ça c’est toujours bien parce que xxx10 c’est la meilleure chose quand on trouve quelqu’un qui peut enseigner et enthousiaste. Someone who loved her work, who really wanted to go to France, who was really fired up about the idea and who loved teaching, that equals someone who is passionate [. . .] about teaching, who likes teaching [. . .] and that’s always a good thing because xxx it’s great when you find someone who can teach and be enthusiastic about it at the same time. When discussing her impressions of Carrie, Irene herself used a plethora of affective terms. Carrie’s claims about her passion for teaching also triggered positive Valuations on the part of Irene (see Table 2). Note also the intensifiers that accentuate her positive impression of Carrie (e.g. ‘voulait vraiment partir en France’ (really wanted to go to France), ‘très enthousiaste’ (really fired up)). 420 Discourse & Communication 2(4) TA B L E 2 . Expressions of Attitude in Irene’s comments Appraising items Affect aimait bien son travail (loved her work) voulait vraiment partir en France (really wanted to go to France) très enthousiaste (really fired up) aimait bien l’enseignement (loved teaching) passionné par l’enseignement (passionate about teaching) aimait enseigner (likes teaching) c’est toujours bien (that’s always a good thing) c’est la meilleure chose (it’s great) quelqu’un qui peut enseigner (someone who can teach) enthousiaste (enthusiastic) +happiness +desire Judgement Appreciation +happiness +happiness +happiness +happiness +valuation +valuation +capacity +happiness Likewise, Clothilde’s comments made a positive impression on both her interviewers, for example: (5) Ingrid: Well, she did something which Craig didn’t do and that is say she actually was enthusiastic and really wanted to go so that was a good, positive point and possibly, you know, influenced one’s last impressions of her. As happened with Carrie, Clothilde’s expression of enthusiasm triggered positive Valuations on the part of her interviewer (see Table 3). Note that it was part of Clothilde’s impression management strategy to show enthusiasm: (6) Caroline: What kind of impression did you try to convey to your interviewers? Clothilde: Being confident and being competent and being enthusiastic and the kind of person that they would like to send away on an exchange. A benefit for candidates of highlighting their passion and enthusiasm for their work is that it makes a new claim in their favour that was not apparent from their résumé or application. Moreover, expressions of emotional attachment to one’s job imply honest feelings, as opposed to pragmatic career calculation (Scheuer, 2003). This may be why the interviewers in this study seemed to value candidates’ demonstrations of enthusiasm for their job. Another reason might be that enthusiastic employees may put more effort into their jobs. Only the female candidates commented on their passion for their work. This is why no contributions from Craig, the male candidate, are included in this section. Indeed it has been claimed that men talk less about their emotions than women (Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 2000: 56): It appears [. . .] that in society today women have more of an emotional ‘ethos’ than men, which means not that they feel more emotions, but that they show more emotions (by engaging in more laughter, tears, interjections, enthusiasm and active conversation) and that they decipher them better than men do. [My translation] Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 421 TA B L E 3 . Expressions of Attitude in Ingrid’s comments Appraising items Affect enthusiastic +happiness really wanted to go +desire that was a good [. . .] point that was a [. . .] positive point influenced one’s last impressions of her Judgement Appreciation +valuation +valuation token, +valuation If the lack of data from Craig is not sufficient to warrant any claims, it is still interesting that it supports this view. A strategy that Craig used in lieu of an emotional response is to express opinions through Appreciations, for example: (7) Craig: je crois que ça ça [être à Lyon pour un an] va heu ça va être très bon [+APPRECIATION: reaction: quality] pour heu ma propre recherche I think that that [being in Lyons for a year] will um will be really good for um my own research (8) Craig: le département [à Lyon 2] m’a fait heu une grande impression que ça serait heu un très très bon [+APPRECIATION: reaction: quality] heu endroit pour moi the department [at Lyon 2 University] made um a big impression on me, it’ll be um a really