PB1A Defining a Textual Genre

As you can see, the textual genre I chose was the standard job application. A few examples I pulled were applications from Kohl's, DSW, and a position at a hospital. From a first glance we see the ubiquitous empty boxes that ask us of our name, phone number and email address, but then things start to get more specific as we start to really unbox what makes a job application a job application. For example, job applications are one of the only places where we would need to provide our employment history and level of education in the same situation; this is a recurring situation when reading a job application. Something else that truly distinguishes a job application is the reappearing question of availability. This is a question you may be asked frequently in everyday life, but rarely on paper is this something we need to think about. Also, there is a repeated visual motif in all job applications that we need to acknowledge. The more basic observations would be that most to all job applications are black and white, and that the company logo or seal is placed at the top center, left of center, or right of center. Most job applications, including the ones I have pulled, follow a persistent use of grid formatting and boxing out of different categories of information that they need. Job applications usually take up the entire page, whatever they are printed on. You might be able to spot a job application on a table from across the room just by looking at how the boxes are organized and layed out on the paper. Another defining characteristic of a job application would have to be the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's official statement of equal employment. This statement ensures the applicant that they are equally considered for employment regardless of race, sex, age, religion, etc, and would only be seen on a job application. Some employers don't include this statement. It is usually larger corporations that do include this statement like Kohls or DSW that do and it is written the same every time which is what you would expect from a federal agency. There are a number of other things that an employer might want to include on an application, like if there are any special skills an applicant has, what your emergency contact information is, and who are people they can contact for a reference?  The purpose of these seemingly personal questions is to inform the reader of an applicant's personality, interests, and experience. Every piece of literature has its context it is read in, meaning you wouldn't go to a library to find a job application (unless you wanted to work at that library of course.) So it is only in particular situations that we find ourselves reading a job application, never for leisure or "fun." The style in which job applications is very straightforward and concise, the employer wants to know a large amount of information about you usually using just one piece of paper. There is no room and no need for large amounts of writing in a situation where you need to interact with the piece more than it interacts with you. It is hard to say anything about the tone of a job application, it is neutral and to the point.