Argumentation In The Job Hunt: Why Understanding Rhetorical Modes Matter in Getting the Job
Job hunting is exhausting. The never ending process of mass applying, writing memorable cover letters, tailoring your resume, networking, detailing your online presence, etc.
It’s a lot. It can be draining.
The job hunt is not easy. Heck, I’m writing this and am currently on the job hunt. However, this article is to demonstrate how argumentation is prominent in writing and in the job search itself: writing resumes and cover letters, orally persuading your audience of your credibility in behavioral interviews, providing empirical evidence that you can do the job in technical interviews, etc. The idea behind the job hunt that is similar to argumentation is to “win” your audience, or to convince your audience that you are believable or trustworthy in your argument, your argument being, you are the no-brainer hire.
It’s imperative to understand your position in the hiring process and to understand who your audience is. You will be interviewing with people who have years of experience in the industry, the question is, what makes you the no brainer hire? Why hire you?
What people fail to realize with the job hunt are concepts of argumentation or rhetorical writing. Aristotle philosophized his theory for argumentation and for now, I’ll talk about pillars of his classical argument structure: logos, ethos and pathos.
Logos — logistics or the empirical evidence of hiring you. As a software engineer, interviewing comes with technical interviews. Technical interviews show your audience, the interviewer, that you are fit for the job based on evidence or observations — can you solve the algorithm(s)?
Ethos — Credibility. Credibility is what makes you fit for the job based on previous experience. For example, let’s say you have a doctors appointment and need to seek medical counsel. You are more likely to trust a person who has a doctorate in a field and years of practice than someone who is in their 1st year of undergrad studying biology. What’s your credibility? Based on your background, what makes you trustworthy for this position? What makes you the perfect fit for this position that you’re interviewing for based on previous experience?
Pathos — Emotional persuasion or tools used to appeal to your audience. When you get a behavioral interview, the interviewer wants to know your passion, your values and if you’re aligned or fit with the company values. When the interviewer asks, “Tell me a story…” or “describe to me a time when you were faced with adversity or a challenge and overcame it”. When they ask these questions, it is your job to rely on pathos, or emotional storytelling/persuasion that answers their question.
The idea behind this classical argument structure is to use Logos, Ethos and Pathos in equal length or emphasis. You can think of each of these pillars as points on an equilateral triangle. Equal emphasis on each point creates the perfect argument or combination of each pillar.
Emotionally, credibly and/or logically, you are in the position to convince your audience that you are fit for the job. Job hunting is difficult, there are many high highs and low lows. Although, from personal experience of using this model in my cover letters, resume and in interviews, I’ve had success. If this article becomes popular I’ll provide more tips for how to make this model work for you! For now, it is imperative to understand the basics.
Happy interviewing and hacking!
-Crystal
