A Cultural Analysis of Self-Introduction Letters Produced by Young Job Seekers

Abstract

Job seeking for young adults after college in South Korea is notably fierce and highly competitive. Many job seekers often find themselves grappling with despair, frustration, and insecurity amidst such challenging social circumstances. This study delves into the job-seeking experiences of the younger generation by closely examining their process of writing self-introduction letters. It pays particular attention to the narrative strategies and depictions of the candidates’ self-described activities within these documents through a detailed textual and cultural analysis. In particular, it explores the pressure they feel due to the internal contradiction between their self and the idealized job applicants promoted by companies. We conducted written interviews with 11 young adults about their experiences in writing introduction letters. By doing so, this study attempts to contextualize the intricate the structures of feelings experienced by young job seekers, as well as the various social elements and pressures that exert influence on them.

Journal: Korean Journal of Communication & Information, Vol. 72: 7-51. (2015)

Authors: Keehyeung Lee, Dongwook Song, Seungwoo Koo, Junjeong, Jisu Kim, Danbi Lee and Juhwa Park

Download: LINK (Written in Korean)

Into the text

“The text of the self introduction letter written by the young adults may seem to contain a diverse and flexible record of self-management, concerns, or practices, but it inevitably possesses a significant ‘self-divisive’ characteristic. Moreover, due to these features, this ‘intermediate’ text is noteworthy for examining how the youth in the current situation internalize market discipline, or partially cynicize such pressure while constantly comparing and reconstructing themselves with the model of the ideal subject of companies.” p.27

“The 11 respondents revealed that they have two major ways of dealing with the split self in relation to the composition of the self introduction letter for job search. The first is the ‘cynical about the split strategy’, which accepts the split as inevitable even though it is already directly confronted. The second is the ‘healing the split’ strategy, which controls or eliminates the heterogeneity or distance between the subject, ‘me,’ and the object, ‘the ideal subject of companies,’ by aligning their experiences with the company’s position and representing the ambitious and unconstrained ‘me’. Most respondents were already quite aware that a resume could not truthfully show their complex history of or multi-layered ‘me’, and they were constantly confronted and worried about the inner contradictions in the processual pressure of job seeking.” p.37