This study examines the effects of powerful versus powerless speech styles on employment interview outcomes, extending and refining research by Wiley and Eskilson. Undergraduate and professional respondents listened to one of eight audiotaped interviews manipulated by speech style, interviewer gender, and interviewee gender and evaluated the interviewees’ dynamism, social attractiveness, competence, and employability on Likert-type scales. Results indicate that a powerful speech style results in positive attributions of competence and employability and that professional respondents evaluated the speech styles differently than did undergraduates. Implications for the employment interview are discussed, and directions for future research are also identified.

This article reports the results of a content analysis of the debut season of the reality television show, The Apprentice. All 15 episodes were examined to determine the role that communication competencies played in competitors’ success or elimination. Results indicate that the ability to persuade effectively was most critical to winning tasks, but leadership skills and interpersonal skills were the most common sources of praise and criticism from teammates and Donald Trump and his associates. Women appeared to be judged more critically for their interpersonal skills than men, whereas evaluations of men focused primarily on their leadership abilities.