really good um place for me Under Affect, emotional responses (as in examples 1 to 3) are very much personalized. As Appreciations on the other hand, feelings are reshaped as qualities of the appraised Thing (White, 2002). Thus, ‘j’aime beaucoup ce département’ (‘I like this department a lot’), for instance, would focus on Craig and his personal response, whereas examples 7 and 8 shift the focus away from Craig towards the Thing being evaluated, providing a more objective evaluation. Note, however, that while these Appreciations highlight the qualities of a stay in Lyons/the department in the host university in France, Craig is also present as the Evaluator and Beneficiary (see ‘pour moi’/‘ma propre recherche’ (‘for me’/ ‘my own research’). Thus, examples 7 and 8 appear less personal and subjective than emotions as the focus is on the Thing being evaluated, while still appearing personalized as a Beneficiary is included. Craig’s comments made a positive impression on Inès, as shown in her post-interview comments: (9) Inès: Et là, il se dit, «voilà, c’est là qu’il faut que j’impressionne, c’est là qu’il faut que je vende mon bifteck», et je sens que, tu vois, il s’anime parce qu’il sait que ça va avoir bon effet, tu vois, il dit «cet endroit pour moi», là il est en train d’essayer de se vendre, là, à mon avis. And then he realizes ‘okay, this is where I’ve got to make a good impression. This is where I’ve got to stick up for myself ’ and you know, I can see that he’s getting more animated because he knows that it’s getting results, you see, he says ‘this place is for me’. It’s at this point that he’s really trying to sell himself, in my opinion. 422 Discourse & Communication 2(4) Interestingly, although Craig did not explicitly state his enthusiasm, he still imparted his passion for his research through his non-verbal communication:11 (10) Inès: Tu vois, là, il a l’air beaucoup plus animé tout à coup je trouve. [. . .] Hé oui, regarde ses mains, là, tu vois, à mon avis, là tu retrouves quelque chose qui est un peu la passion du chercheur, tu vois, et c’est pas le même comportement [que quand il parlait de l’enseignement] c’est-à-dire que tout à coup, il va s’animer, il va parler de choses qu’il connaît bien, qui l’enthousiasment, et je trouve qu’on retrouve cette animation, là, dans ses gestes tout à coup. Il est plus vivant tout à coup. As you can see, all of a sudden he seems a lot more animated I think. [. . .] Just look, check out his hands, there, see? In my opinion, you can see a little of the researcher’s passion, see? And it’s not the same behaviour [as when he was talking about teaching] I mean, suddenly he comes alive, he’s talking about things that he knows, things that he likes, and I think that you can see that enthusiasm in his gestures all of a sudden. Suddenly, he comes alive. Thus, Craig conveyed passion and enthusiasm to his interviewers as Clothilde and Carrie did, although through different means; rather than expressing these feelings as such, he communicated his enthusiasm through his opinions and non-verbal communication. All three candidates also expressed interest in aspects of their research, in particular with regard to their projects while in France, for example, (11) Carrie: il a d’intérêts de recherche [grammatical metaphor – interest] qui sont com- qui sont semblables à à moi he [a researcher in the host university in France]’s got com- um similar research interests as I (12) Craig: il y a une professeuse là-bas [researcher’s name] qui a a aussi un une intérêt [+AFFECT: satisfaction: interest] dans le heu littérature albanais et et aussi la philosophie Foucault les choses comme ça there’s an academic there [in the host university] [researcher’s name] who’s also interested in um Albanian literature and and in philosophy Foucault things like that (13) Clothilde: j’aimerais bien assister à des à des séminaires doctorals [. . .] je m’intéresse [+AFFECT: satisfaction: interest] beaucoup à les séminaires surtout les séminaires heu théoriques I’d like to go to to some doctoral seminars [. . .] I’m really interested in the seminars especially um theoretical seminars Although examples 11, 12 and 13 all deal with the candidates’ interests, they can be differentiated in terms of their specificity. Whereas Carrie and Craig related their research interests specifically to researchers at Lyon 2 University, Clothilde remained quite vague about the seminars that she was planning to attend while in France. This (lack of) specificity was reflected in the interviewers’ impressions of the candidates, for example, (14) Inès: