The Role of Job Seekers' Individual Characteristics on Job Seeking Behavior and Psychological Well‐being

The job search process is considered a complex and intensive procedure requiring investment in time and effort on behalf of job seekers. Our study attempts to explore further the effects of a number of individual characteristics on job search behavior, effort, job search outcomes, as well as, on psychological well‐being. We examined these relationships using a daily diary methodology with the participation of 79 recent university graduates–job seekers in Greece at the beginning of the recent financial crisis. Our results did not support the importance of these individual characteristics on job search behavior, effort, and job search outcomes, but it supported their role of daily psychological well‐being, especially their self‐esteem. We discuss implications for job seekers to cultivate these skills that are related to these individual characteristics helpful in maintaining a positive psychological state during the job search period.     

Networking as a job search behaviour: A social network perspective

Although networking is typically recommended as a job search strategy in the popular press, research on networking as a job search behaviour is scarce. On the basis of social network theory, the present study investigated whether the structure and composition of job seekers' social network determined their networking behaviour and moderated its relationship with job search and employment outcomes. The data were collected in a large, representative sample of 1,177 unemployed Flemish job seekers, using a two‐wave longitudinal design. Job seekers with a larger social network and with stronger ties in their network spent more time networking, beyond individual differences in extraversion and conscientiousness. Networking explained incremental variance in job offers beyond job seekers' use of print advertising, the internet, and public employment services, but not in employment outcomes. Some evidence was found indicating that networking might be more effective for job seekers whose social network contains weaker and higher‐status ties.     

Development and test of an integrative model of job search behaviour

Research on job search and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has identified job search attitude, subjective norm, and job search self-efficacy as the most proximal determinants of job seekers’ search intentions and subsequently job search behaviours. However, we do not yet know how more distal individual differences (e.g., personality) and situational factors (e.g., social context) might help to predict these key TPB determinants of job search behaviour. In an integrative model of job search behaviour, we propose specific relationships between these distal variables and the TPB determinants, which in turn are expected to mediate the effects of individual differences and situational factors on job search behaviour. The hypothesized model is tested in a large representative sample of 1,177 unemployed Flemish job seekers using a two-wave design and provides a satisfactory fit to the data. Extraversion, conscientiousness, core self-evaluations, employment commitment, financial need, and social support are found to differentially relate to instrumental job search attitude, affective job search attitude, subjective norm, and job search self-efficacy. In addition, all distal variables are indirectly related to job search behaviour through their effects on the TPB variables. These results support our expanded and integrative model of job search behaviour.     

Needs‐Based Assessment: A Model for Profiling,Assisting, and Empowering Job Seekers

Needs‐based assessment (NBA) was developed in New Zealand to assess job seekers’ capacity, willingness, and opportunity to find work. This article outlines the development of NBA from its theoretical underpinnings, evidence from a longitudinal study and the development of an employment adviser–administered computerized profiling tool, and the provision of self‐assessment and support tools. The authors argue that, with a rise in the number of unemployed job seekers and the long‐term unemployed, demands for government resources with less resources available to satisfy those demands, and the widespread adoption of social and interactive media, it is timely to revisit an NBA approach to job seeker profiling and targeted intervention.     

Building and sustaining work engagement – a participatory action intervention to increase work engagement in nursing staff

This study evaluated whether a participatory action research intervention with nursing staff on acute care older people National Health Service wards in the United Kingdom was effective for increasing work engagement. Mediation analyses between job resources (social support, influence in decision-making), job demands, work-related needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), and work engagement explored the presumed psychological mechanisms underlying the intervention. A non-randomized, matched control group, pretest, post-test design involved three intervention and five control wards. A significant decrease in relatedness, and a borderline significant decrease in competence, was observed in the intervention group compared to the control group, with no effect on work engagement (N = 45). Work-related needs mediated between resources and work engagement, supporting the job demands-resources model and self-determination theory as an underlying explanatory theory. Intervention implementation was difficult, highlighting the need for participant and organizational readiness for change, and strong management support. This is the first known study to apply participatory techniques to increase work engagement in nursing staff and explore the underlying explanatory psychological mechanisms, offering a novel means of taking work engagement research forward. Crucially, it highlights the challenges involved in intervention research and the importance of including evaluations of intervention implementation alongside statistical evaluations to avoid erroneous conclusions.     

Staying in the Race: Counselor Visits and Job Search Confidence Among People With Disabilities

Support that helps job seekers maintain confidence might decrease unemployment rates among people with disabilities. In this study, clients described their employment barriers (disability, education, and work history) and then reported their job search confidence 3 times at 6‐month intervals. Their employment support agency provided information about the support (counseling visits, support hours, and financial resources) it delivered. Clients with more disabilities and education barriers experienced declines in job search confidence unless they received intensive levels of employment counseling. Three visits to a counselor maintained client confidence, and confidence improved only after 18 visits. Other service intensity indicators (support hours and financial resources) did not halt confidence declines.     

