5. What is a realistic job preview (RJP)? list and explain three “psychological mechanisms”
offered as to why RJPs might be effective? What benefits, if any, might an organization realize
by utilizing realistic job previews through recruitment and selection?
What is a realistic job preview (RJP)?
A Realistic Job Preview (RJP) is a recruiting approach used by an organization to communicate
the important aspects of the job prior to the offer of a position. Applicants weigh such
information against their own preferences. For example, a fast-paced job with frequently
changing conditions is seen by some applicants as desirable, while other applicants consider this
an unattractive job feature. Such insight is very important, especially in occupations where
people may have limited information about the tasks and responsibilities of the job. Applicants
may know little about the job for which they are applying and/or have inaccurate expectations or
perceptions. Consistent, standardized communication of both desirable and undesirable aspects
of the job to all candidates is essential to protect merit system principles.
Providing a well-designed RJP to potential new employees during the application process can
reduce turnover and enhance new employee commitment. This is because two match-ups occur
when a new person is hired: The employer matches its job requirements with the individual’s
qualifications and the individual matches his or her needs with the organizational culture and the
specific job’s requirements. While the first match probably has the greatest impact on
performance, the second match has the greatest effect on job satisfaction and tenure
list and explain three “psychological mechanisms” offered as to why RJPs might be effective?
Suszko & Breaugh (1986) in their studies had offered four psychological mechanisms to mediate the
relationship between RJP and job outcome. Those four mechanisms are listed as following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Self selection:
Met expectation
Honesty and openness effect:
Ability to cope:
The mechanism of self-selection presumes that RJP recipients who do not see a job opening as meeting
their need their needs will generally not accept it. Therefore RJP recipients who do accept the job are
more likely be satisfied with the job and less likely leave. RJP may also reduce turnover by improving the
awareness to cope with job demands.If employee are made awareness of the problem to be faced on the
job , they cope with such problem on the job better. Employer Being honest and open about the job and
the company cause applicant to feel greater commitment to decision to accept the job and leads to positive
attitude and lower probability to turnover.
Suszko & Breaugh find the outcomes of the early studies done by Dagoni & Ilgen (1981) and Colarelli
(1984) in conclusive because according to authors one of very important criteria, the ability of applicants
to select the job, was not considered in any of the early RJP studies.
Suszko & Breaugh (1986) performed their own studies addressing three psychological mechanisms self
selection, honesty and openness, and ability to cope; setting two boundaries (1) the ability to self-aelect
jobs and (2) posses unrealistic job expectations.
A group of 28 individuals who applied for the position of inventory clerk were selected for the study. The
group was further divided into two sub groups. Both groups went through the same selection process
except one group received written and oral RJP, while no RJP was provided to the second group.
Based upon earlier hypothesis that candidates with ability of self-selecting would have less voluntary
turnover was inline with the outcome. 15 candidates of the group 1 in the RJP condition who were offered
the job, four rejected the job offer. Of the 13 applicants in the no-RJP group all accepted the job offer.
The studies with group offered RJP found an average r=17.3 for Honesty and Openness, r=27.8 for
Ability to Cope, and r=11.3 for Satisfaction. For the group not offered RJP found an average r=15.5 for
Honesty and Openness, r=21.0 for Ability to Cope, and r=9.2 for Satisfaction. The data shows the
candidates with RJP scored higher in all three mechanisms. To further correlate the turnover among
candidates with RJP and non RJP with three psychological mechanism, after 3 months it was determined
that 11 RJP candidates who accepted the offer 4 individuals had voluntarily left the organization, by
contrast of the 13 no RJP individuals, 11 left the organization. Therefore the dropout rate was 36% among
RJP candidate compared to 85% among non RJP candidates.
What benefits, if any, might an organization realize by utilizing realistic job previews through
recruitment and selection?
Some of the benefits are highlighted as following:
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The cost of screening clearly under and over-qualified candidates (cost of screening,
sending “rejection” letters).