ça manquait un petit peu de, tu vois, renseignements she [Clothilde] was a bit vague on details Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 423 (15) Ingrid: it [Craig’s interview] was impressive because of its detailed relationship to his project very specifically to Lyon 2. He didn’t say ‘I’d love to go to Lyon because there are lots of good libraries’, he said very specifically why he needed to go to Lyon 2. Craig was indeed quite specific in his evaluations of the benefits of the position for his research (see ‘un très très bon heu endroit pour moi’ (a really, really good place for me), ‘très bon pour heu ma propre recherche’ (really helpful for um my own research), ‘des très bons contacts’ (some really good meetings), ‘that’s the period when being in France would be really helpful’). Since Craig and Clothilde were both found to be competent tutors, this specificity was crucial in the impression that he made on his interviewers. Craig’s evaluations were also amplified through Graduation (e.g. ‘un très très bon endroit pour moi’ (‘a really really good place for me’), ‘très bon pour heu ma propre recherche’ (‘really helpful for um my own research’), ‘des très bons contacts avec plusieurs professeurs’ (‘some really good meetings with several lecturers’), ‘vraiment intéressé’ (‘really interested’), ‘really helpful’). Lastly, unlike Clothilde’s, all his instances of Appraisal were positive. As mentioned earlier, Clothilde is the only candidate who expressed negative feelings. In particular, she revealed to her interviewers her lack of confidence: (16) Clothilde: excusez-moi je suis très nerveuse [-AFFECT: insecurity: disquiet] [rire] I’m sorry I’m very nervous [laughs] This was a risky strategy, since presenting oneself as insecure does not necessarily engender empathy in one’s interlocutor (see Jordens, 2002).12 Inès though responded with sympathy, reciprocating Clothilde’s laugh and suggesting that she take her time to answer her interviewers’ questions. Her empathy is reflected in her post-interview comments: (17) Inès: Alors voilà, je pense que c’est ça aussi qui m’a fait une assez bonne impression (rire) c’est quand elle a dit «excusez-moi, je suis très nerveuse». [. . .] c’était sympathique, quoi, de, de couper ça et de faire une remarque un peu personnelle [. . .], mais là, on sentait qu’elle avait été un peu déstabilisée, peut-être justement parce qu’elle pouvait pas vraiment répondre à la question de la façon qu’on attendait. So you see, I think that it was that that made a good impression on me (laughs) when she said ‘I’m sorry, I’m very nervous’. [. . .] it was nice, I think, to stop and say something a little personal [. . .], but just then you felt that she was a bit out of sorts, maybe it was precisely because she couldn’t reply to the question in the way we expected. In contrast, this made a negative impression on her other interviewer: (18) Ingrid: Because she’s working in French, I suppose those gestures and expressions of openness and frankness have almost become suggestions of uncertainty, lack of confidence in her French so, she’s not . . . she wouldn’t be able to convince me, from that, you know, that she’s really going to be able to cope very well over there [in France] at her current level. Discourse & Communication 2(4) Christine Béal (1990: 28) argues that ‘the need to show emotions is [. . .] often allowed to supersede face wants in French culture’. On the other hand, Anna Wierzbicka (2003: 53–4) claims that in Anglo-Saxon culture, public displays of emotions are disapproved of: The overtones which the word emotional has acquired in English are a good illustration of the disapproval of public display of emotions, characteristic of Anglo-Saxon culture. Frequently this word is used with negative connotations, but even when it is not it implies at least ‘an unexpected and somewhat embarrassing display of emotions’. This would explain why the French interviewer reacted more favourably to Clothilde’s display of emotions. This played against Clothilde eventually as her lack of confidence while answering her interviewers’ questions was interpreted as a lack of confidence in her skills (see ‘elle avait été un peu déstabilisée’ (she was a bit out of sorts), ‘suggestions of uncertainty’, ‘lack of confidence in her French’, ‘she wouldn’t be able to convince me, from that, you know, that she’s really going to be able to cope very well over there’). STATEMENTS OF PROFESSIONAL CAPABILITY In the data, nearly one evaluation in five is a Judgement (see Figure 4). Predictably, the candidates focused on