APPLICANT REACTIONS TO THE INITIAL EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW: EXPLORING THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

Prior studies of the simultaneous effects of recruiting practices and job attributes on applicant reactions to the initial employment interview offered consistent support for a job attributes effect, but limited support for a recruiting practices effect. The present study, using a preinterview-postinterview design, found that recruiting practices significantly affected all measures of student applicants' reactions to campus interviews. Recruiters had a greater effect on perceptions of the job itself than on perceptions of other job attributes. However, likelihood of job acceptance–the applicant reaction that was conceptually closest to job choice–was still mostly unaffected by recruiting practices. Further research examining the effect of recruiting practices on applicant responses throughout the recruitment process is recommended.     

THE RELATION OF INSTRUMENTAL and SYMBOLIC ATTRIBUTES TO A COMPANY'S ATTRACTIVENESS AS AN EMPLOYER

This study adds a new marketing-based angle to the study of the attractiveness of organizations in the early stages of the recruitment process. Drawing on the instrumental-symbolic framework from the marketing literature, we expected that the meanings (in terms of inferred traits) that prospective applicants associate with employing organizations would play an important role in applicants' attractiveness to these organizations. Two groups of prospective applicants (275 final-year students and 124 bank employees) were drawn from the applicant population targeted by the bank industry. These applicants were asked to rate a randomly assigned bank in terms of job/organizational factors and to ascribe traits to this bank. In both samples, trait inferences about organizations accounted for incremental variance over job and organizational attributes in predicting an organization's perceived attractiveness as an employer. Moreover, it was easier to differentiate among organizations on the basis of trait inferences versus traditional job and organizational attributes. Practical implications for image audit and image management are discussed.     

THE EFFECTS OF APPLICANTs' REACTIONS TO COGNITIVE ABILITY TESTS AND AN ASSESSMENT CENTER

Manufacturing applicants' perceptions of two selection devices were examined. In Study 1, applicants ( n = 3,984) completed cognitive ability tests and a survey of reactions. In Study 2, a subset of applicants from Study 1 ( n = 194) participated in an assessment center and completed the survey. Applicants reacted favorably to the procedures but viewed the assessment center as more face valid than the cognitive tests. Applicants who perceived the selection techniques more favorably were also more satisfied with the selection process, the job, and the organization. Although applicants' perceptions of the procedures were related to job acceptance intentions, applicants' liking of the job and organization explained the largest unique variance. In future studies, applicants' job acceptance intentions and attitudes toward the job and organization should be assessed before and after administration of selection devices; not controlling for prior impressions resulted in overestimation of the contribution of applicants' perceptions of selection procedures.     

A PROCESS-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION OF RECRUITMENT SOURCE EFFECTIVENESS1

Two hypotheses explaining the causes of differences in recruitment source effectiveness, the realism of job information provided and the characteristics of individuals recruited, were tested on a sample of packaging plant employees. Seven recruitment sources used by the plant were found to differ in effectiveness as measured by attendance, performance and tenure. The hypothesis that recruitment sources differ because they reach individuals from different applicant populations received strongest support. Implications of the findings for future research and for organizational recruitment programs are discussed.     

The Impact of Job Applicants' Facial Maturity, Gender, and Academic Achievement on Hiring Recommendations

Two studies investigated the impact of job applicants' facial maturity, gender, and achievement level on hiring recommendations. The results revealed that discrimination based on gender and facial appearance varies with the type of job for which an applicant is being considered. Applicants who were babyfaced or female were favored for jobs requiring qualities of warmth and submission, whereas those who were maturefaced or male were favored for jobs requiring qualities of shrewdness and leadership. These hiring preferences were most pronounced for high achieving applicants. They were also paralleled by stereotypical perceptions of the job- relevant attributes possessed by the applicants, which suggests that the effects of applicants' gender and facial maturity are mediated by the perceived fit between their assumed attributes and the job requirements. Finally, the jobs for which male and maturefaced applicants were favored were those for which high-achieving applicants were also favored, which suggests that female and babyfaced applicants are most apt to be discriminated against when applying for higher status jobs.     

