This content analysis of print advertisements for jobs focuses on changes in choices of visual semiotic resources over time. Recruitment advertisements as a genre of persuasion discourse require careful design, not on...This content analysis of print advertisements for jobs focuses on changes in choices of visual semiotic resources over time. Recruitment advertisements as a genre of persuasion discourse require careful design, not only in terms of writing but also in the selection of visual images, which can help attract candidates＇ attention and therefore enhance the effectiveness of the messages conveyed. It has also been argued that changes in visual-communication styles of recruitment advertisements could, to some extent, reflect how such advertisements were perceived as functioning from the employers＇ perspectives. In this paper, content analysis of job advertisements as printed in weekend newspapers in three different years （1993, 2003, and 2013） revealed that： （1） the presence of visual content in job advertisements fluctuated over the past two decades; and （2） to make recruitment advertisements more eye-catching, visual images were more likely to be placed in areas identified as salient in theoretical terms. The results shed new light on the roles played by the visual semiotic resources of job advertisements for the purpose of attracting human resources effectively.展开更多
文摘This content analysis of print advertisements for jobs focuses on changes in choices of visual semiotic resources over time. Recruitment advertisements as a genre of persuasion discourse require careful design, not only in terms of writing but also in the selection of visual images, which can help attract candidates＇ attention and therefore enhance the effectiveness of the messages conveyed. It has also been argued that changes in visual-communication styles of recruitment advertisements could, to some extent, reflect how such advertisements were perceived as functioning from the employers＇ perspectives. In this paper, content analysis of job advertisements as printed in weekend newspapers in three different years （1993, 2003, and 2013） revealed that： （1） the presence of visual content in job advertisements fluctuated over the past two decades; and （2） to make recruitment advertisements more eye-catching, visual images were more likely to be placed in areas identified as salient in theoretical terms. The results shed new light on the roles played by the visual semiotic resources of job advertisements for the purpose of attracting human resources effectively.
