In answering the posted study question
How do students currently pursuing B.A. degrees in Sociology prepare themselves for and engage in a job search with potential employers? Two participants who are my classmates were incorporated in conducting the study with the sole purpose of acquiring the valid findings. The two participants were chosen as they were conversant with the social interaction concepts that have been studied in sociology classroom context. The interviewees who participated in the interview were John MacCaw and Mary Sibling who were both students from the Social interaction class. In conducting the research, I incorporated the use of dramatic performance in which the participants’ appearance and behaviors were used based on the judgments that were being offered by the audience (Goffman, 1959). In the research, I managed to incorporate dramaturgical theory and idealized performance because multiple interviews while they are involved in a job interview with their potential employers, they use these concepts of idealized performance in reflecting their opinion towards the potential employers. The prospective employers in the job interviews play a significant role in evaluating the mistakes of interviewees, how the job interviewees company with the set organizational rules, how the interviewees manipulate their expressions towards the questions that they raise in the interview and how these elements correlate with the interviewee's idealized performance. It is evident that most job seekers engage in preparation before coming into contact with their potential job seekers (Marshall, 2013). The practiced performance of job highlights idealized performance which is aimed at being directed to the potential employers with the aim of enabling them to acquire the job opportunity. The idealized performance reflects how the individual is a scene product which indicates how the job seeker is performing to the potential employer as he interacts with the prepared scenes with the aim of luring the potential employer into offering him or her the job.
Methods
In research with the aim of acquiring valid answers of the study questions, five questions were integrated into the interview which aimed at obtaining the different responses of the participants that will indicate the participant's multiple concepts. The five questions that were incorporated into the interview process included:
What are you key traits that will further aid a company in success?
Do you take into account the people who are providing you with an interview? Are you also judging them and the environment to see if it works for you, or are you mainly focused on giving the right impression to fit in?
How much do you look to increase portfolio or work experience? Are there things that you stretch on your portfolio? Where do you think there is a line drawn where stretching the truth becomes lying?
What kinds of questions from the employer do you prepare for? Are there certain questions or topics you hate when being asked in an interview? If so, what are they and how come?
Do you dress and act a certain way during an interview because it’s your idea of what they are searching for, or are you always your same self? If so, how? How do you change yourself, if you will, to better fit what you think an employer is looking for?
The five questions which I created by integrating dramaturgical concepts and Symbolic Interactionism were to be answered by the main participants of the interview. The five questions which I created will play a significant role in enabling me to evaluate how B.A. in Sociology students make early preparations by integrating idealized performance and dramaturgical concepts which they aim at using towards the potential employers to achieve the job occupations that the organization is offering to the job seekers. The prospective employers in these case will rely on the idealized performance and dramaturgical concepts in gauging the potential of job interviewees of the organization. The questions have been designed in such a manner that will reflect on the data of the interviewees and create situations which will enable the B.A sociology seekers to portray the idealized performances and the dramaturgical ideologies on an individual while answering the question.
Findings
The interview process involved two participants John MacCaw and Mary Sibling who are both students of Sociology Interaction class. The two participants whom I integrated into answering the five questions that I drafted in the interview were chosen because they were both students pursuing B.A in Sociology. The other reason is that both were conversant with the issues that B.A job seekers tend to face while they are looking for jobs and the preparations that job seekers apply with the aim of luring the potential employers into offering them a job opportunity. The first question that was answered by John MacCaw and Mary Sibling indicated that their certain primary traits that an individual should possess that would play a significant function in enabling the company to attain its success. The second question that was answered by both John and Mary indicated that two highly valued how the potential employers viewed them in the interviewing room. The third question showed that the two interviewees prefer making a high profile portfolio whenever they come across a job position that is of high status. The fourth question indicated that the participants are usually highly prepared whenever it comes to questions that deals about his or her personality traits. The fifth question also indicated that the participants prefer wearing formal clothes whenever they are subjected to undergo job interviews.
Discussion and Conclusion
In analyzing how the two participants responded two the five questions in the interview, I managed to identify that the two participants matched the perfect description of performed characters and products of the scene. Dramaturgy tends to rely significantly on idealized performance with the sole aim of luring the potential employers into offering the job position that is present in the organization (Marshall, 2013). The interviewees were able to achieve the concept if idealized performances through the marinating of proper manners, indicating confidence, complying with the organization's regulations, self-appearance and maintenance of self-respect.
In analyzing the responses that were acquired from the interview, it is evident that the participants who are Sociology students were able to integrate the concepts of idealized performance as advocated by Goffman in their job seeking venture and Mead and Cooley social interactionist concepts in luring the potential employers into offering them the job position (Goffman, 1959). The idea of maintaining an official dressing code, and maintain harmony and complying with organizational regulations match the ideologies of idealized performance (Cooley, 1902). The idealized performance is aimed at creating an impression on the potential employer (Hochshild, 1983). On the other hand, the aspects of manners, self-respect and the physical appearance of employees play a significant role in creating a positive impression towards potential employers (Cooley, 1902). The interviewees also indicated that the impression that the participants create to the job interviewers usually guide the interviewers into creating personal perceptions about the multiple job seekers.
The factor of emphasizing on self-respect and confidence tends to portray the theory of idealized performance vividly (Mead, 1967). The primary logic is that potential employers evaluate these elements into creating perceptions about the character of the job interviewees (Hochshild, 1983). The element to also manage to deal with individual characteristics of the interviewee thus there is usually the need for the interviewee to focus on personal characters with the aim of winning the hearts of the potential employers.
References
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature and the social order. Routledge.
Debra Marshall. (2013).George Herbert Mead's Stages of Self/.(Online).Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqLVYMUowPI
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in. Butler, Bodies that Matter.
Hochshild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart. Jaggar, Alison and Paula Rothenburg, 3.
Mead, G. H. (1967). Mind, self, and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist (Works of George Herbert Mead, Vol. 1).
