Attracting Graduates to Sales Positions: The Role of Recruiter Knowledge |
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| Authors: | Dan C. Weilbaker Nancy J. Merritt |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Dan C. Weilbaker (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is a UARCO professor of sales and marketing at Northern Illinois University. Prior to pursuing his graduate work, he was a sales representative for Eli Lilly and Company and the national sales and marketing manager for Elder Pharmaceuticals. His research interests include personal selling, sales management, information processing, and health care marketing. His publications have appeared in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Personal Selling &2. Sales Management, Marketing Education Review, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, Academy of Marketing Science, and National Conference in Sales Management.;3. Nancy J. Merritt (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Bowling Green State University. Her research interests include perceptual differences, marketing research, channel management, and just-in-time systems. Publications have appeared in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of Management Journal, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the Academy of Marketing Science. |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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