Audience-And-Use Profile Sheet
Identity and Needs
1. Who is my primary audience? Department head who will hire me. Who else will read
the document? Human Resources or Recruiting Department.
2. What is my relationship to this audience? As a beggar is to Donald Trump.
3. How will my document be used (to solve a problem, make a decision, perform a task,
answer a question)? To determine whether or not I should be called in for a face-to-face
interview.
4. How much is my audience likely to know already about this topic? About me, nothing
– but about the job, a lot. The HR person will be working from a list provided by the
department head – might not know much about my profession.
5. What else does the audience need to know (background, definition, and so on)? Need
to know not only my degrees and job titles, but what skills I’ve got that I can use to
further their business goals.
6. What main questions are most users likely to have? Do I have enough experience to do
the job?
Attitude and Personality
7. What attitudes or misconceptions is the audience likely to have toward the topic? Are
they likely to have any objections? They might assume that somebody with my lack of
direct experience won’t be able to do the job – but the quality of hands-on training I’ve
had in my classes has taught me many techniques to which people working in some
environments won’t have been exposed.
8. What attitude does the audience seem to have toward me? Not necessarily negative,
but skeptical. The HR person might be the most critical – they’ll just compare my
qualifications to the ideal description they’ve got from the department. Might require a
minimum number of years of experience which I don’t have.
9. How receptive to new ideas is this organization? I’ve heard the department head is
often willing to mentor promising graduates. HR person, it’s hard to say – but, again,
probably working from a list of ideal qualifications.
10. Who will be most affected by this document? The department planning on hiring me.
11. What do I know about the user’s (or group’s) personality (way of thinking, behaving,
and reacting)? I’ve heard from a friend who works in another division at the company
that this division head is a stickler for details, but as long as you do things right, he’s a
great boss.
12. What reaction to this document can I expect? Possibly complete disinterest. The
circular file, and a nice letter.
13. Do I risk alienating anyone? If I’m too technical for the HR person, he/she could be
alienated, but if I simplify things too much, the division head might have little interest in
me.
14. Do I face any constraints? Deadline is only a few days away!
Expectations About the Document
15. Has this document been requested or am I initiating it? I’m replying to an advertised
position, so they’ll be look for it – and looking for specific things in it.
16. How will the cultural context shape this audience’s expectations? I might be a bit
older than most people just graduating with this degree. Nowadays changing careers is
common, and I can’t certainly demonstrate how my job history will make me a better
employee – but will I be facing prejudice or policies that make it impossible?
17. What length will the audience expect and tolerate (spell it out or keep it short and
sweet)? Short and sweet – especially for the HR person.
18. For this audience, what kinds of details will be most important (conclusions, a
summary, cost factors, how the material affects them)? I’ll need to emphasize my skills,
academic and learned on the job in unrelated positions, and the experience from my coop.
19. How would they expect the piece to be organized? Standard format – I’ll use a
combo resume. Must make sure there’s nothing funny, despite the fact my experience
might not be perfect.
20. What tone would this audience expect? Professional but informal. Lots of sentence
fragments – but no misspellings!
21. What is this document’s intended effect on its audience? Spark their interest, get
them to call me.