Judgements pertaining to their capacity to do the job such as teaching, for example: (19) Craig: I think I’ve developed [. . .] some you know communication skills and um that kind of thing which I think I could adapt um pretty well to the teaching [token, + JUDGEMENT: capacity] A small proportion of Judgements though deals with candidates’ tenacity as shown in Figure 6. The candidates were also mostly positive with 17 positive Judgements versus two negative – one only with regard to the candidates’ capacity to perform well. 12 No. of occurrences 424 10 8 6 4 2 0 Capacity Incapacity Craig FIGURE Clothilde 6 . Distribution of Judgements across the interviews Tenacity Carrie Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 425 As mentioned earlier, 79 percent of all Judgements expressed were invoked. This can be explained by the fact that both the candidates and the interviewers were teachers/researchers and, as such, shared similar professional values/ perspectives, since ‘socialization into a discipline involves both an alignment with the institutional practices involved and an affinity with the attitudes one is expected to have towards those practices’ (Martin, 2000). So when Clothilde for instance stated that her students were ‘all reading their bits’ (see discussion below), it was clear to her interviewers that she meant this as a positive Judgement on their capacity as students – and incidentally as a positive Judgement on her own ability to teach.13 Another factor that may have triggered this strategy lies in the way the interviewers phrased their questions, for example: (20) Inès: pour enseigner finalement l’anglais langue étrangère est-ce que vous prévoyez ou pensez à des activités particulières qui pourraient intéresser les étudiants qu’est-ce que vous feriez par exemple dans une classe so to teach English as a foreign language, do you imagine or think about specific activities that might be interesting to the students, for example what would you do in class Questions of this kind call for concrete activities/ideational meanings drawing on the candidate’s experience as a learner or teacher. These in turn may bring about implied evaluations of their skills and competences. It is the case with Carrie’s answer to Inès’s question above: (21) Carrie: [. . .] j’aimerais [AFFECT: irrealis] heu avoir la chance d’expliquer la culture et mon pays et la vie australienne [. . .] et heu la situation culturelle et politique des Aborigènes ici m’intéresse [+ AFFECT: satisfaction: interest] aussi et oui j’ai et j’ai pas mal voyagé en Australie [token, + JUDGEMENT: capacity] et je je connais la littérature la littérature américaine [token, + JUDGEMENT: capacity] [. . .] [. . .] I’d like um to get the chance to explain the culture and my country and the Australian way of life [. . .] and um the cultural and political situation here with the Aborigines interests me as well and yeah I and I’ve travelled quite a bit around Australia and I I know about literature American literature [. . . ] Carrie mentioned her interest in the situation of Aboriginal people to support her claim that she would teach her students about Australia. Likewise, her travelling (emphasized by ‘pas mal’ (‘quite a bit’)) and her knowledge of American literature imply that she could base some class activities on these topics. Carrie’s answer was interpreted in terms of competences and abilities, as shown in Inès’s post-interview comments: (22) Inès: C’était la partie la plus intéressante finalement, cette réponse-là, c’està-dire au niveau pragmatique, «qu’est-ce qu’elle va faire dans les classes?», et là, je crois qu’elle arrive bien à sortir toutes ses compétences, j’ai voyagé en Australie, je peux faire ça, je peux leur dire ça [. . .] on a vraiment une im- l’impression de quelqu’un qui a de la ressource, qui peut faire ça, ça et ça. Et moi, là, j’ai trouvé que c’était bien, cette réponse-là, justement. 426 Discourse & Communication 2(4) [. . .] j’ai vraiment l’impression de voir qui elle est, ce qu’elle peut faire, ce qu’elle peut donner. This was the most interesting bit right here, this answer, I mean on a pragmatic level, ‘what is she going to do in class?’ and I think she manages to show us her experience, I’ve travelled around Australia, I can do this, I can tell them that [. . .] we really got a – the impression that she is someone with some resources behind her, someone who can do this, this and this. I thought it was good, that reply right there, really. [. . .] I really got who she is, what she can do, what she can offer. Craig’s answer in example 19 on the other hand put forward a competency (communication skills) that teachers regard highly. This supported his claims about his professional capability and may have contributed to negotiating solidarity with his interviewers. Clothilde is the candidate who made the most Judgements. This contributed to highlighting her skills as a teacher and made a good impression on her interviewers. More specifically, she elected to demonstrate her teaching skills through the appraisal of her students’ aptitudes, as shown in example 23. (23) Ingrid: do you find you can make them [the students] make them make them in xx encourage them to speak Clothilde: um yeah I think so they’re all reading their bits and and a lot of people well we’ve had two tutorials so far most most of the science students are really enrolled in it as a pre-requisite for something else so yes yes it it it’s a bit difficult but I think they are beginning to talk a bit more and you know people stay after the tutorial for an hour talking about next week’s presentation so I think they begin to understand a bit more what the course is about and also what giving a presentation is about and stand up in front of a group of people and talking about what’s going on and demonstrate a computer model or something ummm As in Carrie’s response in 21 above, Clothilde elected to answer her interviewer’s question through concrete examples – only in this instance, examples are taken from a class that she was currently teaching. Attitudes are also evoked through tokens of Judgement, that is, rather than directly evaluating her students via explicit attitudinal lexis, Clothilde evaluated them indirectly through experiential (non-attitudinal) meanings (see Table 4). Throughout her answer, Clothilde presented her students as Actors (doing things such as ‘reading their bits’ and so on) or Sensers (thinking/perceiving). Thus, she chose to demonstrate how she encouraged participation in her classes (i.e. her skills as a teacher) through an exemplification of her students’ achievements. This contributed to establishing solidarity with Inès as a fellow professional: (24) Inès: [Il] y a aussi une espèce de complicité, je dirais, avec nous, parce que, ce qu’elle est en train de nous dire, c’est qu’au fond, elle a une expérience d’enseignante comme nous, tu vois, c’est-à-dire finalement heu . . . d’un air de dire «je sais ce que c’est qu’enseigner» et donc tous ces gestes-là sont Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 427 TA B L E 4 . Tokens of Judgement in Clothilde’s answer Instance they’re all reading their bits they are beginning to talk a bit more people stay after the tutorial for an hour talking about next week’s presentation they begin to understand a bit more what the course is about they begin to understand a bit more [. . .] what giving a presentation is about and stand up in front of a group of people and talking about what’s going on and demonstrate a computer model or something des espèces de clins d’œil en disant «voilà, je sais que vous aussi, vous avez dû avoir les mêmes heu . . . les mêmes problèmes, etc.» donc c’était pas mal, ça introduisait une espèce de complicité avec nous. There’s also an element of complicity with us, I think, because what she’s saying is that basically she’s a teacher like us, you see, I mean . . . she’s kind of saying ‘I know what teaching is all about’ so all of these hints are rather like a nudge and a wink to say ‘I know that you too must have had the same problems etc.’ It was quite clever, that, bringing in a form of complicity with us. Solidarity is exemplified in Inès’s choice of words that underline the similarity of their teaching experience, e.g. ‘comme nous’ (‘like us’), ‘vous aussi’ (‘you too’), ‘les mêmes problèmes’ (‘the same problems’). This also shows that more than the mere use of evaluations on the part of candidates, the abundance or scarcity of these evaluations also impacts on the interviewers’ impression of the candidates. Martin and Rose (2003: 250) indeed report that ‘proliferation of attitude is especially powerful, since sharing feelings is such a critical resource for bonding’, although this may be culturally specific. However, Judgements can only realize their potential effect if they are deciphered by the interviewers the way the candidates had intended them. Clothilde’s strategy only works because she is appealing to values that her interviewers share with her. It is because Clothilde makes the ‘right’ evaluations about her students that she demonstrates expertise and builds solidarity with Inès. Thus, candidates