This study investigates the themes that drive persuasive recruiting appeals, or stories, designed to attract new, entrepreneurial workers in the direct selling industry. It offers a rhetorical perspective informed by fantasy theme analysis on the themes present in the recruiting content on the corporate Web sites of three direct selling companies (Mary Kay, Stella & Dot, and Scentsy). The analysis indicates that rhetorical agency is a core theme in the persuasive recruiting stories for these companies. Offering a means for business and technical communication scholars to explore agency or other persuasive story themes in context, this study addresses how a rhetorical perspective is useful to assess recruiting appeals in shifting, entrepreneurial work contexts.

中文翻译：

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他们讲述的故事

这项研究调查了推动有说服力的招聘诉求或故事的主题，这些呼吁旨在吸引直销行业的新企业家。它通过对三个直销公司（玫琳凯、Stella & Dot 和 Scentsy）的企业网站上的招聘内容中的主题进行幻想主题分析，提供了一种修辞视角。分析表明，修辞代理是这些公司有说服力的招聘故事的核心主题。本研究为商业和技术传播学者提供了一种在上下文中探索代理或其他有说服力的故事主题的方法，探讨了修辞视角如何有助于评估在不断变化的创业工作环境中的招聘吸引力。