Attracting Graduates to Sales Positions: The Role of Recruiter Knowledge

Corporate recruiting on college campuses has been an important vehicle for selecting and hiring new employees. Previous research has focused on identifying, locating, and selecting new employees, but the recruiting function of attracting good prospects to the interview and job has received less research attention. Increased importance of the attraction function of recruiting may be indicated for the future, particularly given projections of a decline in business college enrollments. The purpose of this article is to examine recruitment of college graduates for sales positions, using the perspective of attracting employees by communicating aspects of the job and company which are important to them. A survey of students and recruiters was used to reveal the attributes of importance to students, differences among students, and the extent to which recruiters are aware of student importance ratings. Differences between students and recruiters perceptions are identified for half of the 50 attributes examined, revealing an opportunity for recruiters to obtain better knowledge of students' perceptions and, thus, to improve their ability to attract graduates to sales positions.     

Using Emotional Intelligence to help College Students Succeed in the Workplace

Research related to the characteristics that are sought by recruiters and prospective employers in graduating college students suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) skills are as important as, if not more important than, job‐related skills. Counselors working with college students, however, usually focus on career management and job search skills and neglect the development of EI skills. EI seems to be an excellent framework to use in helping college students find a job and succeed in the workplace. By using the Confluence Counseling model, counselors working with college students can effectively combine career counseling with personal counseling in a holistic manner.     

The Relation of College Internships,College Performance,and Subsequent Job Opportunity

This study examined the relationship of business college internships to college performance and to subsequent job opportunities. Whites were more apt to have had an internship than African Americans; there was no difference by gender. Students with internships had a significantly higher overall grade point average, were somewhat younger upon graduation, and were more apt to be employed upon graduation than students without internships. Internships were thus related to both better college performance and to receiving a job offer upon graduation. Discussion centered on the role of internship in realistic job expectations and recommendations for improving internships.     

Attitudes and Perceptions of Communication in the Hiring Process

The attitudes and perceptions of 295 college students regarding the hiring of individuals with various communication characteristics and the rank ordering of 20 job-related criteria were compared with the attitudes of 95 recruiters.     

Comparison of student and recruiter values

Value priorities of campus employment recruiters and senior liberal arts students were compared using Rokeach's Value Survey. Three hypotheses were confirmed: (1) Significant differences were found between groups' rankings of values. Students ranked idealistic values high, while recruiters ranked values applicable to business near the top. (2) A greater number of significant differences were found among instrumental values than among terminal values. (3) Regardless of the sex of the applicants, recruiters chose applicants expressing masculine rather than feminine values.     

Relationships between work-related characteristics,needs satisfaction,motivation and mental health in midwifery students

The present study examined the relationships between work-related characteristics in internships, psychological needs satisfaction, motivation and mental health using a partial least squares path modeling. Midwifery students (N = 214; M_age = 22.8 years) from three French schools completed different questionnaires online. Results showed (1) the importance of work resources (work control and social support) as protective factors of psychological needs satisfaction; and (2) the role of competence need satisfaction through motivation in the relationships between work resources and mental health. Midwifery schools should pay more attention to these two results, and take them into account in midwifery students’ training.     

When Job Candidates Are “Hard-” Versus “Easy-to-Get”: Effects of Candidate Availability on Employment Decisions1

Research on interpersonal attraction suggests that being elusive or “playing hard-to-get” is effective for increasing one's desirability and the likelihood of being selected as a dating partner. The following two studies explored the effects of this hard-to-get phenomenon in an employment decision setting. Both college students (Experiment 1) and professional recruiters (Experiment 2) reviewed application materials that conveyed that a candidate was either hard- (e. g., considering other job opportunities) or easy-to-get (e. g., not considering other opportunities) and then indicated their evaluations of these candidates. In both studies, being hard-to-get affected the interviewers’ judgments. However, this effect was moderated by the type of rationale given for being hard- or easy-to-get, as well as the objective qualifications (GPA) information. In addition, recruiter sex and candidate gender differences were explored. Male recruiters’ evaluations of application materials were more lenient than were females’ evaluations.     

Recruiters' Assessment and Use of Social Capital in Résumé Screening1

An experiment was conducted with undergraduate business students to investigate how human resource (HR) recruiters use social capital conceptualized as friendship between applicants and the recruiter in screening résumés. Results showed that social capital influenced recruiters' assessment of applicants above and beyond human capital. In addition, the influence of friendship ties in applicant assessment was more prominent among female HR recruiters than among male recruiters. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed in the context of employee selection.     

