The Employment Interview as a Recruitment Device

[Excerpt] More directly to the point of this paper, differences in the relative importance of recruitment versus selection are hypothesized to influence the conduct, and outcomes, of the employment interview. This can occur in several ways. For example, interviewers can change either their nonverbal (e.g., body language) or verbal behaviors (e.g., time spent talking), as well as the content of what is discussed (e.g., applicant qualifications versus vacancy characteristics)

Recruitment Research and Applicant Attraction: What Have We Learned?

Developing labor shortages are increasing the importance of recruitment to organizations. However, previous recruitment research has provided few operational guidelines for persuading high quality candidates to apply for, and to accept, job offers. This is because most recruitment research has either ignored major independent variables (e.g., vacancy characteristics), and/or focused on dependent variables other than applicant attraction or job choice (e.g., turnover). Suggestions are made for increasing the relevance of future recruitment research to applicant attraction

Effects of Compensation Strategy on Job Pay Decisions

Previous research has revealed wide variations in pay for the same job, even within a single locality. To date, however, the sources of such pay differentials are not well understood. The present research investigates how compensation managers from a wide variety of organizations combine infonnation about current job pay rates, market rates, and job evaluation points to arrive at new pay rates for jobs. In addition, it examines the role of two pay strategy variables (pay leadership position and external versus internal orientation) in job pay decisions, controlling for differences in organizational demographic characteristics (e.g., size, industry). Results suggest that pay strategies affect assigned pay levels, with higher pay being assigned by managers from fmns with market-leading strategies and internal pay orientations. In addition, pay strategies appear to influence the relative weights attached to market survey versus job evaluation infonnation in pay-setting for jobs. Specifically, although market survey information consistently explained more variance in assigned pay than did job evaluation, this effect was more pronounced among managers from finns having an external orientation. Organizational demographics also affected assigned pay levels, but to a lesser extent than pay strategies

Applicant Attraction Strategies: An Organizational Perspective

Developing labor shortages are expected to increase the importance of applicant attraction into the next century. Unfonunately, previous research has provided little in the way of unified theory or operational guidelines for organizations confronted with attraction difficulties. In part, this is because much research has been framed from the applicant\u27s, rather than the organization\u27s, perspective. In addition, attraction-related theories and research are scattered across a variety of literatures, and often identified primarily with topics other than attraction per se (e.g., wage, motivation, or discrimination theories). The present paper draws on multiple literatures to develop a model of applicant attraction from the organization\u27s perspective. In it, we (1) outline three general strategies for enhancing applicant attraction, (2) propose broad categories of contingency factors expected to affect the choice (and potential effectiveness) of alternative strategies, (3) suggest probable interrelationships among the strategies, (4) link applicant attraction strategies to other human resource practices, (5) outline various dimensions of attraction outcomes (e.g. qualitative and quantitative, attitudinal and behavioral, temporal), and (6) discuss implications for future attraction research

Interviewer Assessments of Applicant Fit : An Exploratory Investigation

Although both strategic management theorists and practicing recruiters endorse selecting applicants on the basis of fit, precise delineation of fit in a selection context remains elusive. Moreover, the majority of previous work in this area has been based on anecdotes, case studies, or prescriptions rather than empirical evidence. The present investigation examines interviewers\u27 assessments of job applicants in terms of both general and firm-specific employability (i.e., fit). Results suggest that (1) assessments of general employability differ from firm-specific assessments, (2) there is a firm-specific component to interviewers\u27 evaluations of job applicants, and (3) interpersonal skills, goal orientation, and physical attractiveness contribute to assessments of fit (holding general employability constant), while objective qualifications (e.g., grade point average, extracurricular offices, years experience) do not. Suggestions for future research are offered

Recruitment, Job Choice, and Post-Hire Consequences: A Call For New Research Directions

