A CORPUS-BASED GENRE ANALYSIS OF RHETORICAL MOVES IN PAKISTANI JOB POSTINGS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TECHNICAL AND NON-TECHNICAL ROLES

Abstract

Job postings are central to communicative artifacts in recruitment, yet the rhetorical structure and linguistic strategies of job postings lack study in Pakistani context. In an effort to bridge this gap, the present study analyzes 53 job advertisements in five jobs: Digital Marketing, Project Management, Teaching, Graphic Design and Business analysis using Bhatia’s (1993) move analysis model and AntConc corpus tools. The goal of the research is to compare rhetorical moves between technical and non-technical positions, to find lexical bundles that signal authority in sections entitled “Requirements” and to discuss industry-specific move emphases. Findings show “Requirements” moves (45% of content) with tool-specific language such as “proficient in Python” being technical posting priories, non-technical roles place an “emphasis on “Company Culture” (38%) and soft skills,” such as “strong communication.” Creative industries, particularly Graphic Design, place emphasis on “Portfolio Submission” (89% of postings), while in Education occupations “Certification” (76%) is featured. Furthermore, chi-square and regression analyses reveal vast differences in move distribution and lexical choices between sectors. The study finds that the Pakistani job ads use a hybrid rhetorical strategy, mixing global genre conventions with localized norms of language. Such insights provide applied implications for employers who would like to maximise the recruitment messages to be sent and teachers who wish to expand the professional communication teaching materials for furthering the genre theory and HR practices in the developing economies.