新冠肺炎疫情期间大学生价值观特征及变化趋势探究

社会价值观对于社会群体具有重要的导向和动力作用,而社会重大事件的发生会对社会价值观的走向产生影响。研究采用价值观类型量表,对908名大学生进行调查,其中包含144名湖北省大学生,探究新冠肺炎疫情期间大学生价值观的分布特征,对比湖北省和其他地区,以及与SARS时期的异同,并预测其在疫情后期的变化趋势。结果显示:(1)在大学生的总体样本中,实用型、社会型和科学型价值观依次占据重要地位;(2)湖北省大学生中社会型价值观占据主导地位,其他地区大学生中实用型价值观占据主导地位,两个样本的整体分布特征不存在显著差异;(3)两次疫情中,社会型和实用型价值观均占据主导地位,科学型价值观的地位显著提升。     

Extracurricular activities in young applicants’ résumés: What are the motives behind their involvement?

Applicants use résumés to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics (KSAOs) to recruiters, through education and job‐related or non‐job‐related experiences. But research suggests that the situation for young applicants is especially competitive, since they increasingly enter the labour market with similar educational credentials and limited job‐related experience. They may thus use non‐job‐related experiences, such as participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs) during their studies, to demonstrate KSAOs to recruiters, but also to add distinction and value to their credentials. ECAs may therefore become more important in the selection of young applicants. Yet few studies have undertaken a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the relationships students have with these activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent students’ involvement in ECAs is due to internal (e.g., passion) or external (e.g., résumé‐building) motives, and what factors influence these motives. Results from a study with 197 students suggest that students engage in ECAs mainly out of internal motives. But external motives are stronger for activities started closer to entering the labour market, for students active in associative or volunteering activities (as compared to sports or artistic activities), and for students holding leadership positions in their activities. Our results suggest that labour market pressure may be a key component of applicants’ involvement in ECAs. Also, organizations and recruiters may want to consider that students tend not to engage in ECAs purely out of internal motives, but also to add value to their credentials and match employers’ expectations.     

How Accurate are Recruiters' First Impressions of Applicants in Employment Interviews?

The ability of recruiters and laypersons (students) to detect applicant personality traits and deception was studied. Participants viewed mock videotapes of target applicants answering interview questions. They subsequently judged the applicants' personality on the Big Five dimensions. Then, they viewed another videotape with other applicants presenting themselves either truthfully or not, and subsequently guessed which version was truthful. Personality judgments were compared with targets' self‐assessments and peer assessments to create an accuracy score. Both recruiters and students accurately detected applicants' global personality profile. Recruiters were better at this than students. However, students were better at judging the specific traits of openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness, whereas recruiters only accurately detected openness. Recruiters detected lies above chance whereas students did not.     

大学生心理需求与网络社交:认知评估与自我调控的作用

为探讨大学生心理需求、认知评估、自我调控和网络社交的关系,采用大学生心理需求量表、网络利弊权衡问卷、自我调控问卷和网络交往问卷对503名大学生进行调查,结果发现:(1)大学生心理需求可显著正向预测网络社交;对上网的好处和代价认知评估在两者间起部分中介作用。(2)自我调控在心理需求和网络社交间起调节作用。由此得出结论,大学生的心理需求可显著影响网络社交,对上网的好处和代价认知评估在二者间起中介作用,自我调控起调节作用。研究结果进一步揭示了心理需求影响网络社交的内在机制,可为网络时代大学生进行健康网络社交提供有益指导。     

The Use of Selection Criteria for Campus Interviews

This paper explores two research questions. What is the relative importance of academic criteria, work experience, demographic characteristics, and extracurricular activities on the decision to select applicants for job interviews in a college placement setting? Second, does the relative importance of criteria change across job types? Using a sample of 19 recruiters who screened applicants for campus interviews at a large state university, the study found that academic criteria were the most important screening criteria. However, there was great variance in the use of criteria across 19 recruiters. Job type accounted for some of this variance in relation to both academic criteria and demographic criteria.     

Predictors of Employability of Engineering Graduates in Campus Recruitment Drives of Indian Software Services Companies

The purpose of this paper is to identify predictors of employability of undergraduate engineering students in campus recruitment drives of Indian software services companies. Data with respect to the academic background of 559 engineering graduates from a reputed engineering college in South India along with their performance in various non‐technical training were analyzed vis‐à‐vis their performance in the campus recruitment drives of major Information Technology companies in India. Correlation and multiple regressions were performed to test hypotheses. It was observed in this study that knowledge of engineering (GPA) and proficiency in English language are important predictors of continuous employability 1 of engineering graduates in campus interviews of software services companies. It was also found that unlike in other core engineering sectors, female students are better performers than their male counterparts in campus recruitments in software services industry. Outcome of this study would be of greater relevance to college management, Training & Development professionals, recruiters as well as the student fraternity in developing those skills that are required to enhance employability of fresh graduates in software services industry.     

