The Job Search Process: An Attitudinal and Behavioral Analysis

Job search attitudes and behaviors among college students were studied. Major job-seeking factors were identified and discussed in relation to job search experience.     

Liberal Arts Graduates and the Job Search: The Employer's Perspective

In a survey of recruiters whose companies hire liberal arts graduates, employers suggested the educational qualities they found most attractive and offered recommendations for the job search.     

The Dynamics of Unemployment for Social Assistance Recipients

In this exploratory research study, the experience of unemployment and helping or hindering factors for social assistance recipients is examined.     

Job Search Activity Patterns of Successful and Unsuccessful Job Seekers

In this article, the author summarizes a study examining the number and pattern of job-search resources used by successful and unsuccessful job seekers.     

Finding Work Following Job Loss: The Role of Coping Resources

The negative physical and psychological effects of job loss are well-documented. Much less research has explored factors that might help people cope with job loss and become reemployed quickly. Individuals who became reemployed within 3 months of job loss were more “internal” in locus of control, had greater self-efficacy, and possessed better problem-solving skills than did individuals who remained unemployed.     

The Interaction of Job Satisfaction, Job Search, and Job Changes. An Empirical Investigation with German Panel Data

Using the rich data set of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) this article analyzes the effects of job characteristics on job satisfaction as well as the conditions under which low job satisfaction leads to job search, and under which job search leads to job changes. Individual fixed effects are included into the analysis in order to hold unobserved heterogeneity constant. According to the empirical results, the strongest determinants of job satisfaction are relations with colleagues and supervisors, task diversity and job security. Furthermore, job satisfaction is an important determinant of the self-reported probability of job search, which in turn effectively predicts actual job changes. The effect of job search on the probability of changing jobs varies with job satisfaction and is strongest at low levels of job satisfaction. The effects of job dissatisfaction on job search and of job search on quits are stronger for workers with lower tenure, better educated workers, workers in the private sector and when the economy and labor market are in a good condition.     

The Role of Social Contacts in the Successful Job Search

This study examined the impact of social contacts (“It's who you know, not what you know”) on job getting. Workers were interviewed to discover the source of information about their most recent job. Results show that social contacts were the most frequently used resources during the job-getting process and that these personal contacts were used more often in some occupational environments than in others.     

Finding the Best Person for the Job: The Search Committee and Affirmative Action

The role of the search committee in the hiring process is ambiguous and as diverse as the institutions where it is employed. Those institutions using a search committee need to be aware of the expectations, proper functions, and limitations involved. Persons agreeing to serve on such a committee need to be properly educated and informed on specific aspects of the assignment that might present problems as the work progresses. This article attempts to delineate the duties of such a committee and raises questions that need to be considered before the committee is organized.     

工作搜索行为理论模型的述评

简要介绍了西方有关工作搜索行为的心理学理论模型,并进行了简要的述评。在此基础上,文章又根据已有的研究成果探讨了未来理论模型构建的趋向,并且认为自我决定理论、控制焦点理论以及洛克的工作动机模型对未来的模型建构具有重要的启示意义。     

Coping with Job Loss and Reemployment: A Two-Wave Study

Using a national sample, this study investigated the effects of unemployed workers’ coping resources and coping strategy use on reemployment after a three-month period. Based on previous research, it was expected that (1) three types of coping resources (self-esteem, social support, and financial resources) would be positively related to problem-focused coping with job loss, (2) coping resources would be negatively related to emotion-focused coping with job loss, (3) problem-focused coping would be positively related to reemployment, (4) problem-focused coping would be more strongly related to reemployment than emotion-focused coping, and (5) coping strategies would mediate the relationship between the availability of coping resources and obtaining reemployment. Results provided support for the direct effects of coping resources (self-esteem, social support, and, to some extent, financial resources) on coping strategies, and a direct effect of problem-focused coping on reemployment 3 months later. Self-esteem and social support were each indirectly related to subsequent employment status, mediated by problem-focused coping. In other words, individuals with higher levels of self-esteem and social support were not only more likely to engage in problem-focused coping, but having a higher level of self-esteem and social support was also associated with a higher likelihood of being reemployed three months later. Findings are pertinent for the design of more effective interventions that mitigate adverse effects of unemployment and facilitate a successful return to the workforce.     

Job Hunters' Perspectives on Their Needs During the Job Search Process

Respondents rated self-assessment and decision making as most important during the job hunting process; however, there were differences between overall ratings and those for specific groups of respondents.     

