"The only problem is finding a job": Multimodal analysis of job interviews in New Zealand

Abstract

The job interview is a crucial stage in the decision-making process for employment. Research has shown that establishing trust with the interviewer (Kerekes, 2006) and constructing a believable identity (Campbell & Roberts, 2007; Roberts & Campbell, 2006) are crucial elements that promote positive outcomes. These features are closely related to the establishment of mutual understanding, which has been found to facilitate positive evaluation of the candidate (Kerekes, 2003, 2006; Roberts & Campbell, 2006). Most research investigating this issue within discourse analysis has focused on speech as the key conduit of the above features. However, speech is only one of many resources available to the participants – modes such as gesture and gaze, as well as written text all intersect with speech in meaning-making, and thus are also fundamental in shaping the outcomes of the job interview.

This thesis identifies elements of the interview interaction that facilitate positive evaluation of the candidate by taking an approach that combines Multimodal Interaction Analysis (Norris, 2004a, 2011) and notions of identity within a social constructionist framework (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005). This methodology allows for a detailed observation of components such as mutual understanding and trust as they emerge within interaction viewed as a sequence of actions realised through a variety of communicative resources.

The data in this study consist of audio-video recordings of job interview interactions in two settings in New Zealand - a mock encounter between graduates and employers at a local university careers centre, and job interviews with highly experienced professionals at a large recruitment agency. The first stage of data analysis uses Multimodal Interaction Analysis to investigate how candidates and interviewers establish mutual understanding through actions structured by various modes. Based on the features identified during this phase, initial background presentations and self-promotion styles become the focus of analysis in the second part of the thesis, where multimodal aspects of believable identity production are examined.

Findings demonstrate how candidates and interviewers negotiate mutual understanding through embodied conduct, which promotes trust and thus increases the chances of positive evaluation. Constructing a convincing image of oneself as a suitable candidate relies on mutual understanding throughout the interview, but the initial stage of the encounter, the candidate’s background presentation in particular, becomes a crucial site of believable identity production and trust establishment. Furthermore, the candidates produce their identities by means of different self-promotion styles. The interpretation of these styles as renditions of a more or less believable identity is examined in terms of how they link to wider socio-cultural ideologies as well as local behavioural and interactional norms. Overall, this thesis contributes to the field of sociolinguistic research on institutional interaction by taking a multimodal approach that provides an extended view of how interview dynamics are shaped, and advances the field by providing some methodological solutions that can facilitate future multimodal analyses. Secondly, it expands on the current interest in the notion of trust by observing how it functions in gatekeeping encounters.