[Excerpt] Technology in employee selection is more highly developed than in recruiting or placement; therefore, the major emphasis is on selection Recruiting or placement are not less important processes; to the contrary, they probably are more vital and more profitable to the organization. An organization\u27s success in recruiting defines the applicant population with which it will work; selection is more pleasant, if not easier, when any restriction of range or skewness of distribution is attributable to an overabundance of well-qualified applicants... Unfortunately,the contributions and confusions of the literature, the central social pressures, and the facts of contemporary practice conspire to place the emphasis on selection (pp. 777- 779

The Effects of Market Survey Rates, Job Evaluation and Job Gender on Job Pay

The present study investigates the effects of current pay, market surveys, job evaluation points, job gender, and rater sex on pay rates for jobs. 406 compensation administrators assigned new pay rates to nine jobs in one of two matched job sets: either all predominantly female, or all predominantly male. The two sets were matched on all quantitative data (current rate, market rate, and job evaluation points), but varied in terms of job titles and descriptions. Multiple analyses of variance and regression analyses were performed to determine whether job gender had a significant effect on assigned pay rates, holding other factors constant. Regardless of the analysis employed, no evidence of gender bias was found. Limitations and suggestions for future research are offered

The Importance of Recruitment in Job Choice: A Different Way of Looking

Recent literature reviews have called into question the impact of recruitment activities on applicants\u27 job choices. However, most previous findings have been based on cross-sectional ratings obtained immediately after initial screening interviews, thus raising questions about the degree to which prior conclusions are bound to that particuJar methodology. In contrast, the present study used longitudinal structured interviews to let job seekers explain, in their own words, how they made critical job search and choice decisions. Interview transcripts revealed that recruitment practices played a variety of roles in job seeker decisions. For example, consistent with signalling theory, subjects interpreted a wide variety of recruitment experiences (recruiter competence, sex composition of interview panels, recruitment delays) as symbolic of broader organizational characteristics. In addition, a number of contingency variables emerged that seemed to affect the perceived signalling value of recruitment experiences (e.g., prior knowledge of the company, functional area of the recruiter). Also notable were the strongly negative effects of recruitment delays, particularly among male students with higher grade point averages and greater job search success. Finally, our results suggest that certain applicant reactions may be systematically related to sex, work experience, grade point average, and search success. The article concludes with practical and research implications

Recruiter Perceptions of Applicant Fit: Commonalities and Differences

To date, normative selection models have focused primarily on matching individual knowledges, skills, and abilities to job requirements. However, it has increasingly been argued that people should also be selected for fit to broader organizational characteristics such as strategy, culture and values. Despite the apparent reasonableness of these claims, there has been little research on how employers actually go about the task of screening or selecting for broader organizational fit. Accordingly, the present study examined how organizational recruiters assess applicant fit. Fifty-four campus recruiters in four colleges provided examples of best-fitting and worst-fitting applicants from just-completed interview schedules, along with specific descriptions of what it was that made each applicant fit or not fit . Examination of interview transcripts suggested that despite the recent emphasis on unique organizational values, strategies, or cultures in discussions of fit, by far the most frequently-mentioned determinants of fit were either (1) job-related coursework or experience, or (2) generally (rather than uniquely) desirable personal characteristics such as articulateness, positive personal appearance, and good general communication skills. However, some systematic differences were detected in the extent to which particular characteristics were sought by recruiters in different colleges or by those recruiting for different types of vacancies. Findings are related to previous research, and implications for applicants, employers, and future researchers are offered

The gap between academics and practitioners is a reflection of the underlying tensions of academic belonging.

Jean M. Bartunek and Sara L. Rynes note the recent spike in journal articles across management scholarship seeking to address the divide between academics and practitioners. Whilst there remains relatively little empirical research focused on the issue of a gap, significant attention has been placed on understanding the variety of reasons for the divide. But what is being written probably reflects gaps within academia itself more than it reflects gaps between practitioners and academics. Discussion of the gap often signals underlying tensions about how much and where particular academics feel they belong or not