Public relations connected with rejecting large numbers of candidates.
The temptation of hiring a clearly overqualified candidate.
A Fraud or misrepresentation lawsuit (unlikely, but it has happened).
Unmet expectations lead to low job satisfaction, lower retention rates, difficulty coping
with difficult situations and perhaps higher absenteeism.
6. Recent data provided by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggests that
organizations obtain more employees via the Internet than by any other recruitment method.
What are the positive attributes of Internet recruitment? What are some of the common
negative attributes? Also, based upon Feldman and Klass’ study on Internet recruitment, what
were the common frustrations of Internet job seekers that organizations should address?
Recent data provided by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggests that
organizations obtain more employees via the Internet than by any other recruitment method.
Since the advent of internet and introduction of World Wide Web (WWW), the recruiting
methodology has been revolutionized. With some reports suggests that more and more
companies are using internet for company recruitment, with some reports suggesting that as
many as 94% of large US companies in 2001 are recruiting via the web (Anderson el al, 2003),
compared to 1996 when only 11% of employees used internet recruiting. Today almost 100%
companies use internet for recruitment.
What are the positive attributes of Internet recruitment?
This rapid shift from traditional recruiting to internet recruiting is because both job seekers and
employer benefit from on-line recruiting. It has been estimated that the movement of recruitment
activities to WWW can result in financial saving of up to 90% of the costs of traditional
recruitment methods and considered time saving of as the hiring cycle is reduced to almost to
25% (Capelli, 2001). Internet-based recruitment is appealing to job seekers because they can surf
any organization at any time of the day from comfort of their home. Candidates can search
thousands of jobs postings on various websites, and simply apply by sending their resume via the
internet.
As published in E-Softwareworld.com the benefit of online recruitment is the streamlined, and
standardized approach it offers over the traditional paper based system where the resume was
received through mail, manually sorted, screened, routed and finally filed away in the file
cabinets, all these tasks can now be performed automatically in fraction of time. The enhanced
process is contributed by the availability of full scale recruitment system that can be easily
integrated to the customer website.
What are some of the common negative attributes?
The disadvantages to using e-recruitment include the potential to:
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limit the applicant audience as the Internet is not the first choice for all job seekers
cause applications overload or unsuitable applications if care isn’t taken drafting the job
profile/specification
exclude those who do not want to search for a new job online
limit the attraction of those unable to fully utilise technology eg certain disabled groups
give rise to allegations of discrimination, in particular the use of limited keywords in CV
search tools
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make the process impersonal, which may be off-putting for some candidates
impact on the ‘cultural fit’ dimension of recruitment
‘turn-off’ candidates, particularly if the website is badly designed or technical difficulties
are encountered
lose out on candidates, especially if your own website is below the search engine ranking
of your competitors
base recruitment decisions on subjective information found after trawling the Internet for
personal information on candidates.
Also, based upon Feldman and Klass’ study on Internet recruitment, what were the common
frustrations of Internet job seekers that organizations should address?
According to Feldman and Klass study when applicants were asked of the most frustrating part of internet
searching; almost overwhelming response was the lack of company response and feedback. As one
applicant phrased it when asked
“It was frustrating when there was no acknowledgement of my application and no response were
received…It would be nice to be updated as to the status of my application. If the position is filled or my
credential does not meet an employer’s needs, then short notice (to that effect) would be appreciated.”
Some of the other frustrations shared by the applicants were following:
1. That company websites do not provide a specific contact person and a specific e-mail
address (not just HR@company.org). Also
2. The poor web site reliability and fears about posting personal information.
3. Waiting for internet sites to post unneccary graphics is frustrating. Also reported irritation
by inaccurate links and sites that crash and difficult to navigate.
4. Few applicants showed frustration because it was time consuming to load resume on to
some of the job search sites, and reformatting leads to problems with characters being
added that shouldn’t be.