MY DILEMMA

My Dilemma

Table of Contents

Introduction2

History of Job Search3

Methodology3

Findings4

Valence Of Outcomes: Job Attributes9

Different Valences: Personality And Job Preferences10

Discussion and Recommendations11

Conclusion13

References15

Appendix A: Interviews16

Job Choice

Introduction

This paper is based on the topic of job-related dilemma. Ten participants were selected and interview were conducted. The findings of the interview are presented along with the discussion and recommendations for future research.

The job-search process involves a logical sequence of activities that consists of two phases: (a) planning job search and (b) job search and choice. Job search begins with an extensive search to gather information and identify job opportunities, followed by a more intensive search that involves the acquisition of specific information about jobs and organizations. Job search has also been described as consisting of preparatory and active phases. Preparatory job-search behavior involves information gathering about job opportunities, and active job-search behavior involves applying for positions (Stevens, 1998).

Job-search intensity refers to the frequency with which job seekers, during a set period of time, engage in specific job-search behaviors or activities, such as preparing résumés or contacting employment agencies. Job-search effort refers to the amount of energy, time, and persistence that a job seeker devotes to his or her job search (Sauermann, 2005). Unlike measures of job-search intensity, job-search effort does not focus on particular job-search behaviors, but rather, refers to the time and effort one devotes to the search.

History of Job Search

There are comparatively few studies that currently address the process by which individuals make job choice decisions, but the research that does exist provides some insights into the manner in which individuals evaluate evidence for each job (Osborn, 1990). Consistent with the literature on persuasion and decision making, the emphasis here is on how individual job seekers come to believe that jobs have certain attributes and on how they evaluate the relevance of sources of information differently.

Research on decision-making processes under the rubric of image theory has suggested that it is not cognitively efficient to consider all possible alternatives. Instead, decision makers are likely to engage in a multiple-stage evaluation of options. The first stage is a screening process, wherein decision makers quickly scan through the critical features of alternatives and eliminate those that fail to meet certain minimum standards. After screening out options, the second stage is selecting the most attractive options from those that remain (Kanfer, Wanberg, Kantrowitz, 2001). The selection process is much more deliberative and entails many of the elements of a more classic expectancy formulation. Another important component of image theory is that decision makers do not consider their options most of the time, but act out of habit by following cognitive scripts. This means that many individuals do not make routine choices about all available jobs, but consider jobs based on only their most familiar options.

Methodology

For this particular study, 10 participants were selected for intervieweing about their experiences of job-related choices. The interview as a modern-day qualitative social science method developed alongside participant observation and other so-called field methods (Highouse, Hoffman, 2001). The emphasis of symbolic interactionism is that it ...