Antecedents of Underemployment: Job Search of Skilled Immigrants in Canada

We investigate factors that skilled immigrants can improve in order to have better job search outcomes, in particular to avoid underemployment. We test an unfolding model which considers barriers faced by skilled immigrants during their job search (language and cultural barriers, and the lack of social support in the receiving country), job search constructs and job search outcomes (including underemployment). We collected data through an online questionnaire and obtained 357 usable responses from skilled immigrants in Canada. The hypotheses were tested with partial least squares (PLS). Language fluency and cultural knowledge were positively related to both job search clarity and job search self‐efficacy. Social support was only related to job search self‐efficacy. Job search clarity was related to job search intensity. Job search intensity was related to the number of interviews, which in turn, was related to the number of job offers. Finally, the number of job offers was negatively related to underemployment. Our paper contributes to the understanding of the job search of skilled immigrants by examining factors that can help them overcome obstacles and obtain better job search outcomes.     

Self-Directed Job Search Training in Occupational Classes

The Self-Directed Job Search Materials Package was developed for classroom instructors for use with their students in occupational skills training classes. The materials, which consist of a student manual and a related cassette series, are designed to be used concurrently with students involved in occupational skills training so that they can acquire the knowledge and confidence needed to obtain jobs.     

Irrational Expectations in the Job Search Process

Although approaches that focus on cognitive distortions are often used in psychological and career counseling, they are rarely used in job search counseling. Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) can be used effectively to combat clients' unrealistic expectations in the job search process.     

Group Job Search Workshops: A Concept Whose Time Is Here

The quest for more efficient and cost-effective ways to provide employment opportunities to those seeking jobs has been of concern to the Job Service and other providers for many years. It has only been during the last 10 years that the concept self-placement has come to the fore and from that, the concept group job search has developed, gaining considerable emphasis and interest in the process. This article analyzes the group job search process, briefly describes the basic models, and presents another approach that has been developed and utilized in Nevada.     

Employability and Job Search after Compulsory Reemployment Courses: The Role of Choice,Usefulness, and Motivation

Compulsory reemployment courses aim to increase unemployed people's chances of reemployment by enhancing their employability and job search activities. However, the course outcomes vary greatly. This study examined the conditions and mechanisms that influence the outcomes of reemployment courses. In a two‐wave study of 643 participants, we assessed participants’ course experience (perceived choice and perceived usefulness), motivation for finding reemployment (internalisation), and employability and job search before and after the course. The results confirmed that a more internalised motivation was positively related to most course outcomes. Unexpectedly, perceived choice was unrelated to internalised motivation and course outcomes. Instead, high perceived choice was beneficial for motivation and some course outcomes only when the participants perceived the course to be useful for finding reemployment but was detrimental when they perceived the course to be useless. Perceived usefulness was also directly and positively related to the participants’ internalised motivation, which was in turn positively associated with most employability dimensions and job search activities after the course. Our results imply that the compulsory nature of reemployment courses may not be detrimental to people's motivation and course outcomes as long as they perceive the course to be useful for finding reemployment.     

Navigating the Black Hole: Explicating Layers of Job Search Context and Adaptational Responses

Via a qualitative study, we introduce and elucidate 5 layers of context‐related job search demands (omnibus, organizational, social, task, and personal) that are encountered by both employed and unemployed job seekers. We develop a process model to portray the mechanisms (managing mood and motivation, feedback/help seeking, and self‐reflection/learning) through which these context‐related demands are related to several important job search outcomes. We provide new insight into employed job seekers, showing that they report the job search as full of difficulties, obstacles, and challenges, and that some of these demands parallel those that unemployed job seekers face.     

Job Flexibility and Job Insecurity: The Dutch Case

Since the 1970s the flexible workforce in the Netherlands has been an important factor of labour force growth. This growth was much stimulated because nonworking women entered the labour market via part-time jobs, temporary jobs, temporary employment agency jobs, and part-time jobs with a weekly changing number of additional working hours. The question raised in this article is whether job flexibility gives rise to feelings of job insecurity. It appears that flexiworkers experience more job insecurity than workers with permanent contracts. For this reason most workers prefer a permanent contract in the future. But there is also a considerable portion of the flexiworkers that actually prefers the concept of flexiwork, both now and in the future. Next, we consider how the Dutch government and work organizations prepare themselves for this new flexiworking situation. How do they keep the demand for flexibility in balance with the need for commitment of workers, so as to ensure quality delivery of products and services? Recent legislation, for example, stimulates flexibility but also protects against job insecurity. Buffers are built into the new flexiwork arrangements so that flexiworkers are protected against hasty dismissal in times of economic recession.