Purpose -This study examined the relationship between job search self-efficacy, employment goals, job search planning, job search behaviors and effort allocated to job search. We expected that employment goals would mediate the effect of job search self-efficacy on job search planning, job search behaviors and effort allocated to job search.Design / methodology / approach -One hundred participants completed measures of these concepts.Findings -Regression analyses did not confirm our hypotheses. Contrary to expectations, employment goals did not mediate the path between self-efficacy, job search planning, job search behaviors and effort allocated to job search. Instead, self-efficacy directly influenced job search planning and job search behaviors. Results are discussed with reference to previous studies and to methodological choices.Originality / value -Few studies have investigated the effect of self-efficacy on goals in job search domain."Self-efficacy" refers to the belief that one is capable of achieving one's goals. This concept has been studied in several domains, including cognition, health and counseling. In the latter, Lent, Brown and Hackett (1994) incorporated self-efficacy into a model they called Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). Roughly speaking, this model postulates that self-efficacy Jobless men and women: A comparative analysis of job search intensity, attitudes toward unemployment and related responses"