RECRUITERS' USE OF GPA IN INITIAL SCREENING DECISIONS: HIGHER GPAs DON'T ALWAYS MAKE THE CUT

The relationship between college grade point average (GPA) and recruiters' initial screening decisions was examined using data from 548 job postings in a college recruitment program. Results indicate that in-major grade point average (GPA) is more strongly associated with screening decisions ( p = 0.18, SD_P = 0.200) than is overall GPA ( p = 0.06, SD_P = 0.187), but the magnitudes of the relationships varied across decision sets including a larger number of negative values than would be expected from sampling error alone. Subsequent examination of the bivariate data identified 6 different plot types suggesting that recruiters use a variety of GPA decision rules to initially screen applicants in college recruiting. The most common data plots found in 42% of the decision sets suggests that recruiters do not use GPA in screening decisions. But a surprising 81 of 548 decision sets indicated recruiters selected against applicants with high GPAs. Evidence that organizations recruiting for the same job produced different plot types suggests that the use of GPA data in initial screening decisions may be idiosyncratic to individual recruiters.     

Les profils recherchés et rejetés par des recruteurs professionnels en France

This research explores the expectations of recruiters in terms of what they think are prerequisite qualifications of applicants at different job levels. The professional recruiters (N=384) practicing in France, read a job profile (managers or blue-collar workers) and subsequently indicated the five most advisable and inadvisable characteristics for performance on the job. The results confirm our hypothesis and are evidence of a strong prevalence of personality traits in recruiters’ choices. Moreover, the profiles of the « ideal » and « unacceptable » personality mentioned by the recruiters differ according to the job level. Finally, for the management level as well as for the blue-collar worker level, the « ideal » profile is not a simple reversal of the « unacceptable » profile, each profile implies specific personality traits.     

Does expertise and thinking mode matter for accuracy in judgments of job applicants’ cognitive ability?

The present research examined the role of thinking mode for accuracy in recruiters and laypeople’s judgments of applicants’ cognitive ability. In Study 1, students who relied on their intuition were somewhat less accurate. In Study 2, an experimental manipulation of thinking mode (intuitive vs analytical) revealed no apparent differences in accuracy. Moreover, there were no differences in accuracy or agreement between recruiters and laypeople. Examination of the use of specific resume content suggested that intuitive thinking corresponds to basing one’s judgments more on the way that applicants present themselves in their personal letter and less on diagnostic biographical information such as SAT scores. The findings point to the possibility that professional recruiters may not possess intuitive expertise in this context.     

Choosing an mft internship: Ingredients of a successful experience

Abstract

Although internships are now required for MFT doctoral students, little has been written about internships. This article outlines key factors doctoral students need to consider when selecting an internship site.     

“I'm Having a Little Struggle With This,Can You Help Me Out?”: Examining Impacts and Processes of a Social Capital Intervention for First‐Generation College Students

Social capital plays a key role in college and career success, and research indicates that a dearth of on‐campus connections contributes to challenges first‐generation college students face in effectively navigating the college environment. This study investigates a novel intervention that focuses on the development of skills and attitudes to empower first‐generation college students to cultivate social capital and on‐campus connections during the transition to college. A mixed methods, explanatory design was used to evaluate impacts and processes of the intervention among first‐generation college students (n = 164) in the context of an ethnically diverse, urban, public university in the Northeast. Results indicated that students who participated in the intervention demonstrated improved attitudes and behaviors around seeking support in college, closer relationships with instructors, and higher GPAs at the end of their first year in college. These results suggest the potential benefits of a relatively scalable approach to supporting the needs of first‐generation college students.     

The recruitment process for school-leavers: Practical and theoretical implications

Recruitment is viewed as a process whereby 16-year-old school-leavers and recruiters first come together through the mutual use of recruitment methods. In 1983-84, a school-leavers survey, recruiters survey and some Youth Training Scheme (YTS) case-studies were carried out in Doncaster and in Reading. For jobs, college courses and YTS entry, school-leavers found the Careers Service and directly contacting the recruiter to be the most consistently 'effective' recruitment methods. Employers and colleges relied mostly on direct approach by school-leavers. Changes to recruitment brought about by YTS are considered. Implications of the findings for careers guidance practice and for theories of occupational choice and entry are explored. An alternative perspective to the sequential concept of occupational choice and entry is put forward.