失业人员求职行为的影响因素及作用机制 ——基于沈阳市的一项研究

对失业人员求职行为影响因素的研究是开展失业人员求职培训的重要依据。本研究对272名失业人员的求职行为的影响因素及作用机制进行了研究。多元回归分析的结果表明,（1）环境变量对求职行为没有显著的预测作用,而经济压力和知觉到的就业机会对求职意向有显著的预测作用。（2）求职自我效能感和就业承诺对求职行为起到了显著的预测作用。求职自我效能感和就业承诺越高,求职行为的频率越高。（3）求职意向对求职行为有显著的正向预测作用。（4）求职意向在求职自我效能感、就业承诺对求职行为的作用过程中中介作用显著;在知觉到的就业机会、经济压力和社会支持对求职行为的作用过程中中介作用不显著     

Prompting Metacognition During a Job Search: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial with University Job Seekers

Searching for a job is a self-directed activity that requires self-regulation over significant periods of time; yet, in the scientific community, we know little about proximal support interventions that shape the self-regulation processes during a job search. Using an experimental design, we tested a proximal support intervention in the form of metacognitive prompts and how this shaped metacognition and effort in 123 university job seekers over a period of 9 weeks. Job seekers who were exposed to the intervention reported higher levels of metacognition, effort, and a greater number of job interviews compared to job seekers in a control condition. Additionally, the present study revealed that the prompting intervention, compared to the active control condition, resulted in higher levels of metacognition for job seekers who were less committed to finding a job than for job seekers who were more committed to finding a job. In summary, the current study makes important contributions to the job search literature and practice by fine-tuning our understanding of the interventions that may support metacognition during the job search process and the individuals for whom these interventions may be most effective.     

Job search and social cognitive theory: The role of career-relevant activities

Social cognitive theory was used to explain the relationships between career-relevant activities (environmental and self career exploration, career resources, and training), self-regulatory variables (job search self-efficacy and job search clarity), variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (job search attitude, subjective norm, job search intention), and job search intensity. Based on a sample of employed and unemployed job seekers, we found that job seekers who spent more time in career exploration, attended more training programs, and used more career resources reported higher job search clarity and job search self-efficacy. Job search self-efficacy, job search attitude, and subjective norm predicted job search intention, and job search clarity and job search intention predicted job search intensity eight months later. The results of this study provide practical information on what job seekers can do to improve their job search clarity and job search self-efficacy and demonstrate the application of social cognitive theory for understanding and predicting job search behavior.     

How job characteristics relate to need satisfaction and autonomous motivation: implications for work effort

To explore the motivational potential of job design, we linked job demands and job resources, as defined in the job demands–resources model, to the motivational process defined in self‐determination theory. Specifically, we introduced basic need satisfaction and autonomous motivation as consecutive process variables mediating the relationship between job design and work effort. We tested this model by means of structural equation modeling in a sample of 689 employees. The comparison of several competing models provided support for the hypothesized model. We conclude that job demands thwart and job resources promote the fulfillment of 3 psychological needs. High levels of need satisfaction, in turn, are associated with autonomous motivation and, therefore, with high levels of effort.     

Organizational factors related to attracting job seekers higher in hardiness

Building an organization of workers who thrive in demanding environments begins with recruitment of workers with personality traits predictive of resilience. We integrate fit theories to determine how job advertisement information may attract job seekers higher in psychological hardiness (sense of control, feelings of commitment to many things in life, perceptions of challenge). Across two studies, we manipulated hypothetical job advertisements that were presented to current workers seeking new employment. Job seekers higher in hardiness were more attracted to working with hardy coworkers, less attracted to coping resources, and more attracted to high emotional labor demands compared to job seekers lower in hardiness. A discussion for how organizations may craft job advertisement content to improve their recruitment efforts is provided.     

benefits of job clubs for executive job seekers: a tale of hares and tortoises

This qualitative research study compares the experiences of 2 groups of executive job seekers—job club members and nonmembers—through thematic analysis of open‐ended interviews. The findings indicated that job club members benefited from group learning, increased accountability, networking opportunities, emotional support, helping other members, and enhanced understanding of the context of their experiences. Job club members also enjoyed lower levels of frustration with the search process, used a wider range of outplacement firm services, and devoted more time on average to job search activities. Suggestions for practical implementation and application of results are discussed.     

Leadership and satisfaction in change commitment

Managerial transformational leadership skills may directly influence banking counter staff toward change commitment and improve job satisfaction and service quality, or the influence instead may be mediated by change commitment. For a sample comprised of 246 managers from four large Taiwanese banks, the following path relationships were tested: (1) the association of transformational leadership with change commitment, (2) the association of change commitment with job satisfaction, and (3) the direct or indirect (through the mediation of change commitment) effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction. Regression was utilized to gain insight into the effects of transformational leadership and change commitment on job satisfaction. Transformational leadership may foster change by providing psychological support to the banking counter staff, enabling them to use their skills to meet the needs of individual customers in response to complex environments.     

Characteristics of Counseling Centers in Large Universities

Factual and subjective data gathered from counseling centers in 36 major universities is presented to show present conditions, emphasis, and needs of the future. Data are presented showing ratios of counselors to students, budget allotments, strengths, specific weaknesses, etc. Counseling facilities, services provided, emphasis, communications and plans for expansion are dealt with individually. Less than half the centers were meeting student needs and a majority indicated a shortage of professional staff, particularly those competent to do personal adjustment counseling.     

