Criteria Used by College Students to Select Employment Referents

Content analysis of college students' rationales for selecting employment referents suggests that their choices do not always match with what employers value in reference reports. The concluding section of the article offers suggestions for effective referent selection.     

College Students and Their Part-Time Jobs: Job Congruency,Satisfaction, and Quality

Randomly selected undergraduate students (1,438) at an urban west coast university were surveyed about their college employment experiences. Results indicate that students employed in part-time jobs congruent with their career interests were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Ethnicity and emotional support in same-sex friendship: A comparison of Asian-Americans,African-Americans,and Euro-Americans

Emotional support is a central feature around which white, middle-class adults organize their same-sex friendships. The purpose of this study was to examine whether emotional support is accorded the same significance in the friendships of Asian- and African-Americans. Participants included 199 students (60 Euro-American men and women, 80 Asian-American men and women, and 59 African-American men and women) attending either a state or private university in California. Each participant completed three different questionnaires designed to assess perceptions of (a) the importance of comforting skill in same-sex friendship; (b) the significance of emotion-focused versus problem-focused goals in situations requiring emotional support; and (c) the sensitivity and effectiveness of various comforting strategies. Several significant differences due to ethnicity were found in participants’perceptions of emotional support and its attendant behaviors. These and related findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the conduct of same-sex friendship among individuals from different ethnic backgrounds.     

WHO APPRECIATES FAMILY-RESPONSIVE HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES: THE IMPACT OF FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL ATTACHMENT OF PARENTS AND NON-PARENTS

The 1991 General Social Survey of 745 randomly selected workers in the United States assessed the impact of family-responsive human resource policies, such as parental leave, flexible schedules, and child care assistance on organizational attachment. Employees who had access to family-responsive policies showed significantly greater organizational committment and expressed significantly lower intention to quit their jobs. Additionally, child care information referral had a greater impact on affective commitment among employees eligible for that benefit. The data supported the theory that offering assistance to employees in need symbolizes concern for employees and positively influences attachment to the organization. The contrasting theoretical explanation–that people are more attached to companies when they individually benefit from progressive human resource policies–received considerably less support. The practical implication of the study for human resource management professionals is that providing comprehensive family-friendly policies may have a positive impact beyond the individual employees who tap these benefits.     

The Assessment of College Student Need: First Step in a Prevention Response

This article introduces the assessment process, reviews selected assessment studies, and presents a unique procedure for identifying college student needs, leading to a prevention response.     

EFFECT OF SITUATIONAL INTERVIEWS, CONVENTIONAL STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS, AND TRAINING ON INTERVIEW RATING AGREEMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

The present study examines the degree to which agreement in interviewer ratings may be influenced by training, use of structured conventional interviews, or situational interviews. Results of an experimental study conducted among 42 managers who were experienced as interviewers revealed no training effect on rating agreement, but the impact of the situational format on consistency in assessments of applicant suitability was significant. Implications of these findings for usefulness of situational employment interviews and future research investigating the reliability of situational interview formats are discussed.     

Understanding Dual Career Couples

The increasing number of clients seeking to maintain a dual career life-style has increased the need for counselors to educate themselves to the unqiue set of concerns, needs, and characteristics particular to dual career partners and their families. This article presents an overview of the published literature delineating the variables associated with this life-style, including the numerous benefits or incentives, the common conflicts and stressors, and the personality dynamics shared by these men and women. In addition, the article will describe dysfunctional coping strategies as well as adaptive strategies employed by individuals attempting to manage the coupling of both career and family.     

Message Planning,Communication Failure,and Cognitive Load Further Explorations of the Hierarchy Principle

The hierarchy principle predicts and research has demonstrated that in response to communication failure, individuals make less cognitively demanding, low-level changes to message plans, such as the vocal intensity at which they are delivered, rather than more demanding alterations to message content and structure. Three experiments examined the effects of different message preparations on cognitive loads associated with high-level message plan alterations. In Experiment 1, individuals who prepared only one highly iconic message before experiencing communication failure demonstrated greater cognitive load when requested to deliver an alternative message than did individuals who prepared three highly iconic alternative messages. No cognitive load differences were found between those who prepared one or three low-iconicity messages. In Experiment 2, individuals who prepared one or six highly iconic message plans demonstrated greater cognitive load after communication failure than those who prepared three alternatives. This U-curve relationship was replicated in Experiment 3.