may construct affiliation with their interviewers only when demonstrating appropriate aspects of their experience. This is important, since sharing values that their interviewers can identify with, or relate to, is one of the key elements that allows candidates to establish trust and build solidarity with their interviewers (Kerekes, 2006). Again, Clothilde was the only candidate to make negative Judgements. Extract 25 shows the beginning of her answer after she was asked about her projects while in France: (25) Clothilde: heu bon premièrement je voudrais [AFFECT: desire] améliorer mes connaissances de français et je voudrais [AFFECT: desire] pouvoir lire en français un peu mieux je suis assez confortable [+JUDGEMENT: capacity] avec les textes français mais pour écrire en français surtout ça je trouve très difficile [-JUDGEMENT: incapacity] 428 Discourse & Communication 2(4) well um firstly I’d like to improve my knowledge of French and I’d like to be able to read French a bit better I’m reasonably comfortable with French texts but it’s writing in French that’s really hard for me First, the instances of Irrealis Affect point to the limitations of Clothilde’s French. Then, she states her difficulty with writing – a negative Judgement compounded by an intensifier. This answer made a negative impression on both Clothilde’s interviewers: (26) Ingrid: Her frankness is in a sense drawing attention to her weaknesses because, to say that she writes very poorly is going to be a bit of a worry for us, isn’t it, so . . . She’s certainly not doing a great deal to allay our fears if we have them but her French isn’t really quite up to . . . but it’s not really a post to somebody to get their French up to that level. It’s for somebody who’s got French to a very good level already. (27) Inès: Même si la personne ne parle pas très bien, je crois qu’on attendait quand même déjà une certaine facilité, tu vois, dans l’expression, quelqu’un donc heu . . . c’est un tout petit peu maladroit de dire que tu veux aller là-bas pour améliorer ton français [. . .] parce que c’est finalement, à la limite, un poste d’enseignement tu vois [. . .] mais pas nécessairement un poste pour que tu puisses améliorer. Even if the applicant doesn’t speak very well, I think we were expecting a certain ease of expression, you know, somebody who um . . . it’s a little bit clumsy to say that you want to go there to improve your French [. . .] because it’s actually a teaching position, you know [. . .] but not necessarily a position where you can improve your French These comments highlight how Clothilde’s negative Judgement impacted negatively on her interviewers. Conclusion Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics Appraisal theory, in particular its system of Attitude, this article examined a set of authentic interviews in French or French and English. The Appraisal analysis was complemented with extracts from post-interviews in which the candidates commented on the impressions they had tried to convey and the interviewers made comments on their impressions of the candidates. The analysis highlighted two strategies whereby candidates may construct affiliation with their interviewers. The first one involves candidates’ expressions of interest in and enthusiasm for their work and profession. All three candidates in this study chose to highlight their interest in their work and/or the position that they were applying for. The interviewers’ comments indicated how knowledge of the details of the position is crucial in this context and vagueness or lack of specificity can negatively impact on the interviewers’ impression of the candidate. All the female candidates also stressed Lipovsky: Constructing affiliation and solidarity in job interviews 429 their enthusiasm for their work and/or the position at stake. The interviewers commended this strategy in their post-interviews. The male candidate did not expressly state his enthusiasm, although he still communicated his passion for his research through his non-verbal communication. Although not expressing his feelings, he did point out the beneficial effects of the position on his research by means of positive Appreciations. One candidate who was very enthusiastic and also keen to succeed in her interview became quite nervous as a result. This had a negative impact on her interviewers, as they interpreted her lack of confidence during her interview as a lack of confidence in her skills. Another critical factor concerns candidates’ professional ability. All the candidates stressed their ability to perform well in