Targeted recruitment strategies aim to communicate job vacancies to specific groups of job seekers that organizations wish to attract, such as qualified ethnic minorities. Typically, these strategies do not consider how person requirements are communicated in job advertisements and how job seekers from different ethnic groups react to such requirements. Two field experiments among actual job seekers investigated whether the type of required trait and the wording of traits affected ethnic minorities’ job attraction (Study 1, N = 140) and qualified ethnic minorities’ and majorities’ decision to apply (Study 2, N = 130). Findings show that ethnic minority job seekers were less attracted to job ads targeting a trait they have negative meta-stereotypes about. Wording of traits did not moderate this effect. However, ethnic minority job seekers who were qualified for a negatively meta-stereotyped trait decided not to apply when that trait was worded in a dispositional (vs. a behavioral) way.

Qualification-based targeted recruitment strategies aim to increase the number of qualified applicants from certain social groups, such as women. Typically, such strategies assume that individuals are more likely to apply for a job when they possess the requirements needed for that job. However, how job seekers react to requirements in job ads is not often considered and is explored in the present study. In two experimental studies with Belgian university students we investigated whether person requirements about which women have negative meta-stereotypes (like the trait of emotionality) and the way such requirements are formulated in job ads (i.e., using trait-like adjectives, BYou are calm/not nervous,^or behavior-like verbs, BYou remain calm in stressful situations^) affected women's job attraction and decision to apply. A repeated measures ANOVA showed that job attraction was lower if women held negative meta-stereotypes about required personality traits in job ads (Study 1; 218 women; M age = 23.44 years, range = 21-42; 97% ethnic majorities). Moreover, qualified women applied to a lesser extent if a negatively meta-stereotyped trait was worded in a trait-like way than when it was worded in a behavior-like way (Study 2; n = 183; M age = 23.68 years, range = 21-44; 58% women; 97% ethnic majorities). A practical implication is that recruiters should be sensitive to how they formulate job ads if they wish to attract a highly qualified and gender-diverse applicant pool.

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Abstract. Recruitment research on person–organization fit has typically focused on organizations’ fit with potential applicants’ actual self, not considering other possible self-images. Based on image congruity theory, we investigate how actual and ideal self-congruity relate to application intentions and intentions to spread word-of-mouth. In a first study, conducted in Belgium, actual and ideal self-congruity related positively to both outcomes. The relation with application intentions was equally positive for actual and ideal self-congruity. Ideal self-congruity showed a stronger positive relation with word-of-mouth intentions. A second study replicated these findings in the United States and tested for social adjustment concern (need to impress others) as a moderator. As social adjustment concern increased, relations of both outcomes with ideal (actual) self-congruity were stronger (weaker).