Looking Good and Lying to Do It: Deception as an Impression Management Strategy in Job Interviews

The present study investigated job applicants' use of deception. The study examined applicants' deception on written applications, as well as in a job interview; whether individuals would lie to conform to job requirements; and whether extraversion and self-monitoring are related to lying. Fifty-nine candidates completed an application and interview. After the interview, candidates were informed that they were actually participating in an experiment. They then watched a videotape of their interview and indicated any lies they told. As hypothesized, it was found that applicants lied both on the job applications and during the interview, primarily to appear to conform to job requirements. Furthermore, candidate extraversion was positively correlated with number of lies told, although self-monitoring was unrelated to lying.     

The Relationship Between Applicant Reactions, the Likelihood of Complaints, and Organization Attractiveness

This study examined the effect of applicants' reactions to selection measures on complaint intentions and perceptions of organizational attractiveness. Despite recent challenges to selection tests for invasion of privacy, limited research has examined the link between specific reactions and potential legal challenges. As predicted, perceived invasiveness was significantly related to perceived likelihood of complaints for three selection measures. Further, perceived job relatedness was negatively related to likelihood of complaints for a test battery and a math test, but not for an integrity test. On the other hand, neither job relatedness nor invasiveness was significantly related to organizational attractiveness for any of the tests. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

Consequences of organizational justice expectations in a selection system

This study examined several consequences of applicants' expectations of organizational justice at multiple stages in a selection process. The authors assessed the justice expectations of 1,832 job applicants prior to their participation in a testing process and examined how these expectations influenced their pretest attitudes and intentions as well as their perceptions of the testing process. Results revealed that applicants with higher expectations of justice reported higher levels of pretest motivation and more positive job acceptance and recommendation intentions. Justice expectations were also positively related to applicants' perceptions of justice in the testing process. Results provided some evidence that justice expectations have a moderating influence, such that justice perceptions have a greater influence on applicants' affective and cognitive states when expectations of justice are high. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the context of research on organizational justice and applicant perceptions.     

Pre-employment screening and applicants' attitudes toward an employment opportunity

In an experimental simulation with Israeli participants, the author examined the influence of two aspects of pre-employment screening (duration of screening and type of testing) on applicants' attitudes toward a recruitment effort and toward a potential job. Testing that lasted longer led to more favorable attitudes. The participants considered knowledge testing, compared with personality testing, more job related, less invasive of privacy, and less sensitive to the amount of time spent testing.     

The Effects Of Recruitment Message Specificity On Applicant Attraction To Organizations

We used the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) from marketing research to explain and examine how recruitment message specificity influences job seeker attraction to organizations. Using an experimental design and data from 171 college-level job seekers, the results showed that detailed recruitment messages led to enhanced perceptions of organization attributes and person–organization (P–O) fit. Perceptions of fit were found to mediate the relationship between message specificity and intention to apply to the organization. In addition, perceptions of organization attributes and P–O fit were found to influence intentions to apply under circumstances of explicit recruitment information while attractiveness and fit perceptions were shown to influence application intentions under conditions of implicit recruitment information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Value of Organizational Reputation in the Recruitment Context: A Brand-Equity Perspective

We extend the recruitment literature by examining how and why firms' reputations affect job seekers, and by expanding the outcome variables that can be used to judge recruitment success. Results from 339 individuals suggested that job seekers' reputation perceptions affected job pursuit because (a) individuals use reputation as a signal about job attributes, and (b) reputation affects the pride that individuals expect from organizational membership. Moreover, individuals were willing to pay a premium in the form of lower wages to join firms with positive reputations, and individuals' familiarity with organizations affected the amount of information they could recall about a recruitment job posting after 1 week. Finally, the results suggested that reputation advertising did not affect job seekers' reputation perceptions, suggesting that past research on fictitious companies may not generalize to actual organizations.     

WHAT HAS RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT? UNRAVELING THE ROLE OF RACIOETHNICITY IN JOB SEEKERS' REACTIONS TO SITE VISITS

Racioethnic minorities have constituted a substantial portion of new labor market entrants in the past decade ( Fullerton & Toossi, 2001 ). Yet, the recruitment literature has not attended to issues of racioethnicity, and more specifically, how racioethnic groups may differ in the factors used to determine job acceptance intentions after site visits. This article aims to rectify that omission by providing a theoretical model explaining how organizational and surrounding community attributes differentially affect the decision-making process of minority and majority group job applicants. Several individual difference moderators (i.e., racioethnic identity, social dominance orientation, other-group orientation, and perceived job opportunities) also are discussed in terms of their potential influence on job acceptance intentions. The article concludes with coverage of relevant research and practical implications of the racioethnic model of site visit reactions.     