their work by means of Judgements. These Judgements were mostly invoked, partly because the interviewers’ questions called for concrete examples taken from candidates’ professional experience. They were also made possible because both the candidates and the interviewers shared the same professional experience and, as such, had similar values regarding their profession. The analysis also highlighted how negative Judgements may have a damaging impact on interviewers’ impressions of candidates. Therefore, the present study adds to our understanding of job interviews by highlighting the semantic resources whereby candidates construct or block affiliation and solidarity with their interviewers through sharing their feelings and beliefs (or attitudes) about their work and profession. This analysis has shown how candidates connect to, and align with, their interviewers. For instance, in referring to their passion for their job, candidates encouraged their interviewers to empathize with their feelings. Furthermore, candidates’ positive judgements of their capability to perform added to the hard facts already provided about their experience, and highlighted their comprehension of what it meant to be competent in their chosen profession. This contributed to underlining their affiliation as fellow professionals. Post-interview data also highlighted that it is the display of feelings and values that are shared by their interviewers that allows candidates to connect and bond. On the other hand, the analysis has highlighted the damaging effect of negative feelings and opinions in terms of impression. Lastly, this research focused on candidates’ speech. A multimodal analysis exploring how candidates’ gestures and facial expressions function alongside the expression of their attitudes would cast further light on how they foster solidarity with their interviewers. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Constance Ellwood for her critical comments on an earlier version of this article. This article has also greatly benefited from the constructive and insightful comments of the anonymous reviewer. I am particularly indebted to the candidates and interviewers for their participation, and also thank Indigo Blue for her skilful translation of the French data. 430 Discourse & Communication 2(4) N OTE S 1. A comprehensive description can be found in Lipovsky (2005). 2. A fourth interview with a French candidate applying for a position as a teacher of French in Australia was excluded from the present analysis to allow for a consistent corpus. 3. The follow-up interviews with the candidates were conducted after they had been informed of the outcome of their job interview. 4. Note that all the candidates who took part in this study are academically and professionally outstanding, and their answers as detailed hereafter do not call into question their competence in any way. 5. See example 21. 6. The French candidate in the fourth interview also expressed her passion for teaching. See Lipovsky (2007) for examples. 7. See Lipovsky (2007) for an example from the interview with the French candidate. The French candidate expressed her unhappiness with the long hours and fatigue induced in her previous teaching post. Her interviewer interpreted this as a motive for dissatisfaction for her previous employer. 8. Attitudes and their subcategories are coded in the square brackets; ‘+’ marks positive attitudes and ‘–’ negative ones. Instances of Graduation are underlined. 9. All examples are quoted in their original form. 10. ‘xxx’ indicates inaudible speech (1 ‘x’ per syllable). 11. Non-verbal communication is beyond the scope of this article though. 12. Kerekes (2007) states that staffing supervisors in her study viewed confidence and assertiveness as positive traits. 13. The French candidate in the fourth interview, when asked about her teaching, mentioned that she worked ‘mostly on the communication side of things’ and organized ‘a lot of role-plays’. Only an interviewer who values communicative teaching would view these comments as positive Judgements of the candidate’s teaching skills (see Lipovsky, 2007). REFERENCES Adelswärd, V. 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Current projects investigate linguistic aspects of self-presentation in job interviews, students’ attitudes towards their native and non-native teachers, and ESL (English as a second language) learners’ use of graduation over time. A D D R E S S : University of Sydney, School of Languages and Cultures, NSW 2006, Australia. [email: [email protected]] CAROLI N E LI POVSKY