A Mediated Moderation Model of Recruiting Socially and Environmentally Responsible Job Applicants

Socially and environmentally responsible organizations must attend to the fit of employees with the values of the organization. Recruiting practices are a key tool for ensuring fit with an organization's culture and values. We develop and test a model of the process through which recruitment information about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values differentially affect job seeker perceived fit, attraction, and job pursuit intentions depending on job seekers’ desire to have a significant impact through work. Our model of mediated moderation is tested with a sample of 339 actual job seekers using conditional process modeling and nonlinear bootstrapping techniques. Results support expectations that advertisement messages about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values interact with applicants’ desire to have a significant impact through work to influence job pursuit intentions through the hypothesized mediational process. Implications of the model for research on recruitment and organizational social and environmental responsibility are discussed.     

SOCIAL INFORMATION AND EMPLOYEE ANXIETY ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Studies of job attitudes have traditionally been conducted on the correspondence between individual needs and objective job characteristics. A recently developed theory, however, suggests that job attitudes may be a function of social information received (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978). This investigation used social information processing theory as the basis for a study of antecedents to employee anxiety about a move to an open office environment. The structural equation model developed from social information processing theory proved to be a good fit to the data, and a revised version of the model provided an even belter accounting for the variance in the data. Anxiety about organizational change was determined by social information, individual needs, and job characteristics, with need for privacy having the largest impact on anxiety. The model is discussed in terms of its support for information processing theory, its individual significant linkages, and the implications for need satisfaction models of job attitudes and other research on outcomes in organizations.     

The self-help group: The mental health professional's role

The self-help group has become an increasingly important vehicle for providing mental health services for populations that have been otherwise therapeutically disenfranchised. The article discusses the role of the mental health professional in organizing self-help groups and in facilitating their fulfilling their goals. Transference, countertransference, and group dynamic issues are discussed in detail. These issues are illustrated with particular reference to a self-help group for the parents of cult members.The author would like to extend his appreciation and thanks to the Division of Group Psychotherapy of the Department of Psychiatry of the Mount Sinai Hospital, where this paper was first presented. He would also like to express his appreciation to Arnold Markowitz, A.C.S.W., of the Cult Hotline and Clinic of the Jewish Board of Family and Community Services for his help and to the staff of Westchester Jewish Community Services for their support.     

Applicability of the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior in Predicting Job Seeker Intentions to Use Job‐Search Websites

Although use of the Internet for job searching is rapidly increasing, the motivations for using electronic recruitment (e‐recruitment) services by job seekers have seldom been addressed. Derived from the extended theory of planned behavior, this study develops a research model for the empirical examination of factors affecting job seeker intentions to use job‐search websites. Utilizing data collected from 174 participants in Taiwan, various relationships in the research model are tested using structural equation modeling approach. The results showed that job seeker attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control significantly affected their intentions to use job‐search websites. Also, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use showed a significant effect on attitude, interpersonal influence on subjective norm, and perceived ease of use and self‐efficacy on perceived behavioral control. However, external influence was found to be an insignificant predictor of subjective norm. In addition to providing further insight into the factors that influence job seeker intentions to use job‐search websites, this study offers valuable suggestions for subsequent research and practitioners investigating the use of e‐recruitment services.     

Support for students with mental health difficulties in higher education: the students' perspective

A massive expansion in student numbers in higher education, coupled with an overall reduction in funding, has led to higher staff-student ratios and a reduction in the amount of staff time available to support students. This has been linked to rising demands being placed on student support services. This article draws on case studies of five students experiencing mental health difficulties, to provide insight into these issues from the student perspective. The students confirmed that aspects of the higher education environment had exacerbated their difficulties. An innovative model of support is described. Traditionally interventions for students with mental health difficulties have focused at the individual level. We argue that attention also needs to be paid to changing aspects of the environment and that this would improve the learning experience for all students.     

Mind the ad: How personality requirements affect older and younger job seekers' job attraction

Age discrimination may explain lower labour market chances of older and younger job seekers. What remains underresearched, however, is how older/younger job seekers might self-select out from early recruitment procedures due to stigmatizing information in job ads. Building on theories of metastereotypes and the linguistic category model, two experimental studies investigated how personality requirements that older/younger job seekers hold negative metastereotypes about and the way in which these requirements are worded (behavioural vs. dispositional) affected their job attraction. Within-participant mediation analyses showed that as expected, job attraction was higher for older (N = 123, aged 50 years or more) and younger (N = 151, 30 years or less) job seekers when requirements were worded in a behavioural way (e.g., ‘You can be flexible’), compared with a dispositional way (e.g., ‘You are flexible’). This relation was mediated by perceptions of challenge among younger but not older job seekers. Contrary to expectations, perceptions of threat did not explain the effects of negatively metastereotyped personality requirements on job attraction. Understanding how job seekers perceive information in job ads might help recruiters to design age-sensitive recruitment policies.