Case Study: Attracting Potential Applicants to the Military: The Effects of Initial Face-to-Face Contacts

Case Study: Attracting Potential Applicants to the Military: The Effects of Initial Face-to-Face Contacts

This study examined potential applicant reactions to career office personnel in the Belgian military. We found that the relationship between career consultant characteristics and intentions toward the organization was fully mediated by attitude toward the organization, and that intentions fully mediated the relationship between career consultant characteristics and application behavior .

This study examined whether potential applicants considering a military occupation would be influenced by the personality and behavior (warmth, informativeness, competence) of the personnel working in military career offices. We found that job seekers were more attracted to the military when career consultants were perceived as warm and competent. These characteristics increased respectively the odds of willingness to apply and application behavior. We found some indications that potential applicants were discouraged from applying by very informative consultants. This finding closely fits the idea that a lot of youngsters initially have an idealized image of what the military is really like.

A large number of studies have focused on applicants' reactions to recruiter behaviors and personality during the screening interview. Recruiter warmth is consistently found to be associated with applicant attraction, with applicants more attracted when the recruiter is perceived as warm (Goltz & Giannantonio, 1995; Taylor & Bergmann, 1987). Also frequently reported in the literature is the positive relationship between attraction and the amount of information provided during the interview (Maurer, Howe, & Lee, 1992; Rynes & Miller, 1983). A third characteristic that has received considerable attention is recruiter competence. Applicants are more attracted to the organization when the recruiter is perceived as competent (Harris & Fink, 1987; Liden & Parsons, 1986). Because the screening interview is one of the most frequent means of establishing interpersonal contact and influencing applicants' job choices (Rynes, 1989), few studies have investigated other types of initial face-to-face contacts (Barber, 1998). Nonetheless, organizations facing difficulties in attracting applicants typically fall back on other forms of initial contacts, such as open houses and job fairs (Glickstein & Ramer, 1988). Still other organizations make use of career offices. The goal of this study is to examine whether prior conclusions on applicant reactions to recruiters conducting the initial screening interview also go for other forms of initial face-to-face contacts.

Contrary to research on applicants' reactions to the selection interview, research on potential applicants' reactions to early recruitment activities is still in its infancy. Recently, Anderson, Born, and Cunningham-Snell (2001) called for more research on “candidate reactions to recruitment processes, especially as it is at this early stage that many may decide to self-selectout in order to avoid further time commitments in attending selection procedures with the organization” (p. 202). The present study examines potential applicants' attraction to the military. This organisation typically uses career offices to establish the first interpersonal contact with potential applicants and to inform them about job characteristics and working conditions. Probably the most important distinction between the traditional ...