What do applicants want? Examining changes in attribute judgments over time

Despite years of research examining the types of job and organizational attributes (e.g. pay, fit) that influence applicants' perceptions of organizational attractiveness, almost no research has examined how and why the weighting placed on these attributes may change across the stages of a recruitment and selection process. Using a longitudinal policy‐capturing methodology, doctoral applicants to a psychology graduate programme were surveyed at three points in time. Results revealed the weighting of fit and funding (pay) attributes increased over time, and there were individual differences in attribute weighting over time. Individual differences in applicant marketability partially explained these changes.     

RECRUITMENT EVALUATION: THE CASE FOR ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF APPLICANTS ATTRACTED

We argue that assessing attraction outcomes is critical to systematic improvement of recruitment effectiveness and offer a new assessment framework that can be adapted by all organizations for any position in any staffing scheme. These methods (a) permit outcomes of different recruitment processes–attraction, status maintenance, and gaining job acceptance–to be evaluated independently, (b) support concurrent evaluations of attraction outcomes, (c) enable cost-benefit analyses of alternative recruitment processes, (d) allow meaningful comparisons of applicants from different recruitment events, and (e) support more aggressive management of the recruitment function than is otherwise possible. An illustrative example demonstrates these methods using attraction outcome data from 5 organizations' recruitment of associate engineers and shows that not only do attraction outcomes differ, the value of those differences can be substantial.     

A Longitudinal Study of Applicant Reactions to Multiple Selection Procedures and Job and Organizational Characteristics

This longitudinal field study aimed to: (a) examine the relative importance of reactions to psychological tests compared to interviews; (b) compare reactions to selection procedures with perceptions of job and organizational attributes; and (c) examine the relative importance of job acceptance intentions assessed at different stages. Graduate applicants were surveyed at four time points: pre‐selection, after an external interview, after psychological tests and internal interviews, and after actual job acceptance decision. Reactions to psychological tests were unrelated to attractiveness and acceptance intentions, whereas mixed findings were reported on reactions to interviews. Mostly, the findings showed that perceptions of job and organizational attributes explained significant variance in attractiveness and job acceptance intentions, whereas reactions to selection procedures were unrelated. The hypothesis that acceptance intentions closest in time to job acceptance decision would be more strongly related to job acceptance decision compared to intentions assessed at early stages was not supported. In general, the results emphasised the relative importance of initial attitudes of applicants in understanding applicant reactions.     

Understanding the Applicant Recruitment Experience: Does timeliness matter?

This study examined the effect of recruitment time delays on applicant attraction to an organization. In addition, we examined if perceived job and organization characteristics mediated the relationship between recruitment time delays and attraction. The sample consisted of 85 experienced workers who were applying for a range of positions at a large Australian university. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relationships. As hypothesized, perceived timeliness had a positive effect on attraction. Contrary to expectations, actual recruitment delays did not influence attraction. Finally, support was found for the partial mediation effects of perceived job and organization characteristics.     

INDIVIDUAL REACTIONS TO ORGANIZATIONAL RECRUITING: A REVIEW

The present paper reviews the research that has examined the influence of organizational recruiting on applicants' attitudes and job choice behaviors. It was found that recruiting representatives, administrative practices, and procedures used to evaluate applicant qualifications are all potentially important influences on job seeker attitudes and behaviors. However, limitations of the existing research necessitate caution in the interpretation of findings. Of particular concern is the likely generalizability of results presented here to all job seekers. The review concludes with recommendations for the conduct of subsequent recruiting research.     

RECRUITMENT COMMUNICATION MEDIA: IMPACT ON PREHIRE OUTCOMES

An unanswered question in recruitment research is whether and how the media used to communicate recruitment messages influence important outcomes. Drawing from research and theory on persuasive communication and media richness and features, we propose and test a model of the effects of media and media features (amount of information, opportunities for 2-way communication, personal focus, social presence, symbolism) on communication outcomes (credibility and satisfaction), attitudes, intentions, and behavior associated with joining the organization. Results of an experiment with 989 undergraduate students show that a constant recruitment message delivered via different media (face-to-face, video, audio, text) influenced perceptions of featares, and perceptions of features were related to important pre-hire outcomes.